“If she had any sense, she’d cover those things up,” I power-whispered to Fallon.
“It’s not her he’s afraid of. It’s you.”
“Well, she’s not helping,” I said.
Riley made anmmm-mmm-mmmnoise. “Feel free to fake sick tomorrow. I will happily take your place. Pull a hammy. Pretend period cramps.” She pressed her hands together and bowed. “I will do your laundry for three months straight.”
“Back off,” Nessa snapped. “He’s going home with me. We have unfinished business.”
My stomach wrenched at the thought. That beautiful man should not be defiled by someone so skeezy. Also, I definitely didn’t want to walk the runway with a guy who’d just spent the night doing unspeakable things with Nessa.
“Wait. How do you know him?” Briar asked Nessa. “He does look familiar.”
“Yes,Nessa,” I said. “How do you know him?”
“We met on a Hollister shoot I did this summer,” she said in a duh tone. For the first time since Ginger came into view, Nessa dragged her eyes away to look at us. Her eyes stopped on me. “Don’t you all know who that is?”
“Should we?” Fallon asked as the four of us glanced at each other stupidly.
Nessa burst out laughing. “Yes, losers. That’s GriffinDupree.”
Chapter Two
GRIFFIN
“You’re gonna love her,” Declan shouted above the noise of the restaurant. I darted right, dodging a waiter, trying to keep up. “Julie is a phenomenal human being. No need to be intimidated.”
I grunted so he’d know I heard, but I couldn’t force any words past my vocal cords. I felt like a poser even being at The Standard. Yes, I’d landed a gig with Hollister four months ago—courtesy of forty extra pounds and a committed relationship with the squat rack. Which meant I was a real model, I guess. But I’d only taken that job so I could build some savings. And for the petty but deeply satisfying thought of my traitorous brother Bowen and my cheating ex Maggie walking separately into Hollister someday to find me staring back at them from the wall. Shirtless. Jacked. And completely over it. I hadn’t meant for modeling to become a thing. Firefighting was my future. Not this.
Yet here I was.
And tomorrow, I’d be walking down an actual runway, modeling Declan’s latest line. I felt stupid just thinking about it. When my dad heard, he laughed so hard I thought he mightbreak a rib. I’d only agreed because Declan’s best friend, my agent, had begged me to. He said Declan had seen my headshot and thought I’d be perfect. Also, I was getting paid bank.
“Ah, there she is.” Declan gestured toward the table of gorgeous women directly ahead. Which one was she? He’d said she had red hair like me.
My stomach knotted as I took in their faces one by one. Did all models look like they’d been airbrushed? I’d never seen so many pretty women in one place.
Declan chuckled. “I mean, I know she’s the face of the brand at DayGlow and all, but…”
Nothing he said after that computed because my mind made the connection to his words at the same time that I saw her face.
I froze. Dead stop. Heart attacking my trachea.
My runway partner was Juliette Serrant?
My mouth parted. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen on TV or online. But somehow, she was twice as stunning in person. Red hair blown out, swept back off her face in big, bouncy curls. The restaurant lights shimmered along her perfect cheekbones. Blue eyes like a cloudless sky. Lashes so thick they cast shadows.
I forgot how to breathe.
I almost forgot how to stand.
All I could do was stare.
Had I staged extremely private daydreams about us? What man hadn’t? Daydreams were safe. But meeting her in real life should come with hazard pay, because apparently I was not, in fact, built for this.
During my moment of paralysis, she broke into a wide Julia Roberts smile and gave me a finger wave.
Uh.
