Chapter 13

Barrett

Demi looked positively gorgeous at the shoot the next day. The stylist had decked her out in a sheer black chiffon cover-up, with heels that made her long legs look like they went all the way to the moon. Underneath it, she was wearing a couture swimsuit that I ached to rip off of her with my teeth.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed how hot she was looking, though. Adam practically started panting as soon as he arrived, and even Stefan seemed flustered.

“Check out that rack,” Adam said next to me, his eyes following her every move.

“What are you, fifteen?” I snapped. I wanted to gouge his eyes out and strangle him, seriously considering doing it when he shrugged, shot me a what-can-you-do? look, and headed over to her.

I watched them from the corner of my eye, though I was on the opposite end of the sun deck where the shoot had been scheduled, being kept busy by an overzealous marketing assistant who needed my final say so before our latest ad campaign went live.

Adam circled Demi like a damn predator. It was the first time that I noticed his moves with disdain, the first time that I wanted to swoop in to protect the woman who was his latest prey from him. Usually, I would be right there beside him as the perfect wing man.

With Demi being the subject of his attraction, his practiced moves irked me. I swore if it was socially acceptable to walk over and piss on her to mark my territory, I would have.

I didn’t. Obviously.

“Sir?” the marketing assistant prodded, grabbing my attention by shoving some pictures onto the slatted wooden table in front of me. “We need your approval on the final fifteen shots.”

The pictures were of the jeans campaign we’d been shooting the day I found Demi. It was hard to look at them and approve them when I knew what, or rather who, we had now.

Keeping Demi and Adam in my peripheral vision, I pushed my sunglasses onto the bridge of my nose and got to work spreading the pictures out in front of me just as Adam went in for the kill. I randomly pointed to pictures, my ears straining to catch snippets of their conversation.

“You look great,” he told her. “I can’t wait for the part of the day when you get wet.”

Adam gestured to the azure blue pool in the middle of the deck on the rooftop of one of the most exclusive hotels in the city, wagging his eyebrows at her. My fists clenched on the table as I waited for her response.

Her tinkling laughter met my ears. “You’re such a horn-dog.”

“Yeah, but charming, too, though, right?” he asked, his Southern drawl suddenly pronounced.

“Sure,” she told him.

I pointed to five pictures. “Get rid of those.”

The assistant swiped them from the table and rearranged what was left as I continued listening in on my best friend making a move on my girl. I could just have told him, I guess, but I didn’t know what to think of what was going on between us. The last thing I needed was for word to somehow get back to the others that I’d staked a claim on someone.

It would make things even harder on Demi. I’d already learned that she was skittish, another problem and she might leave, which would destroy the launch I was planning to introduce her as our new poster girl. It would set me back weeks. I didn’t want to risk it, especially not without knowing what the hell was happening between us.

So, instead of proverbially pissing on the tree, I sat there and took hit after hit as Adam flirted with her.

“You know, we should go out for dinner and drinks later. I promise it’ll be a great time.”

“Thank you for asking,” Demi said. “But I really shouldn’t. I don’t have time for a relationship right now, and I don’t want to lead you on.”

Adam’s hands went to his heart, clutching at it. “You wound me, woman. I’m not proposing. It’s not like I want, or have time for, a relationship, either. Casual sex is good for the soul. Haven’t you heard?”

Demi laughed, a deep blush traveling from her chest to her cheeks. “I hadn’t, no. Thanks for sharing.”

“How’s tonight for you?” Adam asked.

That was it. I wanted to protect her from the other models, sure. But I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sit back and listen to Adam proposition her outright like that, especially not since I knew that his track record with women once he really started laying it on was just as good as mine. Flawless.

I pushed back my chair, startling the marketing assistant who was still waiting on me to make my final choices. Casting my eye over the remaining pictures, I quickly selected the fifteen that sucked the least, which wasn’t saying much but considering what I had to work with, they’d have to suffice.

“Those,” I said. “Run them over to the office, get a mock-up of the spread done, and send it over to the client for final approval.” With that, I strode over to where Demi and Adam were talking.

“What’s going on here?” I asked, trying to sound like I didn’t have murder in my heart.

“Apparently, casual sex is good for the soul,” Demi told me.

I shifted so that I was just a little closer to her than casual acquaintances would be, my arms lightly brushing hers.

“Back me up here, Hart. I know that you’re a staunch follower of the hit-it-and-quit-it relationship.” Adam laughed, poking an elbow into my side.

Demi’s eyes widened, and her jaw clenched.

“Shut it, Campbell.” I flashed him a warning glance but if he caught it, he didn’t act on it.

“No, seriously. What is it you’re always saying about the fact that the lingerie may change but the women never do?”

“What?” Demi gasped.

I glared at Adam. “Maybe I have said that but it doesn’t make it true.”

“Oh, but it so is, though,” Adam said, a grin still on his face. “Right, Demi? No one’s got time for a relationship these days but coming so hard that you can’t see straight for a solid minute? I’ve always got time for that.”

“I… uh...” Demi stammered, clearly flustered by the conversation. I was used to Adam running his mouth but it was time to shut him down.

“Too bad you’re only ever on the receiving end of that scenario,” I not-so-jokingly joked.

“Bullshit,” Adam argued. “I know how to show a girl a good time.”

“Yeah, you’re great fun as a drinking buddy for women.”

“What’s gotten into you, Hart? I know for a fact that you know I’m good for more than being a great drinking buddy to the ladies.”

Yeah… There might have been one or two times, way back when, before Nancie became my responsibility, where Adam and I had gotten down to business in the same room. We might have even had a few threesomes, back when I was in college, but there was no way Demi needed to know about that. Somehow, I doubted it’d be a turn on for her.

Instead, I tried steering the conversation away from that, shrugging. “Old age, you know.”

“I’m thirty-six,” he deadpanned. “I’ve got decades before that starts being an issue. Back me up here, Demi.”

“Are we really talking about erectile dysfunction at work?” she asked, her gaze alternating between the two of us. “Calm down, boys. Whatever pissing contest you’re in the middle of, this is not the time.”

We were interrupted by Stefan, who called for Demi. “We’re ready for you, bellissima. Come on over to the loungers first.”

As soon as she sauntered away, Adam turned to me, confusion playing on his features. “Dude, what the fuck was that?”

Before I could answer him, my assistant came rushing over to us. “Mr. Hart, I have a Mr. Kimyoshi on the line. He’s calling from Tokyo. He says it’s urgent.”

“I’ll take it.” I palmed the phone she was holding and marched to the relative quiet of the bar area on the rooftop, leaving Adam gaping in my wake.

The call with Tokyo lasted for the rest of the shoot. Kimyoshi talked my ear off about a blitz campaign he needed done as soon as possible, while I watched Adam and Stefan crowing over Demi. I didn’t like it.

I liked it even less when the shoot wrapped, and I saw Adam leading Demi to a cab. I overheard them talking about being headed in the same direction, so splitting a cab made sense. But for the rest of the day and all night, I stewed about it, imagining them tangled in Adam’s crisp white sheets.

I looked like shit at our next shoot the following morning, more than a little relieved that Demi and Adam arrived separately.

Of course, that didn’t mean that nothing happened.

Demi greeted me warmly when she arrived for day two of the sun deck shoot, a huge smile on her face as she headed straight to me. “Barrett, hey. Beautiful day to make some magic, isn’t it?”

“You’re spending too much time with Stefan if you’re starting to talk like that,” I told her, my voice curt and cold.

I ignored the hurt look on her face and went back to my emails on my phone, watching her and Adam interact and trying to ascertain if anything had changed between them, and if she’d fucked him. Demi was polite as always, declining Adam’s advances as they chatted.

The shoot went well, and Stefan wrapped us up a few hours later. “Well done, bellissima. Next time, we’ll have some of others around. Be prepared.”

Demi nodded, shot me a questioning look, and went back to her dressing room. I let her go.

Back at the office after the shoot, Adam burst into my office and slammed the door behind him. “What the fuck is up with you lately?”

“What’s up with me?” I asked him, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest as I stared him down. “How is it that you can’t keep it in your pants for longer than an hour at time?”

“Since when is that a problem, Hart?” he challenged me, walking right up to my desk, his eyes blazing with anger. I was sure that my expression matched his.

“Since you’re going after the girl I’m setting up as the face of this fucking agency. Have you considered the consequences if, no—not if—but when you fuck it up?”

Adam raked his hands through his hair and met my gaze dead on. “What is it with you? I’m not going to fuck anything up because there never will be anything to fuck up. You know me, man. Women know exactly what they’re getting into with me from the get-go. I’ve never lied about my intentions.”

“Demi isn’t the type to fuck around with,” I told him, my words ringing true to my own ears. “She’s not like that, Adam.”

“How would you know?” he countered. “She’s a chick. She’s hot. I’m a man. I’m hot. If we’re both into it, what’s the harm?”

“She’s not into it,” I insisted immediately. She’s into me, I wanted to say, but I didn’t know that she was into anything but my cock quite yet.

“Jesus, have you been appointed as her spokesperson or something?” he muttered.

“Or something,” I answered.

Adam’s eyes widened. “Wait a second, you fucked her, didn’t you?”

“That’s none of your goddamn business.”

“You have,” Adam said, the fight disappearing from his tone. “That’s what gotten into you, or more accurately, you’ve gotten into her. That’s why you went all alpha on me yesterday.”

“I didn’t go all anything on you,” I scoffed.

“Could’ve fooled me. You might as well have pissed on her.” Damn it, he knew me too well.

“I considered it,” I told him darkly, but the tense mood between us was broken.

Adam howled with laughter. “Seriously? Why didn’t you just tell me? You know I would never do that to you. Well, unless she was into it.”

“She’s not,” I growled. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want the others giving her an even harder time.”

“I’m a vault, brother. Locked and sealed. And don’t worry. I’ll back all the way off.”

“Good,” I said. Adam turned to leave my office, but I called him back. “And thank you.”