Page 8 of Some Kinda Romance

4

SERENITY

After work, Julie and I headed to my apartment to get ready for a celebratory night out. I was still feeling jittery after my meeting with the St. Clairs, but Dash had given me a five million dollar ballpark figure and that was worth a damn drink someplace where I didn’t have to pour it for myself.

Julie glanced at me as we walked into the three-story penthouse I now lived in alone. “Are you okay? You’ve been really quiet considering that it’s you and all. It’s usually hard to get a word in edgewise after we close a deal and yet you’ve barely said a word.”

“Oh, I’m fine,” I said. “Just thinking about Dash St. Clair.”

She shot me a wide grin. “Hot, huh? Hotter in person, I’d say.”

“Definitely,” I said because I was a human being and denying it would’ve only made her suspicious, but damn, I’d been completely right about him being a hell of a looker. It was too bad about his personality, though. “If only a conversation with him wasn’t like trying to talk to a wet rock, that might’ve been nice.”

She frowned, spinning to face me as she walked backward into my kitchen, as familiar with the layout of this place as I was at this point. “Really? Diana was the complete opposite. She didn’t stop talking the entire time I was with her. She’s awesome. I love her and I want her to adopt me.”

“I love her too, but she must’ve gotten all the personality in that family.”

“He has four brothers. Maybe that just made him quiet. I’d imagine it could be pretty chaotic growing up in a house like that. All that testosterone in the air.” Julie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as if she could smell it. “Paradise.”

“Nah.” I kicked off my heels, pulled out a bottle of wine, and reached onto the exposed shelf for two glasses. “I think he’s just an entitled, know-it-all snob. He thinks he’s too good to plan a wedding with me.”

“Wow.” She chuckled, slinging her purse off her shoulder. “Less than an hour with him and you’ve already decided that? It seems a bit extreme. Especially for you, Ms. Glass-Half-Full.”

She sat down at the dinner table in the center of the kitchen.

I filled the glasses with a crisp white and carried them to the table to join her. “Exactly. You’ve got to know it’s true if even I say it.”

“Fair enough.” She tilted her head at me, her baby browns curious as she watched me sit down. “What did he do to be the only person, other than the one we shall not speak about, to get on your bad side?”

I shrugged, twirling the stem of my glass between my fingers. I dropped my gaze to the ripples on the surface of the liquid. “There wasn’t just one thing, but he was not happy with anything I offered. He refused to speak to me even when I asked really easy questions to try and draw him into the discussion. I almost felt like he couldn’t even be bothered to look me in the eyes.”

“Maybe he was looking at your tits,” she teased. “You’re really letting the girls out to breathe in that outfit.”

I snorted. “It was more like he was looking through me. I swear, he’s one of those that just can’t stand to look at us normal people.”

She arched a steep eyebrow at me, taking a pointed look around. “Since when are you normal? Have you seen where I live compared to this place? You’re from an old-money family too, but you’re also independently wealthy and you negotiated a kickass settlement for yourself. You’re not normal, girl. Plus, again, your boobs look killer in that top.”

I bit back my smile at that last part, but it didn’t quite work. “To be fair, I didn’t negotiate that settlement all by myself. My lawyer helped. A lot.”

“But she was able to because you had the balls to stand up for yourself,” Julie said, as if that settled everything. “You’re thirty years old, a TV star in your own right, and you’re now running a major events company in the event capital of the world.”

“I doubt London and New York would agree. Tokyo either, for that matter, and what about⁠—”

She groaned, holding up her palms in surrender. “Okay. Fine. I get it. Los Angeles is a strong contender though, and you’re a strong contender for the best there is around here. That counts.”

“Thanks, but what’s with the sudden pep talk?”

“It’s not a pep talk.” She scoffed, but then her gaze came back up to mine and she shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. You seemed bummed after the meeting. I figured you needed reminding of who you are.”

I held her eyes for a moment, knowing she was right. It wasn’t because of the meeting, though. Recently, I’d been just a little bit less happy. A little bit less optimistic. A little bit less resilient, even.

My ability to see the silver lining in every situation and the good in every person had been diminished, what I’d once regarded the best aspects of my personality significantly muted.

Ethan had done a number on me during our marriage and it’d taken me far too long to realize it. I carried the effects of that with me every day, and facing off with a man like Dash exhausted me.

I sighed. “Okay, you’re right. Enough moping. This will officially be the most profitable wedding we’ve brought in and we should celebrate.”

“I thought that was what we were doing,” she said, tipping her head toward the glass in her hand. “Isn’t it?”