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Of course, everyone oohed and ahhhed, Jinx along with them, while in her mind she decided to add the four hundred dollars onto her commission price if Portia never offered to pay for these.
If she got the commission.
“Now, come sit over here,” Portia said, taking her hand. “What are you drinking?”
“Rum and Coke?”
“David, get this dark-eyed Tinker Bell a rum and coke.”
Having grown up as the cute baby of the family who was not often taken seriously, her brother usually seeing her as a joke and making up all kinds of names to call her—like Jinx—she had to do some internal wrestling to keep her head on straight and not let Portia’s nickname get her hackles up. Was her invitation here a big joke? Entertainment for the star and her posse?
A moment later, her drink came and Jinx’s worries turned out to be unfounded. Portia started right in, telling Jinx how much she adored the silver cuff Logan had bought, adding, “Of course that gorgeous man could wear a rubber band on his arm and make it look sexy.”
Jinx wanted to ask if he was here tonight, since Erica had mentioned he would be, but decided it was best not to divert Portia’s attention. She pulled out her phone and opened up a portfolio of her more elaborate necklaces. Erica had said Portia wanted something spectacular for her next show.
The two of them spent the next half hour looking through the photos: a gold bib necklace with sapphires, a chunky silver choker, a delicate princess style with onyx and a diamond, a dangling matinee with stamped medallions and turquoise, opera-style gold beads, and a complicated slightly garish Egyptian-style breastplate.
Portia took her time on each, telling her what she did and did not like. Jinx expected to be interrupted a lot, but aside from a few grabs at a tray of chocolate truffles, Portia’s focus was impressive. Finally, Jinx was typing notes into her phone and agreed to email Portia some sketches in a couple days.
They did not discuss pricing and Portia did not offer to give Jinx her earrings back. Jinx silenced the anxious questions in her head and kept up a positive and professional attitude.
“Okay, tiny Jinx,” Portia said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, “now you go enjoy the party. There is plenty of food downstairs.”
Understanding she was being dismissed, Jinx had mixed feelings and almost wanted to leave and head home. But she reminded herself of her other mission, the one that had her more on edge—talking to Logan.
She went downstairs to the main floor and discreetly scanned the room. Having a slightly dramatic nature, Jinx normally liked attention and often found herself easily able to perform in the center of a crowd. But tonight as she wandered through a room filled with “beautiful people” she longed for her quiet workshop and the steady tactile feel of her hammers and saws or her favorite wax carving scalpels.
Walking through the shadowy perimeter of the big room, she again got the urge to duck out the door and go home when she realized the goal in her head of confronting Logan was based on the assumption that she would see him before meeting Portia. Which would have given her a chance to turn around and leave, telling him to keep his favor. But now Jinx had already bitten into the carrot he’d dangled, thanks to the surprise of being taken directly to Portia as soon as she’d given her name at the door. Now all she could do was offer a thank you from a lowly artisan to the sexy rich big shot.
That was when she felt his eyes on her. Yeah, it was weird, but she had always been able to feel Logan’s presence. And when his attention was directed at her, she felt a burn that permeated her whole being. She wondered if it went both ways, if they had some kind of subliminal communication system. Neither of them had ever spoken of it or admitted to it. So maybe it was just her own obsession with him that made her senses acutely aware of him being near or looking at her.
Jinx turned her head and saw Logan standing a few yards away with a group of men and women, all dressed to the teeth, one a television actress she recognized, another a babe who had her hand on his arm. Logan wore trousers with a dress shirt that was open at the collar. At the sight of him her heart rate shot up to the top of the charts. His eyes boring into her sent shivers and heat through her whole body and down to her core.
What should she do? He was so out of her league. Would his little group snub her if she approached him to talk? He had not returned her phone call and she wasn’t sure if that was because his assistant deemed her too unimportant to relay it, or if he got it and thought that very thing himself. Either way, it made her feel lousy.
Then there was the woman next to him who looked like she was ready to drop to her knees and give him a blow job. Was she his date?
But why had he gone out of his way to visit Bajinx? And to get her a commission with Portia? Was it guilt? Guilt for what he’d done to Victor and for abandoning her when they had made so many plans for her first year away from home?
It was all too much. Jinx decided to just give him a curt nod and keep walking. Partly because she did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her shuffle up to him like a thankful urchin, and partly because the tall woman next to him would tower over her in both size and beauty. She’d already had enough Tinker Bell humor for one night, thank you very much.
As Jinx ambled toward the exit, she discovered she was not alone. There was someone walking alongside her. A guy she recognized from one of the big football teams her dad liked.
“Who made you so angry?“ he said. “Want me to beat on him?”
Jinx paused in her stride. “What? What are you talking about? Beat on who?”
“The guy who put that frown on your face.” He smiled and Jinx had to admit he was a looker, even if squarely built brawny guys weren’t her type. She smiled back and he said, “The bartender over there makes the best Manhattans and you look like you need one.”
“You may be right…”
“Russ,” he supplied, and put a hand on the small of her back, turning her in the direction of the bar. “What’s your name?”
“Jinx,” she said.
His eyebrows knit. “That can’t be your real name.”
“Well, my birth name is Gianna, but my siblings started calling me Jinx when I was a kid, and it stuck.”
