You've Got Fail(45)

I wanted to be angry and tell Willis I wasn’t a toy that he had to stake a claim on, but the heat between my thighs and the rapid beat of my heart short-circuited all of the berating that ricocheted around in my mind.

He straightened his glasses and gave me a self-satisfied smirk.

Asshole. I turned and moved through the partygoers until I reached the less-crowded lobby.

“Hey, wait.” He kept up with me.

“What was that?” I whirled on him. “What were you thinking?”

“Todd’s a douche.” He shrugged as if that explained everything.

“We were supposed to keep this professional!” I crossed my arms over my chest. His eyes went to my breasts, and I realized the move had pushed them up to near-nip-slip territory. I dropped my arms.

“It is. But that guy—”

“I can handle the Todds of the world!” I stamped my foot. “I’ve done it all my life. You aren’t my knight in shining armor. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

His eyebrows drew together. “Are you saying you didn’t enjoy it?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “My enjoyment has nothing to do with it.”

“So you liked it?”

“That’s not the point.”

The smirk reappeared. “Don’t get mad just because you got a thrill out of me manhandling you in front of the whole party.”

“You’re a devil in Avengers boxer shorts.”

“Oh, how the tables have turned.” He motioned toward the party. “Ready to go back in?”

“I’m not getting paid enough for this.” I brushed my hair over my shoulder.

“You did well with the SquirtingSarah issue. I think you can handle whatever these debutantes throw at you. If we leave here without talking up my book, Linda will lose her shit.”

I wrinkled my nose.

“Just half an hour more. How about that?”

“Can I at least steal something to take the edge off?”

He glowered. “No.”

“Just a little something? Like maybe a bracelet or a money clip.” I got up on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “Please?”

He grabbed my upper arms and pressed me close to him. “Who’s the devil now?”

I nipped at his earlobe. “Guilty as charged.”

“One thing.” He shook his head as he said it. “Just one, klepto, and don’t get caught.”

“Done.” I dropped back onto my heels, pleased with myself.

He smacked my ass as I turned to head back to the party. “Let’s get to work.”





17





Scarlet





I turned the bracelet around and around on my wrist as shots rang out across Jason’s enormous living room. His TV was bigger than my entire living room in Jersey City.

“Are you even watching?” Willis squeezed my arm.

I lay on my side, my head on a pillow in his lap. “Yeah. They shot Marlon Brando, and that Fredo is looking shadier than Christian Grey.”

Jason sat on a couch at a right angle to us, a girl under each arm. “Shit’s about to get real.”

“So who bribed Fredo to set up his own father?”

Jason arched an eyebrow as Sienna, the girl on his right, pressed kisses to his neck. “You sure you’ve never seen this?”

“Never seen it. I suspect that Barzini guy, though.”

“How?” Willis gawked at me.

I shrugged. “I can read people. That’s why I do what I do.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, reading people is important for advice, I guess.”

More important for pickpocketing and cons. I smiled. It was almost cute that Jason had bought into our story that I was the real Scarlet and Willis was my assistant. I waved my hand at the screen.

“Like I was saying, Barzini showed up at the wedding, acting cool. Then he was trying to play peacekeeper it seemed like. Red flags. He was hiding his true intentions. Everyone else was telegraphing theirs. If this movie is as good as you say, then the real villain has to be someone hidden in plain sight. That means Barzini.”

“You could run your own spoiler website instead of relationship advice.” Jason pulled Jessica into his lap, neither of them giving a damn that two relative strangers were watching their canoodling.

“You could.” Willis ran his fingers along my upper arm. “You could do so many things that don’t involve…well, you know.”

“But I like ‘you know.’” I spun the bracelet around on my wrist, the stones sparkling in the low light from the TV. Selling it would add to my paltry stash of money for Pauly. But I was nowhere near the $50,000 Hannah owed.

“You can go legit.” Willis kept rubbing my arm, sending goosebumps erupting all over me. “You’re one hell of an actress.”

“You act?” Jason gripped Jessica’s ass and pulled her so she straddled him.

“Not really.” I focused on the TV.

“She does,” Willis piped up. “Just no major roles yet.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, you sort of have that charisma, you know? It would translate on stage or screen.” Jason continued squeezing Jessica’s ass and kissed Sienna, who was draped along the side of him.