Complete Me(124)

Chapter Twenty

By Tuesday morning, I once again feel like I have a grip on my life.

Damien and I did not stay at my office on Monday. He held me, f*cked me, helped make me whole again. But that was not a place I wanted to be, and he took me to the Tower apartment, his penthouse at the top of Stark Tower. During the drive, he called Ryan, instructing him to go out to the Malibu house to check on both the security there and on Jamie.

In the penthouse, he settled me in a bath with a glass of wine. He pampered me with wine and cheese in bed. He coddled me with old movies, and he made love to me so sweetly my body sang, and when morning came I was willing to give the world another chance.

I am also acutely aware of reality, and that is why I am being driven to work by Edward, who I have learned is not only Damien’s driver, but part of the security team. And he has assured Damien that he will walk me into the office himself.

Which is why he balks when I tell him I want to stop first at Starbucks.

“Ms. Fairchild, this one doesn’t have a drive-through.”

“Just park in front. I won’t be five minutes.”

The privacy screen is down, and I can see his scowl when he looks at me in the rearview mirror.

I tilt my head and scowl back at him. “Do you really think someone is lying in wait in the coffee shop for me?”

“I think that anyone willing to call your mother for photographs is willing to study you, learn your habits, and be very, very patient.”

Since I can’t argue with that, I invite him to come in with me, sweetening the pot by offering to buy his coffee.

We’re standing in line, chatting about The Fountainhead—the audiobook he’s currently engrossed in—when the door opens and Monica comes in. She waves and hurries over. “I was hoping I’d see you today. I wanted to tell you to ignore them. They’re just money-grubbing pricks.”

I glance at Edward. I have no idea what she’s talking about. From the expression on Edward’s face, though, I think that he does.

“What?” I say, first to Monica and then to Edward.

“You haven’t seen? It was on one of those gossip sites this morning,” Monica says. “It’s probably been tweeted all over creation.”

“What has?” I repeat, speaking slowly and clearly.

Edward reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out an iPad. He taps it a few times, then hands it to me. “Mr. Stark thought it would be better not to bother you with this today.”

“Oh, really?” I glance at the screen and my stomach curls. Yeah, I think. I could have lived without this.

The article is topped by a picture of Jamie in a teeny-tiny bikini walking on the beach. That picture features an inset of Damien’s Malibu house, along with helpful text to inform the average reader that Jamie is in Malibu, strutting her stuff at the home of billionaire Damien Stark.

HAS STARK BEEN NICKED FROM NIKKI?

According to sources in the know, billionaire Damien Stark—who some believe recently bought his way out of a murder conviction—has cooled his red hot romance with pageant pretty Nikki Fairchild in favor of Nikki’s roommate, Jamie Archer, an up-and-coming actress more recently seen on the arm (and who knows what else) of heartthrob Bryan Raine. According to sources in the Inland Empire, Archer was recently hospitalized following an accident which landed Archer in the ER and one of Stark’s prize Ferrari’s in the junkyard. And yet she’s still residing at Chez Stark? What do you think, kiddies? Surely it must be love.

But has Stark really ditched the Fair Child? Or is the king of excess looking for excess in his women, as well? According to insiders, Archer and Fairchild have been on-again-off-again lovers for years. True? We don’t know, but photographs circling on Twitter show the threesome looking all too cozy recently in Lake Arrowhead where Stark keeps a mountaintop love nest.