Sweet As Sin

4

Mortified, I dropped my kit and held my hands in the air as if I were being robbed at gunpoint. “f**k! Sorry! My bad!”

“Mah.” Avery waved an unconcerned hand and shrugged her shoulders. She yawned, exhaling fumes, then absently scratched her head.

I took that to mean I wasn’t in imminent danger of death by stoning. And, because the sexiest man alive was about to make an appearance and his girlfriend wasn’t exactly looking her best, I took pity on her.

Under my breath I said, “You’re about to get a visitor, Ms. Kane. Nico’s less than twenty feet away. Should I. . . ?”

It wasn’t my business. I should’ve simply made myself scarce for a few minutes and watched discreetly from the sidelines until it was safe to return and perform an Oscar-worthy makeup transformation on the derelict in that chair. But all I could think of at that moment was that if it were me sitting there, slurring, stinking, looking train wrecked, I would’ve really been grateful if someone had my back.

There were dozens of people in the room. Not a single one of them paid her any attention. How long had she been here like this? Where was her assistant? Her entourage? She was one of the stars of the show, but as far as the room was concerned, she was completely invisible.

Then it hit me: To everyone else here, Avery Kane wasn’t a person. She was a prop.

That royally pissed me off.

So of course I went all feminazi on Nico when he stopped next to her chair, stared down at her with fury darkening his eyes as he assessed her condition, and growled, “Goddamn it, Av, not again!”

Bristling, hands on hips, I stepped between them.

I’ve never been known for good decision making under pressure.

“Excuse me! We’re working here. You’re welcome to come back when we’re finished, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now.”

His gaze cut to mine, and there it was again: connection. Like a plug into a socket. Only this time it was heightened by the anger rolling off him, palpable as a punch in the stomach.

After a long moment, Nico’s question came deadly soft. “What’s your name?”

I swallowed. Clearly snapping at the pretty, pretty rock star hadn’t been such a brilliant idea. He seemed about to explode. I wondered if he had a history of violence. If I survived the next few minutes, I’d Google him later to find out.

“Uh . . . Kat. Kat Reid.”

“Lemme ask you a question, Kat Reid. You gettin’ between me and my girl?”

His voice was rich and sexy, with more than a hint of Matthew McConaughey southern drawl. I didn’t have time to really appreciate it, because the two of us were locked in a stare down, arguing over his inebriated girlfriend. The space between us sizzled. There were sparks coming off him. Or maybe they were coming off me.

From the corner of my eye, I saw people staring.

But I didn’t care. Another thing I hate in addition to celebrities, rock music, and celebrity rock musicians: bullies. There was no way I was going to let this guy intimidate me, no matter how beautiful and famous he was.

No matter how much I wanted to find out if his full, sensual lips were as soft as they looked.

After a quick mental slap to redirect my wayward thoughts, I squared my shoulders. “My work space is a d**k-free zone, so if you’re going to be a d**k to her, then yeah. I’m getting between you and your girl.”

His gaze never left mine. We stood there silently for a few seconds that felt like a geological epoch. Then his eyes softened, and he said something that shocked me.

“Good for you.”

His lips curved into a smile that left me stunned, both by the beauty of it and by my sheer surprise of its appearance. Then he pulled a cell phone from his back pocket, punched in a number, and waited for whomever he was calling to answer.

“Barney.” He spoke into the phone, but his eyes were still honed on me, sharp as a wolf’s. “Bring the car ’round back. Got a situation.” He didn’t wait for an answer before disconnecting.

Avery slurred, “Mi amorrr.”

Nico and I turned to her. Probably because the room was still spinning, she was still doing the one-eye-closed thing.

Sighing, Nico stroked his hand over her mess of long tawny hair. “I’m gonna take you home, baby.”His voice was so intimate it made me feel gross, like a Peeping Tom. I turned to the vanity and began unpacking my bag, mainly for something to do. I knew I’d be packing it up again in a few minutes anyway. The shoot would have to be rescheduled once again.

Avery started to plead with Nico. “No. I can work. I’m fine, I jus’ need a few minutes. Jus’ need to clean up . . . ” She slid her long legs off the vanity, set her feet on the floor, and attempted to stand. I saw every move reflected in the vanity mirrors, so I was treated to a front-row view of her collapsing as she lost her footing.

Nico caught her before she hit the floor. He swept her up in his arms as if she weighed next to nothing, which she looked like she did. She buried her face in his neck.