Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(35)

“Yeah. Anytime.”

I gave him one last lingering look before I grabbed my purse and headed for the door. I’d hardly known how I was going to survive Rich and his insistence on being involved in my life again before, but now I had absolutely no idea. This was hard enough when my feelings for him had been buried. Now that they were dug up and out in the open, it was going to be impossible, but I had to find a way.





Chapter 12





RICH


“No wonder you like her,” Stella said.

She was wearing a long, flowing dress made from some silky white material, and she even wore a tiara with what I suspected were real diamonds studding almost every inch. A live band played pretentious classical music, and all the guests of the party looked appropriately bored. It was the way of these things. Being a true blue blood meant the world had lost its charm for you. The only appropriate expression to wear was one that said you’d been there, done that, and in fact, you’d had a more expensive, more distinguished version of that, several times.

Of course, Cade’s expression said something more along the lines of that looks expensive—I’d like to find a way to break it. He was looking at a display of a brontosaurus skeleton that was nearly intact. In a museum, it would be too priceless to have anywhere but behind protective glass. At a party like this, it was the norm to have offensively valuable items out in the open. After all, is there a better way to say you’re filthy rich than to have your priceless possessions one accident away from utter destruction?

The party was in New York, and I’d agreed to fly in to make it, because I had an unquenchable interest in anything dinosaur related. It was a poorly kept secret that I’d never completely grown out of the phase most five-year-old boys pass through. Bones, history, videos, and even wild theories were all fair game. Big and heavy bones were even better. I grinned to myself, then said a quick prayer of thanks that Cade’s claims of having a “twinepathic mental connection” that let him read my thoughts were bogus. He would’ve never let me live that thought down.

My parents were somewhere in the crowd. They came because this was an old-money party, and simply showing up proved you were invited, which reinforced your status as a member of the exclusive circle. Miss too many of these kinds of things and you’d risk someone’s assuming you’d been exiled for some reason or another, and you could quickly find yourself on the outside looking in.

Stella nudged me. “I said I’m not surprised you like her. But I guess I’m supposed to have a one-sided conversation, because you’re looking at that ridiculous thing like it’s about to grow tits and sleep with you.”

I pulled my eyes away from the brontosaurus. “Sorry. I just can’t quite believe a private collector managed to get such an intact skeleton. Usually it’s—”

Stella made a snoring sound and then smirked at me. “How undignified of me. I must have spontaneously fallen asleep when you started talking about your overgrown birds again.”

“I’m just trying to figure out if that’s actually a brontosaurus skull, or if they maybe substituted something like an apatosaurus skull. No one has ever reported finding an actual brontosaurus skull, so if—”

“Rich, please,” Stella said. “I wanted to talk about your sexy librarian who is very much alive, not a pile of bones.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “You won’t even let me live vicariously through you a little bit?”

“Believe it or not, trying to convince Kira I’m not an asshole hasn’t been smooth sailing. I also know you have a crush on her, so I’m not about to feed you any information. I may be failing spectacularly with Kira, but I don’t plan to let you take a swing at her either. She’s mine.”

“And what exactly do you plan to do about us and our little arrangement? I know something happened between you two last night. I heard you whistling after she left. Whistling, Rich. Will I at least get two weeks’ notice before I’m fired from my role as your pretend girlfriend?”

“Nothing changes. Not yet, at least. If we call things off, my parents are going to start looking a hell of a lot closer at what I do. They already found out I was taking Kira to a magic show. The only thing stopping them from staging a full-blown intervention is you.”

“I’m glad you’re worried about yourself and not at all about my parents trying to force a dick in my mouth.”

I choked out a laugh. “Somehow I think that’s not their primary goal.”

“Oh, trust me. If they knew I was gay, they’d stop at nothing to convert me. Whatever they thought would work.”

I sighed. “I’ll try to think of a way to get through this that doesn’t end with you getting screwed.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind getting screwed, I just don’t want my parents to find out, and I’d prefer it was by someone who shaves their legs.”

“I’m sure Cade would shave his legs for you if you asked nicely.”

She made a gagging sound but smiled nonetheless. “You King brothers are far too manly for my taste. I like the softer things in life. Like breasts.”

“Well, at least we can agree on that much. But why does it even matter if your parents don’t approve? You’re a grown woman now. Can’t you just live your life and tell them to get over it by now?”