From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(16)

“Kori?” a deep voice said.

Fuck. She should have run.

Skinny Bitch turned on those designer heels of hers, her whole demeanor changing in a minute. The nasty look on her face turned to a sunny smile and her voice went up about two octaves. “Jared, I was talking to this secretary, trying to make sure you’re comfortable here.”

Jared didn’t look at his PA. His eyes were steady on Kori. “Lena, I told you not to worry about that. I can handle myself. Go back to the limo and wait with Squirrel and the rest of the crew. We’ll go and get a late lunch before we go to the club tonight.”

Lena nodded and fiddled with her phone. “All right. Just to remind you, tomorrow is Jessica’s birthday.” She glanced Kori’s way. “Jessica is his girlfriend. She’s going to win an Oscar this year.”

Good for freaking Jessica. Jessica Hamilton. Kori had never met her, but she’d read articles about the dramatic actress’s relationship with Jared. “I’m going to leave now. Bye.”

Jared moved in, turning his back and leaning on her car, obviously blocking her way. “Stop hiding, pretty girl. I found you.”

She could feel herself flush. “It wasn’t like I was hiding. I was going home.”

“You know this woman?” Lena asked as though shocked to her core.

Jared’s head turned and though she couldn’t see his eyes through the mirrored aviators he wore, Kori could have sworn that was a Dom look. It was definitely an alpha male stare as Lena started to back off.

“I’ll be in the limo.” She practically ran back to the waiting car.

Jared turned to Kori. “Sorry. She tries too hard sometimes. And while Jessica is my girlfriend in a professional sense, it’s not real. Like everything else in Hollywood, it’s all for show. We’re not actually involved in anything but a mutually beneficial friendship.”

Yeah, she did kind of miss the gossip. There was always Sanctum gossip, but it was innocuous stuff, unlike the juicy scandals from LA. “You two look so cozy in pictures.”

“You follow me?” His lips quirked up in a crazy sexy smile. There was a reason there were entire YouTube channels devoted to this man’s workout routines. He was smoking hot.

“It’s hard to miss you, buddy. You’re kind of everywhere.” Despite his hotness, she wasn’t getting pulled into any of that. Somehow he was still a boy compared to his brother.

“That’s what happens when you have an awesome publicist. He’s the one who introduced me to Jessica. The truth of the matter is I’m not her type and she’s not mine. It helps. No drama. Maximum exposure.”

“Hey, whatever works.” She didn’t want to get sucked back in. Her first impulse was to ask about a million questions because there was a story there. Jared Johns was pretty much everyone’s type. Straight girls. Gay guys. Anyone interested in penis would be all over that man. She kept her mouth shut though because that wasn’t her world anymore. Over time she’d started to watch some TV again but she hadn’t been to the movies in years.

Maybe she had been hiding.

“I always wondered where you went.” Jared’s voice went low, a bit softer than the command of before. “I kind of thought you would end up being a producer on the show.”

Humiliation was one thing, but damn it she hated to pretend. It wasn’t hurtful to simply refuse to talk about it, but she wasn’t going to lie. Jared was standing there looking good enough to eat and she probably had mascara issues. Next time, she would run over Lena and not care because she wouldn’t be here, looking utterly ridiculous. “I left because the executive producer of your show was an * who cheated on me, used me, and stole my script.”

Jared simply smiled. “Then it’s good you got out. How did you end up here, working with my brother? Was it Sully? I ask because he’s the guy who keeps up with Kai for me. Didn’t you work on a movie with him?”

She nodded. It wasn’t so surprising they both knew Sully. It was a shockingly small world. “He helped me get out, helped set me up with a job out here. He’s a good guy.”

“That he is. And you are looking beautiful.”

Sure she was. “Try selling that to someone who’s buying, Johns. This is awkward. Kai doesn’t know what I used to do.”

“And he never told you I was his brother.”

“Not a mention. I didn’t know he had one.” Which begged the question. “What did you do to him?”

Kai wouldn’t cut a family member out of his life without cause. He wasn’t that guy.

Jared was silent for a moment, looking away from her for the first time. “I slept with his fiancée.”

Without even thinking about it, she reached out and slapped at his arm. “Asshole.”

Of course it wasn’t like Kai had mentioned a fiancée either. There was some chick out there who he’d loved enough to ask her to marry him. Kai had gotten on one knee and pledged his devotion and that would mean something to a guy like Kai. He would have been faithful and loving and dominant, and he likely would have slapped that girl’s ass silly every night she wanted it. She could have walked around all her damn life with his mark on her and she’d chosen to sleep with the pretty boy?

Shit. Maybe she wasn’t as self-aware as she thought either since she was now flaming mad at some woman for f*cking over her boss. Or was she heart broken because Kai had loved someone? Likely someone thin and pretty whose hair didn’t curl fifteen different ways. Someone who didn’t piss everyone off the minute she opened her mouth.