Page 10 of The Last Kind of Kiss
I got this job offer for a reason.Shegot this job offer for a reason. Call it fate or an invisible string or whatever you believe in, but the world’s given me a second chance when I’m the least deserving of it.
I card a hand through my sweat-slicked hair, letting the locks slip through my fingers, letting myself imagine an existence where a different life is promised. A life where it feels worth living again—where the sun’s warmer and food tastes better and everything’s perfect. “I want to fix things,” I say, the tiniest bud of hope blossoming inside me, waiting for the moment when it’ll be able to unfurl its petals.
That moment will come. Darkness won’t last forever.
A proud smile crests over Kit’s lips, highlighting the crinkles in the corners of his eyes. “You once told me that I needed to prove my feelings for someone that I love. And it was the best decision I ever made,” he tells me. “Now it’s your turn. Prove to her that you still care about her. Prove to her that you’re willing to work for her trust. Prove to her that you’re even willing to wait for her.”
I’ve always been pretty in tune with my emotions. I don’t always express them in the right ways (obviously), but I feel things a lot more deeply than most people. And shit, I’m gonna say it—that was the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given me. Okay, it was more like a regurgitation of my own advice, but still.And to think it came from Kit of all people. I really love my fucking teammates.
“You deserve a second chance,” Casen agrees, poking a hole in my reinforced defenses and letting the first trickles of regret pour out. “And if you need us to choreograph some elaborate flash mob or fill her apartment with a fuckton of flowers, then we’re gonna be here for you. Whatever you need.”
“Operation How You Get the Girl is now underway,” Hayes announces.
Fulton’s the first one to skate full speed into me, enveloping me in a huge bear hug that momentarily knocks the oxygen out of my lungs. I rear backward from the force, surprised, then I squeeze my arms around him, and I bask in knowing that I don’t have to do this alone. The rest of the guys jump in on the action, mumbling a bunch of sappy stuff that brings tears to my eyes.
“Can we call it Operation Bristol Gets His Groove Back? Ooh, how about Operation Cumming Out of a Dry Spell?” Gage winks at me, disrupting the sanctity of our giant kumbaya circle with his double entendre.
I deadpan my response. “No, Gage. We’re not calling it any of that.”
4
WATCH YOUR BACK
LILA
The red carpet. Every young girl’s dream.
Well, it would’ve been a dream if it wasn’t for Bristol Brenner sleeping with whichever exec to keep his—very underserved—modeling job. (Did he actually do that? Probably not, but I’m obviously a terrible judge of character seeing as I thought he was a stand-up guy in the first place.) And now I have to walk alongside him in front of hundreds of paparazzi and pretend like I don’t want to strangle the life out of him.
Kitty’s Catwalk holds a gala before every major campaign to generate some hype, and with me and Bristol being the face of their latest, we’re the guests of honor. We’re pretty much destined to spend the rest of the night shaking hands with people in powerful positions and people in less-than-powerful positions that compensate for it with their stacked bank vaults of money. This debut has to go smoothly.I’mfully capable of making that happen. However, my…business associate…has the potential to ruin everything I worked so hard for.
I just have to remember what’s at stake here. This job means more to me than whatever grudge I hold against Bristol. I mayhave impressed Kitty’s Catwalk, but now I need to impress the rest of the world. This is the beginning of everything. Bristol may have screwed me over once, but I’m not going to let him do it again.
Aeris smudges the black, glimmery shadow over my eyelids, tapering it off into a messy wing. There were plenty of makeup artists willing to do my look for tonight, but Aeris jumped at the opportunity to doll me up. Which is probably best for nerve regulation and sensible decision-making reasons. I wanted to drag her along with me, but her fiancé, Hayes, apparently has something special planned for them tonight. And my girl deserves some winin’ and dinin’.
I’ve been sitting in her makeup chair for about two hours now, watching as she meticulously carves my cheekbones with bronze contour and replicates the perfect cat eye. She’s gone for a messy glam look.
The attention is drawn to my eyes, which are complete with thick, feathery lashes and lower liner that fades into the smoke-like cloud surrounding them. There’s shimmering highlighter sprinkled on my cheeks to catch luminescent flashes from the cameras, and my lips have been colored in the prettiest pink to accentuate their plumpness. My normally voluminous locks are slicked back, every flyaway slathered in heaps of hair gel.
My dress is a little more on the revealing side—which is a good thing for both the cameras and driving my costar insane. Do I hate Bristol? Oh, a hundred percent. With every fiber of my being. Is it obvious there’s still some leftover sexual tension between us? Undoubtedly. Will it bring me immense joy to see him drool like a dog when my boobs are one wardrobe malfunction away from flashing the entire vicinity? Abso-fucking-lutely.
The silk, nightshade fabric wraps around my neck and comes down in two separate strips that just barely cover my breasts, petering into a low V-shape that ends below my navel.The front strips mesh with the bottom of my dress, which flares out into a sinfully low-waisted skirt. There’s even a sexy little slit for my leg, and the material clings to every curve of my body, doing an excellent job of sculpting the perfect hourglass figure. And to finish the whole look off, black, glittery straps weave up my calves and descend into six-inch stilettos, complementing the diamond earrings dangling from my ears and the encrusted bangles on my wrists.
After the fifth time Aeris retouches my eyeshadow, I have to pull back from the makeup brush, failing to stifle a chuckle. “It’s perfect, Aer-Bear. Truly. I’ve never looked this hot before.”
She trades her adorable concentration face to gnaw on her bottom lip. “Does it look blended out enough? I swear the left eyelid looks worse than the right.”
Oh, Aeris. The girl with the biggest heart in the entire universe—a heart that sometimes makes life exceedingly difficult for her. Aeris means the world to me. We’ve been best friends since college, she’ll be the maid of honor at my wedding (assuming I get married—unlikely given the low IQ of men), and I’ll die happy knowing that I’ve lived the extent of my life with my platonic soulmate by my side. I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without her in it. If she wasn’t getting married to a hotshot hockey player,I’dmarry her in a heartbeat.
I gently grab her hand and confiscate the brush clenched between her fingers. “They’re even, love.”
“I just…I want you to blow everyone out of the water tonight. And, I mean, you will because you’re so naturally gorgeous you could turn a straight woman gay. But I want to make sure the makeup accentuates that, you know? Are you too caked up? Should I redo it with a simpler eye look?” she rambles.
“Honestly? Makeup is the least of my worries right now,” I admit, setting the brush down and staring blankly into my vanity’s mirror. All I see is a girl who’s still scraping together thepieces of her broken heart, despite the makeup and the faux confidence she wears. No amount of foundation is enough to cover my insecurities—the ones responsible for scaring away the only man I’ve ever cared about.
I had my fair share of flings in college; it’s just how I operated. Aeris likes to refer to them as my “exes,” but I never committed to any sort of relationship with them. At most, it was a one-night stand gone right…which then turned into a ten-night stand…which then turned into months of fucking around. But with Bristol, everything was different—better. He showed me compassion, kindness, understanding. He showed me selflessness when it came to others. He showed me what it meant to be cherished and wanted. We may not have officially been together, but it was a relationship. In every twisted way.
When I’d come home late from modeling shoots and was too tired to take my makeup off, he’d do it for me. He’d draw me a bath and bring me the dinner that I hadn’t eaten yet, and he’d take care of me for the rest of the night. Whenever we slept at his place, we’d spend the next morning cuddling, talking about the future, just…relishingin each other. He constantly told me how beautiful I was, staring at me like it was the last time he’d ever see me.
