by Sierra Rose
No sooner had I thought the words, than a pair of red talons closed around my arm and spun me around. It was the same bitchy girl from before, the one who seemed bent on my personal destruction. Her posse was right behind her as if to cheer her on. This time, she had a man with her—facing away from us as he murmured something to a tuxedoed stockbroker behind him.
In slow motion, he turned around. Our mouths fell open as our eyes met.
“You!” he said.
Let me preface this by saying that if this exact situation had happened to somebody else, I would have thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Amanda and I would have reveled in the impossible irony and delightfully downed tequila shots as we waited to see what would happen next. That’s probably why the cosmos saw fit to send this misery to me.
It was the rich man from the coffee shop.
Oh my gosh! This was his party?
Shit!
My heart thundered. No way could this be happening!
His eyes widened infinitesimally as he recognized me, and I turned the parched bone shade of his marble floors. If only I could slip through the tiles. If only there were a power outage, or an earthquake, or even something based loosely off one of those “gigantic animal” sci-fi horrors I was obsessed with. But no such luck. The silicone angel who facilitated all this was staring from one of us to the other with obvious glee, already basking in the grisly aftermath. I closed my eyes, bracing for one of the greatest tear-downs of all time.
But all I got was a soft kiss on the cheek.
“Hello, darling,” he said.
...what?
I opened my eyes to see him standing much closer than he had been before. A tailored arm slid gently around my waist.
“Hello, Markus,” I said.
He smiled, flashing me his perfect white teeth. And damn, did he have the most gorgeous, movie star smile.
When you thought “billionaire.” you usually pictured old men with tufts of grizzled hair coming out of their ears. But there was nothing grizzled about this guy. Quite the contrary. If I had to sum him up in one word and rich had already been taken, I think I would have gone with beautiful.
He had pale golden skin, a mesmerizing color that spoke to the fact that he worked inside all day but still had time for the occasional tropical vacation. His hair was silky and dark—a bit longer than I would have expected considering the rest of his perfectly trimmed lines. It was a guy’s hair. The kind your hot roommate had, and every now and then you just had to scrunch your fingers through it—all the while swearing you were just friends. (Or so I’d been told.) And then, of course, there were the eyes.
I hadn’t forgotten his eyes. Truth be told, they’d flashed through my mind more than once since our run-in at the coffee shop. That impossible emerald gray that made my entire body pause just to look a little longer. It’s just, I never thought that I’d see them again. Or that they’d be staring with unnerving attention...at me.
For one of the first times in my life, I couldn’t seem to talk. Lucky for me, Medusa picked up where I left off. “You...you know her? You actually know...?”
The billionaire squeezed my waist, and I looked up helplessly to meet his glorious gaze. Those ocean eyes sparkled for a moment before he cocked his head toward the woman—a subtle invitation.
My confidence rose a fraction of an inch, and I leaned back unintentionally into his grip as I shifted on my teetering heels. “Rebecca,” I reminded her with a victorious smile that didn’t entirely hide the fact that my knees were shaking.
Marcus smiled. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you took my breath away.”
My eyes tightened painfully into another over-animated smile. Just get it over with, man. If you’re going to out me—just do it already. But instead, he kept going along with the charade. Hey, I’m an actress so I got into character.
I shot him a seductive look. “Then you like the dress, babe?”
“Rebecca, you’re simply a vision,” he said in awe. “I can’t take my eyes off you.”
I touched his face and smiled. When he leaned down, I softly kissed him on the lips. Electricity shot through me. “Thank you. I knew this was your favorite color and I wanted to look perfect for you.”
“So you really know her?” his friend asked.
He stared into my eyes and smiled like he was completely smitten by me.
“We’ve been dating since—oh, when would you say, sweetheart?” he asked.
The fingers squeezed my waist again, and I sucked in a breath. Maybe he wasn’t providing a merciful exit after all. Maybe he’d just devised his own little torture for me. That’s okay, because I could play right along. I was born for this kind of stuff. I excelled at impromptu acting.
“Oh, you know...” My eyes darted around the room as I looked for an exit. “Sometimes, it feels like I just jumped into this relationship.”
He tilted back his head and laughed like I’d just said the funniest thing in the world. Meanwhile, the girl backpedaled so fast I thought her head would spin off in the process.
“I’m sorry, Marcus, I—”
His eyes flickered to me for a fraction of a second, like he’d guessed my dilemma, but a second later he was staring at his blabbering guest, a slight smile playing around the corners of his mouth. I watched him carefully, scouting for any opportunity to slip away, but he seemed instantly bored by the conversation and turned almost immediately back to me.
“No, when would you say it all started?” He posed the question with a curious tilt of his head, causing his dark hair to spill gracefully across his face. “I’d say it all went back to that little coffee shop, wouldn’t you?”
“Coffee shop?” I echoed, a little light-headed. “Oh...I’d quite forgotten.”
“I didn’t.” He looked me straight on and grinned. “I think about it all the time.”
My heart skipped a beat. I gazed into his eyes, smitten.
“That’s sweet,” was all I could say.
“You two met in a coffee shop?” the woman asked.
I nodded. “I broke up a fight. Marcus was about to get his ass kicked by this huge bodybuilding dude.”
“I had the situation completely under control,” he said.
“Did you, darling? You’re just lucky I was able to sweet-talk that Hulk down and buy him a cup of coffee.”
“I think he was just as smitten with you as I was.”
“I’m so glad I was running late. Or else I would’ve never met you. I think it was fate we ran into each other. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
He softly kissed my hand. “Since the day we’ve met, you’ve captured my heart, my love.”
“Well, it was great to see you again, but I really have to be getting home. I have this...you know...another lover who requires my attention.”
The women all laughed.
“She’s a doll,” one said. “So funny.”
“And that’s why I love her,” Marcus said.
I pulled myself casually away, but Marcus held on tight, eyes dancing as he threw back his head with another sparkling laugh. “Another lover? Rebecca, you liar,” he chided. He pulled me close enough to catch a faint whiff of sandalwood as he smiled down into my face. “We all know the only lover you have here is me.”
“Well, of course, that’s true.”
“Besides,” Snake-eyes just couldn’t leave it alone, “you still have to give Marcus your present.”
“Present?” I blanked. I’d completely forgotten. Goodness—did the lies ever stop?
“You got me a present?” Marcus smiled cheerfully, finally releasing me. “That was considerate of you, pumpkin.”
“Yes...” I faltered. “Wasn’t it?” A shaking hand brought the champagne back up to my lips, but when I finally lowered the glass, they were all still staring at me.
Marcus, in particular, looked like he was having a fantastic time.
“So what is it?” he prompted.
I almost chok
ed on the bubbly. “What is what?”
“My present.” Those damn ocean eyes were laughing at me. “Can I have it?”
My brain recoiled in a fog of sheer panic, but in spite of it all, I emerged with a single moment of clarity. Go big or go home, right? I was already in this far.
“It’s actually not for you, per say.” I smiled sweetly. “I found a mate for Dolly.”
Marcus cocked his head curiously, pursing his lips.
“The peacock,” I clarified, surprising even myself with this burst of ingenuity.
The lips twitched, threatening to break character. “You mean Eduardo?”
“Who’s Eduardo?”
“The peacock.”
The smile froze on my face. “The peacock is a male?”
Marcus chuckled and caught me with that damned arm again. “Yes, darling. The male of the species is the one with the exaggerated decoration and plumage.”
I glanced casually around the ballroom. “Yet another example where life imitates art.”
There was a faint laugh from the snake lady, but Marcus’ impossible eyes stared down intensely into my own, searching for the secrets there. His arm tightened, pulling me closer, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“Would you care to dance?”
I glanced up at the people ostentatiously waltzing past and stifled a shudder. “Dance like a Viennese cupcake? Um, no.”
His eyes sparkled as the corners of his mouth turned up in a wicked smile.
“Excellent.”
A second later, we were somehow transported to the middle of the dance floor, twirling around like deranged teacups.
“Shit,” I hissed, clinging onto his arms for dear life. We narrowly avoided colliding with a pair of swirling dresses. “Look, I’m sorry I lied, okay? But think about this rationally—it’s not worth my life.”
There was a low chuckle as he pulled me closer to his chest, somehow avoiding my flailing serrated heels. “Why did you do it, anyway?”
I gave a small sigh. “Honestly...I didn’t think you’d ever find out.”
He chuckled again and spun us in a wide circle. “So it was for the recognition?”
I opened my eyes with a narrow glare. “No, it wasn’t for the recognition. It was to put that ridiculous snake monster in her place. She was treating me like crap. I thought they might be nicer to me if I said I was your girlfriend. It just came out. I swear, I never planned it.” We swept around a tight corner, and my fingers clawed at his arms. I had no idea how he was managing to pull this off and somehow still look graceful, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. “I said one thing to one person. You’re going to humiliate me in front of an entire crowd?”
His eyes flashed. “Well, I’d hardly be the first one of us to do something like that.”
...He had me there.
I lowered my forehead to his chest and tried to tune out the tunnel-vision panic that was settling in. Suddenly, despite my designer dress, lethal heels, and sculpted hair and makeup, I couldn’t have felt more out of place. Some people had the “naked at school without their homework” dreams, I had this. It was my own personal nightmare. Being forced to dance like this in front of a room full of people.
“I can’t dance,” I murmured. A thin sheen of sweat was glistening on my forehead.
“You’re doing fantastic.”
“Am I?”
“Hey.” Something about his voice commanded my attention, and I looked up into his eyes. For the first time all night, they were serious, thoughtful. They held mine with a sincerity I couldn’t ignore. “I’m not going to drop you. We’re just dancing. You’re not going to fall.”
I searched his eyes for any sort of joke or deception but found none. In the end, I nodded quickly, taking a deep breath and gripping his hand and shoulder with more purpose.
“That’s it,” he smiled, “I’ve got you.”
We started spinning with more and more speed, and in seconds, the rest of the crowd had faded to a blur. He and I were the only solid things left in the room. I gasped and pulled myself closer, but he kept on staring at me with those sparkling eyes.
“Now hold on.”
I stifled a shriek as he swept us through the room as if we were the only ones dancing, lifting me, so the tips of my heels barely touched the ground. I smiled as he shot me a thousand-watt smile. Nobody had a more beautiful smile than this guy. I could feel the light fluttering of butterflies in my stomach as we twirled again and again, tracing graceful lines under the twinkling chandeliers. After I got over the initial shock that this was really happening and that I was actually keeping up, my face lit up with a breathless smile. A delighted giggle escaped my lips, and he beamed back at me, tossing me lightly into the air before catching me in a low dip as the ends of my hair swept the ground. I was having an amazing time.
There was a frozen moment where I gazed up at him, only vaguely aware that we were the only ones not dancing in a room full of spinning dolls. Then, a throat cleared sharply right over my shoulder and the moment passed.
He pulled me quickly to my feet, and I turned around to find myself face to wrinkled face with an Asian businessman. He was flanked on both sides by younger versions of himself, and from the hard set of his mouth, he liked dancing just as much as I did.
“Mr. Takahari,” Marcus exclaimed, taking a respectful step back. There was a caution and deference to the way he regarded the man. And there was something else too. He looked almost...nervous. It was an expression that seemed ill suited to his handsome, confident face. He was the kind of man who didn’t get nervous. Even when that ex-wrestler maintenance man outside the coffee shop had been about to kick his ass, he looked firmly in control.
His eyes flickered to me with a silent plea, and I raised a teasing eyebrow. But I wound my fingers through his hand and politely held my tongue. He had saved me from becoming roadkill out on the dance floor; I would do this for him.
“Mr. Taylor,” the gentleman responded. The only person not to call him Marcus. “Pardon my intrusion. I was about to take my leave, yet I could not help but notice your delightful companion. Usually, you surround yourself with two or three.”
Two or three?
I glanced at Marcus curiously, but he blushed and placed his hand on the small of my back. “It’s no intrusion. This is Rebecca, my girlfriend.”
Although I’d heard the words whispered from every corner of the crowded dance hall, there was something different about the way he said them now. It was a supplication. And whether it be from the flush of dancing, or the relief that I wasn’t being charged with identity fraud, I didn’t hesitate when I stepped up to the task.
And for just a minute in time, I felt like a princess. I was dressed up for the ball and the handsome prince had called me his girlfriend. I wished this night could last forever. Because this kind of stuff never happened to me.
“Pleased to meet you. It’s Becca, actually.” I offered my hand, and the old gentlemen took it mechanically. “Now is when I would typically try to charm you by reciting something quaint in Japanese, but alas, I’m ill-equipped.”
There was a split-second pause, and then the old man’s face cracked into a thousand different lines as he laughed a strange, guttural cackle. I leaned back imperceptibly to avoid the spray of spit that followed, but I was pleased with my efforts. Despite his crusty exterior, I liked the old man. He reminded me of a few of my patients. I glanced sideways at Marcus for approval, but Marcus was staring at the man like he’d never seen him laugh before. Like he didn’t know he could laugh.
“Don’t speak any Japanese, do you?” he croaked when he was through.
“I learned a poem once,” I admitted. “Something about red dragonflies and a bunch of other beautiful imagery—but to be honest, I only did it to impress a guy in college.”
The uproarious laughter continued, and Marcus stared on in shock. Even Takahari’s aides seemed completely at a loss as to what to do.
When the
old man finally quieted, he took my hand in his own and led me off to the side of the floor, a bewildered Marcus trailing behind. “I am hosting a charity golf tournament in a few days’ time. I hope I will see you there, Becca.”
Not a chance in hell.
“I’ll check my schedule.” I squeezed his arm gently and smiled. “Now stop hogging me, old man, I have a billionaire to land.”
Another spray of spittle, but I was already back in the crowd, weaving my way outside to the door. There was a small commotion behind me, and I thought that I should probably say goodbye to Amanda, or even Marcus—at this point, but every instinct I had was telling me to leave before things got any worse. Both literally and figuratively speaking, I’d been dancing on the edge of a knife all night. It was time to go home.
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
Marcus’ voice behind me made me stop. I turned around to see him standing with two champagne glasses, one in each hand.
Yeah, well, I can’t believe I’ve done a lot of things tonight, I thought.
“I shouldn’t have said the billionaire line,” I said. “But I was just kidding. And he was laughing.” I ran my fingers up my scalp, only to have them buckle against the stiff helmet that used to be my hair. “It was great meeting you. Thanks for playing along. But you’re off the hook now. I’m going to find my friend and we’re going to get going. We had a lovely time at your wonderful party. Thank you for everything.”
He gave me a small smile. “I know you want to leave—but one more drink?” He held up the flutes hopefully and cocked his head up toward a balcony. “To celebrate our success?”
I wanted to go. And maybe I should have. But there’s something fundamentally impossible about leaving a gorgeous man holding a glass of champagne to return to a hovel in East Hollywood. After a moment’s pause, I cracked.
“Such as it is.”
I followed him silently past the velvet dividers up to the forbidden second story, casting wide-eyed glances up and down the halls.
“Is that a Degas?” I asked, curiously referencing the one painter I happened to know. It was hung side by side with a finger painting of a splotchy butterfly.