Page 36 of Eye Candy

“You’re a sweetheart,” I continued, “and you know I always help with your career, but I don’t want to do anything that would risk this blowing up in my face. Two times was all Gerard asked for. I’ve already sent some of Gerard’s money to Mike andDad, and with this next payment I’ll be able to cover a few months’ rent in advance. With those things sorted, I don’t need to feel so awful for being here, chasing dreams instead of working in the café from five to three every day like a good little Holliday.”

“Okay, okay.” Lyssa tugged the comb out of my hand so she could tackle the wax herself. “I’m sorry, I forgot about the café thing. I understand why you don’t want to risk that. Now that I think about it, it’s lucky you’ve gotten away with this for as long as you have without anyone suspecting anything.”

My eyes slid away, and I picked at a clump of wax on the basin.

Lyssa’s eyes narrowed. “Care Bear.”

I focused harder on the wax.

“Caroline.”

“Chase Sanford knows.” I confessed.

“The uptight blogger?”

“Well, as it turns out, he’s not so uptight.”

Lyssa leaned back to look at me properly. “You like him.”

I started to protest, but Lyssa raised her skeptical eyebrow. The one she used when blogs said chambray was trending again.

“OK, yes. I do. He’s handsome and decent, and underneath all that goodness he has a deliciously dirty mouth. He makes me want to tease him until he cracks, in the hope he’ll snap and tell me off in a fun way. And he’s on the same page as me, Lyssa, I know he is. Chase Sanford is not the prude everyone thinks he is.” I rubbed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “What am I going to do?” I moaned. “This is awful. For as long as I’ve been in New York, I didn’t have time to date. I barely had enough time for sex! But it was fine because I was focused on burlesque. Dating would have only been a distraction.” I looked back at Lyss. “It’s cruel that now I’ve finally met a man I really like, it’s impossible for anything to happen between us because I was literally paid to screw him over.”

Lyssa let out a low whistle. “That’s heavy, Care Bear.”

“Caroline,” I corrected. But she’d gone into the kitchen, and I heard her making two mugs of Yorkshire tea.

My phone started buzzing on the bathroom vanity. Unknown Number came up on the screen, but the number was, in fact, extremely known to me. I hit decline and waited, knowing he would leave a voicemail. He always did.

I waited until Lyssa came back and passed me a mug to hit play, putting it on speaker so she could hear.

1 new voicemail. Unknown number.

“Listen, Floss.”

“Floss,” Lyssa repeated, her eyebrows raised.

“I’ve realized I’ve been coming at this wrong. Things with Joe and I have been a bit rocky. He, um. We—we’re not on the same page. On anything. So, I decided I’m going to have my brother and the girl he’s seeing over for an intimate cocktail party to show him that I don’t care about his old relationships, only the new, and it doesn’t matter that he’s moving way too fast.”

“Is that you? Does he mean you?”

I shushed her.

“The truth is, last time Joe and I spoke, I, uh, made everything between us worse. Please come to my house tomorrow for a small cocktail event to celebrate Joe and his partner Jemima. I’d like you to be there—so Joe can see that I don’t cast judgment on him. And because… I’d like you to be there. Please.” [Call ended].

I was a tough cookie, I liked to think. Pleading and wheedling never would have worked on me, that wouldn’t have been enough to make me jeopardize my new-but-precarious good financial standing. But he’d said he wanted me.

Which meant he liked me.

Sort of.

“What are you going to do?” Lyssa asked.

I heaved a sigh. “Charge your good camera, Lyss.”

She shrieked and threw her arms around me, promising to be cool and noninvasive in her influencing.

Maybe it would all work out and everyone would get exactly what they wanted with no hard feelings, drama, or scandal.

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