“What in the hell is wrong with you? Will you at least grant me the courtesy of telling me that much? Why the sudden change? What’s with the attitude?”
He didn’t say anything right away. “It’s not a game anymore,” he said tightly. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she said carefully. “And this pisses you off, why?”
He finally looked at her. “Didn’t you hear that woman? She thinks I saved her from a fate worse than death. She saw my face, heard me talk, and decided men could be the good guys.”
“You are a good guy.”
He looked like he was going to explode. “I was lying to her! She’s telling me I saved her, and I was fucking lying to her. That’s . . . wrong. I know what it feels like to be deceived, okay? And it sucks.” He glanced away, turning his gaze out the window. “It was a harmless game,” he muttered. “Now it’s not.”
Valerie sat back, a little stunned by the sudden outburst. She assumed he was talking about Eric. And though she realized Jack understood Eric’s reasons for keeping his sexual preference a secret, she didn’t blame him for feeling somewhat betrayed by it, too. Of course, for all she knew, he was talking about Shelby. But now wasn’t the time to get into that. “Wasn’t it you who said we’re not hurting anyone? Well, we aren’t. You aren’t. That woman got the help she needed.”
“She believes Prince Charming is real. And it’s all some big sham.”
“She doesn’t know that. And Prince Charming is real. We just put your face to him rather than Eric’s. Eric does exist; his advice is valid.”
He turned to her again. “And do you think if she found out Prince Charming was a gay man who’d never had a relationship longer than a one night stand before last month that she’d still have run to her family and confided in them?”
“I don’t know. If she saw Eric’s face and heard him talk, it’s possible.” She shifted to face him more fully. “Listen, I feel awkward about this, too. You know that better than anyone. But what just happened back there was a positive thing. No one was hurt by it.”
He swore, then blew out a heavy breath. “Okay, fine. But it ends there. We go out with a bang. No more. We’ve pushed it far enough.”
Her lips curved slightly. “How did this happen?”
“What?”
She nudged him with her elbow. “Here I’ve been begging you to rein it in, keep the profile as low as possible while still promoting the magazine. And you’ve been the renegade bad boy. Somehow that got all turned around.”
He looked at her. “Color me confused. I thought you’d be relieved. Are you telling me you actually want me to do Letterman?”
She shook her head. “An hour ago? No. But as I watched you, the audience, and fielded that call, I finally had to admit that you’re out there now, a public commodity that the public hasn’t gotten enough of yet.”
“So I’m doing Letterman.” He still didn’t sound convinced.
Oh, the irony. “You don’t have to, no. Dave is going to do his Top Ten no matter what. We’ll get the publicity, Prince Charming will stay in the public eye. I can try to withdraw you from the market after that, but it’ll be much harder now. Honestly? You’re going to be hunted. For a while, anyway.”
His gaze narrowed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do my best to get you out, but the godmothers will want a say. Contractually, you—or Eric—will have a say, too. And the public will have their say. I’ll juggle. But you’ve walked pretty far out on that rope.” She smiled briefly. “We just have to keep from hanging both of us with it.”
He looked out the window. It was clear he understood the situation, that his anger was directed at himself. Surprisingly, for all that he’d been driving her crazy over the past couple of weeks, her first instinct was to try to smooth him out, take some of the guilt off his shoulders.
“We have that stockpile of photos,” she assured him. “When we need to trot you out, I’ll do it in print media. Eric can provide the rest.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
Now it was her turn to frown. “What are you talking about?”
Jack sighed, finally relaxed a little, even if it was more of a slumping. “This probably isn’t the best time to mention this, but he’s thinking about retiring. Settling down, as it were.”
“What? He made a vague reference to that, but he knows he signed a contract, he—”
“Whoa. He’ll finish out his commitment. But he’s . . .” He trailed off, shrugged. “Happy. Content. I think he’s ready to hang it up, move on.”
“Is it Brice? How did that get so serious so quickly?”
“He thinks he’s in love,” Jack said. “I think it’s infatuation. This is his first time being able to commit his heart and I think maybe he’s in love with being free to express his emotions.”
“Do you think he’ll figure it out before he does anything foolish?”
“I don’t know. They’re looking at real estate.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. I know. I’m a little worried about him. Speaking of which, where the hell is he?”
She’d completely forgotten about that part. “He called from the hotel earlier. There was a little problem with the rooms. Well, room.”
Jack finally looked at her again. “I beg your pardon?”
“The show’s producer put us up in a two-bedroom suite. I forgot to mention that your manager was traveling with us and would need additional accommodations.”
“So we book him another room.”
“That’s what he was trying to do. Some convention is there and all the rooms are packed, as is most everything else in town. He was working with the concierge to find something suitable when I last spoke to him.”
“It’s a suite. It has a couch or something, right? Tell him he can bunk in. We’ll figure something out.”
“I suggested that, but he said he’d handle it. You were doing so great I didn’t think you needed his support at the studio, so I told him to do whatever he thought he had to do.”
The limo pulled up to the hotel and the liveried doorman stepped forward to open the door. They had barely emerged from the backseat when Eric came through the rotating doors . . . with Brice behind him.
“Ah,” Jack said as he came around the back of the car to where Valerie stood, waiting for their garment bag to be removed from the trunk. “Now I understand,” he murmured. “Doesn’t that guy have a job?”
Valerie smiled at that, relieved to be back on somewhat even footing again. Teasing banter she could handle. But she also couldn’t help but note the real concern underlying it. Despite his protestations, and her occasional frustration with him, Jack Lambert was a good guy.
Eric stepped to the curb and took the garment bag from the driver. “So, I’m guessing the show went smashingly well?”
“You could say that,” Valerie said, lifting her cheek for Eric’s obligatory buss. “Hi, Brice,” she added, nodding, thinking she understood the infatuation. The man was truly beautiful to look at. And listen to.
“Hallo, Ms. Wagner,” he said, taking her hand as she stepped up on the curb. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” he added, with that lovely island lilt to his voice.
“Call me Valerie,” she told him, unable not to smile in the face of his impeccable manners. Somehow, being called Ms. wasn’t so bad when there was an accent involved. “I didn’t know you were coming up.”
He glanced at Eric, who was busy talking to Jack, and the emotion in his eyes was surprisingly powerful. “We thought a few days apart would cool us down a little.” He looked back at her and there was no doubt about it. The man was a total goner. Love, apparently, looked the same, no matter the genders involved. His smile was both sweet and sexy as hell. “We didn’t last eight hours before I was on an Acela for Penn Station.”
Valerie laughed. “I can’t say I blame you.” She looked at Eric, who was smiling and laughing at something Jack was saying. “Tall, tanned, and gorgeous,” she
agreed. “What’s not to love, right?”
Brice sighed a little, nodding. “Smart, funny, generous, and kind, too. I know he’s only recently outed himself, and I should let him go and experience life.” He looked back at her, and she saw the sharp, caring man behind the gorgeous surface. “But I’ve been dating a long time, and I’m finding it hard to do the right thing when he is my right thing. We’ve been friends a long time. This feels perfectly natural to me.” His eyes flashed. “I’ve waited long enough.”
“So you go for it. You’re both grown men. And there are no rules when it comes to how you feel.” She smiled at the emotions that played across his face. Love could be a beautiful thing. So what if there might be some heartache at the end of their run together? It was worth it for that heady rush they were experiencing right now. Wasn’t it?
Her gaze shifted to Jack. She wished the feelings that surfaced there were as easily categorized. Heady? Yes, even when they were arguing. And when he was touching her? Definitely.
Brice moved in beside her, following her gaze. “So what about you? Maybe you should take your own advice, eh?”
She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she allowed herself, like Eric, to just fall into it and not care about the outcome. She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Something about Brice’s soothing, gentle demeanor made her uncharacteristically blunt. “I’ve spent so long worrying about my career, about finding my niche, that I’ve shoved my relationships into a kind of temporary-only holding pattern. Not on purpose, really, it just happened somewhere along the way.” She shrugged. “I guess I just assumed that if something more important or long-term came along, I’d figure out what to do with it when it happened.”
“And has it?”
She smiled, albeit a bit sadly. “I’m not sure. But Jack’s made it clear he’s not going to be here long-term, so I guess—” She shrugged and Brice squeezed her shoulder, giving her his most blinding smile.
“Don’t be so fast to toss it away,” he said. “You never know what life might have in store for you, right around the corner.”
If he only knew, she thought. She’d had just about all the surprises she could handle.
“It’s cliché, but true. Live for today,” he told her. “Let tomorrow take care of itself.” He turned as Eric and Jack approached.
“Wow, The Late Show, huh?” Eric asked Valerie. “Impressive.”
Valerie couldn’t believe how sincerely happy Eric was. There wasn’t the faintest hint that he wished it was him getting the attention he’d earned. But then, with gorgeous and understanding Brice standing beside him, she supposed Eric was getting all the attention he needed.
She glanced at Jack. “Does this mean you changed your mind and you’re going to do it?”
“No.” Jack ignored Eric’s look of surprise. Apparently they hadn’t gotten that far during their little chat. “Listen, can we take this inside?” He looked at Eric. “What did you work out with the rooms? Because we could probably—”
Eric’s cheeks colored a little, while Brice’s smile could only be termed naughty.
“What did you do?” Valerie and Jack demanded simultaneously.
“Don’t be mad,” Eric said.
“Too late, I think.” Jack looked at Valerie. “Don’t worry, whatever it is, we can change it.”
“It’s a two-bedroom suite,” Eric began as they entered the expansive lobby. “And, well, given what I walked in on the other day—” He put a hand on Valerie’s arm. “Sorry to be indelicate. It’s just that the two of you sharing the same suite . . . well, I asked myself, what were the chances you’d end up using both bedrooms?”
Valerie choked a little—though frankly that thought had crossed her mind. Live for today, indeed. And tonight.
“Eric—” Jack began, only to be cut off.
“And when Brice surprised me—” He shot Brice a blistering hot look that made both Valerie and Jack flush a little. “I just figured, hey, problem solved. We’ll take one room,” he looked back at Valerie and Jack. “You guys can have the other.”
Valerie and Jack both had that deer-in-headlights look.
“Eric, really, I—” Valerie began.
“Don’t worry. Jack is a gentleman,” Eric assured her. “He’ll take the couch if you want him to. Right, man?”
Jack stood there with his mouth open, apparently incapable of speech.
“Listen,” Eric went on excitedly, “here’s the key.” He pressed it into Jack’s hand. “It’s the Vanderbilt Suite.”
“Where are you two going?” Jack asked, finally finding his voice.
“Brice surprised me with reservations for Aigo. You don’t need me tonight, do you?”
“No,” Valerie managed. “I think we’ll be fine.”
Eric just winked. “We’ll probably be late. There’s a club I read about that I want to try.”
“New York City, with a stunning man on my arm?” Brice stated. “Have to show him off a bit.”
Eric grinned. “God, I love my life.”
Thankfully they were both spared from commenting as Eric and Brice exited the lobby, heads bent together, laughing and talking.
“You’re right,” Valerie said. “They do seem very happy.”
Jack moved closer and watched with her as Eric and Brice bypassed the line of taxis and hopped in a white stretch limo instead. “I wish I could say I was hip and liberal enough to be okay rooming with those two. But I’m pretty sure I’d feel just as weird watching him be that goo-goo ga-ga over anyone of either gender. I swear I thought they were going to revert to baby talk any second.”
“Look at it this way, they’ll probably be out until four in the morning. With any luck, we’ll miss them entirely.”
They turned toward the bank of elevators, careful not to look at each other. Jack tucked the key in his pocket. “About my schedule—”
“There are some things I can’t get you out of,” Valerie warned him. “We’ve got two days here. Two and a half, actually. I’ll get you out of Letterman, but—”
He punched the up button. “I’ll do it.”
“Do what? What part of it?”
“All of it, whatever we already agreed to. Just promise me that when we leave New York, I’m done.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m not sure. But—” He broke off, shrugged. “Eric was pretty cool about the whole thing on the show. In fact, he sort of seemed excited and flattered by it. I figure I can hack a few more days.”
“If you’re sure.”
He glanced at her, smiled wryly. “What the hell? We’ve gone this far. What else could happen?”
The doors to the elevator slid open. As a throng of people flowed out, Jack pressed his hand to the small of her back to guide her out of the way. Something about his touch, how natural it felt, yet made her body start to clamor . . . and for once Valerie ceased to think about business.
There was a sudden return of the tension that spiked between them every time they were alone together. She trembled slightly and his hand slid up along her spine. “Nervous?”
She thought he was teasing her, but there was something else threading through that deep voice. Wasn’t there? She didn’t dare turn around and look at him to find out. Were his feelings for her—assuming he had any—more than simply physical in nature? He’d implied as much before, back in the dressing room. But . . . And what about her? Sure, she was fighting some pretty randy hormonal surges where Jack Lambert was concerned, but could there be something more than that?
Well, now they were headed up to a fabulous suite in the Plaza Hotel. An empty fabulous suite. Alone. Together.
What else could happen, indeed?
Compatibility
Sometimes it’s not about finding what you have in common. It’s about sharing your differences and discovering something new about yourself in the process.
Chapter 17
“Wow,” Valerie breathed as Jack pushed open the door
to the suite.
“Chuck and Vicki know how to treat their guests right.” Jack walked over to a large fruit and cheese spread that had been laid out for them, along with two bottles of wine. He smiled as he picked up the card. “ ‘With our thanks for being our guest,’ ” he read, then snorted.
“What?” Valerie asked, popping a cheese cube in her mouth. “Looks like Goldilocks has been here and helped herself to some of this lovely food.”
“It was Goldi-Eric, who added his own postscript to the note.”
Valerie slipped the folded card from his fingers.
“Wait, there’s a—”
She just smiled and shoved a cheese cube in his mouth when he started to protest. “ ‘Leave me some of those strawberries,’ ” she read, “ ‘. . . or don’t fall asleep on your stomach. Love, Eric.’ ”
“Present attached,” Jack finished, after swallowing the cheese.
Valerie unfolded the card and two packets of condoms dropped into her palm. She laughed. “Well, at least he’ll protect you. That’s love right there.”
“Please,” Jack said. “You know, I can never say ‘Fuck you’ to the guy ever again. His being gay takes a lot of fun out of things.”
He was teasing, of course, but Valerie’s expression turned thoughtful as she munched on a carrot stick. “You really had no idea, huh? Although he is a pretty macho guy. I’d never have guessed. It must be a major adjustment for you.”
“You could say that.”
She paused for a moment, then said, “About what you said earlier in the limo, about feeling deceived. You were talking about that, right?”
“Listen, don’t worry about—”
“Because I understand why you’d feel that way, even if you understood why he didn’t tell you earlier. But that’s not the same thing as what happened with his reader, in the audience.”
“Close enough,” he said, appreciating that she was trying to help, but not wanting to get back into it. “What’s important is that Eric seems to be adjusting pretty well. I’ll catch up.” He took the card from her and tossed it back on the table. “What’s on the schedule for this evening?”
Dear Prince Charming Page 24
