Page 15 of Built to Last

And that was when we had to bail them out of jail in Atlantic City.

“I’ve got this.” I start toward the impending assault. It’s not like I haven’t had to deal with this before. Some people don’t understand that no is a complete sentence and one we should honor. It’s just usually dudes I’ve got to deal with. Dudes can mostly be handled with threats and me pointing out that the cops won’t look at it kindly if they get physical with me. Chicks can oddly be more difficult.

“Why don’t you come to my hotel? I can show you some lovely designs.”

Okay, eww. She needs some better pick up lines. “Hey, we need to talk.”

Reid’s head turns my way, and there’s a flush to his face that lets me know he’s either embarrassed by the situation he’s in or worried I’m about to misinterpret something. “Of course, Harper. We should go somewhere and continue our discussion. Sonja, this is the woman I was telling you about. I’m working with her on the Banover Place project.”

He was telling her about me? I’m not going to read anything into that.

I’m totally reading too much into that.

“You can talk to her later. This is not the time or place for work,” Sonja says with a confidence she does not deserve. Look, the woman’s pretty, but she’s got a perpetual sneer on her face. “It’s a wedding, and a royal one at that. It’s romantic. Despite the fact that the royals are… What you Americans call it? Bargain basement.”

Oh, we’re having a chat.

“I didn’t mean you, Reid,” I correct. “I’m going to have a talk with Sonja here. So first off, don’t talk about my friends that way. They have more class than you can imagine, and that’s worth far more than money. Second, you need to up your game, lady. You asked him to come to your room to look at your designs? Everyone knows that means your vagina. Everyone.”

Her face goes red, and she glances around to see if anyone is watching. “How dare you.”

Pretty much the entire bar is watching.

I stop the nearest waiter because I have a point to prove, and I actually don’t want her to come around Reid anymore. I get the feeling this one could be tenacious if I don’t settle this here and now. “Sir.”

The waiter stops, offering me a lovely bacon-wrapped appetizer. Like all of the waitstaff, he’s in a formal uniform wearing the traditional colors of the St. Marten crest. Red and gold.

I take it because it would be rude not to. “Did you hear the offer this woman made to my friend here? The one about seeing her designs? In her private hotel room, because she apparently forgot to bring her portfolio? Unless she’s not talking about art.”

The waiter’s lips purse as though holding in a chuckle. He manages a professional, “Yes, ma’am. I did overhear that exchange.”

“Do you think she’s talking about architectural designs? Or perhaps she works in fashion?”

Reid takes the chance to move, claiming a place right behind me. Like I’m a wall between him and all that sexual harassment.

“That was not the impression I was under,” the waiter says with a nod.

“Oh, she wants him to look at her female parts.” An elderly woman sitting at the table beside the bar looks down her patrician nose at Sonja. She’s obviously some kind of Ralavian royalty because she has Luca’s accent and a thin tiara around her well-done updo of perfectly silver hair. She might be one of his aunts. “I don’t think he wants to. Young man, I believe that woman wants to take advantage of you.”

Sonja goes a brilliant shade of pink, says something under her breath in a language I don’t understand, and huffs away. If I wasn’t leaving tomorrow, I would worry about revenge, but she can find me in Manhattan if she wants to.

I down that app in one bite.

“You have to look after the men,” the woman with the tiara says, lifting her glass of champagne my way in an obvious salute. “They are impressionable at this age. Very tender hearted. They can find themselves in trouble with predatory females.”

The waiter simply grins and walks on.

I nod the woman’s way. She’s obviously wise. “They are our greatest gift, and we must protect them.”

Reid’s laugh booms through the room.

So the guy can take a joke.

He’s smiling when I turn his way. He bows slightly and offers me the glass in his left hand. “For my knight in shining armor.”

I take it and gesture the way Sonja exited stage left. “Was she an old friend?”

Reid winks back, likely at the woman with the tiara before putting a hand on the small of my back and leading me toward my friends again. “Not exactly. She’s the wife of a wealthy former client of mine.”

---