Page 78 of Nothing to Do

“Rox,” she said and backed off to let her in. “Where were you? We didn’t see you on the plane.”

“I flew in this morning, I had a thing.”

The woman went over to the window to admire the view, though hers couldn’t be much different… unless they weren’t in the same hotel.

“Are you eating dinner with us? I have to get changed.”

Roxie circled her wrist above her shoulder in an absent wave. “Carry on, carry on.”

She rushed back into the bathroom to finish with the lotion and switched out the towel for the complimentary robe.

“You look amazing,” she said, dragging out her makeup case to dump it by the mirror. “Do you have a squad of people who—”

“If I want to,” Roxie said on a laugh, spinning around to perch against the windowsill. “How was Dyce last night?”

Oh, unexpected. She paused in her makeup for a second before meeting Roxie’s eye. “He takes it all on, you know? He’s really this laid-back, easygoing guy, and this is high stress.”

“You’d think the multibillion-dollar empire would get a guy used to that.”

Although Roxie was teasing, she saw a flash of what she’d seen in Zane too. That guilt and concern couldn’t be for Roman, surely.

“You can’t be a stranger to stress either.”

“I don’t feel stress,” Roxie said, folding her arms. “Not since Zairn, he deals with all that serious stuff, I just look pretty for him.”

“There’s something on your mind though.” She tossed her eyeliner back into the case. “Is it about last night?”

Roxie sighed. “We’re only here because I demanded Zairn take me on a rehearsal honeymoon.”

“You feel guilty? You could never have foreseen—”

“It’s not guilt…” Roxie didn’t sound guilty, it was more like subdued impatience. “He’s a good guy, my guy. A lot of people don’t think that, and the media sometimes has a skewed view, but he really does have a good heart.”

“I believe you.”

Everything she’d seen of him suggested that was true.

“And he loves his friends, just like I love my girls, we’d do anything for any of them. Be anywhere, support anywhere, love anywhere.”

“Except Roman isn’t his friend.”

“No,” Roxie said with a single head shake. “But he loves Dyce, and Rourke, he likes Struan, and Tripp damn well lives in Crimson Palace back in New York.”

She smiled. “That’s a great name.”

“I know,” Roxie said with a faux hair toss. “We’re part of this network, this unseen something that draws us all together. The world doesn’t see it, the people around who read about us and talk about us, they don’t see that we’re real people. Or how close we are.”

“You’re aspirational. They want to be you, live your lives, spend your money. And, you know, the way you’ve described your network to me, and when I hear you talk about it… it’s aspirational too. Not a lot of people have unconditional love in their lives.”

Boosting off the windowsill, Roxie’s hands rose, palms toward the ceiling, fingers slightly curled. “I want to do more for him. Be more for him. He doesn’t understand how he’s just everything to everyone. All the time, he’s there, no questions asked. He’s run after me as I’ve run after my girls, he’s always there. Always supporting me!”

She didn’t get it. “And you’d rather he didn’t?”

Her friend grew solemn. “He takes it all on. All of it. Everyone else’s—and part of that’s my fault and—God, Thea, it’s like I can’t love him enough.”

“You adore him, that’s obvious to anyone who sees you together.”

In private anyway. If they fed the press stories, presenting themselves as chum to cover others upset, the public may see them in a different light. She’d only known the couple a short time, and already she aspired to be part of something so consuming.

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