Whenever I was exposed to her, it took way too much effort to resist punching her in one of her fake boobs. I’d fantasized about hitting her hard enough that it popped more times than I’d ever admit to anyone.
The thought of all the ways she could’ve been “nice” to Vaughn made me sick to my stomach. I literally wanted to vomit. Profusely.
“Yeah, I'm not sure why she decided I needed a nickname, and I sure as fuck don't know why she picked one that implies we’re in any way close. I avoid her like the plague.” Vaughn stepped closer to me and skimmed his fingers down my arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. “Always have and always will.”
The sincerity shining from his dark eyes was impossible to miss, and I sighed with relief. “You can’t possibly know how happy I am to hear that. Otherwise, I was going to have to head home early and take a scalding hot shower to help with the ick factor from just flirting with a man who’d laid a finger on Kerri.”
“No worries there.” He held up his hands, palms facing me, and wiggled his fingers. “No single part of me has ever intentionally touched her.”
I couldn’t help but give him a hard time about how he worded his explanation. “Intentionally, huh?”
“You're not going to cut me any slack, are you?” If I was a different kind of person, I might’ve been worried that my take-no-bullshit attitude would put Vaughn off. But it looked like it was a non-issue anyway since judging by the twinkle of humor in his dark eyes, I didn’t think he minded.
I shrugged my shoulders and flashed him a grin. “Nope. I'm not the type of girl who lets people get away with much. It’s something you should probably know before…”
I trailed off, unsure of what to call whatever was happening between us. It was ironic, considering words were kind of my thing as a screenwriter. Vaughn didn’t seem to have the same problem since he jumped right in with, “Before I talk you into spending more time with me.”
I snagged a glass of champagne from a waiter as he walked past us. “You seem awfully sure of yourself. What do you think, that you can just flash me one of your signature grins that melt panties off through television screens across the world, and I’ll agree to whatever you want?”
His gaze swept down the length of my body, lingering on my daring display of cleavage, and back up again. His eyes darkened to a deep chocolate brown, filling with desire as he rasped, “If I thought it would be that easy, I’d do my best to drop blue steel or magnum on you right now.”
I laughed at his Zoolander reference, delighted that he had a sense of humor.
“Since I can see it’ll take more than that with you,” he continued, “I’ll work on formulating a better plan instead.”
“You never know.” I batted my lashes, and the extensions Morgan had talked me into doing earlier today gave the gesture a little more oomph. “It just might work.”
“Oh, really?” His hand slid around to my lower back, and he started to lower his head until he stopped because our phones vibrated in unison.
He grumbled in frustration as he pulled his phone out of his tuxedo jacket’s inside pocket while I grabbed mine from my Gucci wristlet. “Who are you tracking?”
“Who am I not tracking would be the better question,” he answered. “Being in the loop is part of the job. How about you?”
“Morgan and Gage. I added him to my alerts when they started dating.” My head jerked up when I realized what I had just spilled. Vaughn was too damn hot for my brain because I had forgotten that I was talking to a journalist. “Umm, can that be off the record?”
“I’m not that kind of celebrity interviewer,” he laughed. “But I don't think it's anything you need to worry about because it looks like the cat is out of the bag.”
He turned his phone around so I could see the screen. On it was a clip of Gage and Morgan kissing as they practically fell into the press junket after she won her Best Actress award. “Oh, damn. That’s a less than ideal way for them to go public with their relationship.”
I powered up my phone and pulled up article after article, each of them showing the same scene—my best friend and Hollywood’s most famously confirmed bachelor getting busted in a lip-lock that had made them forget the rest of the world existed.
“Even CNN has it,” Vaughn pointed out. I did a quick internet search of their names plus CNN and was stunned to discover that the channel had a ticker announcing their relationship.
“Stupid reporters. They aren’t even mentioning that she just won an Oscar for Best Actress,” I groaned after I watched the same clip on yet another gossip site.