Julian:That’s it, bitch, I’m coming to get you
Julian:You aredoneworking
Julian:I’ll be outside Ember in five, and you’d better be ready
I’m trying to text him back, to tell him I’m not interested in going out tonight, when I collide with something hard enough that the air whooshes out of my lungs all at once.
At first, brain sloshing around in my skull like Jello, I think that I was so absorbed in my phone that I walked right into the closed elevator doors.
Then, I look up and into a pair of hazel eyes, staring down at me with amusement as I regain my bearings. He holds me by the biceps, like he’s worried I’ll faint.
The man is tall—at least as tall as Dane, if not taller—and broad, his shoulders a little wider than Dane’s, and his clothes alotmore relaxed. While Dane wears some combination of the same suit each day—charcoal gray, charcoal black, muted navy—this man is wearing a linen shirt, linen pants, and a gold watch that glints merrily from his wrist. His blonde waves sprinkled with silver are swept back from his face in a way that looks just like he’s just run his hand through them.
While I’m staring up at him, he takes one hand off me and thrusts his fingers into his curls, and I’m helpless to do anything but track the movement.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I decide that this must be Nico Hawthorne.
I’ve seen a million pictures of him, standing next to Dane in his Insta photos, splashed on the cover of magazines, and featured all over the Emberwebsite. But those pictures did nothing to show what he’s like in real life—animated, smiling with dimples, and oozing charisma.
“Well, hello,” he says, practically humming. “And who are you?”
Chapter 6
Nico
“I—I’m, sorry,” the cute little thing in front of me says, stepping backward and pushing her hair out of her face, eyes still locked on mine. “I’m Lucy Sullivan.”
Lucy Sullivan is short—much shorter than me, anyway—and sporting a mass of blonde waves a bit lighter than my own. They have the appearance of having been pinned up until recently, like she let her hair down after a long day of work.
Work.That’s what it looks like… like this woman works here, despite the fact that I’ve never seen her before. I’msureI would have seen her before, would have noticed her, around the office.
So Dane must have hired her while I was on my trip. The bastard.
“Lucy Sullivan,” I muse, running my gaze over her again and enjoying the way she seems to flutter under it, like she’s not really sure what to do with the attention. She’s wearing some sort of designer dress that hugs her curves nicely, following the line of her hips and chest in an almost modest way, but it doesn’t look quite right on her.
Lucy might be wearing Chanel, but she doesn’tsmelllike money.
I’d know—I grew up around new money, on the California coast, driving with the top down along the PCH, ocean glittering in the distance, the car filled with Hollywood brats. Girls whose fathers were directors, producers, or even actors. Money dripped off of them like it dripped from all of us.
At least, until it was suddenly pulled out from under me.
Clearing my throat, I tug casually at the cuffs of my shirt and shift my weight, appraising her. Lucy doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who could afford a dress like that. So what is she doing wearing it? How did she get it?
My eyes lock onto her lips as she parts them, sucking in a quick breath, just about to say something, but at that moment, the elevatordingsgently and slides open, and Dane is stepping into the hall.
I don’t have to turn around to know it’s him. My friend makes an impression on the atoms in the oxygen around us, refracting the light like he’s fucking Darth Vader or something.
Plus, Lucy’s gaze shifts over my shoulder, and her cheeks instantly go scarlet.
Interesting.
“Dane,” I hum, turning around, flashing him a winning smile. “Who is this young lady?”
Not looking at me, he fixes his gaze on her and says, “You shouldn’t be here this late, Lucy. Do you need a ride home?”
“No,” she chokes, looking down, “I—I’m going with Julian. He’s waiting downstairs.”
“Ju-lian,” I repeat, glancing at Dane with raised eyebrows. “Sounds like a fun night.”
