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“You look great,” she insisted, grabbing my lunch bag out of the refrigerator and stuffing it in my hands.
I was wearing jeans, like everyone at the office did, but I was wearing heels and a tailored t-shirt, and I’d put my hair up because I thought it made me look older. More sophisticated. Something.
“He kissed you,” Liv reminded me as she walked me to the door. Then, because she had nothing else to do since I’d woken her up before her alarm went off, she walked me down the hall to the elevator bank. “He told you he wants you. What are you worried about?”
“That he won’t want meenoughto break his stupid rules.”
Liv tapped her pointer finger on her chin and pointedly didn’t say anything. She didn’t think his rules were stupid. She thought it made perfect sense. But because she was my best friend–and potentially considering starting something up with my little brother–she kept her mouth shut. When the elevator doors slid open, she said, “Have a good day, honey. Make good choices.”
“I’m trying,” I called as they slid closed between us.
At the office, Aiden had his door shut. I’d barely had time to put my purse down before Joe and Gloria were by my side. For an instant, I had the horror-struck notion that they’d seen Aiden and me at the game on Friday, that they were going to confront me now. But that was insane, of course.
“Surprise meeting,” Gloria said in tones so artificially bright that I knew it was not a good surprise. “We’re all about to meet Blake Morten, wundervet.” She said the last word in a German accent that made us all consider her carefully.
“What? The blonde hair, the blue eyes, the world domination attitude? He’s clearly a–”
“Gloria, please tell me you’re not about to refer to one of our clients as a Nazi,” Maureen said crisply, sailing past us. We fell into step behind her.
“No,” Gloria lied. “I was not.”
We followed Maureen to the best conference room, the one with the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. An administrative assistant was scooting around the long oval conference table, laying out napkins and water glasses. Two large pitchers of water sat in the center of the table. As we took our places, another admin assistant came in with a large round plate of bagels in one hand and a stack of cream cheese tubs in the other.
“Why are these all whole grain?” Gloria wondered, then at Maureen’s glare, pantomimed zipping her mouth shut.
“It’s because he’s a health nut, remember?” Joe spun one of the tubs of cream cheese around to read the label. Then he said something, but I didn’t hear it because Aiden was coming through the door.
He was wearing black jeans and a gray T-shirt that highlighted his broad shoulders and tapered torso. He also had a trace of a scowl on his face that he was in the process of erasing. In a moment, I saw why. Right behind him, glowing with a golden tan, blinding white teeth, and hair the color of old gold, was Blake Morten. He was in many ways Aiden’s mirror opposite. The same imposing height, the same length and breadth of body, but where Aiden was dark, he was light. In a story, Blake would be the white knight and Aiden would be the misunderstood bad boy on a redemption arc.
But despite the glowing good looks, there was something about him that I didn’t like. It was impossible to put my finger on it. Maybe it was the way he dropped into his chair at the head of the table, lounging and indolent like he was one of the big cats he loved so much. I loved cats and their don’t-give-a-damn attitude, too, but the attitude hit different in a human being.
He bestowed a shiny white, toothy smile on each of us in turn, but his glacier blue gaze snagged on me. “Hello,” he said, drawing out the word. “Are you new here?”
Maybe if it was high school, I would have giggled like he so obviously expected. Now, though, I just smiled and said, “Yes. I’m Layla Davis.”
“Layla Davis.” He repeated my name, pronouncing each syllable with great care, like he was sounding it out. “Nice to meet you, Layla Davis.”
The tension that had existed in Aiden from the moment he stepped into the conference room increased. It was nearly invisible, but I’d become an expert on Aiden in the past week. I recognized that the muscles at the base of his jaw were tighter than before. It pulled at the corners of his mouth until he was almost frowning.
“Layla is the newest member of our Brand Development team,” he said in clipped syllables. “This is more of a watch and learn situation for her. Maureen will oversee our work on your brand, and Joe will be your main point of contact.”
I bristled at the idea that I was so fresh that I had towatch and learn. I’d done two years in the cutthroat, fast paced environment of LA after all. I had just as much experience as Joe.
Blake gave me an intense look that rippled all the way through me, down to my toes. It wasn’t thrilling or exciting though, the way Aiden’s penetrating glances were. This one felt intrusive. The ripples were uncomfortable. I shifted in my seat, crossed my legs.
“This is my first time too,” he said in a quiet, confiding tone that felt too intimate for a conference room. Too intimate for any room with other people in it.
“Excuse me?” Aiden asked, his voice dipping into glacial territory.
“My first time beingdeveloped.” Blake stretched like–again, the image of a cat came to mind. A large tomcat who had been running the roost his whole life. “I’ve just been winging it up until now.” He flashed that ten-thousand-dollar smile. “But I guess I’ve done a pretty good job now that I find myself here having champagne with you fine folks.”
The way he talked was oddly familiar. It was nothing I could put my finger on exactly, but it was like he was speaking half in movie quotes. They were just familiar enough to catch my attention, but I couldn’t pin them to a specific movie or actor.
Across the table, Joe slid Gloria a sideways glance. He was confused.What champagne?The glance wondered. All we had were glasses of water and empty mugs because the coffee was still brewing at the other end of the room. The gurgling of the water as it began to bubble was the only sound for a long moment.
“Yes, I’d say you’ve done an excellent job.” Maureen took over the conversation smoothly when it became clear that Aiden had nothing pleasant to respond to Blake with.
The meeting was odd, to say the least. I’d met my fair share of entitled, narcissistic, overinflated egos in LA, but Blake was different. He was all of those things, but it was lacquered down under this bizarre pantomime of old school manners and charm. I could tell it fooled Gloria, Joe, and Andrew. They were under his spell immediately. Maureen didn’t know what to think. She thought something was off, but she wasn’t sure what.
