Page 23 of Under My Skin

It wasn’t just that she was hot as fuck with her bronze skin, petite frame, shoulder-length black hair, and chestnut eyes. It was her strong, quiet determination to do right by her nephew while still following her own dreams. And fuck, the pain and exhaustion I could see written all over her face. It seemed to permeate every single fiber of her being. I couldn’t explain why, but the desire – no, theneed– to make it all go away was so strong I could taste it.

I still couldn’t figure out why Amara’s name was resonating with me so much. It was like a ghost of a memory, something in the dark recesses of my mind that was trying desperately to break free. But no matter what I did, it was just out of reach.

Trying to shake the nagging feeling, I pulled my phone out and dialed Vicki’s number.

“Garman and Garman, Vicki Preston speaking,” she singsonged.

“Hey, Vicki. It’s Braden,” I muttered.

“Braden,” she gushed, making me roll my eyes so hard that I was surprised they didn’t get stuck in the back of my head. “Hi, sweetheart. What can I do for you?”

“I was just calling to let you know I’m taking a girl to La Terrasse next Friday night. I was hoping you might be able to drop a hint to the gossip rags so we could get a few pictures taken.”

Vicki scoffed. “La Terrasse? Really? Why bother spending that kind of money on her?”

What the fuck? This whole charade had beenheridea, not mine. So why was she criticizing my choice of venue to take Daniela on our first date?

Okay, it wasn’treallya date, but still.

“Um, because I can afford it? And because I thought it was a good way to get the press talking, since that’s one of the most popular restaurants in the country.”

“Whatever you say,” she sighed. “You made sure to have this girl sign an NDA, right? You don’t need her running to the press with her own story the next morning.”

“Glenn’s working on the paperwork now, and Dani and I are going to figure out a time that works with her class schedule to go to his office and sign it.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t you have talked to her about this at his office in the first place?” she spat. “For all you know, she could be calling TMZ right now!”

My blood started to boil in my veins, but I took a few deep breaths to calm myself so I wouldn’t fly off the handle. As much as I wanted to put Vicki in her place, that wouldn’t help this situation, and I knew it.

“Well,excuse mefor wanting to be a decent human being when I met her,” I scoffed. “I thought my living room would be a much better place for that conversation than my attorney’s office. And for your information, Dani’s way too busy taking care of her newborn nephew and going to school full-time to even think about trying to undermine me.”

“I knew this was a bad idea, Braden. You really should just let me do this. I know what you need, and I promise I’ll make it good for you,” she purred, like she was trying to sound seductive or some shit.

I groaned. This was thefourthtime she’d tried to convince me to let her be the one I showed off to the press. She’d included a plea in the email she’d sent me about the nonprofits I was interested in, and then she’d texted me a couple of days later asking me again if I was absolutely sure I wanted to find someone on my own.

But on the plus side, at least I now had some of this inappropriate and highly unprofessional shit in writing, so I had receipts if this got worse and I had to take any kind of action against her.

“No fucking meansno, Vicki!” I snapped. “I did what you wanted. I found someone to pretend to date. So shut up about my choice of companion and do your damn job!”

“But this girl is only after your money,” she whined like a toddler throwing a tantrum in a grocery store because their mom said they couldn’t have Cocoa Puffs. “She doesn’t care about you like I do.”

“No shit, she’s after my money! I’m literallypayingher to do this. That’s sort of the whole point. And why do youcarewhether or not she’s using me? I’m using her too, remember?”

“BecauseI’mthe one who’s going to have to clean up your mess –again– when this gold-digging tramp decides to sell her story to the highest bidder!”

Again, I took a calming breath to avoid screaming at this bitch, who was walking on thinner and thinner ice by the day. I couldn’t explain why it pissed me off so much to hear Vicki talking about Dani like this, but it did. A lot. Maybe because I could tell, even in the short amount of time I’d spent with her, that Dani wasn’t that kind of person. She didn’t seem to have a vindictive bone in her body.

“You know, Vicki, I actually feel sorry for you. You must bemiserablewalking around with a chip the size of Texas on your shoulder all the damn time. Now, do your fucking job and make sure the press is at La Terrasse at eight next Friday, and letmeworry about what Dani’s motivation is,” I spat before ending the call.

I threw my phone down on the couch and took two steps in the direction of my in-home workout room when I heard it ringing again. Snatching it back up, I slid the icon across the screen to answer without even looking at the caller ID.

“What?” I barked.

“Damn, B. What’d I do?” Ian chuckled into the line.

Despite how annoyed I still was, I smiled. It had been way too long since I’d talked to him and Kyler.

“Sorry, man. It’s not you. It’s my fucking publicist.”

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