Wrapped Around My Finger

by Kristen Strassel

  “You’re awfully confident.” Zach cocked his head toward me. “I’ve seen you on TV, you didn’t exactly strike me as a party all night type of lady, but I’ve been out with a lot of women like you. You all have a hidden wild side.”

  I shifted away from Jagger’s grip, and leaned forward, mirroring Zach’s expression. The bartender pointed to my empty glass and I nodded. Keep it coming. “Tell me about it.”

  Zach wrinkled his nose, “Tell you about what?”

  “My hidden wild side. Since you know so much about women like me.”

  He finished his drink and licked his lips, like he’d sink his teeth into me next. “Women like you have to repress everything feminine to climb the corporate ladder. You forget how to make a man happy because you’re so busy trying to compete with them. That’s why your relationships don’t work. You have to hire guys like me and Jag and order us around because that’s the only way you know how to get what you want. You’re so repressed that once you start, you can’t stop.”

  The parts of his accusation that hit close to home stung, but the rest of it—that was complete stereotypical bullshit—ignited my rage. “So which one of us isn’t fit for a relationship—me or Jagger?”

  “Neither of you.” He sat back and smiled, like he expected someone to wheel out a trophy.

  The sangria was going straight to my head, along with the dust Zach had kicked up deep in a place I’d wanted to ignore. “My seventeen-year-old daughter tried this. Her attack was more sophisticated than yours.”

  Zach whistled low. “Seventeen, huh? I bet she’s smoking hot, too. Does it bother you that your daughter’s best days are ahead of her and yours have already passed?”

  “Don’t you dare talk about my daughter like that,” I said way too loudly as I clutched the table. I grabbed it too hard, and Zach’s full drink toppled over. Everyone within earshot turned to our table. My Great Start Today commercial ran silently on the block of screens above us. Usually, that prefaced people coming over and asking me if I was the lady in the commercial. Worst possible time to lose my cool. And already I’d had the run-in with the lady at the nude beach that day.

  So I had to settle for fantasizing about strangling Zach. But watching him dab vodka from his soaked crotch did hold a certain appeal.

  “Everything okay over here?” The bartender asked. We nodded, but he clearly thought it was bullshit. His gaze stayed on me a little too long. Whether or not he was familiar with my companions, he certainly recognized me.

  “Cut the shit, Zach,” Jagger growled.

  I winked at Jagger. “I’ve got this. Since I plan on sticking around, it’s best that we get to know each other.” I turned back to Zach. “How’d you get so smart?”

  “I told you, years of escorting.” He grinned, still patting his junk. “Just like Jagger.”

  “Good thing you’re still at it. Because you know nothing. About me, and especially about Jagger.” I didn’t mention Raven. I wanted him to forget about her as soon as possible. “And because of it, you’ll continue to live a sad and lonely life.”

  He crossed his arms, looking away from me with a low chuckle. “You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, lady.”

  “Look at me,” I said. I wasn’t surprised he didn’t. “Look at me, Zach. If Jagger’s as important to you as you claim, you’d want him to be happy. Stop trying to hold him back to wallow in your misery.”

  “I’m not miserable,” he insisted.

  “Okay, you’re not miserable.” I took a healthy sip of sangria and leaned forward with a smile. I glanced at Jagger, who looked amused. This meeting had been my idea, and Jagger saw something in this guy, so I owed it to him to play nice. “So what do you do when you’re not escorting, Zach?”

  Some of the color drained from his face. Interesting. “Sometimes I DJ. Otherwise, I go to the gym with this guy, and I party. Hard.”

  “Good for you.” Now that things calmed down a bit, I felt like I was dealing with one of my interns. One of the ones who’d decided they hated interior design or television production but hadn’t figured out what else to do with their lives. It was a mercy killing when I fired them. “How long have you and Jagger known each other?”

  They looked at each other in the way old friends did. “Zach was the first guy I met at the agency,” Jagger said. “I needed someone to show me the ropes.”

  Ah, it was loyalty that kept them together. Knowing Jagger, the relationship made more sense.

  “Yeah, Barry sent us out together.” Zach laughed. “Some of the clients request more than one escort at a time, if you know what I mean.”

  I knew exactly what he meant, and I chose to ignore it. He should know by now that the shock factor was wasted on me. I’d hired Jagger, too. “So you’ve been doing this longer than Jagger?” I couldn’t tell how old he was. He looked like he’d lived a harder life than Jagger, but he lacked Jagger’s sophistication.

  “Yeah. Not much longer. Some guys can’t handle it, and others are made for the lifestyle. Like me and Jagger.” Zach studied me. “What made you want to date an escort?”

  “Zach—“ Jagger interrupted.

  “I’ll answer his question.” I felt bad for Zach. He’d been doing this too long, and it freaked him out to see his partner in crime defect to the other team. Maybe he thought Jagger was a fool, or maybe he was jealous. Not of me, I wasn’t his type, whatever that was. The guys were supposed to keep a layer between themselves and the women who hired them, and I’d shattered that. If I knew how I did it, I’d tell him. Zach needed someone to love him, badly. “I didn’t want to date anybody. That’s why I hired Jagger. But we were honest with each other, neither of us put on any bullshit airs, and we clicked. Can’t plan for this type of stuff.”

  “It doesn’t bother you people hired him to do some freaky shit?”

  This was getting so tiresome. My wrists were still sore from the freaky shit we’d just done. “Maybe that’s why I hired him.”

  “Oh.” That shut him up.

  I pressed the button on my phone, ignoring the page full of messages waiting for me. None of that until the plane. “We should probably head to the airport.”

  Jagger jumped up, reaching for his wallet immediately. Zach’s jaw dropped when he dropped money on the table. Guess Zach was used to having women pay his way. “Yeah, we should.” Jagger stood up and clapped Zach on the back. “Catch you at the gym tomorrow.”

  Fresh air never felt so good. “That went pretty much how I expected it to.” Jagger sighed, before closing my door.

  I waited for him to come around to the driver’s side. “Sorry I attacked your friend. You tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen.”

  “You were amazing. Don’t apologize, he deserved every bit of it. This isn’t anything new. He’s still partying, and I got tired of it.” Jagger pulled out of the parking lot. “And if you’re wondering, Kaylee’s someone I used to screw around with before we got together. It didn’t mean anything.”

  “If he’d handled that with any finesse, I might have been concerned. But it was pretty obvious he was going for the jugular.” We actually had plenty of time before we had to go the airport. “There’s one place you didn’t bring me.”

  We were stopped at a red light. Jagger looked over at me. “The nude beach?”

  My cheeks reddened. No more of that for me. Sometimes I forgot that people knew who I was everywhere, even on the topless beach. “No. Your gallery.”

  He turned back to the road, but not before his expression fell. “It’s gone.”

  “What?” I kept waiting for him to bring me to it all weekend. We’d been to Wynwood, and I’d been having such a good time I forgot to ask. “I don’t understand.”

  “Someone rented the space.” His voice was flat, like he didn’t care, but I knew better. “I’ll find another place.”

  “I’m sorry.” I wanted this for him so bad. It was the perfect part of town, vibrant and creative just like Jagger. At the begi
nning of the trip, I’d thought Jagger was a part of Miami. He loved the place, but I wasn’t sure the feeling was mutual. “There’s some great places in Georgetown.”

  “Leah.” It was almost the same tone he’d used to get Zach to shut up. “This is the part of the trip when we say things we might not mean—“

  “I meant it.” What the hell? “I want you with me. All the time. I loved Miami, but I love you more. If there’s nothing keeping you here, it’s time for whatever’s next. Pull over. I don’t want to stare at the side of your face when we talk about this.”

  Jagger grinned and pulled into a restaurant parking lot. He cut the engine, took off his seat belt, and turned to me. “Is that better?”

  “Much.” I reached for his hands. “What happens next? My heart is already breaking at the thought of getting on that plane and leaving you here. Alone.”

  “I’m not alone,” he insisted. “I have you. Tell me what you see happening next.”

  “I see you taking the job I offered you. Eventually, you’d move to Washington. It would be a lot easier for us to travel when we weren’t always going to each other. Then all the big things can turn into the little things.”

  Jagger didn’t seem convinced.

  “Tell me what you see.”

  “I see you coming down here, as a way for you to get away from work, and figure out what you really want,” he said, nodding at what must’ve been my shocked expression. “Did you get into design because you loved it, or because you wanted to be on TV?”

  “Because I loved it.” Holy shit. I thought he was being stubborn or proud by not wanting to work with me, but now it made sense. The thrill of TV was long gone, replaced by the reality of long hours, and the fact that it was like a weed, invading every part of my life. Everything had to work around my filming schedule. I couldn’t remember the last time I took a new design client outside of Great Start Today. And poor Raven. No wonder she wouldn’t talk to me half the time.

  “Someday, if you decide to walk away from the parts you don’t love anymore, maybe you can find inspiration here.” Jagger took advantage of my silence by leaning over and kissing me. I parted my lips and let him in. The kiss was slow and soft and almost enough to convince me to stay.

  I couldn’t worry about what we didn’t have yet when what we did have was so fucking good.

  “How do you know everything without me having to tell you?” I trailed my fingers along his jawline when we broke the kiss.

  “All I have to do is look into your eyes. They tell me everything I need to know.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Leah

  Throwing myself into work felt good. Jagger’s words had rocked me like an earthquake. He saw what I couldn’t. I was moving too far away from what I really loved. Making things pretty. Not the endless meetings, or the travel, or the worst part—staging everything to make it look like I really did it.

  Usually, I sent my production assistants and interns to do the shopping for our Great Start Today projects, but Reno’s house makeover was personal on so many levels.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to the Design Center. I always started my searches there, since the showrooms were like a fashion show for interiors. All the latest trends and concepts. Like the clothes the models wore on the catwalk, what we saw might not work for everyday use, but it could be the catalyst for me to create the perfect design for Reno. He wanted something bold, clean, and cozy. It wasn’t an easy combination, but I was confident I could pull it off.

  My entourage included Shannon from the office, because she put her all into every project we worked on. Her opinion was one of the most valuable on the team, and it was time for her to start making some actual design decisions. It was school vacation, and Raven shocked me by asking to work with us for the week. She’d been accepted to Emerson College in Boston. Even though she was interested in designing video games, Emerson had a huge film production department. I loved that she was thinking big, keeping herself open to all possibilities.

  At least someone I loved wanted to work with me.

  “This is what I’m thinking.” I turned to the girls, we were still in my SUV in the parking lot. “Bold colors, soft fabrics, clean lines. Reds, oranges, yellows. Shannon, I know you’ve studied color theory. To bring Raven up to speed with how I came up with that idea, I’m basing the design around red because it’s believed to stimulate the appetite. But other than that, no obvious references to food. That’s the only hard and fast rule. I’m thinking a sixties, seventies feel brought into today. Any questions?”

  “What do we do if we see something good?” Raven asked.

  “Grab me if I’m in the same showroom, or text me a picture of the suite you’re in. They’re all numbered. We won’t find everything today. I’m hoping we get one big piece, like the sofa or the table. But if you find an accessory that you think might knock this project out of the park, don’t be shy about it. This is the first time either of you has shopped with me. You’ll start to get a feel for my style. Share everything that inspires you. I know I gave you a color palette, but don’t let that restrict you. And be prepared to explain your choices.” I grinned at both of their stunned expressions. “You might say one word that inspires us to find the perfect thing.”

  Shannon turned back to Raven. They were probably only about six years apart. “Does she do that at home? That thing where she points at you and makes you repeat the word?”

  Everyone in the office made fun of me for that. Raven laughed. “Sometimes.”

  “Never question the creative process.” I laughed as we all got out of the car. “If the two of you want to team up, go for it. I’ll probably lag behind, in case I want to talk to one of the vendors or if I see something that might work on another project.”

  The girls took off together. I was always thrilled to see Raven open up around other people, but it hurt my heart at the same time because I wondered what the hell I was doing wrong. Shannon had something to prove, and I was glad that she wasn’t clinging to me, yessing me to death. Unless her suggestions were totally awful, she was getting a promotion when the show started. That was the other reason I was glad the girls went off on their own. I wanted to see their style without being influenced by what I picked.

  My plan was to head straight to my favorite vendors, but instead I lingered, popping in whatever showroom drew me in. Being there felt so good; seeing everything that was new up close and personal instead of on a screen, actually being able to touch the fabric, and letting the texture be the make or break factor. Interior design was so much more than visual—it was tactile. People would be living on the surfaces of whatever I created.

  I took a few pictures with my phone and frowned at how crappy they looked. I wished Jagger was there. Well, I always wished Jagger was there. I missed him terribly. I sent him the picture with the message I need you.

  He answered right away. I always need you. I want to go back to the beach.

  My cheeks burned, thinking of Jagger in a sea of topless women. Say hi to my friend. I followed it with we have beautiful beaches here, too.

  I prefer you here, and topless.

  Raven’s text brought me crashing back to earth. Thankfully she attached a photo or I would’ve sent her a pretty salacious response by mistake. And then died from the mortification.

  I widened the picture of the couch. What do you think? she asked. It’s not the right color, but we both love it. It was moss green, looked like velvet, and had a tufted button detail. It would work just as well for a cocktail party as for Sunday night snuggling under a blanket.

  I met them in the showroom. It was even better in person, a nice plush velvet that could actually stand up to some wear, and it was long enough for a man to be able to stretch out on.

  “I already asked if they can make it in one of the colors you asked for, and they can. They need a couple weeks lead time.” Shannon bounced a little as she talked. She was so getting promoted.

  “
I’m pretty much in love with this one.” I ran my hand over the arm one more time. “It’s perfect.”

  Raven narrowed her eyes in confusion. “But doesn’t that screw up your whole plan?”

  “No, it makes it better.” When we got home that night, I’d give her a crash course in color theory. “You can’t always stick to the plan or you’ll miss all the good stuff.”

  **

  “This looks amazing,” Kari gushed, stepping back from the wall to admire her work. At first, she balked when I asked her to come help us paint, but once she started, she got into it. “I can’t wait to see everything come together.”

  There were two reasons I’d recruited close to home. We were short staffed with the new show coming together. Half of my crew was working on Second Chances, and the rest were here. I need to hire more people, and I would, but I wanted to spend every second with Raven that I could. Signing all the college paperwork and writing the deposit check to Emerson made her leaving a little too real for me. And I could count on one hand how many times I’d seen Kari since the reunion. Plus this was a place she and Reno would both be spending time in; she should have a hand in making it a home.

  “I’m still on the hunt for a few things, but this is my best work in a long time.” Of course it was. I was actually doing it.

  Kari dipped her paint roller into the pail again. She had streaks of ice gray paint in her hair, which she’d freak out about as soon as she saw. Both of us had a strict no gray policy. “I’m not surprised. You’ve totally relaxed since your trip to Miami. I wish I had time to get away this winter.”

  “Make the time.” I climbed the ladder to work on the ceiling. Even though the house had been renovated before I took my turn, we had to scrape that nasty popcorn stuff off the ceiling. Now it needed a fresh coat of paint. “I’ve been thinking about how I can spend more time down there.”

  Kari stopped mid-roll. “Is that a good idea?”

  “Yes, it is. It’s not fair to ask Jagger to come up here every single time we see each other. And if we’re serious about this, we have to spend more time together, or it’s never going to work.”