“Is that what I should be calling you now?” she said.
“Ah, you can, uh, call me whatever you like.” No, I really owed her an explanation. Having two names for no reason was weird. People didn’t havemaidenfirst names. But I couldn’t really give her an explanation at this point.
“How did you just getLinyueto like you, Julie?” she said, drawing out my name, tasting it. Holy shit. I should have asked her to keep calling me Cassandra. Helena Warrick saying my name like that was going to give me a stroke.
“Just a bit of, uh, you know, charm. I was inspired. By the muse.”
“God, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just jumped in with—”
“No.” She stepped closer to me, and I got a lump in my throat at the fiery look in her eyes. “Don’t be sorry.”
“Huh?”
“That’s the exact conversation I’ve been dreading all this time, and you just walk in like you fucking own the place, you smooth everything out, and you getLinyueof all people to come around to our side enough she’ll help with the event. What the hell was that?”
“Honestly, I’m… not sure.”
“It was really fucking hot, is what it was,” she said, and she pushed me back against the wall. I think I got that stroke. “Take off your pants.”
“I’m the what what?”
“I said—” She grabbed the front of my pants and tugged down. “Take theseoffso I can go down on you and work out my feelings.”
“Holy shit.” I wasn’t asking questions. I undid my pants, and I melted when Helena kissed me ferociously, pinning me against the wall as I did.
Chapter 17
Helena
“Mr. Barakat will be at the mixer tomorrow,” Linyue said over the sound of heavy rain, her way of saying hello as I stepped out of the doors from the studio, following along next to me as I walked. “He has some useful connections with the studios we’ve been talking about. Make sure to make contact with him.”
I opened my umbrella as I got out of the building, giving Linyue a smile over my shoulder. “Hello to you too, Linyue. The shoot went well, thank you for asking.”
“Hello, Ms. Warrick.” She had her own umbrella out in short order, walking next to me as traffic crawled past us, raindrops coming down so hard they bounced knee-high off the pavement. “I’ve gotten the feedback form for Jewel prepared. Make sure Ms. Branch sends them to Ms. Adesina.”
Houdini’s magic trick really was spectacular. Cassandra… Julie? I still had never found a good opportunity to ask what was with the dual identity, not when she seemed awkward and uncomfortable around the concept, but whoever she was, she’d really managed to get in well with Linyue, if she was goingthrough her now to work with Krysten. “I wasn’t aware I was her supervisor,” I said lightly. “But I will do.”
“This rain is miserable. You have a minute to get a coffee.”
“I could well be going to meet someone right now.”
“Then all the better I interrupt, because I don’t see it on your schedule.”
Well, she won this one. I went with her into a tiny but flashy coffee shop, with tall ceilings and ornate crown molding, baristas with crisp black jackets, and a placard advertising an Ethiopian light-roast pourover, glossy copy that was lost on me. I got a small americano while Linyue took her caffeine in a concentrated shot as espresso, and she stood at the edge of the bar nursing the demitasse while she spoke.
“I don’t intend to monitor your personal life,” she said, finally, venturing carefully, which was dangerous.
“That’s news to me,” I laughed.
“I don’t involve myself in your dates.”
“Oh, you don’t?”
“I usually don’t.”
I just smiled, sipping my coffee.
