In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(79)

I dressed quickly, going to the bathroom door when I heard the shower turn off, speaking to James through it.

“I’m starving. Mind if I go try to find some food in your kitchen while you get ready?”

“Please. I’m sorry. I’ve been a negligent host. Help yourself. I’ll need some time to get ready, but I’ll join you in about twenty minutes.”

I had seen the pristine tuxedo laid out in his closet, so I knew why he needed some time. He was obviously attending a black tie event. And one far fancier than anything I’d ever been to.

“Okay,” I said.

I got a little lost navigating through his maze of an apartment, but it was a good thing that I did, since I found my suitcase. I had left it in the trunk of the car when Clark had driven away. I hadn’t even given it a thought until the second I saw it again. I grabbed it gratefully, pulling it behind me as I attempted to place the kitchen, trying to retrace James’s steps from the day before.

I found it more by sound than sight, inadvertently coming at it from a different angle. I could hear two female voices chatting, one warm and husky, the other friendly and tinkling with laughter.

I approached the open doorway cautiously. What I saw confused me, and I just stood there, blinking.

One woman was in her fifties and I recognized her friendly voice from overhearing her speaking to James when we had first arrived. She was the housekeeper. She was a plump hispanic lady and had the look of a kindly mom-type. Her words trailed off as she saw me. She took in my disheveled appearance wordlessly.

I wasn’t surprised by her presence. It was the other woman whose presence I couldn’t make sense of.

She was exceptionally beautiful, with coifed, curly black hair that shone brilliantly. Perhaps she was related to James, I told myself. She was beautiful enough to share his bloodline, if anyone could be as beautiful as James.

Her lovely gray eyes studied me with far less surprise than I studied her. She was decked out for a black tie affair in a silky, pale-gray gown that matched her eyes and belonged on the red carpet. It had a classic and simple strapless design that clung to her perfect body like a glove. She had a very tidy body, with the tiniest waist I’d ever seen in my life, but it still managed to be voluptuous, flaring out in the quintessential hourglass. She was the kind of woman that made every woman feel worse just by looking at her. She was several inches shorter than me, no taller than five foot six.

She made me feel instantly tall and awkward. Her tan skin was flawless, her lips lush and sultry, her nose pert and perfect.

“Another flight attendant?” the woman asked in a husky voice. She was speaking to the housekeeper. “Boys and their toys.” Her voice was casual, and she rolled her eyes, but there was a certain tension around her mouth that spoke of cold anger.

“He’ll be ready to settle down with you in a few years, my dear. Men are basically animals until they hit thirty. It’s a well-known fact,” the housekeeper said to the lovely creature, sounding kindly.

Her eyes weren’t kindly as they sized me up, though.

I was starting to get a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked at the lovely woman dumbly for a moment, then made myself ask. “Who are you?” My voice was small and pitiful. I really didn’t want to hear the answer, but I had to ask.

The woman smiled, her expression warming in an instant, like magic. Either she was a consummate actress, or she had suddenly decided that she liked me. I was definitely betting on the former.

“I’m Jules Phillips.”

“Are you related to James?” I asked. I was grasping at straws, I knew.

She laughed, and it was a warm, sensual sound.

I felt so sick that I thought I might lose the contents of my stomach right on her perfect red stilettos.

“No. If I were a relative, the things that James and I have done would certainly be illegal. I’m his date tonight. He’s escorting me to a charity ball. It’s for a charity our mothers founded together. Poor thing, did he not tell you about me? He can have a one-tracked mind. I’ve had to be very understanding of his peculiar…whims, over the years.”

She fingered a necklace at her throat, eying up my own bared collar, where I had left the top few buttons undone. Hers was a diamond collar, not so very different from my own.

“Although he’s always been generous enough to make it worthwhile,” she continued, “as I’m sure you know.”

That did it. I barely made it to the sink before I began to vomit.

Jules made a sympathetic noise, and I felt someone smoothing my hair back. The housekeeper made a disgusted noise.

“Too much to drink, dear?” Jules asked, stroking my hair. There was a bite to her question that she probably thought I wouldn’t pick up.

She was a woman to be careful of. I knew it with grim certainty.

I brushed her off.

“Please, give me space,” I said, feeling suffocated.

I straightened, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. I’d never felt so disgusting in my life. Never felt so dirty. He was a liar, I thought. I had fallen in love with a perfect lie. I had shared myself with a beautiful liar. I felt laid bare.

I have to get out of here.

I lurched out of the kitchen. I would rather be sick in the street than spend another second in his home. I made it to the elevator, punching the button.

I felt Jules hovering behind me, a heavy presence at my back.