Page 12 of Say You Will

“That makes no sense. She’s the most interesting girl in the room.”

“Oh, wait. She’s in the extended security circle. Standard monitoring for friends of the family. One of your sister’s friends?”

“Yes. She’s the one.”She’s the one. Sunny without being irritating. Not too talkative, but never mopey or silent.

Lacey Montgomery, wearing a black cocktail dress that clings to her like Saran Wrap, sashays toward me.

Pretending not to recognize the look of welcome in her eyes, I turn my back on the woman and face Spencer directly. “Did you tell all the women on your list that I would be dancing with them?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“I’m not. Fix it. Now.”

Eyes wide, he sputters.

Lacey claws her fingers into my bicep and purrs into my ear. “A little birdie told me you were looking for me.”

Nothing for it now but to brazen it out, I turn to Lacey with a manufactured look of mild surprise.

Her pale skin shimmers, as though she’s been dusted in an ultra-fine glitter, and her teeth are straight and white. Theyremind me that Franki once had braces. Lacey’s dark blonde hair flows all over her head in a curling lion’s mane.

I have only a passing acquaintance with this woman and no interest in her, whatsoever. Frankly, I’m surprised she approached me, even with Spencer’s prompting. I’m a dick and everyone knows it. I am, however, a dick with a massive bank account.

I move my lips into a smile. “I believe there’s been a misunderstanding.”

At my words, she drops her own smile, and her brow furrows. She smooths long, wavy hair back behind her shoulder. I can acknowledge that she is, indeed, quantifiably beautiful, intelligent, and by all evidence, socially adept. She’s also the correct height and has brown eyes. But she’s not Franki.

Lacey looks toward Spencer, who has buried his nose in his iPad. Then she lasers her focus on me. “I thought you were interested in getting to know me better.”

She walks her fingers up my lapel. “I’m very interested in getting to know you.”

I brush them away. “Why?”

She blinks, her mouth dropping open before she says, “You’re very attractive.”

I lift an eyebrow. “Am I?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“I’ve, er, heard nice things about you.”

Beside me, Spencer chokes, then clears his throat.

“It sounds as though you have me confused with my brother, Gabriel. He is,” I search the ballroom. When I find Gabriel, I place one hand on each of Lacey’s shoulders and steer her in his direction. “Right over there. He’s chatting with someone right now, but don’t let that stop you. The more the merrier.”

I give her a gentle shove. “Go get him, tiger.”

She stumbles away, then pauses to look back in confusion. I mime walking fingers, and she turns back, straightens her shoulders and saunters forth to flirt with my brother.

As soon as I’m confident she’s really gone, I turn my attention to Spencer. “Remind me again why I haven’t fired you.”

“Because you appreciate my enthusiasm and attention to detail.” He reaches into his suit jacket, extracts a sealed antibacterial wipe packet and hands it over. “Also, I’m the only assistant who hasn’t cried.”

I rip open the packet, deposit the torn packaging onto his waiting palm and wipe off the gold shimmer I picked up from Lacey’s shoulders. When my hands are clean, I give him the crumpled wipe, lift my glasses, and rub the bridge of my nose. “Go deal with these womenwithoutcausing some society catastrophe that my grandmother will need todiscusswith me.”

“Right away.”

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