“Lovely girl,” his father said, and Raffi about wanted to die. “What are you doing with my son here?”
Ani held her breath, and Raffi quickly answered. “She’s the wedding planner. We’ve been working together.”
“Ah, yes,” Moushegh said. “I recall now, seeing you the day Kami Mardian was here.”
Moushegh lurched over to the window and peeked out. “The cockroaches appear to be leaving. Whatever you said to them, Ani, my girl, seems to have worked.”
Ani was standing near enough to him that Moushegh tapped her on the shoulder twice. Ani didn’t seem to mind; her smile was genuine.
“Thank you. I’m relieved it did.”
Speaking of relief, Raffi wanted to get Ani away from his dad as soon as possible because who knew what would come out of Moushegh’s mouth next.
“Ani, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s head out back.”
“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, Mr. Garabedian,” Ani said in Armenian.
“Please, call me Moushig,” his dad said with a smile.
Oh no. Dad liked Ani. He wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing. Probably a good thing, but it still made him feel uncomfortable. His dad wasn’tkind. Raffi didn’t want Moushegh inflicting any of his negative vibes onto his girl.
Hisgirl. He liked that.
It was a little after ten now, and Raffi felt he’d lived an entire lifetime since waking up. From coffee to the video, to diurnal activities, to surprise paparazzi, to his dad meeting his brand-new girlfriend. It was too much. He breathed out a great sigh when they were entirely out of Moushegh’s earshot. Raffi steered Ani into a storage closet, mostly empty but with some spare bar towels, bottle openers, extra menus, and the like. The faint scent of oak filled the air as he closed the door behind them.
“Sorry,” he said. “Needed a little quiet alone time with you before jumping into the next thing. And who knows what’s going to be out there.”
“Pirates?” Ani ventured.
He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“You were amazing, by the way. How did you do that? In the car you were practically shaking, talking about your sexed-up hair, and two seconds later you were addressing the press like the president of the United States.”
She shrugged. “Figured it might help take the attention off your dad. Journalists don’t like getting yelled at, I imagine. I used to follow a lot of celebrity gossip back in the day, and I remember reading that the paps would get even for celebrity bad behavior.”
“Well, you were fucking fire. Water, really. Cool, smooth, placid as hell.”
“Thank you…” She blushed pink, and it was so damn cute. God, he adored her.
“But Raffi,” she said. “We should be extra careful now. I don’t think the press is interested in us at all, but you never know how big Grace is going to get. If they dig into her history, then Kami’s history, and find out that youandme both dated Grace’s future wife? They might get interested. So let’s sort of lie low? Do not look at me adoringly like you were two seconds ago.”
“You could see that?”
“Oh yes, and I would like much more of it at a later date.”
“Good. You’re getting it.” He kissed her quickly to keep his arousal at a minimum. They had things to discuss in this closet. Not things to do. Even though he really, really wanted to do things.
“And also,” she started biting the edge of her nail, then whisked her hand away. “This wedding is now a lot more high stakes.” She looked downward. “As if it wasn’t already,” she muttered.
That was odd; what was high stakes about the wedding asis? That it was Kami’s and Ani felt some sort of obligation to make sure it went well? Or that she was dating the guy who ran the place?
“What do you mean by that?” Raffi asked.
For a millisecond, Ani’s expression mirrored a frightened doe’s, but it zipped by so quickly he wasn’t sure he’d seen it at all. Then she appeared unconcerned. “You know, that I’m trying to break into luxury weddings and this could be my chance.”
“Ah, right.” He felt bad, suddenly, about his comments when they first met about her lack of elaborate weddings on her website. What a dick. “You’re going to crush it.”
“Well, let’s hope so. The press around Grace? It can be a really good thing,” she said, beaming. “Because I think we can pull it off. Disastrous if we can’t. But seriously, it could mean big things for us both, if we do it right. And I believe in us.”
