Mr. Arrogant was finally able to get his private jet brought down from Canada, so he and whoever he brought as his plus-one flew in a day after us.
Down the hall, Beck opens his door. He steps out halfway and leans against the doorframe with his white dress shirt half-unbuttoned. “Yes?”
Quinn places a hand on her hip, the dark-green satin of her dress moving slightly. “When you see me, what is the first thing that comes to mind?”
My brother eyes her up and down longingly. His mouth curves up on the side, and I’m certain whatever comes out of his mouth is going to piss Quinn off even more than Jasper saying she looks fine.
“The word that comes to mind is...” He leans in closer to her. “Mine.”
Jasper glances at me. “Are they a thing?”
Quinn’s voice rings through. “I am not yours, Beckham! Not even for tonight.”
“You’re my date, so you kind of are.”
“Date, yes. Plaything? Never.” She throws her long, auburn hair over her shoulder and pushes Beck back into his room. “Hurry up and get dressed. I don’t want to be late.”
He follows after her, grinning like a fool, and shuts the door.
“Well, that answers that,” Jasper says.
A laugh falls from my mouth, and Jasper grins at me.
I gaze at his handsome smile and vibrant green eyes, hopeful a spark will appear, but nothing happens until I hear a door open up behind him.
My body buzzes before I even see him.
The air in the hallway shifts, and I can’t flick my attention back to Jasper. I’m glued to Rome, desperate for some type of sign that he’s looking for me too.
Which he shouldn’t be.
Neither one of us should be looking for each other.
Not in a near-empty hallway or a crowded venue space.
Theonlytime either one of us should be searching for the other is on the track.
And yet, somehow, we find each other anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Six
ROME
Jasper.
More like Casper.
He’s paler than my white dress shirt, and he gelled his hair like he’s afraid a tornado is going to rip through and destroy it.
“Over here, Rome.” I turn, along with my date, toward another camera on the red carpet.
My hand hovers over Rebecca’s lower back.
I can’t seem to touch her in the way that I usually do, considering the entire reason I brought her was to end the rumors of something going on with Tessa and me.
Maybe it wasn’t the entire reason, but it was part of it.
I thought bringing Rebecca would get my mind back on the straight and narrow, away from this back and forth with Tessa, but here I am, gaping at her as I walk past her and her date posing for a photo.
