"Who knew you had standards?" He chuckles before he takes a drink. "Tonight is invitation only. Point her out. Maybe I know her."
I don't know how the hell he thinks he can recognize anyone from our vantage point. It's a goddamn miracle that I spotted Sophia from where we are. "She's brunette, long hair, black strapless dress. She's in the middle of the floor practically crawling all over a brown-haired guy in a cheap suit."
He doesn't even bother to glance in the direction I'm pointing. Instead he looks right at me. "Does she have pale blue eyes, full red lips and an ass that should be illegal?"
I don't know whether to punch him or fall over from shock. "That's her."
He turns back to the security guard. "Go get, Sophia. Tell her I need to see her now."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sophia
I stareat him for a few seconds. Nicholas is standing in a private room in the VIP area of Veil East. He looks so fucking hot right now that I can barely control my desire to reach out and touch him, but I do. I stand in place, facing him and Crew.
Why is it that a guy can put on a pair of black pants and a white sweater and look like that? I seriously don't understand how any man can be as good-looking as Nicholas is.
"You two already know each other, so we'll skip the introductions." Crew approaches me with a chilled bottle of water in his hand. "Drink some of this, Sophia. You're dehydrated."
"I'm not," I protest but take the offered bottle. I unscrew the cap and swallow a large gulp. "Do you two know each other?"
"We went to high school together." Crew points at a booth. "Do you want to sit?"
"No." I drive the heel of my shoe into the carpet. "I want to know why you ordered me up here."
"How much have you had to drink?" Crew tugs his phone from his pocket. "Don't lie to me. I can call down and find out."
"No need, General Benton." I throw him a mock salute. "I had zero drinks tonight. I have to work on a dress when I get home so no alcohol for me."
"You dance like that when you're sober?"
Nicholas chuckles at Crew's obvious insult.
"What's wrong with the way I dance?" I shuffle my feet. "Did you call me up here to criticize my dance moves, Crew?"
"How do you two know each other?" Nicholas turns toward me. "Did you date each other?"
"No," I say too loudly. "No. There's no way. No."
"What the fuck, Sophia?" Crew throws his hands in the air. "You make it sound like a fate worse than death. I can tell you that I've never had a complaint from a woman."
"Never?" I concentrate on the smirk on his face. "I find that hard to believe."
He looks straight at Nicholas. "Sophia and I worked together about a year ago. We first met as she was walking out of one of our stores. I was on my way in and stopped her."
"You worked at Matiz?" Nicholas brows shoot up. "Haven't you been at Foster Enterprises longer than that?"
"I have." I let out a small sigh. "It’s complicated and we keep it quiet, but I did some modeling for Crew."
Crew opens the browser on his phone and pulls up a very familiar image from last year's fall lipstick campaign. "Do you recognize these lips, Nick?"
Nicholas takes the phone into his palm and studies the picture. It's a cropped photograph of my face. The only visible area is my lips, which are parted and painted a deep shade of red. My two front teeth are on display too.
I've never been recognized as the woman in the campaign ads and I haven't told anyone, other than Cadence, that it's me.It's not that I'm not proud of the work, but it was just a side job. Crew paid me well for a few hours of my time, including a lifetime supply of Matiz lipstick in any shade I want. I'm partial to red right now but come spring, I'll switch back to pale pink.
"I've seen this on a billboard in Times Square." Nicholas hands the phone back to Crew. "So you two know each other because of that?"
"We've become friendly since then." He holds up his hand to ward off any questions Nicholas might throw his way. "Platonic friends, Nick. I asked her out for a drink right after we met and she turned me down. I'm glad she did. I don't have a lot of female friends, but Sophia is an important one to me."
