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“They deserve each other,” Ava said. “Rupert is a big butt-itch, and Kayleigh is a classic plaything. Big empty eyes with nothing behind them. Big oversized boobs.”
“Hmm,” Jenna said. “So I should stuff my bra? And the glasses have got to go.”
“No,” Drew blurted out.
Ava and Jenna looked around, startled. “Excuse me?” Jenna said.
“Don’t stuff your bra,” he said. “You’re perfect. And I love the glasses.”
Damn. Babbling like an idiot. He had no business weighing in on this. He had a goddamn letter of resignation in his briefcase. “Which brings me to what I wanted to tell the two of you,” he said swiftly. “I spent some time last night thinking it over. And I’ve decided that this whole thing was a big mistake.”
Jenna’s eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Oh, really? Why is that?”
Her cool, dispassionate tone confused him. “We don’t have time for this crap,” he told her. “You, especially. You’re doing real work, Jenna. Important work. You’ve got no business playacting for the paparazzi.”
Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “Bite your tongue,” she said. “It’s working, Drew. It’s effortless. I’m pulling all the strings and they’re doing all the work. Please remember that it’s not all about you. This raises the profile of Arm’s Reach, too.”
“But is this really the way you want Arm’s Reach’s profile to be raised?” he asked.
Ava shrugged. “Who cares? You know the old saying ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity,’ right?”
“Big oversimplification, Av. And you know it, or we wouldn’t have this scandal problem to begin with,” Drew said. He looked at Jenna. “You’re no plaything. Don’t bother pretending to be one.”
Jenna’s eyebrows climbed. “So you’re chickening out on me?”
Drew was startled. “Chickening out? What the hell? You mean you actually want to continue this farce?”
Jenna shrugged. “Right now, I’m just a sexy plaything to the tabloids. But if you bail on me, I’ll be a failed plaything. A loser plaything. One who sucked so badly at playing, she couldn’t even keep the bad boy of architecture entertained for one single night. I can see the headlines already. ‘Dumped by the Starchitect.’ ‘Sorry, Geek-Girl, One and Done.’ I’ll be an object of pity and scorn.”
“Jenna—”
“Bev Hill will be too embarrassed by my pathetically bad judgment that she won’t even want to look me in the eye, so to hell with any partnership possibilities from the Bricker Foundation,” Jenna said. “Of course that won’t stop my crusade, but it’s still embarrassing.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Chin up, staring him down.
Turning him on.
“I just thought, after what you said last night, that you’d be glad to be done with this,” he said carefully.
“What?” Ava’s gaze sharpened, flicking back and forth between them. “What happened last night?”
“None of your business, Av,” he said. “Private conversation.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Excuse me? Private conversation? About what? Clue me in, guys. Oh, wait. Am I being a bossy, condescending hag again?”
“Yes, you are, since you asked,” Jenna said. “Leave him alone, Ava.”
His sister started to laugh. “Oh, man. Again. It’s just so cute. I’m dying.”
“What’s so cute?” Jenna sounded annoyed.
“You two,” Ava said. “When you close ranks against me. It’s just precious.”
His sister kept on talking, but her voice faded into background babble. All he saw was the spark in Jenna’s eyes. The jut of her chin, her upright posture. Her tilted eyebrow, silently asking him if he could rise to the challenge.
Oh, hell yeah. He’d already risen, in her honor. In every sense. He let his gaze rove appreciatively over her body. The color deepened in her cheeks, and her gaze slid away.
Good. She was aware of him as a man, no matter how low her opinion of him as a person might be. That was something.
“I give in. I can’t bear to see you billed as a failed plaything,” he said, leaning over and grabbing one of the breakfast sandwiches. “Let’s do this thing.”
Jenna pawed through the sandwiches and selected one herself, shooting him a quick, sidelong smile as he took his first bite. Mmm, smoked ham, poached eggs, melted Gruyere cheese on an English muffin. Lots of pepper. The cheese was still hot and gooey.
He suddenly felt like he could eat five of them.
