Star Crossed (Stargazer #1)(17)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“Daniel Blackstone suspected you might be coming.”

Wendy nodded slowly. “Did he.”

“Yes. And listen. I’m not sure things are going to work out between Daniel and me. Would you come to work for me?”

She widened her eyes at him in innocent horror. “After you came on to me?”

“I was kidding, I said.”

“You said that the third time. Anyway, hiring and firing Daniel and me is a little more complicated than that. It’s not like we’re doing PR out of the trunks of our cars. You sign a contract with his firm or mine, and the firm sends us.”

“Please, Wendy. Daniel was talking about you like you could really whip me into shape.”

“You need whipping?”

“Yes!” he said more vehemently than she would have liked.

“No, I’m sorry. Daniel will whip you into shape, too. You’ll see.” Also, go away.

Colton grinned at her. “If we’re not going to work together, there’s no reason we can’t play together. I’m coming on to you again. You seem like the kind of lady who’d enjoy a walk on the wild side.”

Oh God. What had Daniel said to Colton about her? The way people in PR talked about Daniel, someone going up against him might as well forfeit. He was that good. But nobody had ever detailed to her exactly how he worked. Maybe he really did convince his clients to proposition the PR specialists representing his clients’ jealous exes. Divide and conquer. Wendy had engaged in some questionable business practices herself to get her clients out of trouble, but nothing like this. Could Daniel possibly be that sneaky?

Two could play at that game.

She threw her hands in the air, as if she were giving up. “You pegged me!” she told Colton. “But I can’t walk on the wild side with you. I’m already with somebody.”

“Who? Daniel? I saw you talking to him.” Colton’s eyes narrowed, as if for the first time he’d been presented with a serious obstacle to getting up Wendy’s skirt. Her rejection of him didn’t matter, but the threat of Daniel did.

Bingo.

“When did you see me talking to him?” she asked suspiciously.

“When you were in the outer room, at a booth near the door. I came out of the club for a minute.”

“To do what? Piss on the bar?”

To his credit, he looked a little ill. “No, I was talking to the bouncer to see whether he’d throw Lorelei out if I could get her to hit me.”

“Get her to hit you? You’re the only one hitting people.”

“You mean Daniel? That was an accident,” Colton insisted. “So, are you with Daniel or not? Because if you’re not . . . ” He slid his hand up her arm.

“That’s right,” she said without missing a beat, covering his hand with her hand and sliding it back down and off her skin. “I’m with Daniel Blackstone.” She couldn’t have Colton coming on to her. She shouldn’t even be standing next to him. Somebody was going to report it to Lorelei, and then Wendy would have even more problems.

“I could take that guy,” Colton said stubbornly.

“Because he didn’t hit you back?” Wendy asked archly. “As a general rule, we public relations specialists try not to strike our clients. If it weren’t for professional decorum, I’m pretty sure he’d kick your ass. But let’s not go there, okay? Daniel and I work for rival PR firms, and I would get in a lot of trouble if my bosses found out he and I are together.”

“Really? What if you were together with the star represented by the rival firm instead? Maybe that would work out better for you.”

“Ha ha ha! You’re funny.” Wendy giggled, then patted Colton on the cheek and slid past him. Looking up, she caught Lorelei staring right at them over the heads of the crowd. That girl was way too tall and willowy.

No. This could not be happening. Just what Wendy had been struggling to avoid. Her new client could not think Wendy was trying to steal the ex-boyfriend she obviously still had feelings for.

Wendy’s purse vibrated against her hip. She stopped right there in the middle of the dance floor, mentally daring any of the flailing dancers around her to whack her with a stray arm. She would make this ecstasy trip one they didn’t forget. Pulling out her phone, she saw she had another text from Sarah.

Have you found Lorelei? I think she just posted that you are a twat.

Horrified, Wendy scrolled through the pages on her phone to Lorelei’s feed. Sure enough, there it was. Lorelei couldn’t mean anyone but her.

Asscrack Colton Farr has taken up with some Repunzil twat.

“That is not even how you spell Rapunzel,” Wendy grumbled to herself. She dared not look to her left again, where she could see out of the corner of her eye that Lorelei was commiserating with Giuliana. She’d gathered a few more ladies to listen to the tale, too: Lorelei’s celebrity hairdresser, whom Wendy knew by sight. The producer of Lorelei’s album, who was too old for a party like this but had been fighting middle age diligently with exercise and plastic surgery. Lorelei’s best friend from the canceled teen show, who had gotten even more famous in the past few months for faking a heroin addiction in order to be cast on a rehab reality show. In Wendy’s opinion, step one of her job was to get Lorelei some more impressive friends.

Make that step two. As she hazarded a glance to her right, she saw Colton and a point guard for the L.A. Lakers conversing behind their hands while they watched her. At any second, Colton would make another pass at her in full view of Lorelei et al.

In front of Wendy, a door opened in the dark velvet wall as the bouncer admitted someone from the outer club. Against the backdrop of the crowd pressing around him, Daniel was tall and dark, face chiseled into stone, black hair styled perfectly as if she’d never tousled it. He sauntered along the soft wall, scoping out the joint. Then he looked down at his cell phone. The screen lit his face in the black room, highlighting the sharp lines of his high cheekbones and his narrowed eyes. He glanced up at her. Realized he’d been busted looking at her. Glanced back down.

Not so fast. Wendy rushed across the club before he could escape, only slowing as she stepped around the last dancer so Daniel might not notice he was being ambushed. Wrong. He watched her unabashedly now with a look that said both of them knew exactly what was going on but neither was ready to admit it. She grinned brilliantly and stepped right up to his shoulder. He leaned down. She said in her most innocent bimbo tone, “Hi! I’m glad you got into the party after all.”