Harper grinned. “I guess it depends on who you ask. Ariana is still a pretty big deal in Paris and Italy, but not so much here in the states anymore. She’s burned too many bridges for anyone to want to work with her. But she is…was…is a supermodel. She was the face for some top names five years ago.”

“Ah… Sorry, I still don’t know who you are talking about.” I opened the internet on my phone and typed in Ariana Calloway. There were a handful of pictures that popped up in the image search, and I clicked on the first one to enlarge it for a better look.

Shoulder length dark blonde hair. Cool, almost emotionless blue eyes. Her face was beautiful, but it was a fake kind of beautiful. I wasn’t sure if she was still that good to look at under all that makeup. She didn’t hold a candle to the beauty sitting across from me destroying my sanity by biting into a cream covered strawberry.

Harper had no makeup on, but she didn’t need it. With her purple eyes and crazy long caramel lashes, the Cupid’s bow shaped mouth, and striking cheekbones, she had me mesmerized without trying. She had captured my attention the instant I had seen her a few days ago, and she continued to hold it in a way thousands of girls hadn’t been able to.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?”

I shrugged. “She’s pretty.”

Harper frowned. “That’s it? Just pretty?”

“Okay, she’s beautiful. But any decent makeup artist can make anyone beautiful. She isn’t all that great to look at.” I grimaced. “Sorry if that offends you.” I didn’t want to push her away by insulting her sister.

“No, that doesn’t offend me,” she murmured. “I’m just not sure if you are for real. Most guys trip over their tongues when they see Ariana.”

“I’m not most guys. I would trip over my tongue to get a taste of you, but I really couldn’t care less about your sister.”

“Stepsister,” she corrected, her tone cool. “And now I know you are not for real.” She pushed her nearly empty plate away and reached for her water. “You must have a vision problem.”

“No, but now I know why you have to wear glasses.” Her brows rose. “Because you’re legally blind if you can’t see what I see.”

She snorted. “Wow, do lines like that really get you laid?”

I couldn’t help it. I threw my head back and laughed out loud. “No, sweetness. I don’t have to use lines to get laid.” They lined up for a chance to warm my bed for an hour or two, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “But with you it’s different.”

Violet eyes rolled at me, and I swear my dick actually twitched. Fuck. Me.

This was going to be so much fun!


Harper

I had to give it to him. Shane Stevenson was a smooth talker. If I were more naïve I would fall for his sweet talk, but I wasn’t naïve. I knew he was playing me.

“So you met Lana at NYU.” Shane changed the subject. “What’s your major?”

“It was journalism, but I graduated last semester.” I was hoping to get a job with a magazine or newspaper, something that was more dependable than the freelance work I was currently doing. At the moment no one was hiring. If anything they were letting people go, so I was lucky to have at least the part-time work.

Shane nodded when I told him this. “I know a few people. Maybe I could help you out.”

“No!” I shook my head. “I don’t want you to do that. If I wanted an easy in, I could be at Vogue right now. That isn’t how I want to start my career off. I want to do this on my own.” It was important to me that I do this myself. I needed to know I could do it on my own or all my hard work would be pointless.

And I needed to prove to myself that I didn’t need my stepfather’s name—or anyone’s name but my own—to succeed.

His phone chimed and his lips lifted in a grin as he glanced down at the screen. My eyes were drawn to it and I saw was the name Lulu before he started typing a reply to the text. Another pinprick of pain stabbed my heart and I glanced away.

“One of your adoring fans?” I nearly slapped my hands over my mouth as soon as the words left it. I sounded almost jealous!

Shane continued to grin as he continued to text. “I wouldn’t say she is a fan. I doubt her parents let her listen to Demon’s Wings music just yet.”

My eyes widened. “You have an underage girlfriend?”

“What?” He looked shocked by my question. “No! Of course not. Lucy is only seven! She’s Lana’s little sister.”

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh at his comically stunned expression. “Sorry. I assumed it was one of the many groupies that salivate at your feet.”

The way he threw his head back and laughed sent delicious chills down my spine, and I had to avert my eyes from the way his Adam’s apple bobbed because it was so damn sexy. As I looked to my left, I found our waitress staring at Shane too. She was eating him alive with her eyes. I realized few women would be immune to this man, and I was starting to think I wouldn’t be among those few.

His phone chimed again but I didn’t dare look until he grumbled a curse under his breath. I glanced back at him, seeing him pulling his wallet out of the basketball shorts that he had borrowed from Linc. “What’s wrong?”

“My brother wants me to come by the studio.” All he had to do was glance the waitress’s way and she started moving like a moth drawn to a flame. She batted her fake eyelashes at him as he handed her his card. Really? Fake lashes this early? “Thanks, sweetheart.”

That was my cue to get going. I should have already been home, maybe even hop back in bed for a few more hours of sleep. But part of me was torn. I didn’t want to say goodbye to him yet.

“I need to get home. I have a few pictures I need to edit before I send them to The Morning Global.” I pulled my wallet from my gym bag sitting at my feet and tossed a few bills on the table for a tip. If he was paying for our food, I was at least covering that much.

Standing, I pulled the strap of the purple and pink gym bag over my shoulder. “Thanks for breakfast.”

He slowly got to his feet. The waitress had returned with his card and a receipt. He quickly scribbled his name across the bottom and left it on the table, completely ignoring the girl as she just stood there with her chest sticking out and her lips all pouty. I nearly laughed at the way she was looking at him as I walked past her.

Did girls really think that was sexy? I knew that my stepsister did, and she had caught more than a few guys in her web with that look alone. I thought it looked cheap and more than a little ridiculous.

“Bye, Shane.” I called over my shoulder as I reached the door.

“Wait!”

I stopped just outside. The streets weren’t as crowded now that most people were at work, but I still had to move to the side so I wasn’t blocking the flow of pedestrians walking by.

Shane had his phone in one hand and his wallet in the other as he stepped through the door. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

That was not what I was expecting him to stop me for. I frowned at him, sure that he was just playing with me. “Why?”

“Because I like spending time with you. You’re fun to hang out with.” He pocketed his wallet.

“I like hanging out with you too,” I told him honestly. He really was fun to just sit and talk to. Even though I was fighting a seriously big attraction to him, he made me feel comfortable. That wasn’t something that I experienced often with a guy.

“Good.” His grin was infectious and without hesitating I returned it. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

With a sigh I gave in. “Okay. But I’m not dressing up. Can we just grab some Chinese or something?”

“Whatever you want, beautiful. Now give me your number.”

Without thinking, I recited the number and seconds later my cellphone chimed with a text. Pulling it out of my back pocket, I found his number and a heart on the screen. “Cute.”

He pulled my phone from my fingers and started typing something in. I heard the camera click and figured that he was programing his number and picture ID.

“That’s better,” he murmured, then pulled me into his arms, turned me around, and snapped a picture of us together with his own phone.

I was sure that I was grinning like an idiot, but that didn’t matter. His head was still resting on my shoulder. I turned toward him just a little and his slight scruff rubbed against my cheek. After a moment he finally pulled back, but not before I felt his nose nuzzle against my ear.

“I’ll see you at seven,” his voice sounded a little deeper, huskier.

I cleared my throat, clearly affected from feeling his warm breath on my neck. “Okay.” 

Chapter 3

Shane

The line outside the studio was ridiculously long. I saw people with small tents and sleeping bags. Fast food bags littered the ground, and I smelled burgers frying on a tiny portable grill.

I paid the cab driver and stepped out at the front of the long line. Two security guards stood at the doors, along with a thin man with a clip board and a head set. Figuring the little man was in charge, I headed for him.

Of course the first five people in line were female and they noticed who I was even in my hat, sunglasses, and workout clothes. The first one screamed as I walked closer, which sent the rest of the females behind her into a frenzy. The little man frowned at me like I was dirt on his shoes. “You will have to go to the back of the line with everyone else.”

“Shane!”

“I love you, Shane!”

The chorus of fans screaming my name was the first thing to alert the guy of his mistake. When I pulled off my Boston Red Sox’s hat, he straightened and gave me a warmer greeting. “Mr. Stevenson. We weren’t expecting you.”