Page 4 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
Because he’d apparently found what he was looking for.
Breaking free from the adoring knot of people surrounding him, he stepped away from the French doors, and headed my way.
In a freak of timing that was either an act of divine intervention, a cruel joke played by a spiteful universe, or a simple case of Karma, the unconscious Avery Kane chose that exact moment to wake from her stupor.
She stiffened abruptly. Her head snapped up. Her eyes, red rimmed and watery, blinked open. She closed one eye and squinted the other, then stared at me for a long, silent moment.
Finally, in a slurred voice sweetened by the lilting accent of Portuguese, she said, “You’re sitting on my foot.”
I leapt in horror from the vanity I’d rested my weight against and looked down.
Damn. She was right. I’d parked my ass on the foot of the most beautiful woman in the world. That was probably a stoning-level offense in some countries. Maybe even this one.
Mortified, I dropped my kit and held my hands in the air as if I were being robbed at gunpoint. “Fuck! Sorry! My bad!”
“Mah.” Avery waved an unconcerned hand and shrugged her shoulders. She yawned, exhaling fumes, then absently scratched her head.
I took that to mean I wasn’t in imminent danger of death by stoning. And, because the sexiest man alive was about to make an appearance and his girlfriend wasn’t exactly looking her best, I took pity on her.
Under my breath I said, “You’re about to get a visitor, Ms. Kane. Nico’s less than twenty feet away. Should I. . . ?”
It wasn’t my business. I should’ve simply made myself scarce for a few minutes and watched discreetly from the sidelines until it was safe to return and perform an Oscar-worthy makeup transformation on the derelict in that chair. But all I could think of at that moment was that if it were me sitting there, slurring, stinking, looking train wrecked, I would’ve really been grateful if someone had my back.
There were dozens of people in the room. Not a single one of them paid her any attention. How long had she been here like this? Where was her assistant? Her entourage? She was one of the stars of the show, but as far as the room was concerned, she was completely invisible.
Then it hit me: To everyone else here, Avery Kane wasn’t a person. She was a prop.
That royally pissed me off.
So of course I went all feminazi on Nico when he stopped next to her chair, stared down at her with fury darkening his eyes as he assessed her condition, and growled, “Goddamn it, Av, not again!”
Bristling, hands on hips, I stepped between them.
I’ve never been known for good decision making under pressure.
“Excuse me! We’re working here. You’re welcome to come back when we’re finished, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now.”
His gaze cut to mine, and there it was again: connection. Like a plug into a socket. Only this time it was heightened by the anger rolling off him, palpable as a punch in the stomach.
After a long moment, Nico’s question came deadly soft. “What’s your name?”
I swallowed. Clearly snapping at the pretty, pretty rock star hadn’t been such a brilliant idea. He seemed about to explode. I wondered if he had a history of violence. If I survived the next few minutes, I’d Google him later to find out.
“Uh . . . Kat. Kat Reid.”
“Lemme ask you a question, Kat Reid. You gettin’ between me and my girl?”
His voice was rich and sexy, with more than a hint of Matthew McConaughey southern drawl. I didn’t have time to really appreciate it, because the two of us were locked in a stare down, arguing over his inebriated girlfriend. The space between us sizzled. There were sparks coming off him. Or maybe they were coming off me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw people staring.
But I didn’t care. Another thing I hate in addition to celebrities, rock music, and celebrity rock musicians: bullies. There was no way I was going to let this guy intimidate me, no matter how beautiful and famous he was.
No matter how much I wanted to find out if his full, sensual lips were as soft as they looked.
After a quick mental slap to redirect my wayward thoughts, I squared my shoulders. “My work space is a dick-free zone, so if you’re going to be a dick to her, then yeah. I’m getting between you and your girl.”
His gaze never left mine. We stood there silently for a few seconds that felt like a geological epoch. Then his eyes softened, and he said something that shocked me.
