Page 35 of Say It Isn't So

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Rina

I held my compact mirror up and drew my lips together, spreading on the lipstick I’d already reapplied just moments before. I didn’t know what I had been thinking when I let my makeup artist talk me into the dark red. See, this was why she’d always be exactly what she was—a makeup artist who doted on public figures like me and never had a life as glamorous as her clients. The lipstick would have to do, though, because at this point it was too late.

Right around the corner was the hotel restaurant where I was meeting with an advertising executive forBellissima. I didn’t know why they bothered to go to any other shows in London. Everyone knew mine was the one to note. Sure, I had loyalty to Stefan, but I didn’t think even his catwalk was going to top my fashion week debut.

In case you weren’t getting the picture, let me explain it to you: I wasn’t insecure anymore and I wasn’t going to be the butt of the joke, either. The girl everyone thought they knew was gone. They could search for her, but they weren’t finding her. She was like yesterday’s news—so over.

She had been a nobody. No one had liked her anyway.

Well, no one except Knox Rhodes, but I hadn’t heard from him, or of him, in a good long while. Honestly, he’d probably crawled back to Minnesota. Working at a butcher shop and thenBellissima? Those were. . . not his best moments.Bellissimawas fine, but it was a pity job, a favor, certainly not his crowning glory.

I tossed the compact mirror in my designer purse (not my design, but luxury all the same), and strutted into the restaurant like I owned the place.

Head held high.

One foot in front of the other.

Lips pursed.

That was the Rina Levana way.

I was strong.

Confident.

And I didn’t need a man or anyone else.

I could only trust myself—be enough for myself. And that was what I needed to remember.

I was meeting with a magazine that was here to talk all aboutmeand—

My eyes connected with my past. My heart plummeted to my stomach, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat. I honestly feared that if I didn’t get a grip, my eyes would pop out of my head and roll on the floor, making it to the table before I did.

Plastering a smile on my face, I tried to stay calm, reminding myself it simply wasn’t possible—there was no way Knox was sitting at that table. My mind was playing tricks on me because I had just been thinking about him.

Yes, that was it.

It was like when you dreamed about someone who was on your mind, but you hadn’t spoken to them in years.

Except as I blinked rapidly, it was still Knox sitting there. In fact, he’d actually turned his head and noticed me. He raised a hand in the air before turning back to the table and tapping the shoulder of the woman sitting next to him. I couldn’t see her face, but she had long dark brown hair that was hanging in waves down her back.

I closed the distance between us. Knox stood first, extending a hand.Wow. I remembered those hands doing a lot more than shaking mine. “Rina,” he said, his voice so deep it made my insides clench with desire. Uhhh, the way he said my name.Rein it in.

Before I could get past the lump in my throat, though, and respond, the woman turned around completely and stood, too.Bianca Morelli.

“Hey, Rina,” she greeted. “It’s nice to see you again.”

My head was basically spinning at this point. I had never taken Knox’s hand to shake, so he finally took the hint and placed it at his side. Honestly, I hadn’t been prepared to see Knox. I hadn’t ever expected to see him or Bianca tonight.

I swallowed, inhaled and exhaled, and remembered why I was here. I looked between them both and smiled. It was fake, but it was the best I could do. “Please, sit,” I instructed, walking around to the other side of the table and taking a seat myself. I placed my purse on the back of my chair. “Sorry I’m late. Hair and makeup takes longer than you’d think.”

Bianca licked her lips and looked down for a moment before peering back up at me. “Of course. I understand. You don’t wake up looking like this.”

What the heck was that supposed to mean? Was that a dig? “Yes, well, you would know.”Ha, there, two could play that game.My eyes flitted between the two of them. “So both of you are here to representBellissima?”

Knox cleared his throat. “No. Actually, I don’t work forBellissimaanymore.”

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