“Hey!”
I deflated a little as I turned to see the woman of the hour grinning from ear-to-ear behind me, her cheeks pink, eyes sparkling. I threw a smile on my face and gave her a giant hug.
“Congratulations!” I said. “You happy, tipsy, or a lot of both?”
“Both, of course!” she said. “I’m so glad you could make it. I wasn’t sure. I know you’re not often in town—” Her gaze strayed to the other side of the table. “Graham!” She let go of me and hurried to him, throwing her arms around him and nearly making him drop his plate of food, much to my annoyance. “You came!”
“Of course I came,” he said. “I’d never hear the end of it if you came to Brooklyn and I didn’t make your event.”
She extricated herself and then looked from Graham to me.
“Do you two know each other?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” Graham said.
“No,” I said at the same time.
“Oh my gosh! How have two of my favorite people in the world never crossed paths?”
“We got lucky?” I muttered.
Jessa didn’t hear me, but Graham certainly heard something, his pale eyes flashing towards me as he smiled and popped the entirety of a mac-and-cheese bite in his mouth.
“Graham Forrester,” Jessa said. “New York Times bestselling author seven times over, meet Lior Flynn, world renowned fashion model and icon.” She turned to me. “Graham and I met when our first books debuted and we’ve been rooting for each other ever since.” She turned to Graham. “Lior and I met at the University of Washington when she and I and her best friend Addie shared a dorm room. Until Addie decided she wanted to be a veterinarian and Lior was discovered and moved to New York. She’s actually an amazing wri?—”
“Jessa,” I interrupted, pointing behind her. “I believe they’re looking for you.”
She turned to see two women putting stacks of her new book on a table. “Shoot. I have to go sign. Are you guys going to stay a while? We should hang out. Get drinks afterwards?”
I looked to Graham. There was no way I was sitting and drinking with this man who one, clearly hated me, and two, had written a horrifyingly embarrassing article about me and poop. I couldn’t imagine he had any interest in spending time with me either.
“I have an early shoot,” I said, easily selling the oft told lie. “I should really get home soon. But only after you sign a book or two for me.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “Graham?”
“I wouldn’t miss having drinks with you.”
The way he said it made it sound like I obviously was the worse friend for not staying. I kept myself from rolling my eyes. Suck up.
As Jessa hurried away, I didn’t even look at Graham when I said, “The gentlemanly thing to do would’ve been to bow out.”
“The friendly thing to do would’ve been to not lie and go have a drink with your friend.”
He looked pleased by his retort, giving me a smug little smile.
I turned and walked slowly around the table, stopping inches from him. He looked startled and started to back away but then held his ground, as if trying to prove he was undaunted.
I lowered my lashes and inhaled so that my breasts rose and fell, nearly touching him. I could feel the heat from his body and for a moment I forgot what I was doing. He smelled amazing and, fuck me, he was even hotter up close. But then I eyed his plate of food. Smiling softly, I looked up at him.
“You’re probably right,” I said. “But at least I know proper party etiquette.”
With that, I took one of the mac-and-cheese bites from his plate, peeled the paper off, and took a slow bite, my eyes watching his as he stared at my mouth. I turned on my heel then and walked away, satisfied when I saw him staring after me in the reflection of the bar’s window.
I stayed for another hour, buying three books and standing in line to have them signed for me, Addie, and one for Katya, who wouldn’t read it, but would put it on her bookshelf and post it all over social media because she liked to look well-read.
While I mingled with some of the other guests I knew, I kept an eye on Graham, tracking his movements so we didn’t accidentally run into each other again. I was curious about his friendship with Jessa, who was one of the most genuinely nice people I’d ever met, and had no idea how she could be friends with someone who was so full of himself. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before in some of the interviews I’d watched of him. But after his attack on me in a public newspaper, it was as clear as day – and I for one was going to do everything possible to make sure we never crossed paths again.
The following morning I woke early and ambled down the stairs to the kitchen, leaning on the counter as I waited for the espresso machine to work its magic. I then carefully carried my mug to the sofa where I sat and promptly spilled coffee on my new Calvin Klein pajama top that had arrived with a dozen other pieces from the designer two days before.
