Page 87 of Pink

“Prepare for an onslaught of pictures of him arriving and leaving the hotel. I’m sure they’ll be everywhere by tomorrow.”

“Gigi!”

Kayla, Gigi’s assistant, snickered into her hand to hide the noise.

“I mean, I could have lied,” Gigi replied to her agent. “Is that what you would have preferred?”

“Well, no, but—”

“All you needed was the no, Marla. And hey, I just gave you some time to get ahead of the story. You should really be thanking me.”

With a wave of her hand in the direction of the phone, Kayla reached over and hit the red button to end the call without warning. At this point, Gigi just didn’t care. She had far more important things to handle.

“Don’t worry,” her assistant said when Gigi turned her back to the room, needing a sense of privacy even if she had finally, truly learned that she had none. “In a few days, somebody else will do something that blows up and takes all the attention off you.”

Maybe so.

That didn’t make this easier.

“Who tipped them off that I was going to be with him that night? We were careful, right? Extra careful, Kayla.”

Quietly, her assistant replied, “I don’t know, Gi.”

That was the problem.

Nobody knew anything.

Including Gigi.

• • •

Gigi pulled open the hotel’s door—the one that guests could use while she had the private elevator access—but the man waiting on the other side was not who she expected it to be. Jensen Todrey screamed casual and confident in his tan, cashmere cable-knit sweater, gray slacks, and matching loafers.

Lifting his attention from the watch on his wrist, the man smiled warmly at Gigi’s presence. She couldn’t quite say the same as the happiness she had previously felt about who she thought was behind the door quickly melted away. If he noticed, it wasn’t apparent.

“Gigi,” Jensen greeted, reaching out a hand that cupped her cheek with a soft touch before she could even react. It didn’t last long enough for her to tell him to remove his hand, because in the next breath, he dropped his arm back to his side. “You’re not busy, are you? I hope I didn’t … interrupt.”

As he said that, his body tipped to the side slightly right along with his head, like he was trying to get a peek inside the hotel suite behind her. There wasn’t anyone in her rooms. Kayla had left a while ago to handle things for Gigi and the agency. A new schedule had to be made for the upcoming appointments and events related to Fashion Week. All things Gigi didn’t care to get too involved with beyond showing up like she was told.

She wouldn’t say any of that to this man, though.

Instead of answering his question, the first thing out of Gigi’s mouth was, “How did you get past the hotel’s security … and mine?”

Because the three bodyguards that stuck close to her whenever she was on an official outing or working had a room two doors down from her suite and should have been called before anyone—but especially this man—was allowed up to see Gigi. That was the rules.

Jensen laughed, waving a hand like it wasn’t a big deal. “My name is … recognizable, you could say. I pulled a favor with the hotel manager. And besides, we’re friends, right? You don’t need to be screening me if I come for a visit.”

Her brow lifted. “Everyone gets screened. Even my mother.”

Accordingly, if they were on her list of people she approved, then the screening process moved a lot faster. Jensen, however, certainly was not on that list. And as she hadn’t heard a thing about or from this man since the day she was made to go on a lunch date with him like a piece of arm candy to show off, she had assumed whatever he wanted from her was over.

Wasn’t it?

Apparently not.

It didn’t sit well with Gigi.

“Huh.”