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Recognition welled up in her throat as Cara’s words fisted Lili’s heart. Maybe she’d been enjoying the view from up on her high horse a little too much. And not just with her sister.
Cara’s eyes met Lili’s, so blue and stunning. “Sis, you’ve always been the strong one. When we were little, nothing fazed you. Remember when you broke your leg after you climbed into that tree because Tad dared you?”
“I couldn’t do anything for weeks. Worst summer ever.” Lili sat again, her hollow stomach forgotten. “And you fainted.” Cara had earned as much attention for hitting the deck in a swoon as Lili had with her leg broken in two places.
“You didn’t even cry. You just lay there quietly waiting for Dad to take you to the ER.” Cara wagged her finger. “And I fainted because your bone was poking out and it looked like something out of Alien.” Even now, her sister’s face turned chalky at the gruesome memory.
Lili gave what she hoped was a sympathetic smile. “We’re just different.”
“I know you think I’m a princess.”
“Well, you are.”
“All right, I am,” Cara said, stubborn chin up. “But I still think you’re the most beautiful, kick-ass person I know.”
Guilt and regret fought for space in Lili’s chest as she was reminded of how they used to be friends. She longed for that closeness once more and making a joke seemed as good a way as any of finding the way back there.
“So, throwing me at your boss was your version of penance?”
“Seemed like a good idea but…” Half-smile, Cara style. “Forget about Jack.”
Say, what now? Lili’s mouth went slack-jawed, shaken by the brusque declaration.
“I’m beginning to think it’s for the best nothing happened. I should never have encouraged it.”
“I know he’s out of my league.”
“That’s not it.”
Lili readied for the worst. He frequents swinger clubs or his tastes stretch to weird, New York-style kink. Or any style kink. The tabloids had been long on innuendo and short on cold, hard facts.
Cara raised both perfectly-plucked eyebrows. “You’re not out of his league. He’s out of yours.”
Oh... say double what now? “Why would you think that?”
Cara shot Lili through with that know-it-all look she brandished like a weapon, and Lili braced for one of her ‘here’s how it works in the real world’ speeches.
“Jack’s hotter than a jalapeno and he’s got charm up the yin yang, but there’s no depth there. All he cares about is cooking and fucking. He’s good enough for a one-night stand, but don’t rely on him for anything long term. He’ll break your heart.”
All that time working with Jack, and Cara hadn’t learned a single thing. She had bought into his media image just like everyone else. Just like Lili had at first. Within minutes of meeting him, she had smirked her disapproval and called him awful names because she’d thought herself so above him and his trivial existence. She had always considered herself a giving person. An unselfish person. But last night, Jack had given and she had taken, proving herself no different than the vultures who wanted a piece of him.
She liked him better when she thought he was a man whore. She liked herself better. Now she wanted to know more about the man lurking behind that PR-crafted facade. The man who didn’t seem all that at ease with his fame.
“After everything you went through in high school, I don’t want to see you getting hurt. By Jack or the haters. Just be careful, ‘kay?” Cara smiled, putting the unpleasantness behind her.
That’s exactly what she would be. Careful. With her heart, and with Jack.
“Now to the important stuff,” her sister said, and Lili was ninety-nine percent positive she wasn’t talking about food. “What are you wearing for the taping?”
DeLuca’s was bustling with the production crew going through their paces, setting up what Lili could only assume were harsh, unforgiving lights and boom microphones that picked up every traitorous whisper against the Dark Lord. Off in the direction of the kitchen, Cara’s strident voice barked unrecognizable orders. Not quite ready for that level of participation, Lili headed underground before the festivities really got going.
She wasn’t avoiding Jack. No, not at all.
DeLuca’s wine cellar was more of a basement than a proper cellar but in the last couple of years, Tad had spent time building it up into something any top-notch dining establishment could be proud of. As Lili descended into the cool cavern, she took in the wall-to-wall racks, the temperature panel that looked like it could program a spaceship, and her cousin, now hunched over as he examined a bottle on the bottom shelf.
“Any chance we have something hidden in here that’s worth a fortune?” she asked, not entirely joking.
Tad looked up and gave that lop-sided grin he used to great effect on the opposite sex. “If there was a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite knocking around here, I’d be lying on a beach with one of Kilroy’s lingerie models instead of trying to decide what wine recs we should have for the taping.”
