Picture Perfect (24 page)

She brought the back of my hand to her lips, brushing a kiss there. My skin tingled. “There’s a graduation party at my place next weekend,” I said. “I was hoping you’d be my date?”

Her eyes fluttered as her face fell, and for a moment, I worried I’d said something wrong. “If you’d rather not go-” I started.

“No, that’s great,” she said quickly, cutting me off and composing her face. “I’d love to go.” She tacked on a smile at the end, but the trouble that had first descended at my invitation lingered in her eyes.

I smiled and decided to let
it go, too scared to push her and destroy a good thing when I’d just gotten her to open up to me. With her, it had to be baby steps. “All right. My dad likes to feel more important than he is, so it’ll be one of those cotillion-like things with a bunch of rich people I don’t know.”

She looked amused. “So dress up?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’ll pick you up at a quarter ‘til noon. That should give us plenty of time to get there and get situated before everybody else arrives.”

“Sounds good.” She leaned forward and kissed me, sucking on my bottom lip for good measure. My heart
rate picked up; her leaning forward had given me a clear view of her boobs down the collar of my shirt. “Thanks for dinner,” she said huskily.

I nodded, too stunned and horny to speak. Feeling that burning desire to be inside her, I took our empty plates to the sink and rinsed them off before depositing them in the dishwasher. “You have anywhere you need to be?”

She shook her head, catching a strand of wet hair between her teeth. She let it drop as I sauntered up to her. “No.”

I placed my hands on her waist, letting them slide under my shirt to grip her bare ass. “Then I think you and I need to take a nap. And by nap, I mean I want you in my bed now, naked and moaning as I make you come over and over again.”

She sighed as I kissed her neck and jawline. “Sounds good to me,” she whispered.

She squealed as I hoisted her up, m
aking a beeline for the bedroom while her laughter filled the hallway.

CHAPTER 27

Angel

DEVIN SLAPPED MY BUTT
as I got out of his car the next morning. My apartment building blocked the sun, but I still had to squint to see him because it was so bright outside. I smiled, biting my lip. “Thanks for the ride.”

He grabbed my waist and pulled
me in for a kiss. “No, thank you,” he murmured, brushing his lips against mine.

I giggled, slapping his shoulder, then wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. The whole world melted away, and my mind was finally still. No worrying about Mom, no bills, no Curtis, no uncertain future. The only thing I was sure of was the warm glow inside my chest as this wonderful man held me and kissed me like I was the only person in the world important to him.

I finally broke the kiss. “I have to meet my study group in an hour.”

“Yeah.” He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, that seductive half-grin still on his face. It
made me want to kiss him again. But I knew if I did, I’d probably invite him up to my apartment, and then neither of us would get anything done today.

A wide smile spread on my face. “Call me later?”

“You know I will.” He winked, then slowly backed up to the driver’s side, his dark eyes lingering on me like I was a piece of candy.

I felt my face heating, and, still grinning, turned and walked up the stairs to my apartment. Devin didn’t drive out of the parking lot until I was safely inside, ever the gentleman. I watched him pull away, my eyes lingering on the car until it at last vanished from view. With a sigh, I dropped my purse - which was still a little damp from the storm - and called, “Tammara?” Silence. I looked around the apartment. It hadn’t looked like anything had been touched.

Concerned, I shot Tammara a text asking
U alright?
, then spoiled myself with a hot shower. My muscles ached down deep, but it was a good kind of soreness, one that kept reminding me of Devin and what we’d shared. Opening up to him had been amazing, like draining a wound that refused to heal. Speaking with him about my mom and what happened to me was more therapeutic than I’d thought possible. For so long I’d kept the past inside, afraid of letting anyone see the nightmare I’d come from for fear they’d freak out like Alex had and abandon me too. I was tired of being left behind. My mom, my dad, my dreams of being a dancer, Alex - they’d all left me. Not even Tammara knew all the details of that night, and she was probably my closest ally, practically family, considering I had none. Then came Devin. Somehow my heart knew to trust him, that he would understand and not pity or fear me. He’d touched me like no one had before, had not been repulsed by my scar. Instead he’d made love to me - multiple times - making me feel things I never thought I’d be able to feel. It was like being set free.

Turning off the shower, I sang to myself and danced about in my towel as I got dressed. My phone buzzed. I snapped it up, hoping it was Devin, but it was Tam.

Sorry, Jason had to go into surgery this morning. Will b with my family for a few days.

My heart tightened. Tam’s little brother had been fighting cancer for over a year. I knew seeing him suffer was starting to wear on Tam from the weariness I saw in her eyes every day. Some nights I could hear her crying, but I never told her. She’d never called me out when I’d cried myself to sleep.

Okay, I texted back. I’m praying 4 him.

Thanks
, she said a minute later.

I closed my eyes and said a quick, silent prayer, as I did every night before I went to bed, and finished getting ready to meet my study group. As I did my hair, I tried mentally prepping myself for school, but I kept imagining the feel of Devin’s hands tangling around my curls as he thrust into me over and over again. Letting out a deep breath to tame the heat rising within, I grabbed my things and was out the door for the bus, my mind on anything but schoolwork.

FOR THE NEXT WEEK
, Devin and I spent any time together we could. When we weren’t shooting photos, we were kissing, cuddling, making love, or just lying in each other’s arms, not giving a damn about the world. It felt incredible to be this carefree. I tried getting him to show me my pictures, but he only grinned and said he was holding off revealing them to anyone until the exhibition.

Tam still hadn’t returned, though she’d texted me again to let me know how things were going and that she probably wouldn’t be back until next week.

The day before the party at Devin’s house - where I’d meet his
freaking
parents - I rummaged through my closet. After littering my room with dresses, skirts, and blouses, I finally grabbed my purse and took a cab downtown to the new outdoor shopping mall they’d just built. Since I was modeling more, my paychecks had increased quite a bit, which was nice, though it felt weird being paid by the guy I was seeing. Devin told me not to be worried about it. In his words, “I was a smoking hot model, and I deserved to be paid like one.”

Hopping out of the cab, I joined the multitude of other shoppers mingling about. The place was pretty, with big bulb lights strung across the cobblestone walkways that probably looked gorgeous at night, and terra
-cotta bricks roofed every stucco-covered storefront. It had been ages since I’d been able to look for clothes other than at Goodwill. Brand-new clothes were a luxury I couldn’t afford. But thanks to my modeling pay raise, I figured if I stuck to the sale or clearance racks, I could find something affordable and cute.

I let myself go and just tried to have fun trying on clothes, some for the hell of it because they were so pretty and way out of my price range. An hour and a half and about a dozen stores later, I emerged with a pretty red dress with ruffled sleeves and a silk, flyaway skirt that would look pretty with my black heels and tights. The cab driver had been nice; he’d given me his card and asked me to call him when I was done. Punching his number into my cell, I scheduled a pickup and window browsed while I waited.

“Well, look who it is. If it isn’t Devin’s new plaything.”

I frowned, not recognizing the voice at first, then froze when I saw Brayden stroll up with a pretty blonde under his arm clutching a shopping bag. She had to be Darcy from the way Devin had described her to me. Her doe eyes flashed to me apologetically, and she blushed. I always thought I’d be mad at her for breaking Devin’s heart when I finally saw her, but I couldn’t bring myself to be angry with her for leaving him. She could have done it differently, called it off before hooking up with his brother, but I understood the need to get away from violence.

Setting my jaw, I straightened my spine and glared at him. “Hello, Brayden.”

He grinned. “Doing a little shopping for the party tomorrow?”

“That’s none of your business.” I started to walk past him, but he stepped in my way.

Darcy’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

Brayden stared at me as if he hadn’t heard his girlfriend. A predatory gleam flashed in his eyes. “It’ll never work, you know, this act you’re trying to pull. My parents will see right through you. They’ve been sniffing out trash ever since Devin brought home his little trailer park girlfriend in the second grade.”

“Brayden!” Darcy hissed.

I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter, that I was made out of Teflon and anything could bounce off me. But somehow his words got to me, wriggling their way into my heart and pumping self-doubt into my brain like a drug.

Brayden’s voice dropped a few degrees. “He may not see it now, but you don’t belong in our world. You’ll never be good enough. It’s just a matter of time before he realizes that.”

I’d heard enough. Not saying another word, I brushed past him and practically ran toward the cab waiting at the curb, not stopping to wipe the tears falling down my cheeks until I’d gotten inside.

CHAPTER 28

Devin

“
WOW,” ANGEL SAID AS we pulled up to my parents’ house. “I knew you had money, but this is unbelievable.”

The awe on her face made me uncomfortable. If it were up to me, we’d have this thing at a damn bar, where n
o one knew of our social status. Because once people did, they tended to view us in a different light, and I didn’t want Angel to think of me as the spoiled rich boy. I wanted her to see me as just Devin.

I could tell a frown had worked its way onto my face from the downward slant of my lips, and I jerked the car into park.

Angel eyed me curiously. “You sure you’re up for this?”

We hadn’t spoke
n much about either of our parents since the first night we’d had sex, which was just as well. I didn’t really want to think about them, let alone talk about them. There was nothing else left to say.

I gripped the steering wheel, staring at the American flag waving in the spring breeze on the front porch. The sky was overcast, and the temperature had dropped, like a storm was rolling in. “Yeah.” I didn’t say anymore
, and she didn’t question me again as we both got out. I offered her my arm.

She took it, arching a brow as we walked to the front door.

When she’d stepped out of her apartment, my eyes had nearly popped out of my head. The red dress was classy but hot, ending right above her knees in the front and tapering to a point in the back in a sheen of silk. Her dark hose masked her scar, ending in stiletto heels that made her nearly as tall as I was. Her hair was pulled halfway back, a few curls left dangling around her face. The only makeup she wore was mascara and those red lips. She’d explained to me about her stage lipstick, how the stuff stained everything it touched. I didn’t care if her lips were purple; I was going to kiss the hell out of ‘em either way.

Something told me that the way she was blushing, she wasn’t used to guys offering her their arms. Judging from the spectacle at
The Fox Hunt the other night, I doubted she was used to being treated as anything other than a grown-up doll for men to play with.

My jaw clenched as I led her up the steps to the front door. Angel squeezed my arm, giving me an encouraging smile, and I felt myself relax. Taking a deep breath, I rang the doorbell.
Please let this visit be better
, I silently prayed, right before the door flung open.

All hope immediately sank to my stomach.

Darcy glanced between us, stunned for a moment. Her hair was curled, and she had on a dark gold dress with a thin black belt and matching heels. She recovered fast with a warm smile. “Hi, Devin. Good to see you again.” She extended her hand to Angel. “I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Darcy.”

Angel shook her hand stiffly, an awkward smile on her face. “Angela, but everyone calls me Angel.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Darcy sounded like she genuinely meant it. Hell, she probably did. She never was one to be a bitch. “Wanda’s in the kitchen directing the caterers, so she asked me to get the door, figuring it would be you,” she said.

I smiled pleasantly. This better not have been W
anda’s weak attempt at playing Cupid. “Thanks.”

I motioned for Angel to enter, and I followed after her. I watched Angel’s gaze sweep the room, appraising the crown molding and sweeping staircases.