Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
“YOU DIDN’T CALL last night.”
Raising her eyes from the work on her desk, the view of Roxie Kyst darkening her doorway was like a mirage.
“You never look real,” Harper said as Roxie strode in, swinging her arms in time with the sway of her hips. “You’re like a movie star.”
“Plenty of that going around in this city.” Roxie descended into the chair opposite. “Why are you still working this late?”
“Nothing better to do.” She re-angled her laptop. “And it’s not that late.”
“It’s after ten.”
Was it? She didn’t know the—ah, wait.
“You didn’t go by my house, did you?”
“Me? No,” Roxie dismissed her. “I sent Zairn over there.”
“Oh my God.” She sprang to her feet. “You didn’t—you couldn’t—he—”
“Relax.” Roxie laughed. “I’m kidding. Think I’d leave him alone with your ex? My man can get along with anyone, if he chooses to.”
And Damon wasn’t the kind of man anyone would choose to get along with.
“Have you spoken to Carolyn?”
Made sense that was how Roxie found her office.
“Long enough to know you and Bastian are over.” Oh, good news traveled fast. “That’s amazing. Being over with a guy you were never with.”
“Yep, pretty special.”
“So…” Roxie continued, “do you want to go home and change or will I have someone meet us?”
And she was lost. “Meet us for…?”
“I have clothes at the club.” Roxie rose, arm outstretched, seeking her hand. “We can grab something there.”
“Grab something at—the club? What club?”
“My club.”
The broad pride on Roxie’s face didn’t invoke calm.
“Your—Crimson. You want me to go to Crimson?”
“It’s what we do,” Roxie said, her arm dropping. “Break up with the guy, wash him out of our systems.”
Her lips barely moved when she asked, “How would I do that?”
“Any way you want to. Crimson is your playground. We drink. We dance. And if anyone catches your eye…”
“Oh, I don’t want… anything.”
“You’ll be completely safe. I have security.
Fantastic security. If you don’t want a guy near you, no one will get close.
” Inspiration raised Roxie’s chin. “We can have a girls-only night in the club!” She squinted.
“Hmm, why isn’t that a regular thing in Manhattan?
” Her tongue slid across her lips. “Bet Casanova had a few nights like that in the penthouse. We really should remodel.”
“Isn’t the club already open?”
“In Manhattan?”
“LA.”
“Right, LA. Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. If I choose to herd every one out, they’ll go. Fantastic security, remember?”
“That’s Zairn’s business—”
“And my eccentricities turn him on. We can kick him out too or keep him around to mix drinks. Gives us something pretty to look at. Z won’t hit on you… unless you want him to. Do you want him to? He knows how to make a woman feel good.”
“You’re pimping out your husband?”
“He’s a beautiful man with an incredible heart. Unfortunately, when it comes to performing for women who aren’t wearing his ring, he lacks, but he’ll still make you feel good, just without the cherry on top.”
And that was the sweetest thing she’d probably ever heard.
“He loves you so much.”
“He does. And the wedding cost a huge fortune, he needs to bulk up the coffers before we divorce.”
It wasn’t always easy to tell when Roxie was joking. That was a joke… wasn’t it?
“Aren’t newlyweds supposed to be…”
“Horny?” Not what she was going for, but okay. “That’s one marital duty he takes very seriously.” Blowing out a breath, Roxie fanned her face. “No other reason to marry a playboy. I get a workout every night. It’s cheaper than the gym.”
Sex every night. Hmm, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had sex. The last time she’d slept with a man, on the other hand…
“I can’t take you away from him.”
“Nothing takes me away from him. We’re together whether we’re together or not.
That’s one of the best things about us, we find our way back to each other.
Worrying about Z is my job. His happiness comes from mine.
And I’m never happier than when I’m dancing and drinking in the club surrounded by family. ”
She wasn’t family.
“Would Bastian be there?”
“Doubt it. I have no idea if he’s ever been in Crimson… on days other than our wedding day.”
Wedding day. Roxie’s wedding day was… “You got married in the Grand.”
“Yep.”
“Bastian’s hotel.”
“We paid for it… I think. I don’t see many bills or invoices these days…
or for a lot of days. You know what? These billion-dollar guys have people for everything.
Like everything. We even have a guy employed purely to switch the toilet roll before we run out.
Billion-dollar guys know how to take care of people. ”
It was one of those billion-dollar guys who’d put her in a mood.
“I can believe that,” she said.
“You have a problem with the money? Is that why it’s over? Because I have a lot of experience to share and stories to tell.”
“It’s not the money. I guess I just feel stupid.
It was right there in my face and I—we met in one of his hotels and I had no idea he was him.
My goddamn ex knew it before… I’m the first to admit I’m not always the most perceptive.
It’s something I’ve had—it’s a spectrum thing my parents don’t like me to talk about. ”
Since she was young, she remembered being told to be more like Adara.
Her sister didn’t put that pressure on her.
If anything, Adara did her a favor by giving her an example to follow.
She mimicked her sister in social situations.
Unfortunately, as they grew, they weren’t always together.
At those times, Harper didn’t have an example on hand to follow.
Yes, her impulse control was never much attuned and she was often confused by practices others took for granted, but it was things like this that hurt her inside.
She missed things. She didn’t pick up on social cues and said things she didn’t know she shouldn’t.
Sometimes it was easier just to be quiet or wrong than to assert herself.
Roxie came around the desk to take both her hands. “Don’t ever apologize for who you are, Harper. Not to me, mine, or yours. And corny as it is, you’re in a safe space with me. At Crimson. With my guy. You’re part of our circle now.”
“I can’t do that to Bastian, he was your friend first.”
“We can be friends with people who used to date,” Roxie said. “Believe it or not, I’m a good mediator.”
“Oh, God, I would never want anyone to feel—”
“Okay, that was kind of a lie. Z’s a good mediator.
He is also good at pointing me in a certain direction and telling me when to shoot.
This is one of those situations. He keeps me sane…
me and a whole helluva lot of other people.
If it wasn’t for his distracting hotness, I’d send him to these come to Jesus things. ”
Is that what she was doing?
“I should’ve known, shouldn’t I? As soon as Carolyn brought you to lunch…”
“Why? I’m not a billionaire. I wasn’t—forget that.” Her friend cleared her throat. “The money means nothing to you.” Roxie raised a gentle hand to her chin. “You’re upset because you think you don’t know him as well as you thought.”
“I don’t know him. And it doesn’t matter. I just—why would he do that? Fake date me? A man like him, he doesn’t…”
“A man like him is no different to any other man.” The strength in Roxie’s hand gave her head a little more height.
“Your first mistake is thinking there’s anything different about him.
Though with your guy, according to the world, the only thing different about him is his amazing need to take care of people. ”
“Like me? Like charity?”
Roxie shook her head and smiled. “The things you told me about Bastian, about how you are together, I promise he doesn’t see you as charity.
If he did, he’d have re-directed you to a Breckenridge.
” Her frown showed she didn’t follow. “Never mind. Bastian was how he was with you, did what he did, because you brought it out in him.”
“A man like him doesn’t need someone like me in his life.”
“Really?” Roxie asked, her shoulders going back as she peered closer.
“Doesn’t it then follow that Zairn doesn’t need someone like me in his life?
” Oh, God, she’d insulted her. “I’m no different to you.
Hell, I’m nowhere near as good as you. You run a business.
All I did was read and send an invoice.”
She didn’t know Roxie’s history. Maybe that deserved another trip to Huddle Hunt.
“Zairn fell in love with you.”
“Because I gave him the chance to fall in love with me.”
“Bastian isn’t in love with me.”
“Who cares if it’s love, friendship, or a fling? If you’re done with him, you’re done with him. Life has to be allowed to unfold.”
“It’s too big.”
“All we’re doing tonight is putting on our pretty dresses and dancing our troubles away. There’s no rest of the world at Crimson.”
“It’s late. It’s a weeknight, my family will ask questions.”
“When we’re done, you can come back home with Z and I. We have plenty of space. We’ll have a sleepover.”
“You have a house in California?”
“Well our house is… uh…”
Roxie wasn’t the type to hesitate.
Suspicion prickled. “What is it?”
“The house isn’t exactly ready. We’re staying in a hotel…”
Right. Now she got it. “The Grand?”
“We can stay anywhere. It doesn’t have to be the hotel. We have a bunch of friends here. Or, hey, we can fly to Vegas.”
The thrill of that unexpected suggestion bubbled laughter from her gut. “Vegas? No notice? Just go?”
“Honey…” Roxie said, cocking a hip to land her hand on it. “There ain’t nowhere in the world I can’t go with no notice.”
The beauty’s bold attitude was infectious.
Already her cells were awakening, enlivened by the boundless possibilities.
Even living them vicariously was a thrill.
Her potential may not be limitless, but Roxie held the universe in the palm of her hand.
And she was offering to share it, for a while, at least.
“Zairn wouldn’t worry?”
“Nah, we’re pretty good at phone sex.” Roxie linked their arms and started for the door. “We’ll start in LA and see where the night takes us. We can always send someone over to your place for your passport.”
Her passport? Yeah, Roxie was used to no constraints. Nothing could go wrong… could it?