She was right. What the hell am I playing coy for? I should be shouting from the rooftops. Drawing hearts around his name doodled inside my journal. Investing in a lip scrub that would keep them primed and ready for the big moment.
Because who was I kidding? If the intensity between us continued, a kiss was sure to come.
“He said, ‘Kissing you will be the most fun I’ve ever had,’ ” I quoted with my best male accent. Trying to imagine how those sinful lips of his would feel against mine.
A smirk plucked at the corners of my mouth. I wasn’t ready for the pillow she threw at me as a bout of laughter puffed in the air. The words man slayer were hidden beneath the lilac sequins. Visions of Poppy wielding a sword in the midst of a battlefield of men fawning over her roused a giggle. A doodle I’d add to my journal later.
“I can think of a few things more fun than kissing. You sure he meant on the lips?”
I picked up the pillow and threw it back at her, laughing. “Of course, you’d take it there.”
“When the hook is offered, one must line and sink it.” She bowed and then leaned back in her seat. “So?”
“So what?”
Her eyes rolled. “So, did you kiss him? Jeez, woman. Do I need to pry it out of you?”
I sat straight, shoulders square. “Rule two: hold out on that fireworks-worthy kiss. Make him work for it.”
“Ah … the old make him work for it game. I played that a few times. So … when will the timing be right? Because the clock is a-tickin’.”
I tucked my legs under me. “I just … I need to process it.”
“Process what? The fact that Grayson Pierce admitted he wanted to kiss you?”
She was taking a spoon to my reluctance, digging at its core. How could I look away from the truth when she pulled it from me like a rotten tooth? A diseased thing that infected my chance at happiness. Because, deep down, I knew it wasn’t Grayson I was afraid of.
It was me.
I couldn’t look at her when I said, “All my life I’ve always felt so different from everyone else. Like I never fit in, even when I tried. I’m used to not being seen. Used to rejection. And I guess I never really thought I’d actually have a shot with him. Even now, it feels like a prank I’m about to wake up to. Guys have always found me …”
“A-dork-able?”
I gave her a flat look.
“What?” she said with a shrug. “You are though. Look at you. You have those big, bright Zooey Deschanel eyes. You embody that whole New Girl vibe. It wakes the beast in their pants when they discover uncharted territory.”
“What an analogy.” I leaned back with a giant sigh. “What if I don’t stack up against all those other women? I mean, he’s been with models, for heaven’s sake. And I’m … well, I’m me.”
I hadn’t expected the snicker that weaseled past her lips.
“Sorry,” she said, raising her hand in apology. “First off, I need to go cut some cheese for that wine. Or maybe pull out my tiny violin stored in my closet.”
“Funny.”
“And second,” she continued overtop me, “stop selling yourself short. Especially over a man. You’re more than enough, and as soon as you start believing it, so will everyone else. Right?”
“I suppose.” My thoughts drifted to that moment. To when I’d closed my eyes, desperate to feel his lips against mine. Desperate to know what it felt like to be kissed by someone like him. “But the truth is, I’ve never pictured my first kiss being with a guy I’m meant to betray. A guy I’m assigned to make fall for me. It doesn’t feel—”
Her face shifted, eyes squinting. “Don’t tell me you’re catching feelings already.”
“No,” I said quickly, though my insides protested at the lie. “No,” I repeated a little calmer. “But kissing him would seal the deal I made with the devil.” I let out a pitiful sound. “The problem is, what if I like it if we kiss? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to him.”
Insanely, heatedly, blindingly attracted.
“Who isn’t?” She smirked. “Well, aside from myself, of course.”
“Of course.” Laughter danced between us. Chewing on my cheek, I said, “The truth is, I wanted him to kiss me, Poppy. And I’d be an idiot to ignore that the more time we spend together, the more chances there will be for said kiss to happen. The more chances for my head to get all mixed up. I need to make sure I’m ready for that. For what could come. For what I might want.”
“Sex?”
My head dipped with a nod. The shades of red covering my cheeks deepened into crimson hues. Losing my virginity. I always felt such an aversion to the expression. Why was it a loss? Was what was on the other side so bad that it felt like a loss? Was it the innocence gone? What was it about sex that changed one from innocent to not?
And maybe that was why I’d held on to it for so long. I wanted to clarify what sex for the first time would mean to me before I chose to have it. Not what had been dictated by men or religion or society.
When I had sex for the first time, I wanted to give my virginity, not lose it.
Having Grayson Pierce as my first would be an outlandish dream come true. To say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind would be a lie. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. And with lips like his, surely, I’d come away with no regrets.
It didn’t help that I actually liked him, though that secret would remain locked away. He was sweet. Funny. Dangerously charming. And he liked books. Harry freaking Potter.
That was instantly in the panty-melting department.
My head fell to the side. “Where I come from, there wasn’t anyone I liked. No one who got me. Who made me even think twice.”
“I get it,” she said. “You aren’t into the farming type.”
“No. It isn’t that. It’s just … my town was small. Like everyone knows everyone small. And most are content with never leaving. And most like to be like everyone else. Me? I was the strange girl who never really spoke and kept her nose in books. Who was obsessed with lizards.” I fiddled with my hands on my lap. Peered up at her. “Maybe I was wrong for accepting this assignment. Maybe I’m not Virago material after all.”
She drew in a long, thoughtful breath as my confession hung in the air between us like a third wheel. “You want to know what I think?”
“Desperately.”
“I think you and that overanalyzing brain of yours is making this out to be way more than it needs to be. If you want to kiss him, kiss him. There’s no harm in kissing. And if the opportunity arises and you want to experiment a little more, go right on ahead. Call it an incentive for all the hard work you’re putting in. You’re in control of you, Prim. Your body, your control.” The smirk that tore across her face made me blush. “Besides, I doubt he’d complain if it came down to it.”
She was right. It would be just a kiss.
Who wouldn’t want their first kiss to be with Grayson Pierce?
I could kiss him and still keep my wits about me.
Right?
***
“Cherry!” Quinn’s shrill voice called from her office.
I jumped out of my seat, ignoring the smirk on Poppy’s face. I’d gotten better at upping my pace in heels, making it to Quinn’s office in a record ten seconds.
“Yes?”
She peered past me, eyebrows pointed into a V. “Where’s everyone else?”
I glanced past my shoulder, catching Poppy and Brinley peering over the edges of their cubicles, like snooping meerkats.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Quinn said with a heavy huff. “Tell them to bring their nosy asses in here.”
I waved them over and then took a seat across from Quinn’s desk. Her phone rang off the hook, but she muted it, closing her laptop for added measure. Her hands rested on the desk, her eyes pegging me, digging holes into the ground for me to bury myself in. I prayed for Poppy and Brinley to hurry because the silence in Quinn’s office was deafening.
Air whoo
shed out of me when Poppy took the seat beside me. Brinley pulled a chair from the corner on the other side, forming a sort of barricade between Quinn and me.
Quinn leaned back in her seat, kicking her heels off. “So, what’s the status?”
I stood, straightening my deep blue skirt that sported gold stars. It was my new favorite, which I’d picked up from a thrift shop a few days ago with Poppy.
“Jesus, Cherry. This isn’t boot camp. You don’t have to stand to attention.”
I sat. “Sorry.”
“Well?”
I knuckled my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “He, uh … he asked me on a date.”
“And?”
“And I said we’d let fate decide.”
The groan that rattled between her teeth made me jump. “Fate? This isn’t some fairy-tale piece, Cherry. I asked for dirt. Grit.”
“And she’s well on her way to getting it. Check this out,” Poppy said, pushing her iPad forward, tossing me a wink. “Front-page gossip.”
There I was, Grayson’s arm around my waist. His smile touching the moon. It was when we’d been on the dance floor at the charity event. When we’d been interrupted by the flashing of cameras.
“I look—”
“Happy,” Poppy said.
“I was going to say, smitten,” Quinn added.
“Nothing like myself,” I finished. It was true. I didn’t. My eyes were hooded with an intensity I’d never seen before. Desire. Longing. The spell he cast with his words about me being right for him. About us being good together. About waiting for me to recognize it …
The problem was, I had recognized it.
“Grayson Pierce moves on to his next victim,” Poppy read out loud. “You haven’t even kissed yet, and you’re famous. They’re already trying to figure out who his new mystery girl is.”
Waves of unease rocked in my stomach. “This isn’t good.”
“No, this is perfect,” Quinn said. “Look at his face. A peacock, wearing that new-car scent. Which means you’re handling things just fine. Which means I can check off one less thing to worry about around here.”
I tugged at the ends of my hair, rolling the strands between my fingers. “What if … what if he finds out I work here?”
“That’s part of the fun,” Quinn said. “Making sure he doesn’t.”
I didn’t dare tell her about my run-in with Harrison. A name that turned her from Quinn to Ms. Hyde.
She leaned back with a predatory smirk, skimming through the article laden with pictures of Grayson. “My, my. That man has an ass so tight, I bet he could squeeze a diamond out of coal. You’re lucky, Cherry. What I wouldn’t give—” It wasn’t until a picture of Harrison popped up that she froze.
And so did everyone else, waiting for her next move.
“What did he have to say?”
I wasn’t sure who she was asking about. Scratch that. I knew who, but I feared to answer.
“Who?” I squeaked.
“Harrison. Who do you think?” she barked. “Surely, you were introduced. Harrison leaves no woman unturned.”
“We did speak—briefly. He introduced himself. Asked a little about me.”
“And?”
“And I told him nothing.” I left out the rest of the details, for fear of what she’d do to her laptop and every other breakable thing in the office.
Her eyes narrowed. “Watch yourself. Now that he knows you’re with Grayson, he’ll come sniffing around. It’s in his nature. Every moment in that man’s life is an exhausting game of chess. He always has to be one move ahead.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, twisting my insides.
“Sorry.”
Her gaze flittered to Poppy. “Get my book.”
Poppy practically leaped to her feet before Houdini-ing out the door.
“There’s extra credit in this for you,” Quinn said, eyes still fixated on Harrison’s picture, who was mid-waltz with some woman.
“There is? How?”
“Dirt. I’m sure Grayson has some. And I’m sure, as you work your magic and he falls for you, you could learn a lot about his employer. Maybe even write an exposé.”
“Quinn …”
“Does Grayson know you work for me? The truth.”
My gaze dipped. “No.”
“Good. I want you to keep it that way.”
“But don’t you think it’s wr—”
“You do want to be a journalist, don’t you?” she spoke over me. “This is a part of it. Learn what you can and report back to me.”
I was grateful the moment Poppy reappeared in the doorway, holding Quinn’s holy grail of topics.
“It’s time for this sucker to find a new home.”
“She doesn’t like the book staying in one place for too long,” Poppy whispered.
“Brinley,” Quinn said. “You seem to have your shit together again. Here.”
Brinley’s face paled as white as a ghost.
“Oh, go on. Take it. It doesn’t bite,” Quinn said, pushing it toward her.
“Quinn, I—”
“You’re going to take excellent care of it, right?” Quinn nodded slowly, puppeteering Brinley to move with her.
Brinley followed the action, carefully placing it on her lap.
“Good.” She looked to me. “Soon, you’ll have your shot, if you play your cards right. Now, go on. Do what you’re being paid to do.”
The Dick-Wanderer
Prim
“I HATE LAUNDRY DAYS,” POPPY said from her seat on top of a washing machine.
I flipped the page of the magazine I was reading. An article on what to wear on a first date had me glued to the page. “It isn’t so bad,” I muttered, noting every word.
“Of course you’d think that. You can’t even handle a fleck of dust on your desk, for heaven’s sake.”
Lowering my magazine, I nudged her. Laughed when she pretended it was a hard shove and dramatically fell from where she sat. She reminded me so much of my youngest sister, Hazel. She was always getting into trouble. Always playing pranks on us, blaming it on everyone else.
“You’re insane, you know that?”
She couldn’t sit still. It was like every nerve in her body was on constant alert, in need of an outlet.
She sidled up beside me with a worn-down magazine in her hand and spread it across the top of the washing machine. Practically squealed when she flipped the page and found an ad for cat food. “Look at these little cutie babies! Just look at them. Gah … if only.”
“You’re a cat person?” I didn’t know why; I’d just never pegged her for liking cats—or any animal for that matter.
“Please. If my landlord allowed pets, I’d be the quintessential cat lady. I had three, growing up. Hartnett, Bloom, and Padalecki. All my favorite men.”
“Wait … you named your cats after actors?”
“Hey. I was young. And who are you to judge? Newt Scamander? Isn’t that from—”
“Fantastic Beasts. Yes. As a Hufflepuff, it’s my duty to represent.”
“Hufflepuff,” she said with a quaint giggle.
I knew Poppy hadn’t yet read HP. Though it was a shock to my wizarding system, I found it in my cookie-loving heart to forgive her muggle ways and bless her with my friendship and knowledge of all things HP.
“What’d you say I was again?”
“Well, I can’t know for a fact since you refuse to take the official test, but I’d put my money on that you’re a Gryffindor.”
“Gryffindork, more like it. Hey,” she whispered. “Dare me to do something funny?”
“What is it with you and your dares? Yesterday, you wanted me to dare you to ask the Uber Eats guy out. Last week, you dared me to give you twenty-four-hour unlimited access to my social media sites.”
“I was testing the boundaries of our friendship,” she said with a shrug.
I gave her a deadpan look.
“Pretty please?”
With a squeal, she pulled me to the back of the Laundromat and then pointed to one of the dryers. “Dare me to fit in there.”
I shook my head, laughing. “You’re out of your mind.”
“I’m not!” She paused. “Okay, maybe a little. Come on.”
“No way!”
“Fine. Bet me dinner I can’t.”
With an eye roll, I nodded, appeasing her. Peering left and then right, she opened the door and proceeded to cram her body inside the machine. It took a couple of attempts, but she fit right in. Even pulled the door toward her for good measure.
“Okay, Poppy. Get out before they see you and kick us out,” I hissed on a comical whisper.
I’d never been kicked out of somewhere before, and I surely didn’t want to start today.
Getting out seemed to be harder than getting in. I had to tug on her arms until her body finally gave way and plopped onto the ground like a tuna hauled over the edge of a boat.
We both fell. I was laughing so hard that a charley horse formed in my abs as I gasped and sputtered for air. A giggling fit of hysterics, followed by a round of hiccups.
“You’re insufferable, Poppy Hayes.”
The raspy male voice pulled our attention from our tangled bodies on the floor. Snuffed away all laughter as I sat up and pulled my glasses off to clean them.
I didn’t miss the tension that coiled through Poppy’s shoulders from the sound of his voice despite her efforts to hide it. She was up on her feet in a matter of seconds, her laughter left somewhere on the ground, leaving me scrambling to catch up.
“Finley.”
Finley’s sure stance sank at the curt note in her voice. He was tall and lean and looked a lot like trouble. A sleeve of tattoos covered his left arm and down his right. A five o’clock shadow shaded his jawline, and a tuft of curly black hair sat atop his head, unruly strands falling against his forehead. Black jeans hugged his thighs, ripped at the knees. The band of his Calvin Klein underwear stuck out, and a bare chest was covered in the words Live Free, just above a set of washboard abs.
“How have you been?” he asked.
I stayed behind them, watching as Poppy shoved her clothes from the dryer into the linen bag she’d brought. “I’ve been fucking awesome.” Emotion clung to her words. “That little stunt of yours really kicked my ass into gear.” She paused, placing a hand on her hip as she faced him. “Who knew moving on would be such a piece of cake?”
Love in the Headlines: A Star-Crossed Friends-To-Lovers Romance (Love in the Headlines Series Book 1) Page 9