Where he would try to corner his brother alone, make sure he really knew what he was letting himself in for with this marriage. He mustn’t forget that. That was why he was here, after all. Not to play make-believe love affairs with Laurel.
Except after he spoke to Riley he’d have to go back to his room and sleep with Laurel. No, next to Laurel. An important distinction. Unless...
‘I’ll see you later, then. Although I might be in bed by the time you get there.’
And with that Laurel stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed another kiss against his mouth. Almost swift enough to be a goodbye, but just long enough to hint at a possibility. A promise, maybe, for later.
Suddenly Dan knew that, no matter how badly his conversation with his brother went, he would not be getting drunk with Riley and his friends that night.
Just in case.
* * *
Up in the hotel bar, Laurel tied pink and purple balloons to ribbons and hung them from the wooden beams that rose from the bar and along the ceiling. Each balloon had a piece of paper in it—a question for the bride, the maid of honour, or one of the bridesmaids. Laurel had tried to get a look at them, but Melissa had written them herself, then folded them up tight and watched as Laurel blew up the balloons and put the notes inside. Once she was satisfied that Laurel hadn’t read them, she’d departed, leaving Laurel to finish organising the rest of the hen party.
The balloon game was only one of many Laurel had planned. The way she figured it, the busier she kept all the guests with silly party games, the less time there was for anything to go desperately wrong. There were a lot of famous people in attendance, and a lot of egos. The last thing Laurel wanted was a row at the hen night.
All she wanted was for everything to go smoothly, no one to get too drunk, and for everyone to go to bed nice and early so she could go back to her room and...
Well...
What exactly was she going to do? Wasn’t that the question of the day?
In the moments after that kiss she’d known exactly what she wanted to do that night—seduce Dan. But after twenty minutes of Melissa and balloons, and then another twenty of checklists and setting up, and worrying about everything that still needed to be done, her resolve was failing.
Maybe she was the heroine of her own life, but this week she was also a wedding planner—and that had to come first. Once she’d done her job—and done it well—she could get back to thinking about her own love life. That was the plan. Wait for the right time, the right place, then let herself think about finding the right man.
Except by then Dan would be on his way back to LA and she’d have missed her chance. He might not be her prince, but he was an excellent fake boyfriend, and it seemed silly not to take advantage of that. After all, heaven only knew how long it would take her prince to come riding up. And a girl had needs.
Which led her back to the seduction idea.
Laurel sighed, and decided just to get on with work for now. Maybe the ‘Make a Male Body Part out of modelling clay’ game would inspire her. Or put her off for life. It really could go either way.
She’d just finished setting up the tequila shots on the bar when the door opened. She turned, smiling, expecting it to be Melissa, or maybe even Dan...
‘Oh. It’s you.’ Smile fading, Laurel glared at her ex-boyfriend. ‘What do you want?’
Benjamin put up his hands in a sign of surrender. ‘I come in peace. No need for the death glare. I thought we decided we could still be friends?’
‘You decided,’ Laurel replied.
She hadn’t had a say in the matter. Benjamin had said, ‘We’ll still be friends, of course,’ and that had been the end of the discussion.
‘I thought about it some more, and decided that my friends wouldn’t treat me the way you did.’
Funny how once you decided you were the heroine in your own story it became a lot easier to speak the truth to people who didn’t respect that. Just yesterday, when she’d seen him again for the first time, she’d dived for cover behind a pretend relationship. Today, after talking with Dan, she’d realised a few things. And one of those was that she had no place in her life for people like Benjamin.
‘Oh, Laurel.’ Benjamin shook his head sadly. ‘You always were so naive. You really are going to need to toughen up if you want to survive in this world, you know.’
Was that really what she needed to do? Develop a tough outer shell that would help her ignore all the awful things that people did? It might at least help her to deal with Melissa. But on the other hand...
‘Is that why you love Coral? Because she’s tough?’
‘I love Coral because she’s driven. Ambitious.’
I’m ambitious. Just not the way you wanted.
Gratitude flooded her as she realised how lucky she was to have escaped her romance with Benjamin when she had. She might not have enjoyed the circumstances at the time, but with some distance between them she now knew it was the best thing that could have happened to her. Imagine if she’d gone on believing that he truly was her prince... She might not even have recognised the real thing when it did come along. And that would have been a very sorry state of affairs.
‘She’s a journalist—did you know?’ Benjamin went on, looking stupidly proud of his new fiancée.
‘Really? I thought she was a gossip columnist.’
It was petty, perhaps, but since Laurel had been responsible for getting every guest to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the wedding, banning them from speaking to the media, publishing photos online, or doing anything else that would jeopardise the exclusive agreement Melissa and Riley had signed with Star! magazine, she felt it was relevant.
She’d actually argued against her being invited to the wedding at all—something that Melissa had decided was sour grapes.
‘Really, Laurel, you have to grow up. We’re all adults and professionals here. We know how the industry works—well, everyone except you, anyway. Just because she won Benjamin, you can’t be petty about it.’
Petty. If Benjamin and Coral had betrayed Melissa the way they had Laurel, she was sure they’d have been blacklisted from every celebrity event involving Melissa for all time. But Laurel was being petty for being concerned that a gossip columnist might take a chance and ruin the exclusive with Star! magazine, so that Melissa and Riley would have to forfeit the obscenely large fee they were being paid.
Benjamin scowled. ‘She’s very talented.’
‘I’m sure she is.’ Suspicion prickled at the back of her neck. This wasn’t about being friends—that was rapidly becoming obvious. So what was it about?
‘What exactly do you want from me, Benjamin? Because, in case you hadn’t noticed, I have got a wedding to organise here.’
‘Of course. For your sister—sorry, half-sister.’
Benjamin’s expression formed into a perfect facsimile of concern, but somehow Laurel was sure it was fake.
‘How are things between the two of you? I know your relationship has always been difficult, and I can’t imagine that the stresses of organising her wedding have helped.’
Laurel’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you want, Benjamin?’
‘I’m sure you weren’t always this blunt.’ He sighed, and dropped the fake concern. ‘The magazine Coral works for—they’ve ordered her to get details of the wedding, and the dress, so that they can get them up on the website before the Star! exclusive goes to print.’
‘She can’t.’ Laurel shook her head. ‘She’s signed a non-disclosure agreement. If she gives them anything she’ll be sued.’
‘I know. But someone else could.’
‘Everyone attending the wedding signed the agreement. It was to be sent back with the RSVPs.’ Which made it one of the more absurd aspects of her job, Laurel conceded, but she’d done it.
‘What about you?’ Benjamin asked.
Laurel froze. She hadn’t RSVP’d because she hadn’t needed an invitation. She’d signed a contract for the job, sure, but that had been her newly developed standard contract, and Melissa had barely looked at it.
She hadn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement. She could tell anyone she liked about the details of this wedding and there was nothing Melissa could do about it.
‘You didn’t sign one, did you?’ A Cheshire cat-like grin spread across Benjamin’s face. ‘I told Coral you wouldn’t have. Melissa is too sure of you—too certain that you’re under her thumb—to even think that she needed to get you to sign. This is perfect!’
‘No. No, it’s not.’ Laurel gripped the back of the chair in front of her, knuckles whitening. ‘I’m a professional. I still have an obligation to my client.’
‘Really?’ Benjamin raised his eyebrows. ‘After the way she’s always treated you? Just imagine her face when her Star! deal goes down the pan. Wouldn’t that be glorious? And...if revenge isn’t enough for you... Coral’s employers are willing to pay good money for the information. Especially if you can get a snap of the wedding dress before the big day. Serious money, Laurel. The sort of money any new business needs.’
‘My business is fine.’
‘Sure—for now. But be honest. How much is Melissa paying you? Is it a fair rate? Or did she insist on a family discount?’
Her face was too hot, her mind reeling as she remembered Dan asking almost the same question, and the pitying look in his eye when he realised she wasn’t being paid at all.
‘The exposure of such a big wedding is great for my business.’