Chapter 14

Demi

“Did you hear that he was hugging her in his office yesterday?” a redhead whose name I didn’t know said in a stage whisper to a blonde who was being styled next to her.

The blonde shook her head and pouted. “You’re kidding me?”

Both women glanced toward me, their wide eyes shooting daggers straight into my skull. Slowly but surely, I was getting used to the cattiness of the other models. Barrett had warned me that the closed shoots wouldn’t last forever and that I’d been assigned to a campaign working with some of their other top models.

This photo shoot proved that he hadn’t been joking when he’d warned me earlier in the week to ignore the others when the time for the campaign came. Their onslaught had been brutal.

We’d started the day before, and not one of them had one kind word to say to me, despite the fact that I hadn’t done a single thing to any of them. I hadn’t so much as spoken to most of them. It was crystal clear to me that they didn’t like me. At all.

As if she was channeling Barrett, Stevie tugged my hair into an elegant upstyle and met my eyes in the mirror. “Ignore them. Just focus on the job you’re here to do.”

I nodded, not wanting to betray how insecure I felt when I heard them all murmuring about me. I was coming into my own as a model, sure. But these girls were professionals. It was still hard to believe that I was the focus of Barrett’s attention and the one he wanted to represent his company.

Yet, it was me. I was, in fact, the one he had handpicked for the job. That thought, and that alone, was what got me through the shoot the day before and would do the same thing today.

Squaring my shoulders, I caught Stevie’s gaze and nodded again. “Thanks, I think I will.”

Stevie’s shaved hair was starting to grow out some, her fluffy new hairs forming a halo around her head from the way the early morning sun was shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her. We were in a luxury penthouse with a drool-worthy view of Central Park for the shoot.

“Are you okay?” Stevie asked, concern darkening her eyes. “Someone said they saw you crying when you arrived at the office the other day.”

My gaze drifted to the hardwood paneling of the floor, following the rich grain as Stevie continued pinning up my hair. I chewed my bottom lip, then lifted my eyes back to the mirror. “I’m fine. I just had some shocking news.”

“Word on the street is that everyone’s favorite playboy was seen comforting you after,” Stevie said. Unlike the other women in the room, she didn’t look jealous about it, only playful and interested. “That shocking news anything you want to talk about?”

“No,” I answered firmly and immediately. “But thanks for asking.”

“Boss man has you all taken care of then?” She winked, flashed me an amused smile, and reached for the small mirror to show me my hairstyle.

She’d weaved my raven strands into intricate plaits, pinned together in an elegant bun with carefully arranged locks framing my face. “It’s beautiful, as always, girl.”

“Thanks, but you make it easy,” she told me honestly. “Are you going to keep ignoring my questions about the boss taking care of you in your time of need?”

My cheeks grew hot. “Noticed that, did you?”

“It’s kind of hard not to.” She grinned.

“Bellissima.” Stefan appeared in the reflection of the mirror. His hair was wild as always, and his eyes were shining with excitement. “Yesterday’s shots are looking magnifico. We should wrap this up today.”

“Thanks, Stefan,” I muttered, but he was already gone. The man was like a ball of pure energy when he was happy, but I’d heard rumors that he was equally as intense when he wasn’t.

“You’re all done,” Stevie told me.

“And not a second too soon,” an assistant said behind her, her tone clipped and efficient. “Come along, Demi.”

I noticed that I was the last model to leave the makeshift dressing room. The others were gathered on a large patio, milling around in the spots Stefan and his assistants guided them to.

Today, we were modeling jewelry. Our luxurious surroundings were supposed to emulate the elite at a party, bejeweled in the finest accessories money could buy.

“And our crown jewel,” Stefan called, motioning to me. “You’re over here.”

His hands clamped onto my shoulders as he guided me to a cocktail table set up right in the center of the patio, beside a glimmering infinity pool. There was a low grumble among the others as I took my position, though the only one I could hear came from the redhead that had been in the dressing room earlier. “Getting all the attention. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“Right.” Stefan clapped. “Everyone, places!”

Camera flashes started going off as Stefan barked off commands at each of us, while one of his lackeys got upbeat pop music blaring through the speakers. I lost myself in the action for a while, aware only of Stefan’s voice and angling my body just right.

In the space of a few weeks, my confidence had grown more than I would have ever thought possible, and I was really starting to get into my role as a model. It was an empowering feeling.

Stefan called for a break, and I relaxed my posture. Then, awareness prickled my skin just as a low voice spoke up from behind me.

“Another job well done.” Barrett’s warm eyes greeted me as I spun around to face him. His expression was one of smug satisfaction mixed with… pride?

My heart soared. If this man, the one who had revolutionized the industry and built himself a billion-dollar empire doing it, was proud of me, then surely, I was doing as well as I thought I was. Screw what all the others had to say, or think, about it.

“Thanks, Barrett. That means a lot to me.” I spoke honestly, my heart still racing, as was starting to become its normal state whenever I was around Barrett.

“Sure,” he said, then raised a brow suggestively. “Wanna get out of here?”

My reaction to him was immediate, as if my body had a road map to follow and did so instinctively and landed right on the money. My cheeks grew hot as my mind went straight to the gutter. “Now?”

Amusement shone in Barrett’s eyes. I wondered again if he could read my mind. Sure enough, his pupils dilated just slightly, and his voice was almost imperceptibly thicker when he added, teasingly, “For lunch. Stefan’s just about to call it.”

“You tease.” I laughed, making sure to keep my voice low. We were garnering enough attention from the other models as it was. I wasn’t concerned enough about it to avoid Barrett at work. I was too selfish with any time I could steal alone with him. But I also didn’t want to add fuel to the rumor fire if I could help it.

“I didn’t hear a yes there,” Barrett said, a playful smirk on his lips. “Would it help if I told you that what I really wanted for lunch was you?”

Pure joy floated through me as a delighted giggle slipped out. “Yes, but I’ll go eat with you anyway.”

Dear Lord, who is this flirtatious person I’m becoming with him? I’d never really been shy, but I’d also never been quite so free and comfortable with a man either.

Stefan’s voice echoed out above the blaring music. “Okay, everybody. Time for lunch. Do try to have more than a few grapes.”

Barrett snorted next to me, shaking his head at Stefan’s request. The music cut out, and there was a mad dash for the dressing rooms and the elevator. Some of the models paused to shoot me looks of pure hatred as I placed my hand in the crook of Barrett’s arm and let him lead me away for lunch after I changed back into my own clothes.

“Stevie will kill me if my makeup melts too much, so not somewhere too far away, okay?” I told him when we stepped onto the busy sidewalk.

I was assaulted by the smells of the city in the summer, garbage, sweat, cigarettes, spices from food carts, and the hard-to-identify odors that came blasting on waves of hot air out from building vents.

Given our proximity to Central Park, there was also the unmistakable stink of the ginkgo trees in the air.

Tourists might not always appreciate it, but to me it smelled like home. Like memories of picnics in the park with Gabbi and the rare occasions that I got to walk home from school. Like nights out with Mandy and pounding the sidewalks early in the morning when I’d first started hunting for a job. I filled my lungs with the scent and let out a happy sigh.

Barrett glanced at me, seeming more relaxed now that we were away from the prying eyes of bitchy models, and he twined his fingers through mine. “I’m too smart to mess with Stevie. I made a reservation for lunch right around the corner.”

“Am I that predictable that you made a reservation before you’d even asked me to lunch?” I asked, not offended at all. If anything, a bolt of happiness shot from my heart to my extremities that our relationship was progressing in this direction.

“Was I supposed to ask?” Barrett asked, flashing me that panty-melting smile of his. “I made the reservation because I wanted to have lunch with you, and I can be very persuasive when it comes to getting what I want.”

Oh my… “Maybe I should say no, then, just to see exactly what methods of persuasion you have up your sleeve to convince me”

A wicked grin lit up his face. “Yes, let’s do that.”

I couldn’t bite back my laughter. “Fiend! Did you forget the part where Stevie will kill you if you smudge my makeup and ruin my hair?”

“Hey, you suggested it,” he said, coming to a stop in front of a small boutique hotel with a packed Italian restaurant on the sidewalk outside. “Anyway, it’s too late for that now. We’re already here. Stefan swears it’s the most authentic Italian in the city.”

“I know a couple of people who might argue with that, but let’s not tell him I said so.”

We went inside, and he made a gesture as if to zip his lips before announcing to us to a waitress.

“It’ll be our secret.”

We were showed to a table in the corner of the crowded room, breadsticks and various vinaigrettes already waiting on it. Barrett pulled out my chair and waited for me to sit before shrugging out of his suit jacket, hanging it over the back of his chair, and taking his seat.

“At this point, though, I don’t think even an argument about his favorite restaurant will turn Stefan off of you,” Barrett told me, reaching for my hand across the table. “He adores you, you know?”

“I adore him, too,” I admitted. “I was petrified of him initially but he’s been so helpful and supportive.” I dipped a breadstick and took a delicate bite of the tangy goodness.

“Only to you, baby,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat at the term of endearment. He didn’t use them often, and I hadn’t heard him call anyone else by one since I’d known him. Well, except for Nancie, but I wasn’t counting that.

Lunch flew by, as time with him always did. Before I knew it, we were in the elevator car, riding back up to the penthouse. I chewed on my lower lip, not ready to let him go for the day just yet. “Let’s go to dinner tonight. My treat. Sort of like a thank you.”

Both of his eyebrows flew up, like no one had ever asked him out before. The corners of his mouth curled up into a slow grin. “Sure, how does eight sound?”

“Perfect.” I pressed a small kiss to the back of his hand, then let go of him and hurried back to the dressing room so Stevie could touch me up before I had to get back out there.

One of the other models, the blonde from that morning, watched me like a hawk as Barrett and I stumbled out of the private elevator he used to gain entrance to the penthouse. As soon as he was busy talking to Stefan and some of the assistants, she grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly to side before I reached the relative safety of Stevie’s chair.

Her bright green eyes burned into mine, wide and fierce. “Be careful with Barrett. He’ll love you, then leave you so fast it’ll make your head spin.”

Apprehension ran through me, but I stood my ground. “No offense, I don’t even know what your name is. So, stay out my business, okay? All you people have done since I got here is treat me like shit, so thanks for the warning, but I trust him a hell of a lot more than I trust any one of you right now.”

Without another word, I spun on my heel and nearly heaved a sigh of relief when I found Stevie waiting for me at her station. At least there was one person on this set who wasn’t gunning for me.