Mackenzie tried not to remember how her insides had gone all mushy. And she hadn’t needed to wait for sleep for the night to go naughty. But she would happily blame losing her brain on his cologne. It was better than any other alternative.
Mackenzie pulled a suitcase out from under her bed while Cassandra opened her closet and grimaced. “Let’s see. It looks like your choices are work clothes, boring work clothes, or hideous work clothes. Is he giving you a clothing allowance or something? Because I just can’t see Ethan O’Connor’s fiancé wearing any of this.”
Mackenzie poked her head over Cassandra’s shoulder. “It’s not that bad. It’s professional.”
“And you are no longer a professional. Now you’re a celebrity.”
“For six weeks.”
“Okay. What are you going to wear for six weeks?” Cassandra leered at her. “Unless you will be wearing nothing. I could get behind that.”
“No, there will be none of that.” Why did she have to keep saying that?
“Mm-hm. So what’s that one-woman man going to do for six weeks?”
“I guess he’ll just have to do what every other man does when he’s got a fake fiancé. Invest in some Playboys.”
Cassandra laughed. “I wonder if you can still get the ones with Anna Nicole.”
Mackenzie glared at her. “I am going to the stylist this afternoon to get this changed back to brown.”
“If he’s any good, and he is, he won’t do it. Bad for your hair.”
“Oh, he’s going to. Even if I have to threaten him with Christine O’Connor. I can’t go to New York looking like this. This is California hair.”
Cassandra started to laugh, then stopped. “You’re totally right. This
is
California hair.” She looked at Mackenzie appraisingly. “I need to get me some California hair. Do you think California hair could turn a gay man straight?”
Mackenzie squeezed her hand. “Probably not, but it sure would make him wish it could.”
Cassandra grabbed a lock of Mackenzie’s hair and held it across her forehead. “It might make me care less that he doesn’t want to marry me and impregnate me with his hot, glistening body. Give me the name of that stylist.”
“Want me to give you the thousand bucks it cost as well?”
Cassandra choked. Then dropped Mackenzie’s hair. “Eh. I’ve always got my dreams.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “And now I have two leading men. Gonna have to juggle them, I think. Even in my dreams I don’t want Shane getting a peek at Mr. Charming.”
Cassandra perused the closet and Mackenzie watched her. She finally said, “You’re making yourself miserable about Shane. You need to move on.”
Cassandra let out a laugh. “Tell me how to move on.”
Mackenzie shook her head. She’d never been in love. Had never wanted to be. “I don’t know how. But I think you need to. You’re not going to find anyone else if you keep mooning over Shane.”
“I don’t want to give him up. I like him and I love him. And if that means I am going to die unmarried and childless, then I will.”
“You know I’m the last person who would tell you marriage and family is all there is.”
Cassandra pointed a finger at her. “You don’t want to get married. You don’t even want to date.”
“I don’t. But I think you do.”
Cassandra took a deep breath. “Maybe I want him more than I want some mythical promise about undying love. And maybe I want children, but then I look at the reality and I think maybe not. What I have right now is better than that gigantic maybe.”
She started ripping clothes off hangars. “He can’t give me everything I need? Well, no man can. There’s always something you wish you could change but it’s not a dealbreaker.”
“You’re telling me
this
isn’t a dealbreaker? He’s gay.”
Cassandra shrugged, throwing clothes into the suitcase. “I guess it’s not my dealbreaker.”
Mackenzie pulled the clothes back out and started folding them before placing them neatly back inside. “And if he finds someone else?”
“It will probably kill me. But I have to think that whoever he falls in love with I’ll probably like, too. He can find a lover, he can get married. But I’ll still be part of him.”
Mackenzie looked at the ferocious look on her friend’s face. She knew Shane loved Cassandra and would never purposefully hurt her. But talk about a hopeless love triangle. Mackenzie could only hope that if Shane ever found a man he loved enough to marry that Cassandra didn’t take a dive off the nearest overpass. Or push the newbie off.
Cassandra held up a short, colorful dress. She stared Mackenzie in the eye, daring her to continue the conversation about Shane. “What is this horrible monstrosity?”
Mackenzie said, “It’s an authentic Hawaiian muumuu. It’s very comfortable. I just throw it over leggings on the weekend.” Mackenzie held out a hand for it. “I’ll take it with me.”
“No way in hell. I’m burning this.” Cassandra eyed it, then Mackenzie. “Are you a virgin? Do you want to die one?”
“No. I think it’s cute.”
“It’s like every fashion decision you make is made to repel men.” Cassandra grabbed her hand and dragged her to the living room.
Cassandra sat down at the computer and pulled up a celebrity site. She pointed to the dress Mackenzie had worn last night. “This is cute and sexy.” She pointed to the muumuu. “This is not. See the difference?”
Mackenzie took one look at last night her, then headed for the couch to lie down. “Oh, God.”
Cassandra looked at the pictures. “You look so. . . flustered. What were you doing in that limo?”
“That’s what everyone is going to be thinking. That we were doing something.”
Cassandra leaned closer to the screen and squinted. “Where did your lipstick go?”
“He kissed me, okay? He kissed me.”
“Mmm. I bet he’s a good kisser.”
Mackenzie tried not to remember. “He’s had enough practice.”
“You know what they say. Practice makes perfect.”
It did. It really, really did.
Mackenzie said, “All I can say is thank God for Spanx. The man’s got hands like an octopus.”
Cassandra turned to look at her. “Does he? Good octopus or bad octopus?”
Mackenzie stared at the ceiling.
Cassandra said, “Good octopus. And why are you thanking God for a slightly evil-but-genius item of clothing?”
Mackenzie muttered, “It’s a modern-day chastity belt.”
Cassandra started grinning. “Went that far, huh? I’m going to have to call up the makers of Spanx and tell them they’ve got a new marketing angle. ‘Spanx. Keeps it in your pants.’”
Mackenzie tried not to laugh but she couldn’t keep it in. “Can I take it to New York with me?”
Cassandra shook her head. “Uh-uh. I need it, although not as a chastity belt. And I don’t want a repeat of last night. One of us is going to have to get lucky with him, and I’m realistic enough to know it’s going to be you.”
“I’ll just buy my own.”
“Spoilsport. But I don’t think they sell them in New York. They’re against the law there.”
Mackenzie smiled at her. “Why aren’t you on my side? I don’t want to do something stupid with him.”
“Why not? You can be stupid once in your life. Be smart later.”
Mackenzie sat up. “I don’t know why I even try with you.”
“Just remember when you’re trapped under him, sweaty and ready to scream his name, that I am all for it.”
Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “Let’s go finish packing.”
Cassandra grimaced. “Let’s not. They have shopping in New York.
Good
shopping. See if he’ll buy you a decent wardrobe. Tell him you’ll trade sexual favors for clothing.”
“This is not
Pretty Woman
.”
“But it could be, if you played your cards right.”
They made quick work of it, Cassandra making disparaging remarks about her taste in clothing and shoes, and Mackenzie stuffing her muumuu in the suitcase when Cassandra wasn’t looking.
Cassandra hefted it up, shaking her head. “This isn’t going over the back wall. You’re going to have to call Ethan to send some reinforcements.”
Mackenzie rolled it out to the living room. She wasn’t calling him, ever. If she could get through the next six weeks without looking at him, speaking to him, or being in the same room with him, she would give him back his million dollars.
Cassandra peaked out the front window. “You’re going to have to call him.”
“It’s not happening.”
Cassandra held out her hand. “I’ll call him for you.”
Mackenzie elbowed her aside and peaked out the window herself. She cursed. “There’s even more of them.”
Cassandra beckoned for the phone. “I assume he put his number in there, right? Let’s just call him up. He can make everything better.”
Mackenzie took one long look outside, trying to plot an escape route, then gave up. She slapped the phone into Cassandra’s waiting hand.
Cassandra hit speed dial, grinning when it pulled up Ethan’s number, then waited.
Mackenzie said, “Maybe he won’t pick up.”
Cassandra looked at her with pity. “Mm-hm. The man bought you a cellphone and put his number on speed dial. He’ll pick up.”
She pointed to the phone and mouthed, “See.”
Cassandra listened for a moment with a dreamy look on her face, then said, “I would
love
to but this is Cassandra. Probably Mackenzie would tell you to stick that somewhere the sun don’t shine because she’s a little
cranky
right now. We’re trapped in her house by the paparazzi.”
She was silent, her face going soft and stupid, and then she laughed. She glanced at Mackenzie. “That’s a good idea. We’ll be waiting.”
Cassandra listened for one more moment, then laughed again. “Bye-bye, Ethan.”
She hung up, sighing happily, and Mackenzie said, “You’re pathetic.”
“His voice. Doesn’t it make you think of silk sheets and sliding around on top of them?”
“No.” Mackenzie held her hand out for the phone. “What did he say?”
Cassandra gave it to her, then slid down into a boneless heap on the couch. “Just let me enjoy this for a minute, okay?”
“What did he say.”
Cassandra squinted an eye at her. “You are not natural. I need a moment to myself to
cool down
.”
Mackenzie gave up and left her to her lustful thoughts. She sat down at the computer, clicking through incriminating photos of herself and Mr. Charm-Your-Pants-Off. Maybe she didn’t fall at the sound of his voice, but she sure as hell looked like she’d fallen in that limo.
It was even worse looking at him. He looked disheveled and she knew she’d been the one to do that to him. He’d made her lose her mind last night, the rat bastard. He’d done it on purpose.
Note to self: she was not to let his lips anywhere near hers,
ever again
.
Cassandra stood and looked over Mackenzie’s shoulder. “Okay, I’m better. I can walk at least. And he said he’s sending a driver to pick us up and he’ll make sure there’s chocolate. I like him. I’d like him even if he didn’t give me goosebumps and make me want to stuff my panties in his pocket.”
“Seriously. He’s just a man.” A beautiful, charming man. The most dangerous force on earth as far as Mackenzie was concerned.
Cassandra shook her head. “Not just a man. He’s the perfect mix of sex and wholesomeness. Even I would marry him and have his babies.”
“You’d give up Shane for Ethan, just like that?”
“Oh, yeah.” She pointed a finger at Mackenzie. “Let him know that, ‘kay? If it doesn’t work out with you, I’m totally available.”
“I’ll let him know.”
Cassandra looked again at the pictures, sighing. “I don’t know how you came out of that limo unspoiled. But I hope you will be before this engagement is over. And tell me all about it.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“And I’m going to want d-e-t-a-i-l-s. Like what religion he is.”
Mackenzie turned in her chair. “I am not going to sleep with Ethan. Not.”
Cassandra patted her on the shoulder, then went to stand by the window and wait for the driver. “You know what they say about that river in Egypt. It’s where unexpected babies come from.”
A little bit of Mackenzie’s breakfast came back up at the thought of being Ethan O’Connor’s baby-mama and she flipped the computer off. She didn’t need any reminders of how quickly she’d climbed onto Ethan’s lap.
Obviously she needed a few more reminders to keep Ethan at least ten feet away from her at all times.
And barring that, some reminders to keep her legs together.
When Mackenzie walked into Ethan’s office, he did a double take, then laughed at himself. Even after dinner last night, the blond was catching him off guard.
“I’m not used to your hair yet.”
“I’m starting to like it. I hardly recognize myself.”
“I wish it worked on the paparazzi.”
Mackenzie said, “Yes. Wasn’t dinner last night supposed to appease them?”
“They must not have gotten the memo. I’ll send another.” He looked her over carefully. “Any problems getting out of your house?”
“Not once your driver showed up.” She crinkled her nose. “There may or may not be some photos of me climbing my fence.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and she sat down. “It wasn’t my finest moment. But your very kind driver advised me that as long as they weren’t intruding on my personal space, it was usually better to just let them take the pictures.”
Ethan grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and handed it to her. He should have realized earlier that her paleness wasn’t a symptom of her new hair color. The most seasoned star could be overcome by hordes of shouting “journalists” and their cameras.
He said, “Do I need to sue some asses? Please say yes.”
“Because that always works so well?”
“Because I feel impotent and that enrages me.”
She shook her head. “This happens to you all the time.”
He sat down. “And I’m used to it. And I know how it feels. And I’m sorry.”
She took a long drink, then looked at him thoughtfully. “A half million sorry?”
He smiled slightly. “Probably not.”
“Well, I was talking about the impotence anyway.”
He opened his mouth to remind her of last night and she said quickly, “Tell me it will be better in New York.”
“It will be better in New York. Really. Probably.”