76
“Try to seduce him,” I said.
She lifted one eyebrow. I figured she was thinking, Who do you think you’re kidding? TRY. Riiiiight.
“I mean, but not… really really seduce him. This is just a… a test,” I said, cringing. I couldn’t believe I’d been reduced to this – asking some stranger to act as bait just to alleviate my insecurities. God, how pathetic am I?
I was also expecting Supermodel to blow her stack, even though technically she’d already agreed to the plan over the phone. I figured any second she would throw the champagne in my face and yell, What do you think I am, a piece of meat?!
But she was incredibly nice about it. “Gotcha. A test. No kissing, no touching.”
“I don’t know,” Aisha said dubiously. “If he doesn’t actually kiss her, then he can say it was all a misunderstanding and he was just being nice.”
Like Rick did.
“I think we need the kiss,” Aisha continued. “After all, his ex-wife kissed him and he played that one off pretty well.”
I felt like I was going to be sick. “I guess…”
“Sooooo… try to kiss him, or…?” Emmanuelle clarified.
“Yes, but don’t initiate,” Aisha warned. “He’s gotta be the one who makes the move.”
“Okay.”
“And you’re going to call me so we can listen in, right?” Aisha asked.
“Is that even legal?” I asked nervously.
“We’re not wiretapping. We’re just on a phone call, that’s all. Accidentally,” Aisha said with a wink. “Besides, we’ve got to be out of sight. If he looks around and sees you, he’s not going to make a move on my girl here.”
Emmanuelle unzipped her tiny purse, pulled out her phone, then dialed Aisha. “Just make sure you mute it on your end so he doesn’t hear anything.”
“You Better Work Bitch” played on Aisha’s phone before she answered it. Emmanuelle laughed. “Well, that’s appropriate.” Then she looked at me. “You know, I’ve got to say, this is pretty, uh – ”
I buried my face in my hands. “I know, I know… it’s pathetic.”
Emmanuelle was kind. And smart, too, which didn’t seem fair, considering how gorgeous she was. “Not pathetic, just… unconventional. You see this sort of stuff in the tabloids – private investigators and divorce cases. But you two aren’t married, right?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Well, I guess you’re being proactive early on. My question is, if this guy is somebody you already don’t trust, then why are you going to all this trouble? Why not just dump him?”
Good question.
“I… I got burned before, and I’m wondering if I’m just being paranoid.”
She nodded sympathetically. “I can understand that. But… and I don’t mean to sound conceited… but you’re kind of bringing out the big guns here. Not a lot of guys are going to say ‘no’ if I say ‘yes,’ you know what I mean?”
My stomach clenched. I knew exactly what she meant. I wanted to hate her… but she was so nice as she said it, and she wasn’t bragging. She was just stating facts.
“…yeah. I do.”
She peered into my eyes. “Are you sure you really want the answer? And, more importantly, if it’s not the answer you want… are you sure you can handle it?”
I thought about that for a second, and gave the question the consideration it deserved.
My stomach turned flips the entire time.
“…I need to know,” I finally said. “No matter what.”
She shrugged. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
I winced. “I’m sorry to ask you to do this.”
She laughed. “I work in the modeling business. I’ve had way sketchier gigs than this.”
“Besides,” Aisha said, “she owes me.”
“But the slate is wiped clean after this,” Emmanuelle said, pointing at Aisha humorously. “I never want to hear about the damn cookie dough ice cream and The Notebook again, you hear me?”
“Alright, alright,” Aisha agreed.
“Okay. So, where is he?”
I pointed discreetly. Across the room, Ian was talking to a couple of guys in expensive tuxes. “The blond guy with the facial hair.”
“Oh,” Emmanuelle said, and for the first time she seemed surprised.
“What?!” I demanded. I kept thinking, She’s going to try to steal him! Or she was going to say, Now I really DO want to kiss him!
She raised her eyebrows. “I can see why you don’t want to dump him… and why you might be worried. Not a lot of women would say ‘no’ if he said ‘yes.’”
My heart ached to hear it – but I knew what she said was true.
“Alright… here I go,” Emmanuelle announced. “Go hide and listen in over the phone.”
“Wait!” I squeaked, mostly because I was terrified and would do anything to avoid going through with this, even if it was just for a second.
Emmanuelle looked back at me like Yessss?
“Don’t you need to know anything about him? To make it easier?” I asked.
Emmanuelle gave me a wry smile. “No.”
Then she started across the room.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I said, starting to hyperventilate.
“It’s okay,” Aisha said, taking my arm and steering me into the next room. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“But what if it’s not?!”
“Well… at least you won’t have to walk out on your wedding twice.”
I glared at her.
She winced apologetically. “…too soon?”
“Too soon.”
“Sorry. Oh – hurry, in here – she’s starting!”
77
Ian
I’d just finished another round of schmoozing. I would have rather drunk a glass of straight vinegar than talk to anybody else, so I glanced around to see where Katie was. I hoped she wasn’t still upset. Maybe we could ditch this place and –
Whoa.
A woman was walking right up to me, her eyes fixed on mine. She was tall – in heels, just a few inches shorter than me – and stunning.
She stopped right in front of me and gave me a dazzling smile. “Hello.”
“Uh… hello.”
She put out her hand. “I’m Emmanuelle.”
Was Vic behind this?
Another thought, an angry one, came into my head:
Did he tell her how much money I’m worth?
My mood darkened, and along with it my voice. “Ian.”
Her hand was incredibly soft, though. I’d give her that.
“Nice to meet you, Ian.”
“Likewise,” I said, though I didn’t mean it.
Something didn’t feel right. I mean, I’d been hit on by gorgeous women before – many times – but this… something felt off.
“Are you a friend of the groom or the bride?” she asked.
“The groom.” I looked around the room, scanning for Katie. I wanted to get out of here, and if she saw me talking to this chick, it wouldn’t be pretty.
The woman waited for me to ask who she knew, but I didn’t care. I guess she realized I wasn’t going to follow the normal social niceties, so she just launched ahead. “I feel strange admitting this, but… I don’t know either of them. I’m a friend of a friend.”
“Oh,” I said, totally not interested.
“But she left, and now I’m a little… well, I don’t know anybody here.”
“You came up and introduced yourself to me just fine,” I pointed out with a hint of sarcasm.
“Because I didn’t know anybody to do the introductions for me. And I didn’t want to not do it just because I was nervous.”
I raised an eyebrow. “…you? Nervous?”
78
Katie
Aisha and I had found a room over to the side with only a few people chatting, and now we were listening to the call on speakerphone.
I felt like I was going to throw up the entire
time.
“…you? Nervous?”
“Oh God… he thinks she’s hot,” I moaned, wanting to puke.
“Well of course he does, dummy,” Aisha says. “He isn’t blind. What he does about it is the important thing.”
“I’m sorry to be rude – but what are you guys doing?” a college-aged girl in a bridesmaid’s dress asked curiously.
Aisha’s inherent tendency to dramatize everything – she was a natural storyteller, after all – reared its ugly head. “We’re running a test on her date to see if he’ll cheat. This really hot model I know is hitting on him.”
“Aisha!” I snapped.
“Sorry,” she said, wincing.
The college girl’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God – that is so cool! It’s like a real life Vanderpump Rules – Lizzy!” she cried out to a friend across the room. “You’ve gotta come hear this!”
Oh CRAP.
79
Ian
The woman shook her head, and her hair shimmered like she’d just stepped out of a Pantene commercial. I even wanted to say that to her: Do you know your hair looks like you’re in a Pantene commercial right now?
“People think just because I look a certain way that I don’t get nervous, but actually… I get really scared going up and talking to strangers.” She paused to give me a shy, seductive smile. “Especially very handsome men.”
I narrowed my eyes and gave her a smirk. “I find that hard to believe.”
“No, it’s true,” she laughed, and touched my forearm lightly. “I was sort of an ugly duckling growing up.”
“Who turned into a swan.”
80
Katie
It seemed like all the bridesmaids in the entire wedding – plus their friends – were gathered around me and Aisha, listening to the conversation.
“Who turned into a swan.”
The girl who’d originally come up to us gasped. “Oh!”
“No, no,” her friend Lizzy said. “He sounds like he’s being sarcastic.”
Somebody else held up a finger to their lips. “Shhh!”
I couldn’t believe this was going on… but it was.
Exactly what I wanted: a dozen drunk strangers all listening in on one of the most mortifying moments of my entire life.
And it suddenly got worse.
81
Ian
The woman went on. “Not to be conceited, but yeah… I did. But there are plenty of times I still look in the mirror and see the ugly duckling. I’m always on the lookout for a man who wants more than just outward appearances.”
I smiled tightly. “Well, I’m very shallow.”
82
Katie
“I’m very shallow.”
My heart lurched in my chest.
“See? Sarcastic,” Lizzy said.
“I don’t know…” another bridesmaid murmured.
“Is this guy really good-looking?” a third asked me.
“Oh,” Aisha said, “he’s fine.”
I glared at her.
“Well, he is,” she protested.
83
Ian
When I said I was shallow, the woman grinned. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Look… Emmanuelle…”
She lifted her head the slightest bit. “Yes?”
“I don’t know what this is, and I don’t mean to come off as a jerk or anything – ”
She shook her head like she didn’t understand. “What what is?”
I gestured to the two of us. “This. I mean, maybe it’s just one person coming over and talking to another – maybe – I don’t know. But I’m not – ”
She tried to hide her disappointment with a smile. “You have a girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
84
Katie
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
The entire group went silent.
Everyone looked at me, their faces stricken.
They were in agony for me… and I wanted to die.
I mean, I knew Ian and I weren’t boyfriend/girlfriend yet. Not officially, anyway. We hadn’t had ‘the talk,’ so it’s not like it was news or anything.
But for the guy you’re in love with to tell an incredibly attractive stranger that you’re not his girlfriend?
It crushed my heart.
85
Ian
The news that Katie wasn’t my girlfriend apparently gave Emmanuelle some hope. Her eyes shone, and she stepped forward the tiniest bit. “No?”
I could feel the warmth of her body. I could smell her perfume – sweet with a hint of spice. Exotic… sexy. Just like her.
Didn’t matter.
“No,” I said. “Not officially, not yet – but it doesn’t matter, because I am totally and completely in love with her.”
86
Katie
The sound of every woman in the entire room going “AWWWWWW!” was nearly deafening.
They looked at me, transported. Several started to cry.
I hardly noticed – because I was already crying. But this time, they were tears of joy.
Everything had been falling apart just seconds ago, only to turn into one of the happiest moments of my entire life.
He loves me.
87
Ian
The woman smiled at me, though strangely it didn’t seem forced. I could have sworn her eyes even got misty.
Maybe she didn’t get rejected much.
“You’re very nice, and very attractive,” I continued, trying to soften the blow, “but I’m just not looking for anybody else. I’ve found the woman I want to be with.”
She sighed, still smiling. “That’s incredibly sweet. I hope I find a man someday who’s as devoted as you.”
All of a sudden there was a booming voice behind me. “Heyyyy – I didn’t know you two were friends!”
Vic came up and slapped me on the back, but he only had eyes for Emmanuelle.
“If you’re looking for someone devoted,” I said to her in a deadpan voice, “this guy’s not it. Emmanuelle, Vic. Vic, Emmanuelle.”
Vic immediately stuck out his hand. “King of Instagram. Ten billion followers. Hey, are you in the Industry? I could introduce you to some major players here at the reception…”
88
Katie
Vic’s voice boomed out of the phone. “King of Instagram. Ten billion followers. Hey, are you in the Industry? I could introduce you to some major players here at the reception…”
Aisha stared at the phone indignantly. “That bastard!”
I didn’t notice, and I didn’t care.
I was smiling through my tears, because I was totally and completely in love.
89
Ian
“I’ll leave you to it,” I said. “I’ve got to go find that woman I mentioned.”
Emmanuelle held out her hand and shook mine. She beamed the entire time. “A real pleasure meeting you, Ian.”
“Likewise.” This time I meant it more sincerely.
“See you, buddy!” Vic said.
“…yeah,” I muttered with an obviously fake smile, and walked off.
90
Katie
“Oh my God, he’s coming,” I cried out.
“That’s what she said,” one of the bridesmaids piped up, and they all howled with laughter.
The only difference was this time I shared in their glee.
“Here,” Aisha said, and pressed the valet ticket into my hand. “Take my car, go home, have a great time.”
“Are you sure?”
“She’s sure!” another bridesmaid said, and they all howled with laughter again.
“How are you going to get home, though?”
“I’ll take you home!” one of the Vanderpump Rules girls volunteered.
“Thanks,” Aisha grinned, then turned back to me with an irritated look on her face. “And who knows – maybe Emmanuelle can get me some financing from
that Vic guy. Jerk…”
“Good luck,” I said, and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you for doing this, and please, tell Emmanuelle ‘thank you’ for me!”
“I will – now go! Go on home and get some of that goooood stuff!”
“Amen!” another bridesmaid shouted, and the entire group laughed and cheered me as I left the room.
91
Ian
I strolled through the first floor looking for Katie, trying to pick her out of the crowd.
Suddenly she appeared out of nowhere, smiling up shyly at me – and her eyes were all misty.
Dammit, not again –
But… she’s smiling…
I thought of Emmanuelle getting all teary-eyed.
I guess it must happen a lot at weddings…
“You okay?” I asked, slightly alarmed.
“I’m great,” she said, and I could hear in her voice that she was happy.
I wasn’t going to press my luck any further than that.
“You ready to go home?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I looked around. “Where’s Aisha?”
“She’s going to stay.” Katie produced the valet ticket like a magic trick. “But she said we could take her car.”
Sex On The Beach: Bad Boys Club Romance #1 Page 18
