Читать книгу Cover Girl - Nic Tatano - Страница 11

Keira nearly choked on her champagne. “Oh my God!”

Gretch’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

Keira leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He’s… here.”

“Who?”

“Jamison. I mean Alexander. Him. Mister Right from Ring Girl at three o’clock.”

Gretch looked to her right. “Where? All I see is a fat bald guy.”

“Sorry, my three o’clock. Your nine. At the table in front of the big fountain where the waiter is standing.” Gretch whipped her head one hundred eighty degrees. “Gretch, don’t be obvious!”

She spotted him and nodded. “Whoa. Damn, you weren’t kidding. He really is the guy in the book and definitely your type.” She craned her neck to get a better look. “Who’s he with?”

“Can’t see. Waiter’s in the way.” The waiter finished taking the order and moved on, leaving both with a clear view of Alexander’s dining partner. Keira’s face dropped. “Sonofabitch. Check out the smoking-hot blonde.”

“Her? Eh, she’s okay.”

“Stop trying to soften the blow. She’s stunning.”

“Fine, she’s hot. But you said he worked in TV news and that business is loaded with peroxide babes. Maybe she’s a co-worker.”

The blonde reached across the table and patted Alexander’s hand. “Shit, they’re together.”

“Will you stop it? For all we know she’s a relative.”

“Yeah, right. A four-hundred-pound cousin and a supermodel sister? Damn, she’s gorgeous.”

Alexander turned his head and spotted Keira, smiled and waved. “Shit, he saw me!” she said, talking through a clenched smile as she waved back. She felt her pulse spike as he got up, grabbed the blonde by the hand and headed in their direction. “And he’s coming this way. Sonofabitch.”

Gretch sipped her wine and leaned back in her chair. “Relax, maybe we’ll find out the deal with the blonde.” She pointed at the beads of sweat forming on Keira’s forehead. “You’re glowing, sweetie.”

“Dammit!” Keira quickly ran her hand across her face as Alexander and his companion arrived. She stood to greet them as she wiped her damp palm on her dress.

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this,” he said.

“New York is a small town.” Keira smiled at him before giving a quick glance at his petite date, who was even more spectacular up close. The woman was flawless. “Hello, I’m Keira.”

“Juliette.”

Keira gestured at Gretch. “And this is my right-hand girl, Gretch.”

“Short for Gretchen. Everyone calls me Gretch.”

Keira turned back to Alexander. “So, out celebrating?”

“Yeah. My, uh, cousin told us we had carte blanche tonight considering the big check you dropped today.”

“Couldn’t get her out even on a day like this?”

Alexander shook his head. “Nope. But I had a lobstergram sent to her.”

“That’s nice.”

“Well, just wanted to say hello and thank you again. Tomorrow morning at ten-thirty, right?”

“We’ll see you then.”

The blonde flashed a warm smile and actually seemed sincere. “Nice meeting you both.”

They turned and headed back to their table. On the way he put his arm around her shoulder.

“So much for me living the book,” said Keira, watching the couple as they sat and Alexander flagged down a waiter. “Good God. Look at the body on that woman. She’s not just hot, she’s ‘stripper hot’. And her skin was like porcelain.”

“Hey, we still don’t know the deal about the blonde. There was no ring on her finger.”

“Thank you for checking, but I don’t think it matters.” Keira grabbed a bread stick, disgustedly took a bite and talked through the dry crumbs. “Sonofabitch. I can’t compete with a girl who looks like that.”

“Not always about looks, sweetie. For a girl who edits romance, you’re supposed to get that part. And you’re extremely cute.”

“Hot trumps cute every time.” Keira picked up the wine bottle on the table to get a refill and found it empty. “I need another round.” A waiter carrying a bottle of champagne in a silver ice bucket was heading in their direction and she waved at him. He arrived at their table and smiled. “We’re gonna need one more bottle. Who knows, maybe two.”

The waiter laughed as he placed the bucket on the table. “Good timing,” he said, then pointed at Alexander. “From the couple seated next to the fountain.” He popped the cork on the bottle and poured the champagne into two fresh glasses.

She looked at Alexander as he and his companion raised glasses in their direction. She and Gretch smiled and did the same as the waiter placed the bottle back in the bucket and moved on.

Gretch turned back to Keira. “Class act.”

“Only makes it worse.”

Juliette studied Alex’s face as he sipped his wine. “You’re flushed. You like her.”

“You can tell?”

“Pffft.” She waved her hand like she was shooing a fly. “I know your type and I’ve seen that expression you’re wearing.”

“What expression?”

“The quivering lip, the little wobble in your voice that only I notice. You’re scared of her. Which means you like her. Luckily you had your ‘safe date’ on your arm or you would have been a shuddering lump of flesh. You’re smitten. And from the way she looked at you, I can tell the feeling is mutual.”

“You think so?”

“Yep. But the way she checked me out means you need to clear up something right away.”

“What’s that?”

“She thinks we’re a couple.”

“Why would she think that?”

“Duh-uh, you’re out to dinner with another woman. What the hell else is she supposed to think, especially with you putting your arm around me on the way back to the table?”

“Oh, shit. Why the hell did I do that?”

“Because, you clueless idiot, you love me like I love you and you’re an old-fashioned protective Boy Scout. But no big deal. Just make sure you let her know you’re unattached and we’re best buds. Or, if you want, I can time my trip to the ladies room when she goes. I can talk you up.”

He put up his hands. “Nah, then it sounds like a fix-up.”

“Don’t you want to be fixed up?”

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna scare her away. Besides, she might think there’s some sort of ‘conflict of interest’ thing since we’ll be working together.”

“Okay. But, seriously, when you get together tomorrow morning, make sure she knows I’m a platonic friend.”

“Suppose she doesn’t believe me?”

“Why wouldn’t she believe you, Alex?”

“Not too many guys have platonic friends who look like you.”

Juliette smiled and blushed a bit. “See, that’s the sweetness in you that women love. Trust me, she’ll trust you. And if not, I’ve got a backup plan I know will work.”

Keira looked up from her desk and saw Gretch’s disapproving expression. “What?”

“The first guy to ever work on a romance novel is coming in today, he’s got that ‘boy next door’ thing going you can’t resist, he was classy enough to send over a bottle of champagne last night, and that’s what you’re wearing?”

She looked down at her gray suit. “What’s wrong with it?”

Gretch sat on the edge of the desk. “What’s wrong with it is that you wear it here all the time. It screams corporate. Hell, it almost screams cat lady. All that’s missing is a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on a chain.” She tapped Keira on the head with a knuckle. “Earth to Keira! A man who you’re interested in will be here in an hour and a half—”

Keira pointed at Gretch’s ultra-conservative navy-blue dress, which was very out of character. “You’re not dressed to the nines. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a hemline to the knee or something buttoned up to your neck. Did you go to an Amish festival?”

“Funny. Gretch is dressed in the dowdy collection because she is your loyal and trusted assistant who wants Alexander to notice you.”

“Where’d you get that thing? I know you didn’t buy it.”

“Borrowed it from a friend who works in a library. Highly unflattering, don’t you think? Anyway, my natural hotness doesn’t need to be a distraction, hence it remains under wraps.”

“I appreciate that, but c’mon, Gretch, he’s obviously off the market. What’s the point in getting all gussied up?”

“Because, McFly, as we discussed last night, the blonde might not be his girlfriend. Or even someone he dates.”

Keira shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He’s out of my league.”

“Bullshit. I saw the way he looked at you, and you said you felt some chemistry at lunch yesterday.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Yeah but nothing.” Gretch got up, grabbed Keira’s arm and pulled her out of the chair. “Get your skinny ass home and put on that killer royal-blue dress you wore to the wedding last month.”

“That’s kinda fancy for work, don’t you think?”

“Have you seen how the rest of the office staff dressed today since they found out a man is coming by? It looks like the cattle call for the ‘Tits and Ass’ number in Chorus Line. Now, you live around the corner so you have no excuse for not going home and getting dolled up.” Gretch put her hand on Keira’s back and pushed her toward the door. “Go. Don’t come back until you look as hot as possible. Do something with your hair. And when he gets here I’m gonna clear up the mystery about the blonde first thing.”

“How are you gonna do that?”

“Trust me, boss. I know how to get information out of men.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have a bed in my office.”

“Very funny.” She pointed at the elevator. “Home. Now. Gussy up.”

Juliette ran her hands down the sleeves of his gray wool windowpane suit and patted Alex on the shoulders. “I pronounce you ready.” She looked up into his eyes. “However…”

“However…what?”

“You look nervous. You already got the check and can buy any midlife crisis convertible you want, so relax.”

He exhaled. “It’s not the book deal. It’s this whole deception thing. I just feel like it’s going to come back and bite me in the ass.”

“They bought your work, not your equipment. Trust me, when the publisher makes a fortune off the book they won’t care if you’re a cross-dressing hermaphrodite.”

“Still, it worries me. And…”

She nodded and smiled. “Ah, the redhead. I forgot how powerless you are around them. I do remember what you called them in college.”

“Kryptonite girls.”

“Well, relax, I could tell she likes you.”

“She looked at me more businesslike last night than she did at breakfast.”

“Because you had me on your arm. You tell her we’re platonic friends and the barrier will fall like the Iron Curtain.”

Keira watched the staff all snap to attention, smile and stand up straight like they were in Catholic school. The horde of short skirts, low-cut tops and stiletto heels parted like the Red Sea as a smiling Gretch led Alexander through the babe gauntlet to her office and left a dozen hanging jaws in their wake. Keira’s heart got caught on her tonsils as she stood to greet them. “Right on time,” she said. “We like people who respect deadlines.”

“When you work in TV, you can never be late,” he said, as he shook her hand.

“Can I get you anything?” asked Gretch. “We’ve got coffee, soda, and some killer cheese Danish this morning. Unless my boss ate them all.”

“Hey!”

He laughed. “I’m good.”

“Then I’ll leave you two to talk.” Gretch headed for the door, then stopped and turned back to face him. “Oh, Alexander, before I forget…”

“Yes?”

“This is probably a stupid question for a guy, but do you happen to know where your girlfriend got that dress?”

Keira’s eyes grew wide as her pulse spiked.

He furrowed his brow. “Girlfriend?”

“Yeah. The girl you were with last night. What was her name… Juliette?”

His face relaxed. “Oh, she’s not my girlfriend. We’ve known each other since college and worked together at the network. She’s actually my best friend. But it’s strictly platonic.”

Gretch smiled and shot her an I told you so look at Keira. “Oh. I just assumed she was your significant other.”

“Nope, we’re just great friends. As for the dress, I have no clue. But I’ll ask her for you.”

“Great, thanks. Oh, Keira, after you guys are through, don’t forget to put in the paperwork for that raise you promised me.” Gretch playfully batted her eyes at her boss.

“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.” Gretch left the office and closed the door behind her. While her assistant had cleared up the situation with the hot blonde, it still didn’t shed any light on whether or not Alexander was attached.

“She must be a good assistant if you’re giving her a raise.”

“You have no idea.”