by C. J. Thomas
I parked my camera on my hip. She had a point, but having a nude shoot wasn’t where I wanted this to go. Not in the slightest. “But you will.”
She folded her arms across her breasts. “Look, you give me access to your connections and I’m gone. Out of your life.”
“What do you mean?” With Paisley, I couldn’t be too careful. Besides, I wasn’t going to just ditch my baby. And if I wanted to keep the baby in my life, I was afraid Paisley would be part of that deal.
“I’ll drop the child support, the lawyer, everything. All I ask is for you to refer me to your contacts.”
“That’s it, huh? Okay, but first I want a paternity test.” The words flew out of my mouth, unplanned. I hadn’t been sure I’d even get around to demanding it today.
Her eyes grew large and she stepped over the robe circling her feet. “What? Why would you ask such a thing?”
“I need to know that it’s mine.” I shrugged and fiddled with my camera again, pretending that this conversation wasn’t making me nervous as hell.
Her hands balled into fists. “Of course it is.” Nipples pointed at me, her breasts bounced as she stepped forward. “I’m not the one going around fucking other models. Refer me and I’ll leave. You’ll never see my face again.”
“Once I know it is for sure my baby you’re carrying, there’s no doubt you’ll both be taken care of.” I explained the paternity test, and without telling her why, made it clear it had to be this week.
“That’s just . . . you’re an ass and completely unreasonable.”
“I—”
She stalked toward me, her bare feet slamming to the floor with every step, reminding me more of a pelican than a pissed off woman.
I thought I heard one of the studio doors slam closed but it was hard to tell with Paisley screaming in my ear. “You are a fucking player. You’re fucking me. You’re fucking that other girl.” With every colorful phrase, she raised her finger in the air. And with every finger raise, her boobs bounced against her body. “God only knows who the fuck else you’re fucking. You fucking fuck.”
“You certainly went straight for the variety of the word.”
“Don’t even try to sweet talk me, Liam.” She started up with the whole finger bit again. “This is all your fault. If you had been sober enough to use a condom you never would have gotten me pregnant.”
“You were more smashed than I was.”
“Leave it up to a man to blame the woman. It’s always the woman’s fault for getting knocked up.”
I took a deep breath. “Look, all I’m asking for is a test. Once that is cleared up, we can figure out all the details.”
“Details? All I asked for was a few referrals.”
I kept my eyes on hers as she continued to go off on me without so much as a reasonable request.
None of this made any sense. Why bring a lawyer to get set up for life just to set that aside and ask for references when she was about to become so out of shape for at least a year that she wouldn’t even be able to model?
She was the one that should be pushing for a paternity test. The sooner we proved I was the father, the better for her. It made no sense to push back.
I propped my camera against my hip. “I’ve got all the shots I need for the day. Why don’t you go get dressed?” I draped the robe around her shoulders, trying to get her covered up, but she shrugged it off again and grabbed my hand. It took everything I had to not pull away and escalate everything beyond repair.
“We’ll get this worked out. We have to. A baby doesn’t just go away.”
I sat on my stool as she slipped back behind the curtain, knowing I should probably just be happy she hadn’t started humping my leg or something. I wouldn’t put much past her at this point.
“Ready for me yet?” The voice behind me came as such a surprise I nearly dropped my camera.
“Sadie?”
“Well, yeah. I am booked for three.”
I shot my arm up to look at the time. “It’s ten after.”
She nodded and I tried to read her face, to get some idea how much she’d heard. I thought back to the door slamming. It could have been the wind. Sadie was smiling and talking as though she’d heard nothing Paisley said. The last thing I needed was for Tessa to learn about any of this before I had it all worked out.
It would definitely work out.
It had to.
CHAPTER 44
Liam
“Am I interrupting something here?” Sadie gave me a half-smirk as Paisley put her hand against my lower back.
A hand attached to a very naked woman.
She knew Sadie was Tessa’s friend and would do what she could to sabotage me to get her way.
I stepped away to adjust the lights, not that I needed to. “Paisley, I’m already running behind on Sadie’s shoot. We can continue our discussion later.”
She stood for a moment, chin up, obviously not okay with the interruption, then said, “Yes, we certainly will.”
When Paisley stepped behind the curtain, Sadie kicked at the robe on the floor that Paisley had discarded. “If you think I’m wearing that thing today, you’re nuts.”
I chuckled and didn’t blame her a damn bit. “There’s a rose-gold dress on the rack that will go great with your dark skin.”
I heard Paisley sneer from behind the curtain and remembered that corset was basically what she wanted to wear.
After a few moments of shuffling, the back door opened and slammed shut.
“Think she bothered to put her clothes on?” Sadie asked with a smile, then stepped behind the curtain.
I wondered again just how much she’d heard of my talk with Paisley. But, really, there were some things I needed to know more than that.
Bryan’s advice to get married continued to play in my head like a track set on repeat. The whole mess with Paisley had thrown me off but now it was back on the marriage track. Hell, I had less than a week to make it happen and needed to know if Tessa would even consider it.
It was insane, but the only option I had.
“So, Sadie,” I said loud enough for her to hear me as she dressed. “By chance have you thought about where you want to go in your career?”
She didn’t answer for a minute and I wondered if she’d heard me. I was about to say something when Sadie stepped back into the studio, pressing the overbust against her breasts. “I’ve been enjoying working with you.” Her tone was very final.
“And after this collection?” I asked as I began to tighten the corset.
“Are you kicking me out?” She looked back at me and frowned. “I thought—”
“Not like that. You’re one of my best and I want to take care of you.”
She crossed her arms as I cinched in the laces.
“I’ve got some contacts in LA—one in particular that has an even bigger reach than I do here. It could be a huge opportunity for you to branch out. If you wanted that sort of thing,” I added, not ready to lay all my cards on the table. Yet.
“I hadn’t really considered leaving New York.”
“Don’t you and Tessa talk about what you want for the future?”
“Her life just got flipped upside down. She was hoping to talk to you tonight about staying on as one of your models for a while . . . but that doesn’t sound like what you’re planning, is it?”
I blew out a breath. Not exactly the direction I’d been heading toward. “Does she ever talk about being with me?”
Sadie laughed. “Women never talk about who they’re dating.” She turned around so I could inspect the full dress.
“Right,” I said. “Just like men never flex in the mirror.”
“Exactly.”
“Has she ever talked about any plans . . . with me?”
“Of course.” Sadie grinned. “I know you two are planning to have dinner tonight. She likes being with you.”
Likes? That didn’t help much. “Does she talk about how she feels?”
“What is this about?” sh
e asked.
I sat on my stool and couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “I may or may not have to go back to Switzerland and I’m trying to get everything worked out before I go.”
“Go? Why?”
“I’m getting deported unless . . .” Nope, couldn’t say it, so I switched gears.
“Did you just say deported? So this isn’t, like, a vacation?”
“Look, I want to make sure you still have work.”
“I get that.” She frowned. “But you were asking about Tessa—” Sadie’s eyes widened. She slapped my arm. It surprised me so much I jumped. “You’re going to ask her, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.” I ran my hand through my hair for the hundredth time today. “I need to know if it’s something she’d consider.”
“I know she’d consider it one day . . . holy shit.” Her mouth dropped as she pieced things together. “You mean now, don’t you? How soon? Few months? Weeks?”
“Days.” I muttered under my breath.
Sadie burst into laughter. “Wait. Please tell me that’s not why you started dating her.”
“God no.” I stood, unable to stay still any longer. “I found out about it after I met Tessa.” The same day, but Sadie didn’t need to know that. The attraction to Tessa was real, no doubt there. “There’s no doubt that I’d want to anyway. I just need to a little sooner to stay in the country.”
“A little sooner?” Sadie laughed. “You better go find a drive-through chapel and ask for extra sex with that.”
“You find this funny, don’t you?”
She held up her hands. “You want to ask my best friend to marry you in the next couple of days because you’re getting kicked out of the country. You’re checking with me to make sure she wouldn’t run to another country when you ask her. Am I right so far?”
“Something like—”
“And for the punch line . . . Paisley, the woman who just walked out of here naked, is apparently carrying your baby. Not Tessa, the woman you’re wanting to marry after a few weeks of dating.”
I pressed my lips together to keep a string of curses from bursting out. She’d heard enough to really throw a curveball.
“You want to know what I think?” She smirked and her dark eyes twinkled under the lights. “You’re fucking nuts. But hey, good luck with all that.”
CHAPTER 45
Tessa
Last night Sadie promised I could wear any of her dresses as long as I gave her the full recounting of tonight. I didn’t exactly like the idea of divulging the intimate details of my relationship with Liam, but for the first time, it was Sadie living vicariously through me instead of the other way around. And she had no trouble telling all. It wasn’t that she rubbed it in my face. Sadie just had more of a thirst for the thrill of it all. She loved talking about and experiencing new and different things. Liam definitely fit into that category for me.
Sure, he and I may have some fun later on tonight, but the purpose of dinner was to talk about modeling for him. Both Dani’s and my future relied on it—at least for the next few months.
I wasn’t sure why I was nervous. I placed my hand over the cuff on my wrist. If he cared enough to give me this as a present, he should be willing to keep me on as a model for a few more months.
But then, I’d always lived by the idea that things weren’t definite until after they were done. My ‘guaranteed’ job at my dad’s company was proof of that.
As I slid each hanger aside, I began to understand why Sadie took on her first modeling job while I’d been slogging my way through textbooks. The designer couldn’t pay her cash. Instead, he let the models keep some of his clothing.
None of these had tags but Sadie would remember who he was. The guy changed his name to something a little more French-sounding and his brand soared. Why anything fashion-related had to do more with a name than the style itself would probably always be beyond me.
I pulled out a red dress that wrapped at the waist to bring it in. It was just low enough up top and long enough at the bottom. I found a winner.
My phone rang with the Friends theme song that I added for Sadie’s ringtone after my marathon viewing with Dani and I hoped that Sadie hadn’t changed her mind.
“Hey, do you have any earrings to match your red dress? It’s the one with—”
“Forget the dress.”
My heart sank. I didn’t want to push Sadie’s generosity but I had to meet Liam in an hour for dinner and I certainly couldn’t wear the jeans I had on. “Come on, you promised.”
“No, no. You know I don’t mind you wearing my stuff as long as you take it off to get your freak on. Preferably not crumpled in a heap and kicked under the bed like some discarded sock. Especially if there is a discarded sock under there. I realize in the heat of the moment draping it over a chair might be a little much but . . .”
Sadie was rambling. Not something she did unless she’d become really excited or really nervous. It made me think back to the first time she tried sushi a few years ago. She went on about the fish roe on top and how they popped in her mouth.
I’d never actually heard her go on this much.
The first moment I could find an opening, I said, “I’m about to head out. Was there something you wanted to tell me?”
“Oh my god! You are never going to believe what I heard at the studio today.”
“I’m starting to think that by the time you tell me I’ll be at the studio myself.”
“No!”
My jaw went slack but I managed to say, “I’m supposed to work tonight and—”
“Liam wants to marry you,” she blurted out.
“Well, I haven’t really thought about it yet, but I could see that happening someday.” Just the thought warmed me and I realized it was true. If things kept going as they were, Liam really was The One.
“Marry you as in this—”
BEEP.
I held the phone out and saw I had another call.
“Liam’s calling me. Maybe I should just—”
“Let him go to voicemail. Didn’t you hear what I said?”
“No, I—”
“He wants to marry you this week.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear again, returned it, and asked, “Come again?”
“How many times do I have to—”
“I don’t understand.”
“He. Wants. To. Mar-ry. You. This. Week.” She enunciated each word slowly and it took a bit of willpower not to stop her in the middle.
“Rewind for me, Sadie. Breathe.” I decided to take my own advice and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “Why would Liam want to marry me this week, and where did you get that idea, anyway?”
“He’s having issues with immigration and is about to be deported.”
“That can’t be right. He never told me he’s going anywhere.” I thought back to all the times we were together. “How soon would he have to go?”
This was a lot to take in and I definitely needed some time to wrap my head around it. I hung the red dress back on the shelf. She had a point earlier; it really wasn’t going to be the right thing to wear tonight.
“Less than a week.”
Her words hit me like a full-on battering ram.
Like Dani’s did when she told me our parents had died during the night.
Liam hadn’t died, but him living halfway around the world in just a few days was close enough.
But then, that’d be why he wanted to marry me.
“This is a lot to take in.” I sat down on Sadie’s bed. Her satin bedspread hugged at my body and I invited the comfort. As much as Sadie wanted things to look good, comfort and functionality were just as important. Two things I could use right about now.
I needed to understand and I couldn’t be thankful enough that Sadie came to me first instead of Liam. Who knows what I would have said if it’d been him to drop all this on me.
Maybe most would have preferred it that way, but I needed time to process. Not that I’d co
nsider a few days nearly enough time to process.
“I can’t imagine what you’re thinking right about now.”
“No kidding,” I said. “I don’t know what to think.”
“There’s more.”
“More? How in the world could there be more?”
“Maybe I should have asked if you wanted the good news or the bad news first.”
“I . . .” I frowned and laid back on her bed. I looked up at her popcorn speckled ceiling and tried to focus on one nugget, then the next. “Wait, which news did you give me, the good or the bad?”
“Oh, honey, I know it’s fast, but I thought you’d be happy he wants to be with you.”
I closed my eyes, wanting to skip over whatever bad thing Sadie was about to lay on me.
“Do you remember that girl from the sauna?”
“The sauna . . . oh, the steam room? She’s one of Liam’s models, right?”
“You remember us going on and on about him with her in there?”
“That’s right. The worst odds ever. Who cares? I’m the one dating him.”
Sadie let out a breath. “Apparently . . . not the only one. At least as of two months ago.”
It felt like Sadie had just pushed my chest all the way through her bed and my heart lay in a heap on her floor.
“Look, I don’t know that he was dating you two at the same time, in fact, I doubt it.”
“There’s more to it, isn’t there? What is she, pregnant or something?”
Sadie cleared her throat.
“He got her pregnant!” I heard myself say the words but couldn’t feel the bed beneath me or the phone against my ear. Everything had gone numb. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what she’s claiming at least.”
“I’m supposed to be there in, like, half an hour. Do I act like I don’t know anything? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“So don’t go.”
“These are some serious allegations. Not that I don’t believe you, but I need to know the truth before I even speak to him again.”
“How are you going to figure anything out without talking to him?”
“Liam should be at the studio right now waiting for me so I’ll go to his place. Look around.”