"In your dreams."
"My dreams don't include your sex life. They include Scarlet Johansen in her Black Widow costume."
"You're verging on fetish."
"I like redheads. Sue me."
"You just called me Nancy Drew."
She laughs. "You got me. If you go ginger, I won't be able to control myself."
"I don't think you're teasing."
"Did I say I was?" She blows me a kiss and leaves with a smile.
Easy.
Normal.
Like I don't have a woman and her son spending the weekend in my apartment.
Of all the weird shit I do in this job—
This really is a first.
I try to take Tammy's advice. To push thoughts of Celine and Seb aside. To enjoy my weekend for once.
I change into my dress, fix my hair and makeup, slip into my shoes.
With every step, I let the week fall away.
I let my thoughts drift to Simon.
By the time I step into the restaurant—a secluded place a few blocks from the theater—my mind is in the gutter.
And it's obvious.
Because everyone here—Simon, his kid sister, both his brothers, and both their girlfriends—are staring at me like they know I'm picturing Simon naked.
Chapter Twenty-One
SIMON
"Vanessa Moyer, as I live and breathe." Liam offers the first handshake. "You look even more gorgeous than the last time I saw you."
"Thanks." She shakes. Looks to his girlfriend with a friendly smile.
"Briar West," she offers. "I've heard a lot about you."
Vanessa shoots me a what does that mean look, but she holds her poker face. "How is it, living with Liam?"
"Exactly as difficult as you'd imagine." Briar brushes a purple hair behind her ear.
Liam's assistant turned girlfriend wears her rebellion on her sleeve. Short purple hair, punk rock makeup, visible tattoos, all black attire.
He hides his. Not just the tattoos—he thinks I don't know about most of them. The lack of desire to fit into the world our father wanted him to join.
He didn't just revel in his pre-engagement nickname. He's the one who dubbed himself the Playboy Prince.
"You mean even more amazing than anyone could imagine," Liam says.
"Uh, no," she says.
"And so many orgasms I can barely walk straight," he says.
"Why would orgasms make it hard to walk?" she asks.
"Because he's trying to sneak in a mention of his girth," Danielle says.
"Me? Never? Why would I want everyone to know I'm locked and loaded?" Liam asks. "It's enough I'm handsome, brilliant—"
"Brilliant?" Briar asks.
"Handsome, charming?" he counters.
She nods yes.
"Handsome, charming, successful. A big dick on top of it all… they'll stop admiring me and start feeling jealous," he says.
"What a cursed life you lead," Briar says.
"It's hard, yeah," he says. "And speaking of hard—"
Briar shakes her head how is he saying this even as she smiles and I love how ridiculous he is.
He is ridiculous. He's been ridiculous for a long time.
But his level of absurdity is directly proportional to his audience. A dinner for seven?
We'll be lucky if we manage to go two minutes without hearing about his sex life.
Danielle shakes her head this again. She smiles and I like it too, but not with the same enthusiasm Briar does.
It's clear her feelings are platonic.
"My brother is exactly like Liam," Danielle says. "The only way to stop him is to ignore him."
Liam mimes being stabbed in the gut.
Danielle does as she suggests and ignores the gesture. "Danielle Bellamy. It's nice to meet you." She offers Vanessa her hand.
Vanessa shakes. "The photographer?"
"You've seen me naked then?" Danielle laughs.
"Your work is beautiful," she says. "You helped Simon decorate the room?"
Danielle turns to me and raises a brow.
"She did," I say.
"I did," she agrees. "He picked the roses from memory. Were they right?"
"Perfect," Vanessa says.
"Hold up." Liam moves on to his new method of attack. "Simon asked you to decorate his fuck room?"
"He didn't say what he was using the room for," Danielle says.
"Uh-huh." Liam shakes his head yeah right. "Roses and…"
"Candles," Danielle says.
"Roses and candles for a business meeting?" Liam asks.
"Sometimes women enjoy men with an intellect," Briar says.
Liam makes a show of scratching his head.
"They have scintillating conversations," Briar says.
"Baby, you know what those SAT words do to me," he says.
"You're a college graduate," she says.
"And the MBA," he says.
She laughs. "Are you bragging about being educated while implying you're brainless?"
"As long as we agree I know what matters," Liam says.
Danielle shakes her head. "Look what the attention does." She laughs and turns to Vanessa. "Whatever you were doing in the room, I'm glad you liked it."
"I did. Thank you," Vanessa says. "You have quite the eye."
"The room or the pictures?" Danielle asks.
"Both. The set you took with…" Vanessa looks to Adam. "The anonymous model. Those were…"
"They were fire," Liam says.
Briar nods they were. "And emotional too. But I don't think Vanessa is here to talk about seeing you or Adam naked."
"Why not?" he asks. "Everyone's seen my spread in Manhattan Magazine."
"You weren't naked," she says.
"I was too," he says.