Page 78 of Tempting as Sin
“I’m talkative,” Martin said. “Can’t help it. I was born to be me.”
“Entertaining,” Lily said with a laugh. “Fun.” She hated that Antonio had shaken her up so much again, but she didn’t have to stay shaken up. That was the difference. She could wipe him off again like something stuck to the bottom of her shoe, and she was going to do it. She’d moved on. “I’m glad you like Ezra,” she told Martin. “He’s a special guy. Kindness is underrated, in my opinion.”
“He’s more than that,” Martin said. “He’smyspecial guy.” For once, he didn’t sound comical.
“That’s quick, mate,” Rafe said.
“Yeah,” Martin said. “Amazing how you just know sometimes, isn’t it? Must be the magic of the mountains. I brought you clothes for a few days, by the way, just in case. And judging by the way you look and the way you’re moving,” he told Lily, “I’ve got another idea to make myself indispensable. Say I can. Pretty please.”
“I’m not that bad,” Lily said.
“Honey,” Martin said, “tell it to somebody who’s never been jumped on the way home from a bar. Ask me how I met Rafe. Never mind, I’ll tell you. I got jumped, andhejumped in. Fresh off the boat from Australia, truly bizarre haircut, but the boy could fight.”
“Not so much, mate,” Rafe said. “All I did was make it not easy, when they were looking for easy. And I don’t like bullies.”
“Yeah, right,” Martin said. “You forget that I was there. The hero bit’s not just for the cameras. Anyway. What you need right now, Lily, is a few days off. According to Hailey, that doesn’t happen. ‘That woman works every minute God sends’ were the exact words used. Loving your work’s a beautiful thing, but I bet you’ll wake up tomorrow with a good black eye and a whole lot of stiffness. Nobody wants to buy lingerie from a woman who looks like her loser boyfriend’s been using her as a punching bag. It doesn’t send the right message. Also, you’re going to have cameras down there, thanks to the werewolf and the asshole, and it’s a lot harder to get rid of them on a public street. Interviewing your neighbors and your customers, shooting all that sexy lingerie? It’ll be good for business. It won’t be good for you.”
“Paige calls him the Venetian vulture,” Lily said. “And I can’t afford to take a day off. It’s just about our busiest season. I can’t stick Hailey with all that. And how would you know? When did you talk to Hailey?”
“She took a lunch break,” Martin said. “I happened to join her. Information is power. And youcanafford it, because luckily, you’ve got me, and remember? I need the work. Who worked retail for much too long?”
Lily’s face hurt, so did everything else, and all she wanted was that bath, and then bed. Getting hurt, especially when it came with a side order of humiliation, made you so tired. She’d forgotten that. She did her best to maintain, though. “You work for Rafe, not me. I couldn’t ask you to do that. Anyway, what kind of retail?”
“We will not discuss the scooping of ice cream,” Martin said. “Wewilldiscuss catalog sales. Your dowdy outdoor wear? Your cozy fleece slippers and monogrammed dog beds and horrible rubber-toed boots? Let’s just say, ‘Employee of the Month.’ That’s what you get when you tell the customer, ‘You know what? Hang on two seconds and let me run and take a look on the shelf for you. I don’t want you to have to return it, so let’s get you the right size. And—ooh. Did you see the darling matching robe that goes with that?’ Also—LA waiter? Rafe has to pay me very, very well. I gottips.”
Lily was trying to think of a reason this would be a bad idea. It felt way too seductive. Way too easy. Rafe wasn’t helping, just leaning back, drinking his beer, and looking amused, like paying his assistant to do her job was a great plan. She said to Martin, “And, of course, you won’t be camping it up, just because most women have always longed to have a gay best friend to go shopping with, and all they know about it is what they see on TV.”
That made both guys laugh. “Come on,” Martin said. “I wanted to be an actor too, you know. You aren’t really going to deprive me, are you? It would be so much fun. That catalog I worked for? Over three thousand SKUs. Ask Rafe about my memory. Go on, ask him. You’ve got time, because I’m making dinner. If I’m lucky, you’ll hand over the keys to the shop so I can study the inventory before tomorrow. It looks fab, from what I’ve seen. I can’t wait.”
“His memory’s good,” Rafe said. “To say the least.”
Lily was going to answer, but her phone rang in the living room. She thought,Bailey,and then realized it wasn’t. Before she could climb off her stool, Rafe had brought her phone to her and was handing it over.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said to her sister. “How are you?”
“Do not give me that,” Paige said. “Why haven’t you answered my calls? What happened? Jace hasn’t been able to reach Rafe, either. What is going on?”
“Don’t tell me Jace is worried about Rafe,” Lily said. “I’d say nobody needs to worry about Rafe.”
“Don’t stall,” Paige said, her voice fierce. “Tell me.”
“What?” Rafe was asking, so Lily sighed, said, “Putting you on speaker,” and laid the phone on the countertop. “Antonio showed up, and so did the press. You’ll see tomorrow, I’m sure. It’s news, at least tabloid news. It was a dramatic confrontation.”
“And?” Paige asked. “What did he do? That son of abitch.”
“Hit her.” That was Rafe. “Slapped her across the face and knocked her down onto the steps.” He said to Lily, “If I don’t tell her, she’ll badger you until she knows. No worries, Paige. I hit him, too. You’ll see. News at eleven.”
“By the way,” Lily said in what she knew was a fruitless effort to divert her twin, “according to Antonio, you’re a lesbian. Don’t tell Jace.”
“Really?” Paige said. “Good to know. That way he’ll be scared. Thatscumbag.You’d better have called the cops.”
“He’s already scared,” Lily said, choosing to ignore the part about the cops. “Wait till you see.”
“Right,” Paige said. “Do you need me to come? Or do you need to come here? How bad are you hurt?”
“I’ll be fine,” Lily said, as she’d told Paige so many times when she’d been married. The difference was that this time, it was true. “Rafe’s here. I’ve even just been offered help in the shop. Martin’s going to do it for tomorrow, anyway, because even though I’m truly not hurt very badly at all, my face doesn’t look great. Oh, wait. Hang on. Keys.” She went in search of them, came back and handed them to Martin, and said, “I’m back. So, yeah, he’s doing the shop. I hate to say it, sweetie, but…”
“He’ll be better than me,” Paige said. “Don’t rub it in. Anyway, I had some good ideas. I even sold some nightgowns. Are you sure you don’t need to come down here?”
