Glitter on the Web (39 page)

I didn’t have much time to explore it all. My schedule was packed tight with our schedule for the week. There were even parties to attend at night. It was part of my job to show up, model the clothes, schmooze and cruise.

Since I had been modeling for Tempestuous for months, I was finally comfortable with the process. I knew what to do and what was expected of me, and now I could do all that with the exciting backdrop of NYC. The winter line had aimed for chic sophistication, done mostly in monochrome colors like black, white and gray. We were going to get shots from all over the city, from my hotel room to Central Park, various clubs around town, a sailboat on the River and the Empire State Building.

They had even set up a Christmas shoot, to prepare for the holidays.

I was running from the time I landed in New York. I fell into bed that first night completely exhausted. The benefit of that, of course, was that I didn’t have to think about Eli. I had a new job this particular week, and I gave it one hundred percent.

By Wednesday, I felt like a New Yorker. I walked the city a lot, following my nose to find the best pizza parlor, or window shopping on Fifth Avenue. Central Park became my own personal gym. I got up early to go for a walk, completely amazed each and every day how the bustle of the city faded the further into the park one traveled. I wanted more time to visit the museums and galleries around the park, but like any other New Yorker, I was a woman on the go. I learned to fit a lot of activity into my day, which—by all outward appearances anyway—made it look like I was having the time of my life.

Miles O’Rourke was all over that, too.

CARLY REYNOLDS TAKES A BIG BITE OUT OF THE BIG APPLE

Proving that she is no longer just arm candy for one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, Carly Reynolds traveled to New York City this week to fulfill some of her duties as Tempestuous’s new “It” girl. This hot new model has been seen all over the city flying solo, but that hasn’t stopped her from enjoying her east coast experience to the fullest. No matter what happens on the home front, Carly appears poised to toss her hat up into the air and declare she’s going to make it after all.

I supposed the good news about his little tidbit is that he no longer called me a Big Girl or plus-sized. Progress?

Once again Eli was as right as rain. We had set the groundwork for our ultimate breakup, and now folks like Miles O’Rourke were following the crumbs, filling in the pieces and shaping the story for us. We didn’t have to confirm or deny anything. Speculation would keep tongues wagging for months.

Four, to be precise.

For some reason this left me in a funk. I didn’t even want to go to the party that night, but it was part of the job. I dressed in a sleek black blouse paired with a charcoal gray pencil skirt. The black leather belt matched my four-inch pumps, which I offset with a pair of black tights with butterflies climbing up the leg.

For a pop of color, I added a red leather jacket and a silk scarf that brought the red, black and gray together in a floral design on a white background. I looked like I belonged in this crazy city as I slipped inside the hired car to head towards the party. I had already done a shoot at this particular nightclub, one of the most notable shots included me, wearing this exact same outfit, standing at one end of the bar, as the various successful, handsome men lined up down the bar craned their heads for another look.

This, they told me, would be the shot that would wind up on billboards and the sides of buses.

I had arrived, I guess.

I mingled with the crowd, smiling, mumbling my way through small talk that droned all around me like adult-speak in old cartoon specials for kids. It didn’t matter what anyone said. It was unimportant. Just like flies humming around a picnic.

That was until…

“Fancy meeting you here, Sunshine.”

I spun around to face Caz Bixby, who wore a designer suit like nobody’s business. He looked elegant and beautiful and not manwhore-y at all. “Caz! What are you doing here?”

“I love New York,” he said as he reached for a hug, which I allowed. “And of course everyone knows what you’re doing here. Kudos on the modeling gig, by the way.”

I shrugged. “I guess I’m not going to be fetching coffee anymore.”

“Good,” he decided. “You were always too good for that anyway. Come on. Let me buy you a drink.”

“I don’t think so,” I hedged, but he just pulled me closer.

“Come on. You can’t properly
Sex and the City
without some form of alcohol. Are Cosmos out? Cosmos are out, aren’t they?”

I laughed as I let him lead me to the bar. “I could never drink those anyway. They give me heartburn.”

“Fine,” he said before he ordered a Sex on the Beach from the bartender. He turned to me with a grin. “We’ll save Sex in Manhattan for later.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I told him with a smile. “What are you doing here? Really?”

“Working,” he replied. “Same as you. I’ve actually been wooing Tempestuous to dress that client I was telling you about, but they’re not as… open-minded as you. Mind putting in a good word for your ol’ buddy, Caz?”

I giggled as I took the fruity drink he handed me. “Always an angle.”

“Always,” he confirmed with a shameless grin. He let me take one sip from my drink before he took it back and placed it on the bar. “Come on. Let’s dance.”

“You just bought me a drink,” I protested but he pulled me by the hand towards the dance floor.

“And now I want to dance.” He spun me into his arms. “You have to up for anything if you want to roll with me, Sunshine.”

My eyebrow arched. “And who says I’m going to be rolling with you?”

“Me,” he answered with that confident smirk. “I’m rarely ever wrong.”

“I’m still in a relationship,” I reminded.

“For now,” he shrugged. “According to Miles O’Rourke you’re about to go down just like the Titanic. We’ve seen this happen with him before.”

“Maybe this is different,” I suggested, though I hated myself for sounding so pathetic.

“A leopard doesn’t change its spots, Sunshine. You know that. Deep in your heart you know that. Otherwise,” he said as his hand slipped down the arch of my back and over the gentle curve of my ass, “you wouldn’t be here with me.”

I put my hands on his chest to push him away, but he self-corrected.

“I’ll be good,” he promised, but then promptly broke it when he kept talking. “But one day, one day very soon, you’re going to come to me and I’ll help you do the one thing you’ll want to do most.” He bent closer, his mouth a breath from mine. “Make Eli Blake eat his fucking heart out.”

I thought for a moment he might kiss me, but he spun me out of his arms and disappeared into the crowd. Frazzled, I headed back to the bar to finish my drink. When I was done, I ordered another one. And then another one.

I was feeling no pain by the time I climbed into the hired car to head back to my hotel. I fell into bed without bothering to take off my clothes.

The next morning I got started with another early wakeup call, but I didn’t necessarily “wake up” until I browsed social media. My heart stopped when I realized someone had snapped a shot of my intimate dance with Caz the night before, just in time for the almost-kiss. Miles announced triumphantly that he had called it, and urged everyone use the comment section for the betting pool in how long Eli and I had left in our doomed relationship.

I tossed my phone aside with a scowl. Again it was all part of the plan, but it made me look like the one stepping out on Eli.

He was setting himself up to be the brokenhearted victim. In a second I knew that was on purpose. If he got his heart ripped about by a Big Girl, no one would question his decision to date thinner girls ever again. No wonder he had agreed to a splashy breakup on my part.

I wasn’t sure if I was mad or brokenhearted. I started my day with a mimosa to figure it out.

Thanks to another photo shoot, this time on the subway, I was out again till all hours. I didn’t want to risk another party, so I went straight back to my hotel room. I stopped at the bar, to wind down with a cocktail, and answered the rumblings of my tummy with some bar food.

I headed up to the hotel by eight o’clock. It was the earliest I had come back to the room all week, and I was ready to soak in the tub before hitting the sheets for some long overdue shuteye.

I nearly screamed my bloody fool head off when I walked into the room and saw Eli sprawled on the bed. All I saw at first was a naked man on my bed. It took me a minute to take in the details, like the rose petals on the bed, or the smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?”

He slid from the mattress to approach me. “Surprising my favorite girl.” He bent for a kiss when he reached me. And damned if I didn’t melt against him. “Why be all alone here in the city that never sleeps when you could be fucking someone all night?” He deepened the kiss and I had to hang onto him so I wouldn’t lose my footing. He broke the kiss long enough to ask, “Or have you been?”

My stomach dropped. He knew about Caz. Of course he knew about Caz. The whole goddamned world knew about Caz. “Eli, that’s not what it looks like.”

“It never is,” he murmured as he continued to kiss me. He lifted me onto the bed, where I lay before him as he stood over me. “But it works. What’s a failing relationship without one last ditch attempt to revive the romance?” He slipped the shoe from one foot. “What shall we do to save what we have, Carly?” He slipped off the other shoe. “Maybe I should fulfill one of your fantasies. What is it you want most?”

“Eli,” I started, inadvertently answering the question more truthfully than I dared.

He crashed down on top of me. “You want me to dominate you, Carly? To tie you down, make you submit to me?” He captured both my hands in one of his and held them over my head. “Do whips and chains excite you?” He dove into my neck and brushed his tongue over that sensitive spot that made me gasp. “Maybe you’d like to dominate me. You want me on my knees, baby? A slave begging to worship your luscious body?”

His other hand captured my breast, squeezing gently before he latched on the painfully hard peak with his mouth. I cried out. I couldn’t help myself.

“How about role play?” he asked as he kissed his way back up my neck. “Maybe I’m the school teacher and you’re the tempting student who tests me daily to see how far I will go, until I have to pull you over my lap, lift up that sexy little plaid skirt and give you the spanking you deserve.” He flipped us over as he lay on his back beneath me, his hands caressing the curve of my ass. “How about a threesome? Would you want a woman, someone soft and curvy like you? Or another man, someone hard and dominant like me?”

I shuddered against him. “Eli.”

He lifted up, until we were sitting together with me across his lap. “Maybe a little voyeurism. Get a pair of binoculars, find some adventurous pair fucking the night away in a window across the way? Or maybe a little exhibitionism. We fuck against the window and let someone else get off watching us.” He kissed me again. “What if I told you that was all on the table, and then some? What would you want if you could have anything, Carly?”

My eyes met his. Nowhere in his pitch did he offer January 13
^th
, which was all I really wanted. I wanted January 13
^th
, January 14
^th
, January 15
^th
and beyond. I wanted all of it. I wanted forever.

Eli Blake didn’t do forever. He was like a shooting star. He promised wish fulfillment, but he was gone in a second.

In my case, a year.

“I’ve already had it,” was all I could honestly say without showing all of my hand. It was up to me to protect myself now. No, a leopard didn’t change its spots. My only job now was not risking my heart being clawed into four equal pieces.

He searched my eyes for one long, wordless moment. “So what are we doing here?” he asked.

My voice cracked. “Fulfilling the contract.”

“If you’ve fucked someone else, there is no contract,” he pointed out. He waited for me to refute the accusation. I said nothing. “Did you fuck him, Carly?”

“Eli…,” I started.

“Did you fuck him?!” he thundered.

A tear chased down my face. This was my chance. I could break free. It was all over. All I had to do was tell one teeny tiny lie.

Well,
another
teeny tiny lie.

Instead I found I couldn’t say anything at all. Eli read what he wanted into it. He set me aside, grabbed his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Ten minutes later he slammed out the door.

CHAPTER
TWENTY
-
FIVE

The rest of my week had passed uneventfully. No Caz. No Eli. Just the same mindless chatter and endless work that I had become accustomed to as a high profile model, with a six-figure check in my bank account to pay me for the trouble.

I have to say, signing Frank as my agent was a stroke of genius. He was a helluva negotiator, and he was all about maximizing that 10%. He got me the work
and
he made them pay.

It was a lot better than running coffee and writing copy.

Though my social presence took a hit when Eli’s fans heard I might be stepping out on him, others were practically beating a path to my door. I had offers to do walk-on bit parts, be in music videos, as well as host from the red-carpet at big awards show, offering a commentary on fashion.

My life was both taking off and imploding all at the same time.

I guess I should have been prepared for the shit to hit the fan that first week in October, but I was shocked to walk into my house and hear another woman’s voice.

I rounded the corner of the hallway just in time to hear her laugh. It was Julie, and she was sitting on the piano bench next to Eli. He gave her that devastating smirk as he watched her laugh. His eyes fell to her mouth, and my heart stopped. If he kissed her, I would either yank her bald, kill him or walk right into the ocean.