“Nice digs, baby.” I felt his gaze slide over me in appreciation as he tossed his platinum bangs out of his eyes. “You make this place look even better. Where do you want me to set up, Della Darling?”
I blinked at the guy and then at Della. There weren’t a lot of flamboyant men in the circles I traveled in. In fact, I was pretty sure this was the first time I’d been in a room with a man who had a face full of flawless and artistically applied makeup. He was like a butterfly, flitting around the room in a colorful display.
“Crew, this is Sammy. He’s one of the top hairstylists in the city. He works on all our big media launches. Sammy, this is Crew Lawton. I need you to make him fabulous. Give him a look that will make every man in the world want to emulate him.” She took a step away as the smaller man moved toward me, sticking out his hand and offering a strong, sure shake when I put my hand in his.
He tapped his chin, painted mouth puckered into a thoughtful look as his eyes continued to rake over me. I lifted a self-conscious hand to my longish, normally unruly hair and shrugged as he continued to study me like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out.
“I don’t normally do much with it besides wash it. I wear a hat ninety percent of the time.” I liked it long enough so whoever I took to bed had something to hold on to, but beyond that, I never gave the dark mop much thought.
“You’ve never used product?” The man asked the question with a lifted brow and an aghast expression.
I chuckled under my breath and shook my head in the negative. “Nope.” I wasn’t even sure I knew what product was referring to.
I was inspected some more, the stranger lifting onto the tips of the very pointed boots he wore to poke at my hair and rub strands through his fingers. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Della stiffen as the stylist got closer and closer to me. I wasn’t sure if she was concerned about my reaction to being pawed at by another man, or if she was worried the verdict was going to be there was no helping my shaggy, unkempt mess. I may have no experience in being around someone like Sammy, but I liked his upbeat demeanor and carelessly cheerful chatter. He was touching me more than I’d typically let a stranger while I was stone cold sober, but Sammy kept everything very professional and brisk.
“Della Darling, I don’t think we should do much to him. He’s got a beautiful head of hair. That blue-black is nearly impossible to come by without dye, and the slight wave…to die for.” He smiled at me and turned to look at my keeper. Her spine stiffened even more. “If we give him an undercut or buzz him down to nothing he’s going to look like every other gorgeous guy we’ve shot for every other campaign we’ve done. Right now he’s special, wild, untamed. He looks like he just crawled out from between the sheets, and anyone who looks at him wants to take him right back to bed. Straight men are going to want to be him, gay men are going to want to do him, and I’m pretty sure all women will like looking at him. Most people have to work to have this level of sexy. Our cowboy comes by it naturally. I think we need to clean him up a little, give him an actual style and teach him how to use some product, but I wouldn’t mess with perfection.” The smaller man clapped his hands together in delight and looked over at Della for approval. “Less is more.”
I swore I could hear Della’s back teeth grinding together. Her eyes shifted from Sammy to me, and there was a fire inside of them. She wanted to argue. I could see it in the way her arms snapped up to cross over her chest, and how the patent leather tip of her toe tapped against the floor. I was far from perfect in her eyes. She wanted me to have a total overhaul to fit in with her stuffy, expensive vision. Hearing I was good enough as I was hadn’t been part of her plans. It wasn’t part of mine either. I’d never been good enough as I was.
She huffed out an aggravated breath and waved a hand in the air in front of her. “Fine. Do what you think is best. I just need him to smolder for the camera and sell my products.”
Sammy laughed as he patted me on the shoulder, telling me it would take a second for him to set up. “Darling, he doesn’t just smolder, he burns. And if you can’t see it, you need to worry about more than your products.”
She made an offended sound that was lost in the bark of laughter I let out. I gave Sammy a fist bump and decided I quite liked the sparkly, pretty man.
Chapter 5
Della
What a delightful creature. Wherever did you find him, Della?”
I lifted an eyebrow at the woman standing next to me, who was doing very little to hide the fact she was blatantly undressing Crew with her eyes. He was across the crowded ballroom, talking to not one, but two, supermodels, his dark head thrown back as he laughed at something one of them said. I’d spent a lot of time around beautiful women; very rarely did they ever say anything uproariously funny.
I tried not to scowl into my champagne flute and responded dryly, “In Texas. My dad actually found him. I’m the one trying to tame him.” My fingers tightened around the delicate stem in my hand as the red-headed model lifted a finger and ran it seductively over Crew’s well-defined chest. I’d wanted him to wear a suit to this event. He’d balked and put up enough of a fight I let him get away with black jeans, his boots, and a fitted black button-down. I put my foot down when it came to his Stetson, but now I was secretly regretting not letting him wear it. I found myself missing the way it added an air of mystery and danger to him. Maybe the dark hat would have kept a few of the more timid and image-conscious models at bay.
The older woman next to me who was lusting after the cowboy was also the editorial director for the top fashion magazine in New York. She was notoriously hard to impress, and if she didn’t give the green light to my new advertising campaign, it wasn’t even worth moving forward. The ballroom I was currently standing in was packed with the who’s who of the fashion and beauty world to celebrate my companion’s birthday. Tickets had been in the low six figures, and Father insisted I go and take Crew along with me. He informed me it was as good a place as any to get the man’s face out there, and get him to schmooze with the people he was going to be selling my products to. I was convinced it was going to be a horrible idea. I just knew Crew was going to say the wrong thing or do something outrageous, and end up getting Deveaux Beauty blackballed.
I should have known better.
It seemed I was the only red-blooded human alive who wasn’t immediately swept away in Crew Lawton’s overwhelming charm and charisma. And, if I was entirely honest, I fought against his magnetic pull every single time we were alone together. There was simply something about him that drew all types of people in. I was furious my father could see it without even bothering to meet the man.
“Oh, my. So, he really does play around with horses and such? He cleans up very nicely.” She turned to look at me with a lifted eyebrow. “I am intrigued how you are going to use him in this new product launch of yours.”
I sighed. It would be great if I had figured that out myself. I was so ready to play fairy godmother and turn him into a princess—well, prince; but every instinct I had, and every person I encountered, seemed enamored with him just the way he was. I couldn’t fathom how all his rough edges and abrasive bluntness didn’t irritate them the way they irritated me, but maybe it was because they weren’t looking beyond his very pretty face and unmistakably ripped body. Maybe the reason his deflection bothered me so much was because I could see the pain and regret hiding in his bright blue eyes…And both of those things called to me far more than his smooth words and effortless appeal.
“He doesn’t play with horses. He rides them, and they try to throw him off. It’s all very dangerous and surprisingly thrilling. Rodeo suits him.” Far better than this swanky party with tiny amuse-bouche did. I gritted my teeth as the brunette model tried to outdo her friend in the laughing-like-a-hyena department. To his credit, Crew only appeared mildly amused by the reaction he was getting. He kept looking up to meet my gaze, almost as if he was making sure I took notice of the fact he was behaving. “I was looking f
or the next David Gandy and somehow ended up with Scott Eastwood in The Longest Ride. I’m not sure how to adjust.”
Crew’s admirer gave a gentle snort that was shocking coming from someone who prided herself on being dignified and proper. “Does it matter? Both are beautiful and unforgettable in their own way and made their own kind of impact. Count yourself lucky you found someone so memorable, someone who can do the same thing for you. Don’t squander the gift you’ve been given. I’m off to mingle, my dear. Tell your father I said hello and I’d love to get together the next time he’s in town. I loved the collection he released with that K-pop band earlier this year. So edgy and diverse.”
She swept away in a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and swirl of silk. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that the collaboration was my idea, but I knew it was a waste of breath. My contributions to Deveaux Beauty always ended up lost under my father’s reputation and overbearing personality.
A moment later, the smiling cowboy was standing in front of me, a hopeful expression stamped on his too-handsome face. “Can we go get some real food and maybe a beer? That was the lady you said you needed to talk to, right? I saw her checking out my ass. Did I pass inspection?”
He chuckled as I poked him in his rock-hard stomach. He playfully rubbed the spot, and I couldn’t help but grin at his antics. I never behaved so spontaneously with anyone but him.
“You always pass, and yeah, we can go. If you don’t mind leaving your fan club behind.”
He flicked a grin toward the now-pouting women across the room and unceremoniously wrapped a rough hand around my elbow as he proceeded to drag me out of the ballroom. I hated the way my heart kicked up and the way my pulse fluttered under his touch.
“I asked them where to go to get real New York–style pizza that would blow my mind, and they thought it was a joke. What kind of man jokes about pizza?” He sounded horrified and slightly disgusted.
I smothered a laugh and waited while he opened my door for me, leaving the driver standing next to the car with nothing to do. Once he was seated in the back next to me, I told him quietly, “I know a place. I don’t know if it’s the best in New York, but I’ve always liked their pizza, and they’re open late.” It was a hole-in-the-wall pizza place in Little Italy I stumbled onto while I was in college. I hadn’t been there in years, but if Crew was after an authentic experience, there was no better place to take him.
We chatted easily as we drove across town. Crew asked what it was like to go to college in such a big city, and I asked about growing up in a small town. He told me his mother passed away from breast cancer, and I shared that mine had passed from an undiagnosed heart condition. We both had fond memories of the women who left us too soon, and we both had issues with how the loss of those women affected our fathers. We had more in common than I think either of us would admit to, and that realization had both of us going quiet as we reached the restaurant.
I was greeted like an old friend as soon as I walked in the door. The restaurant was run by a couple from Napoli who had been married for over forty years. Back when I was in college I remembered thinking it was impossible for any relationship to last that long. But here they were, still together.
The wife, Carlotta, wrapped her plump arms around me and gave me a kiss on each cheek. “You are still so beautiful, Della. Always such a pretty, polite girl. Always too skinny and too lonely.” It was jarring to be remembered in that way. It sent a flare of something uneasy shooting through me. The staff acted happier to see me than my father did when we’d been separated for long stretches of time. The way they worried about me when he never did was a stark reminder why I spent so much time here in my youth.
The husband, Luca, looked over to where Crew was hovering behind me.
A bushy, white eyebrow lifted and a smile split his weathered face. “You have company now. This is good. Always alone. Always so serious. Mama and I used to wonder if you would look up from your books to see the rest of the world around you.”
I laughed to mask my discomfort, and moments later we were sequestered in a quiet booth where Crew ordered an entire pepperoni pizza just for himself. The conversation shifted to business as he asked what was expected of him in the upcoming photo shoots.
I fiddled with the straw in my drink and stared at him while I tried to put into words just how important this campaign was to me and how much the success of the whole thing hung on his broad shoulders.
“I’ve been trying to put together a new product line for the company for years. I’ve always had to prove to my father I’m capable and worthy of being his successor. I’ve come up with collaborations and expansion ideas that have paid off, but he’s never trusted me with my own line before. This campaign, and your face, they mean everything to me, and to my future. You literally have my hopes and dreams in your hands right now, Crew. So it’s a little more than standing there and looking handsome. I need you to convince men around the world they can’t live without what it is you’re selling, and you have to do it all with just one look.” I quirked an eyebrow at him as he noticeably paled. “No pressure.”
He let out a breath and slowly nodded as if he understood exactly how important his being here was, and how much he meant to me.
“I’m no model, but I have pranced around in my underwear in front of a camera before. I think it went okay.” The joke was dry and I nearly choked on my water once that image popped into my head and refused to leave.
“I’m not the Lawton people usually put their faith in. That’s my older brother, Case. He’s always been the responsible one, the one who feel like he has to take care of everyone around him. He’s the sheriff in the town where we all grew up. Took over the position from my old man, who never deserved to wear a badge because he didn’t give a shit about serving or protecting anyone…ever.” He cocked his head to the side and gave me a lopsided grin. “I’m gonna do my best to come through for you, Della. Not only because I have to for reasons I don’t want to get into with you while we’re having a nice night, but because I really want to prove I can be the guy someone relies on.”
There was a sincerity in his tone that worked to settle some of the nerves that were still on edge about having to put so much trust in this very unpredictable man.
“Thank you, Crew.” I cleared my throat and picked at the crust left on my plate. I was stuffed. It’d been a long time since I’d indulged in carbs and cheese the way I did tonight. To top things off, our waitress swung by when there was a lull in the conversation and dropped off a plate of homemade cannolis I knew came from Carlotta’s kitchen. I’d loved them back in the day when I could afford to eat whatever I wanted without having a panic attack about extra inches. I’d forgotten how glorious the sweet confection could be. “I love these. They bring back a lot of good memories. Whenever I fought with my dad, or ended up working too hard, Carlotta seemed to know. She would put a couple of these cannolis in front of me without me having to ask. Italian comfort food at its finest. They always made me feel better.” Or maybe it was the gesture of someone caring without being prompted that sent warm fuzzies shooting through me.
Scooping a dollop of cream out of the end of one with my finger, I popped it in my mouth and watched as Crew looked at his plate curiously.
“So your older brother is the responsible one, you’re the wild one; what does that make your sister? I heard you talking to her on the phone the day we met. You seemed pretty tight with her.”
Finally figuring he would just go all in, Crew stuck the end of the shell in his mouth and took a bite. It was fun watching his dark eyebrows shoot up as the sweet insides flooded his mouth. He chewed with an expression close to ecstasy for a full minute before answering my question.
“Damn, those are good. As for Kody, she’s hard to define. She has all the best parts of Case and all the worst parts of me mixed up together. She doesn’t take shit from anyone and never backs down, even when she should. She grew up in a houseful of boys, and had the biggest bully
in the county for a father, so she’s tough. Sometimes too tough. She has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. Unfortunately, whoever wants to get at it is gonna need a chain saw and probably some dynamite. She’s the only person in my whole life who’s never given up on me, even though I’ve given her countless reasons to write me off.”
“Your sister sounds amazing. I would love to have someone talk about me the way you talk about her.” I was envious he had people to share the good and the bad in his life with, people to set him straight and rein him in when he needed it. I’d never had anyone, not that I ever needed them, but it would be nice to not feel so alone all the time.
I stuck my finger back in the cannoli and collected another sweet bite. I gasped quietly when Crew caught my wrist before I could get my finger in my mouth. Slowly, deliberately, he tugged my arm across the table. I watched with wide eyes and a slack jaw as his tongue darted out and swirled across my fingertip. He licked the digit clean, leaving a warm, slick path behind. Also causing other parts of my body to tighten up and clench in heated awareness.
We both looked over when there was a round of applause coming from somewhere near the kitchen. The older married couple was watching us—Luca was smiling from ear to ear, his wife clapping her hands together in glee. I flushed in embarrassment but didn’t jerk my hand away from Crew’s strong hold. I wasn’t alone right now.
The thought was enough to send my world off-kilter in the way only this man had been able to do. When I was with him I didn’t feel the constant need to push forward, to prove my worth, to validate my existence. Being with him was as easy as breathing, and I enjoyed the freedom from expectations.
We left when the restaurant shut down, and the ride back to his hotel was spent in companionable silence as the city whizzed by. I jolted slightly when the car rolled to a stop. It was late, and I should’ve been tired and stressed-out about everything I still had to take care of for the campaign. However, minus the stuffy party, tonight had been one of the most enjoyable evenings I’d spent with someone else in a long time. There was none of the pretension I typically found on my dates. There was none of the dancing around who had the bigger portfolio, and which one of us made more money and had more connections. Crew didn’t have to show off or work to impress. Just by being, he was the center of attention and the most interesting person in the room.
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