Page 55 of Love at First Sighting
Ian hurries to the door, and the employee pulls it shut behind them. Bingo. I never thought a nineties pop singer would come insoclutch for me. I’ll be sure to make an Instagram post set to “Kiss from a Rose” at some point in the future.
I reach into my clutch and pull out my phone the second Ian is gone.
El (8:49 pm):Come down the hall. Third bookshelf to the left.
Carter (8:49 pm):Omw.
Chapter 16
Carter
Sneaking through a secret door that looks like a bookcase makes me feel like I’m in aNational Treasuremovie, and I am so into it.
I don’t have time to look around the dressing room and survey my surroundings. The first thing I find is El. From the moment she stepped off the stage, I’ve been a bundle of jealousy, but also fear.
“El, what happened?”
I resist the urge to touch her, but my hands desperately want to caress the sides of her face, hold her hands. Do something.
“Well, I asked Sam for help,” she says, shoving a small table in front of the door. Hopefully it’ll buy us some time. “He was useless. Said I’m ‘damaged goods’ and couldn’t risk his reputation introducing me to Ian.”
“What an ass.”
“It doesn’t matter, though,” she says, but I can tell it’s eating at her. There’s dullness in her eyes where I’m so used to sparkle. “I attracted Ian’s attention on my own. He brought me in here to chat. I asked him about Terra’s plans—”
“For the drones and stuff?”
“No,” she snaps. “I was far vaguer. But he knew who I was and about my UFO encounter.”
I lean on the edge of the couch. “Sure, but a lot of people do.”
“Yeah, but he wassuspiciousof me. Don’t you think maybe if Terradidhave something to do with this, he’d be onto what I was doing? If I posed some kind of danger to his vested interests?”
“Right.”
“Then he left because Seal arrived.”
While I fully respect that billionaires can do whatever they want, bringing sea life into a swanky club feels excessive and potentially mean to the seal.
“Where’s the seal going to go?”
El pauses. “I meant, like, thesinger. Notaseal.”
“…Oh.”
El smiles and knocks my hat down over my face as she moves toward the vanity along the back wall. As she steps away, I grab her arm. I tilt her chin up and direct her gaze to mine. “You arenotdamaged goods. You are the most extraordinary thing in this whole place.”
El’s breath catches in her throat. Between all the bad press, the hateful comments, and the treatment she’s gotten from her peers, I don’t blame her for buying Sam’s diss. But she shouldn’t. Not for one minute.
“And, you know, his name’s not even Sam,” I add.
“It’s not?”
I shake my head. “Don’t let any man named Buster Bradford make you think you don’t shine.”
I know I’ve said something nice, but El blinks a few times. “Buster. Really?”
I nod. “Buster Bradford.”
