Page 46 of Prince Charmless
“Sorry, did we scare you?” she asks.
“No,” I answer way too loudly. “No, thank you for coming.”
We shake hands, and Alex mouths, ‘Are you okay?’ from behind her.
I ignore him and try to get into a more serious mindset. I’m not in the mood to talk about finances right now, but I’m not rescheduling because of the contents of my desk drawer. While I’d love to dust for fingerprints and play detective, this is a person who’s too accomplished for me to not give her my full attention. What’s cruel is I won’t be distracted by sex but by the lack thereof. I don’t want Melina’s panties. They’re useless in my possession, merely a scrap fabric, a reminder that I once had the most gorgeous woman on the planet in my home wearing lingerie, and I was too busy playing mind games to do anything about it.
“I’mthe maggot,” I mumble.
“What?” Anya asks.
“Nothing.”
15
Melina
I’m not the best cook, but I’m pretty good at breakfast. It’s a lot easier doing it with all this counter space too. Beside me, Vinnie is watching my every move. I shouldn’t have given him that piece of ham. Now he thinks we’re best friends.
“Ah!”
Taylor’s quick shout from the doorway is low and gravelly. Or at least I think it’s Taylor. This person is wearing athletic pants, a T-shirt, and...glasses? No, itisTaylor, just with bedhead. For once, I’m better dressed than he is, and I’m just wearing jeans, a sweater, and red lipstick, of course.
“Good morning,” I say with a cheerful and caffeinated smile. “I’m making omelets. Are you more of a tea or coffee drinker?” I would assume the latter based on the Starbucks-grade espresso machine sitting on the counter.
He stands there, frozen with his arms crossed in sort of a crucifix formation, looking at me like I’m a ghost. “Who—How did you get in here?”
I point the spatula in the general direction of the entrance I came through. “The door.”
Taylor storms over, rips the spatula out of my hand, and slams it on the counter with a thud. “What the hell has been going on?” he sneers.
I crane my neck to look up at the six-foot-more-than-two-but-definitely-less-than-five man towering over me. He looks good in glasses. The skinny black rectangles complement his angular face shape. I wonder if hasn’t yet put in contacts or if he just uses them to read.
It feels like I’ve been thinking too much about the glas—
“Hey!” Taylor flicks my forehead, and I’m jolted back to reality. “I asked you a question.”
“Sorry.” I point at his bespectacled face. “They distracted me.”
He looks around. “Who the hell are you talking about? You didn’t break and enter, right? I mean, it’s not possible.”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” I say slowly to calm him. “Thomas let me in.”
“Yeah, speaking of that, why are yours in my desk drawer in a national fucking monument?”
“They’re still there?”
I guess that makes sense. Where else would he have moved them to? My panties are in the same building as the Queen right now. It feels like I’ve done very little to get to this point.
“Stay on topic,” he says.
“Julien gave me your brother’s number, and I asked him to leave the package on your desk. Apparently, wasting time and messing with you is his specialty.” I bend down to scratch the top of Vinnie’s head because he’s a good boy.
“Tom’s gone. I’m watching his dog.”
“Ha! He told you to watch his dog? That’s commitment.”
Almost in slow motion, Taylor sits down at the kitchen island. “You’ve gone mad.”
