Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Skydiving had never appealed to Bryn. The idea of voluntarily hurling herself out of a plane, of feeling her stomach lurch as the wind snatched the air from her lungs and the ground rushed up to swallow her whole, seemed like the dumbest way to die.
But as Vivian sauntered toward her, gaze locked and unwavering, Bryn realized she’d been shoved out of a plane. The nice lady handing her tickets disappeared, and everything melted away around her until breathing turned optional.
Pulse thundering, Bryn managed to close her mouth and swallow her surprise.
She hadn’t expected to see Vivian. Not tonight, anyway.
Maybe at the Saturday night awards at the end of the conference.
But the last place she imagined reclusive Vivian would want to be was at the Wednesday night welcome drinks.
And yet, there she was, parting the faceless crowd like a goddess commanding the sea. A force of nature bending physics to her whim.
Vivian’s energy had been overwhelming even in the quiet seclusion of her home. Even in linen and cotton, her fierce polish was intimidating. But here…
Bryn crushed the drink tickets in her damp hands. She knew she was gawking and was powerless to stop.
In high heels and a black dress tailored to her incredible body, Vivian radiated the raw power of her celebrity.
She wasn’t the woman who’d laughed with Bryn about a ridiculous dinner in Napa or spouted sardonic quips.
The woman with a stunning face and perfect hair swept back to expose her long, elegant throat and lethal, plunging neckline had not climbed down from the heavens to kiss her.
Vivian was someone else. She was a star in the truest, most violent sense of the word. And it was impossible to look away when a star went supernova and set fire to the night sky. There was nothing for Bryn to do but brace for impact.
“Hi,” Bryn squeaked first when Vivian approached and the drink ticket lady darted off to greet another attendee.
“Hello,” Vivian said softly. So softly Bryn almost guessed that her voice had failed her.
With all the grace of a partially tranquilized rhinoceros, Bryn leaned forward and smashed her cheek against Vivian’s.
“I didn’t expect to see you.” Bryn’s brain sent way too much blood flow to her mouth. She couldn’t stop herself. “You didn’t answer my text.” A horrified cold pang in her chest. “Well, not that I feel entitled to a response. Or your time. I mean I—”
“Let’s talk somewhere else,” Vivian said, sure and steady and eyes on the exit.
“Yes.” Bryn exhaled her bone-deep relief.
The short walk from the patio to an empty seating area tucked behind the elevator bank told Bryn more about Vivian than Google ever could. She moved with incredible poise, because even the way she held herself was different here. And Bryn understood why.
There wasn’t a single person they passed who didn’t look at her. And if there was more than one, they whispered the moment Vivian crossed. Bryn could have been naked with her hair on fire and not drawn so much attention.
But they weren’t looking at Vivian with star-struck wonder. It was more the casual curiosity of a zoo guest. The delight of seeing a white tiger stalk the edge of its enclosure. Dangerous and beautiful and inhuman.
Trading the social chaos of the patio for the quiet seclusion of the hidden seating area was disorienting.
Bryn was going to make a joke about it because if she didn’t excise the nerves from her body, she was going to have no control over her brain and even less over her mouth.
And then Vivian sat next to her on the tiny loveseat, knee touching hers, and all hope was lost.
“I, um, I know you probably think—”
“You don’t know what I think,” Vivian said in a voice like silk against skin. Like the pounding in her chest.
Bryn swallowed. Jesus, when did that become so hard to do?
“Right, no. Um, I guess what I meant was I don’t want you to think I expect anything.
” She looked away from Vivian’s mesmerizing eyes, but she could only stay away for a second because she was a dummy with an unfortunate crush on a celestial being.
“Just because we, well—” She tried to steady herself.
“I just meant, like, I get it. The text. The silence. You’re drawing a line.
Which is fine. Great, actually. I love lines.
I’m a huge fan of geometry. Lines are the best way to get from point A to point—”
“Bryn.” Vivian pronounced her name like fingers curling around her throat. Like something between a bite and a kiss.
“I’m just saying.” Bryn pressed on, desperate to build a wall of words between them before she did something stupid like kiss her again.
“We can be cool. I can be cool. I am the definition of cool. Whatever happened…” She cleared her throat.
“We can just file that away and be colleagues. Professionals.” She smiled even though she felt queasy. “Friends even.”
Vivian turned fully toward her. The movement yanked up the hem of her dress, revealing an unexpectedly muscular thigh. Bryn didn’t look away fast enough and the perspiration started at her temples.
Vivian studied her face with terrifyingly clinical precision. A scientist running an experiment. Everything felt like the wrong move, so Bryn stopped. Froze.
“Is that what you want?” Vivian asked, her gaze dropping to Bryn’s lips before drifting slowly, agonizingly, back up to her eyes. “To be… cool?”
“Uh huh.” She gulped and would’ve loosened her tie if she’d had one. “Cool.”
Vivian rested her elbow on the back of the loveseat, her fingers dangling inches from Bryn’s shoulder. Just that proximity was intoxicating, but not knowing what the hell Vivian was going to do next was torture. Addictive torture.
When she released Bryn from her hypnotic gaze, Vivian dropped her attention to Bryn’s neck. Bryn imagined her watching the embarrassing flutter of her pulse beneath her skin. Watched it like she was counting the beats and concealing her amusement at her effect on Bryn.
Then, Vivian leaned in. Just an inch. Just enough for Bryn to smell the expensive dark sandalwood scent of her perfume. Vivian’s attention drifted to Bryn’s mouth and lingered there, heavy and alluring, before dragging back up with an unbearable lethargy that made Bryn want to run out of her skin.
Vivian held her gaze, waiting until the silence was stretched so tight it was ready to snap. Waiting until Bryn was on the verge of trembling.
“Okay,” Vivian whispered.
She hesitated and Bryn felt the microscopic shift toward her like a tidal wave. She braced for impact, her body already alive with anticipation. Already feeling the weight of Vivian’s lips on hers.
When Vivian inhaled, her eyes fluttered closed and Bryn was ready to present herself as a burnt offering. To kneel and revere and covet.
Vivian held her in her palm when she moistened her lips and breathed, “Glad we cleared that up.”
It wasn’t until Vivian stood that Bryn snapped back to her senses. “Yep, right.” She scrambled to her feet with a quarter of Vivian’s ease, but considering she couldn’t feel her legs, it was a miracle she was upright.
Vivian watched her for too many rushed heartbeats before she smirked. “Come on. Maybe they’ll have obtuse angles outside for you to admire.”
Bryn laughed, whiplash making her drunker than any booze. Cool. So cool.
Back on the patio, Bryn was a thousand feet tall with Vivian at her side. With her walking so close that their arms touched. Vivian could have been the bartender or the woman with the tickets, and Bryn would still have felt like a giant among mortals.
They reached one of the makeshift bars that had materialized in the twenty minutes they’d been gone. With fresh eyes, she looked around and realized that hundreds of people had clustered into a dozen large groups. Constellations orbiting a single person.
“What’s that about?” Bryn whispered.
Vivian didn’t look up before she responded. “Desperation.”
“What’ll you have?” the man behind the folding table asked.
Vivian looked at Bryn and waited for her to order first. Chuckling, Bryn raised her brows at her. With nothing but her grin, she asked, Vivian del Castillo, are you a closet gentleman?
“Two martinis,” Bryn said with unwavering confidence. She shot a cocky glance at Vivian and added, “Dirty.”
Vivian’s lips didn’t move but Bryn felt her amusement in the floating feeling in her stomach. “Taking notes on me?”
Bryn’s chest and throat and skin all tightened at once. Vivian’s attention was the unbearable heat of the spotlight and just as irresistible.
“Maybe only your vices,” she replied with an irrepressible grin because she was really here. Invited to the same event as Vivian and up for the same award. She took a deep breath and let her anxiety about all the unknowns go.
Vivian took a drink and handed it to Bryn first. Another point in the gentleman column. “A good martini is hardly a vice,” she said with city lights dancing in her dark eyes. “And it’s a necessity in a room full of people who think networking is a personality trait.”
Bryn laughed and led them toward a distant corner overlooking the street forty stories below. Leaning against the modern railing, she sipped her strong drink and watched Vivian.
“So why not skip this whole thing altogether?” She kept her attention on Vivian and strained to read everything she wasn’t saying, and Bryn was sure there was a universe of things Vivian wasn’t saying.
“Maybe I’m a masochist,” she muttered into her martini.
Something about Vivian’s dodge made Bryn’s heart do a soaring triple axel and blow the landing. “Avoiding a simple question?”
Vivian dropped her gaze to the neckline of Bryn’s vest before lazily traveling back up. “Maybe I was bored in my room and the scenery up here is…” She took a slow sip of her martini, holding Bryn’s gaze over the rim and turning Bryn’s knees to jello. “More interesting.”