Beautiful Liar (The Reed Rivers Trilogy 2)

This morning, after Reed woke me up (and kindly gave me a couple ibuprofen for my slight hangover), he led me into his home gym for our morning workout... and then shocked the living hell out of me by giving me yet another piece of exercise equipment. This time, a top-of-the-line Pilates reformer! Which I happen to know costs around four grand. I protested, of course. Said I couldn’t possibly accept it. But he insisted and wore me down. Obviously, I’ll never collect it from him. As far as I’m concerned, that thing will stay in Reed’s home gym forevermore. But just the thought that he bought it for me? Swoon.

But the amazingness didn’t end here. After our workout, and after some delicious sex on my new machine, Reed and I headed to a recording studio in Hollywood. Which was where 2Real, aka Will Riley, was hard at work on his third album. Apparently, Will had asked Reed to swing by the studio today, saying he desperately wanted Reed’s input on a particular track that was giving him fits. So, of course, Reed dropped whatever he’d been planning to do today, and headed straight there, with his eager shadow in tow.

And, oh, God, it was mind-blowing to watch those two work together. After brief introductions, I sat quietly in a corner for three hours that felt like three minutes, and watched in awe as they played a portion of the track in question. Stopped it. Went back. Talked. Tried something else. Talked again.

I came away from the experience with even deeper respect for Reed. Clearly, he’s a meaningful partner to his artists. A genius at far more than business and marketing, or music scouting and strategizing. He’s a genius at pulling the best out of his artists, as well.

Granted, I didn’t understand most of what Reed said to Will during those three hours. For example, at one point, Reed said: “What if we were to saturate the vocals and make them extra dirty?” And I was like, Huh? Another time, Reed said, “We could turn up the flux on the Echo to around 300, playback level at zero. Let’s try that and see if it makes our balls vibrate.” It was another huh? But even without understanding the conversation, I could plainly surmise, thanks to Will’s reactions to Reed’s comments, Reed was making a powerful contribution to Will’s art.

But our amazing day together didn’t end after the studio. From there, Reed spoiled me by taking me to lunch at the nicest restaurant I’ve ever been to—a hotspot frequented by the Hollywood elite. And when we ran into several movers and shakers, all of whom Reed knew and introduced me to, he said to each one of them, “This is Georgina Ricci, a brilliant new writer for Rock ‘n’ Roll. CeeCee hand-picked her to write an in-depth feature on me, so she’s following me around to get the goods.” Of course, I swooned at that introduction, each and every time.

After lunch, Reed had a meeting with his business partners on a bunch of nightclubs. He said I could come, but I decided to use the time to head over to Rock ‘n’ Roll’s offices for a few hours.

“I’ll drive you over there,” he said. “It’s not too far out of my way.”

And that’s when I said something awkward and embarrassing... that would have been mortifying to me if it hadn’t led to Reed saying something so swoony, it made an egg pop out of my ovary.

The thing I said to Reed was this: “Thanks for the ride over there. I don’t know how long I’ll be there, though, so I’ll plan to grab an Uber back home afterwards.”

Back home.

I called Reed’s house my home.

Of course, I was instantly mortified I’d let that word slip out. So, I quickly stammered, “I mean, back to your house. I’ll take an Uber back to your house afterwards.”

At first, Reed didn’t even acknowledge my slip. He simply opened the passenger door to his Bugatti and gestured for me to get in. Which I did, and then promptly covered my face in embarrassment as he walked around the back to his own door.

But when he dropped me off in front of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s offices, and called to me as I got out of the car, I forgot all about my embarrassment. Because that’s when Reed called out, “I’ll see you back home around five, baby! Don’t keep me waiting this time!”

Yeah. I swooned pretty hard in that moment. It’s when I knew not falling for Reed was going to be a tall order. Which brings me to this moment with Margot. To her question, “How are you doing?” and my raging impulse to shout, “I think I’m falling for Reed Rivers!”

Somehow, though, through sheer force of will, I manage to take a deep breath and reply, in a calm voice, “I’m great, Margot. How are you?”