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Emily stopped inching away to face her. If he wasn’t mistaken, she dug in her heels. “Eva Trout, is it? What is it you do, exactly, besides show up at these parties?”
“I’m a social media influencer. Parties are my job.”
“What do you influence?”
“Oh, you know,” Eva said slowly. “Everything.”
Nash watched on with interest. Something was happening here. Emily was actually fighting, but for what?
Eva’s eyes glittered like sapphires. “I help come up with hashtags that describe people to a T.”
“Wait.” Emily’s fingers tightened on her guitar case. “I think I saw one of your posts the other day. You were making faces with bunny ear filters. Such riveting material. The twelve-year-olds must love you.”
“Men,” Eva easily countered. “They’re my audience… the men I steal from boring women.”
He winced. Eva would win. She was meaner. “Okay!” He held his hands up to stop them from insulting each other’s outfits next. “Honestly, the men Eva goes after are pretty boring,” he said. He was aware on some level that Eva was referring to stealing him from Emily, so he supposed a joke at his own expense would lighten the mood. “At least we can agree on that.”
“Never!” Eva cried out. “Boring nothing, but then again, I appreciate a good man, unlike some chicks.” She glared at Emily, then turned to Nash, tilting her head. “I’m going to look for my earring. You coming?” She gave him a conspiratorial wink.
He was a blockhead most of the time, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Eva was actually setting him up with Emily by playing this strange game of jealousy. If he hesitated any longer on giving her the appropriate answer, he’d get Eva’s boot nudging him to tell her off. “No, I’m staying,” he said. “I want to catch up with…” he glanced over at Emily, watching her carefully, “… my good friend.”
Emily straightened. Her expression filled with gratitude that he’d chosen her.
“Okay,” Eva said, “but I’ll be waiting for you in the stands. We can sit together and watch the singer tonight. I heard that she’s tolerable.”
“Tolerable?” Emily mouthed.
Eva gathered her friends to leave, her gang almost as intimidating as one fromWest Side Story… which was not that daunting, frankly. Her eyes raked over Emily. “Don’t think that anything is going to happen between you and yourgoodfriend.”
Emily gasped, watching Eva saunter away to roam the stands. Incidentally, but not coincidentally, Eva caught more eyes from her “target audience” on her way to find West. Emily twisted around on her heel to let Nash have it. “She called me tolerable. Who does she think she’s messing with?”
Man, she was so loveable all riled up like that. Nash caught her up in his hands. She was amazingly pliant after that little squabble. She let him comfort her, and even better he got to get a good whiff of that strawberry scent that he’d discovered after Lacy Lynch’s party. All the softness that made up this alluring catwoman was now within reach. He almost felt bad, but not too bad, that he didn’t take advantage of her sudden nearness. He rubbed her arms with his thumbs. “She meant to say you’readorable!” he said. He’d follow that up with a consoling kiss, but Emily just wasn’t his yet.
Yet…
Was there a chance?
Her lips quirked up at the compliment before she let out a noise of disdain. “Why do you even hang out with her?” Uh, he got paid? That made him sound like an escort. Once again, he stayed mute on the subject. He brought her closer to him instead, and she let him.
She let him!
With difficulty, he kept himself from snickering at Eva’s machinations. Dang, she was good. He’d seriously underestimated her capabilities before this… that made her a dangerous opponent and a great ally… and maybe he should be scared for West? His brother was wily, but even he might not stand a chance against Eva when she got that stubborn idea of “liking him” in that pretty little blonde head of hers.
“I’m so mad at you,” Emily said.
Her fingernails digging into her palms caught his interest and he uncurled her fingers, seeing that she’d put little American flags on her nail polish. “Cute,” he said. She grew still. His eyes ran back to her leather shorts. “I like those too.”
“Oh no,” she said. “You’re not sweet talking your way out of this.”
But she was laughing, so he was.
What else could he sweet talk her into doing?
Her manager came up behind her, her face unexpressive with her unnaturally high cheekbones, though her eyes caught him like a shark’s. His hand tightened over Emily, not happy for the interruption.
“I’m so glad that Emily caught up to you,” Mia said. She dug through her heavy purse, looking every inch the businesswoman. She wore another pantsuit. This one was gray. “Has she explained my plan yet?” She littered the air with her giggles. “I mean, I admit that it was your brother’s plan first.”
He stiffened. That didn’t sound good.
