Page 88 of Lost Love

“Look at him, Lourde. What the hell? Is there something wrong with me?”

“You don’t mean that.” Olivia sat down next to me and handed me a glass of champagne. “I got you one too,” she said, casting her eyes to where Jake was near the bar.

“Good thing you did. Otherwise, I’d still be waiting,” I admitted. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” I said, determined not to let him spoil my evening.

Lourde and Olivia exchanged looks. “He seems awfully chatty with her,” Olivia added. “Is she the same woman from the catwalk show?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“No, that was the OnlyFans woman,” Lourde said, craning her neck to get a better look.

“They’re all models,” Olivia said.

“Ari has the Rolodex for all the modeling agencies in New York,” Lourde added.

Olivia blew her cheeks out in a puff. “Of course he does. He seems so different to his grandmama.”

“Did you speak with Farrah Goldsmith?” Lourde inquired.

“Yes, just after the show. I actually saved her from tripping over.”

“You did what?” I questioned.

“She fired the person who left the cable untapped on the floor. I was in the right spot at the right time. Then we got talking. She’s so lovely. Her grandson, Ari, however, is an idiot.”

“I hope you left out that part!” Lourde said.

“Of course, I didn’t want to offend the woman.”

“From what Connor’s told me, I think she pretty much raised him too.”

“How can that be? He’s nothing like her?” Olivia questioned, very interested in Ari suddenly.

“Maybe because they’re all hunkholes and arrogant, the lot of them,” I said, taking in Connor, who stared at me from across the table where he sat with Ari and Magnus.

Anger burned behind my eyes. He shouldn’t be looking at me like that. He had a fiancée. I had a boyfriend as far as he knew. But why did everything inside me light up with each stare he cast my way?

“Arrogant. Absolutely,” Oliva agreed.

“But that arrogance makes them charming,” Lourde said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Oh God.” Olivia rolled her eyes.

“I’m with you, Liv.”

“Hey, beautiful.” Barrett appeared behind Lourde, bending down to kiss her on the forehead.

My heart kicked. Why couldn’t I have that?

“Barrett.” Lourde’s face lit up like a virgin bloom.

He sat next to her and pulled her onto his lap, placing his lips on hers in a sweet embrace.

“You were just gone for like five minutes,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes again.

I laughed. “Yeah, Jake’s been gone all night.” I shrugged.

“Ladies, when you find someone this special, a minute is a minute too long apart from one another.”

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