Page 5 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
“Good for you.”
His lips curved into a smile that left me stunned, both by the beauty of it and by my sheer surprise of its appearance. Then he pulled a cell phone from his back pocket, punched in a number, and waited for whomever he was calling to answer.
“Barney.” He spoke into the phone, but his eyes were still honed on me, sharp as a wolf’s. “Bring the car ’round back. Got a situation.” He didn’t wait for an answer before disconnecting.
Avery slurred, “Mi amorrr.”
Nico and I turned to her. Probably because the room was still spinning, she was still doing the one-eye-closed thing.
Sighing, Nico stroked his hand over her mess of long tawny hair. “I’m gonna take you home, baby.”
His voice was so intimate it made me feel gross, like a Peeping Tom. I turned to the vanity and began unpacking my bag, mainly for something to do. I knew I’d be packing it up again in a few minutes anyway. The shoot would have to be rescheduled once again.
Avery started to plead with Nico. “No. I can work. I’m fine, I jus’ need a few minutes. Jus’ need to clean up . . . ” She slid her long legs off the vanity, set her feet on the floor, and attempted to stand. I saw every move reflected in the vanity mirrors, so I was treated to a front-row view of her collapsing as she lost her footing.
Nico caught her before she hit the floor. He swept her up in his arms as if she weighed next to nothing, which she looked like she did. She buried her face in his neck.
Nico caught my eye in the mirror. “Kat,” he said gruffly. “A little help.” His gaze went to Avery’s behind.
I saw with horror that her small white robe had ridden up, exposing her ass. She was naked under the robe! Nico stood in a position that hid that fact from the rest of the room, but he couldn’t walk away without giving everyone an eyeful.
I looked frantically around for anything to cover her with, and saw the PA in the Metallica T-shirt who’d been shouting into his phone earlier. He was bent over a snarl of electrical wiring a few feet away.
I ran over to him. “I’ll give you fifty bucks for that shirt.” I pulled a wad of cash from my skirt pocket. I looked down at it. “Make that forty.”
He stood, glancing without surprise at the cash I was holding out as if complete strangers had offered him money many times in the past for his ratty T-shirt. He eyed me, pursing his lips. “This is my favorite shirt. It has sentimental value.”
Great. A negotiation. “Look, I’ve only got forty bucks on me, but if you give me your number I’ll call you later and get your address and I’ll send you . . . ”
His brows lifted.
“A hundred?”
The pursed lips again. “A lot of sentimental value.”
“Seriously?”
He shrugged, and began to turn away.
“Okay! God! Two hundred bucks!”
He turned back, grinning, then pulled the shirt over his head. Except for a smattering of freckles across his breastbone, his skin was as white as a pearl. “I’ll take the forty, I just wanted to see what you’d do.”
He held out the shirt, I tossed him the cash, then I stomped back over to where Nico waited, muttering to myself about idiotic men and their idiotic games.
Why did so many men act like screwing with a woman’s mind was an Olympic sport they were in training for?
Without a word, I arranged the T-shirt in such a way that Avery’s butt was incognito. I had to touch Nico to do it, slipping the fabric between his arms and her body, making a cradle of it under her behind. Every time I touched him it felt dangerous, like I was doing something wrong but utterly thrilling.
The way he kept looking at me didn’t help.
When I was done, I stepped back to inspect my work. “Okay. She’s all covered.” I glanced up to find them both looking at me.
“Thanks.” Avery spoke in a small little-girl’s vo
ice. She looked guilty, like a child who’d been caught doing something bad.
My heart went out to her. She wasn’t at all what I’d been expecting, the diva everyone tried to make her out to be. The word that came to mind was broken.
