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“Sounds good,” I say, and Laila flashes me a smile that makes my heart skip a beat.
With the camera recording, we go back to the foyer and give our required speech about why we’re living here. We redo our entrance to the kitchen, and then to the master bedroom we’re supposedly going to share. We head into a small room we haven’t already seen, and Laila is thrilled to find the producers have brought in a pottery wheel for her, much like the one she has at her own place. And, finally, we head outside and tour the large swimming pool, fire feature, and hot tub.
“Oh, man, I know that gleam in my boyfriend’s eyes,” Laila says suggestively when we reach the hot tub. “That’s my cue to say goodbye for now, guys. We’ll say hello again tomorrow when we get on-set for our first day of shooting. Until then . . . ” She blows a kiss to the camera and slides her arm around my waist. “Say goodbye to the nice people, babe!”
I bristle. I’ve dreamed of Laila calling me babe for a very long time. But not like this. “Goodbye to the nice people, babe,” I deadpan, making Laila laugh. Or, rather, making her fake laugh.
Finally, the producer lowers her camera and whoops happily. “Brilliant, guys. Perfect.”
Laila removes her arm from my waist and exhales like she’s just finished a workout. “What time will the car come for us in the morning, Rhoda?”
“Nine.”
“Perfect.”
We accompany the producer to the front door and say our goodbyes to her. And, suddenly, Laila and I are standing alone, in the foyer of our fake love nest—the house we’re going to share for the next three months.
“So . . . are you hungry?” I ask.
“I could eat.”
“Let’s change into some comfortable clothes and meet in the kitchen in five.”
“Cool.” We start walking toward the staircase together, but Laila stops when her phone buzzes. “Oh, crap,” she says, looking down. “My mom and sister saw our live video and demand I call them.” She snickers. “As predicted, they’re freaking out about the house.”
“I’m sure my cousin showed Mimi our video, too. I tell you what, babe. Cioppino takes a half hour to prep and about an hour to simmer, before it’s time to add a few last-minute ingredients. Why don’t we get the broth simmering, and then we’ll call both our families while it cooks?”
“You’re a genius chef.” She mimes a chef’s kiss. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in five, babe.” We walk up the grand staircase together and stop at the top. “If I’m forbidden to go into the West Wing,” she says, “tell me now. Or I’m going there, first thing.”
I look at her blankly.
“In your enchanted castle,” Laila clarifies. “In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast forbids Belle from entering the West Wing. That was my way of saying you remind me so much of the Beast, I can’t stand it.”
“I told you I haven’t seen that movie.”
“I know. I said that to amuse myself.” She smirks. “Do me a favor. Growl at me and say, ‘I forbid you to go into the West Wing!’”
I pull a face that says, Over my dead body.
Laila snickers. “The Beast wouldn’t do that on command, either.”
“Just to be clear,” I say, “you’re supposed to like the Beast, right? He’s the hero of that movie?”
Laila surprises me by stepping forward into my personal space and pulling me toward her. “Hell yeah, we’re supposed to like the Beast. In fact, I didn’t understand my reaction to the Beast as a little girl—the tingle he provoked on my skin and between my legs. But now, looking back, I understand that movie was my first foray into porn.”
I bite back a smile and then growl and whisper-shout, “I forbid you to go into the West Wing!”
“Oooh, baaaaby,” she purrs, like she’s having a little orgasm, and I can’t help chuckling in reply. “Just so you know,” she says, “I’m the kind of twisted bitch who thought the Beast was a five-alarm fire . . . and the prince he becomes at the end when the spell is broken was a total disappointment.”
“Thanks for ruining the ending for me, dude.”
Laila slides her hand to my package to confirm what she already suspects: I’m finding this exchange hot as hell. “Aw, come on, Adrian,” she says seductively, her hand cupping the bulge in my pants. “Nobody watches porn for the plot.”
My breathing hitches. This girl. She knows how to hook me like nobody else. In fact, she’s known it since the minute I laid eyes on her at Reed’s party.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me,” I say. “We’ll watch Beauty and the Beast tonight.”
She smiles seductively. “Fair warning, Beast? I always get what I want, one way or another. You’ll find that out soon enough.” With that, she releases me, winks, and sashays down the hallway, pointedly walking past the door to the master bedroom and disappearing into a bedroom a few doors away.
