Page 50 of Beautiful Enemy

Inside, the room is bustling with twice the usual dozen or so VIPs. Harrison’s seated in a booth with a handful of the people from upstairs, perfectly collected in a dark suit that sets off his clear, blue eyes. His legs are stretched out in front of him, women on each side looking as if they’d like to crawl into his lap.

I catch his eye and jerk my head toward the bar.

With a cocked brow, he shifts out of the booth.

“More spoiled princesses?” I ask as he falls into step next to me.

“Business associates.”

I feel every inch of him in my space. We’re not touching, but having him near is oh so good.

Once we get to the bar, I lean an elbow on it and hold up the sheet of paper from Leni. “Guess what this number is?”

He’s close enough I can smell his ocean scent.

“Your SAT score.”

I smack his shoulder. “It’s the door, dumbass.”

Harrison lifts his cool, blue gaze to mine, but the triumph behind it matches the way I feel.

I grin as two drinks are set in front of us. We clink glasses, our arguments set aside for a moment as we share in a victory we’ve both wanted for different reasons.

“How do you like the espresso machine?” he asks.

“It’s very shiny.”

His mouth twitches. “I meant, are you pleased with how it functions? It’s a new model and the best available.”

“I haven’t used it.”

Harrison frowns, and I take a sip of my drink, feeling his attention linger on me.

Finally, I say, “The French press is good enough. Besides, I don’t want to get attached. It’s not as if I can take it with me.”

“Of course you can. I bought it for you.”

“No, I mean… thank you.” Processing his confusion is hard. He seems offended his gift didn’t rock my world. “But I’m always on the road, so I pack light. The only things that come with me are my computer and gear and clothes.”

He leans in, as if genuinely willing himself to understand. “Is it so difficult to see yourself staying somewhere?”

“I’ve tried that. It didn’t work out. People have a habit of disappointing me.”

“Perhaps you simply expected too much.”

I turn that over as I glance past his shoulder to see his business associates talking and laughing.

“Where were you all week?” I ask.

“Visiting venues in LA and Miami. Putting in place new policies to address a few lingering issues.” He hesitates, regret flickering behind his eyes. “In building an empire, it’s easy to be lured by the facade and miss the cracks. The past year, I was distracted. I allowed the cracks to extend further than they should.”

I blink. I don’t know if he left because I called him out after the party, but he was trying to fix the mistakes he made. The ones I called him out for.

“I thought your next move was buying La Mer.”

“I can do both. You’d be surprised what I can accomplish when I set out to.”

It’s not the first time he’s looked at me as if I have what he wants. But it’s the first time I can’t resist looking back at him the same way.

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