“What’s wrong?”
Bryn looked up at her with an unreadable expression.
“What?” Vivian snapped, needing to know what the hell was wrong. To identify what she needed to fix.
“I don’t know, you just called me an actor and complimented my craft in one breath, and I need a sec to recover,” she replied, hand to her chest.
Vivian chuckled despite herself, relieved nothing was wrong. “Did I miss the talk on melodrama?”
Bryn grinned and Vivian would have given anything to call up that expression on command. To keep it in her pocket and absorb it like a blast of sunshine when she was lost in the cold and forgot how good the heat could feel.
“Do you have dinner plans?” Bryn pivoted unexpectedly while they walked toward the lobby.
“Why?”
Bryn laughed, looking over at her as if the question was ridiculous. She shook her head. “Because I’d like to take you to dinner, Vivian.”
All Vivian wanted was to ask her question again. To know why Bryn wanted to spend time with her. To know what she saw in her that most people didn’t. Vivian opened her mouth to politely decline, to say that she’d be eating room service in private like she’d always done. But she couldn’t bring herself to turn Bryn down, even if she couldn’t find the words to accept either.
“I was hoping to run into you.” Seraphina’s voice appeared behind them and set Vivian’s teeth on edge.
Vivian was going to turn around and tear into her in the middle of the crowded lobby while they ebbed slowly toward the elevators, but Seraphina continued talking before Vivian had the chance. Damn, she was getting slow and soft.
“Bryn, I’m very sorry that I approached you all wrong yesterday.” She summoned up more acting chops than Vivian had ever seen her display to sell her apology. “I didn’t realize how private your work is, but I?—”
“It’s okay,” Bryn said easily when she should’ve eviscerated her. “I should have handled that better?—”
“No, no.” Seraphina’s bony fingers curled around Bryn’s forearm and Vivian had to fight the visceral urge to tear her hand away. To tell her not to fucking touch her. “It was a very clumsy and tacky move on my part. I’ve been so impressed with your work on the app and I wanted to pick your brain on getting started there too.”
Seraphina looked at Vivian as if expecting a pat on the head for being discreet but all she got was an unimpressed glare.
She cleared her throat and continued. “Right. Well, I’d love to buy you dinner and ask you some questions. Is that?—”
“We have dinner plans,” Vivian interrupted, like the practiced swing of the executioner’s axe.
“Oh.” Seraphina’s smile was nothing like Bryn’s. It was comparing nickel to platinum. “Of course.” She shifted her attention to Vivian and then back to Bryn. “Well, I’m sure I’ll be in the hotel bar when you return. Can I buy you a drink then?”
Vivian was still opening her mouth when Bryn replied with a cheery, “Sure! That’d be nice.”
“Great, see you later!”
Seraphina retreated, a fox having snatched its prey and running off before Vivian could do anything about it.
Bryn gave Vivian an accusatory glance as soon as Seraphina was gone. “Be nice.”
“To whom?”
Bryn rolled her eyes and stepped into the endless line for the elevator. “She was sorry.”
Vivian laughed. “Bryn, you can’t trust people. Not here. They’re all egotists looking for any neck to step on that might get them a little closer to the spotlight.”
“You’re not, and neither am I,” Bryn said with unwavering and misguided conviction. “We can’t be the only two people?—”
“This isn’t a nursery full of African Violets,” Vivian said, moving forward when another group boarded the elevator. “You’re more likely to find pitcher plants at industry events,” she explained, using a metaphor Bryn might absorb more easily. “Everything here is meant to be attractive by design. Supposed to trick you until it’s too late and you’re drowning in the nectar you thought you wanted. Assume everything you touch is carnivorous unless proven otherwise… and even then.”
Gazing at her with something dangerous swirling in her bright eyes, Bryn moistened her lips. She held Vivian hostage, pulling her in with nothing but the way her bottom lip slid slowly between her teeth.
“What does that say about you?” Bryn’s voice was low and soft and the only thing Vivian heard in the ambient noise. “Are you carnivorous too?”
