I whip my head that way, and sure enough, Carrick stands across the living area talking to two men in what appears to be an animated conversation. He seems at ease and is smiling, something I never really get to see. I remember it vaguely from that first night in the gallery when Fallon first spotted him, and he was meeting and greeting people near the entrance. He’s generally a people person, outgoing and gregarious, as evidenced again tonight.
Just not with me, though.
“I didn’t think he was coming,” I murmur thoughtfully, remembering he told me he had a conflict.
“Are you sure he’s gay?” Rainey asks, sidling in closer to me as she appraises him.
He is, by far, the most beautiful person in this room—man or woman. He seems otherworldly sometimes in how gorgeous he is. Even after all these weeks, it never fails to slightly take my breath away the first time I see him on any given day. It’s why I’m convinced he’s something—maybe not fae or daemon—but he’s something.
“Pretty sure,” I mutter back to Rainey as I survey the cut of his dark gray suit paired with a white dress shirt and gray satin tie with diagonal stripes that could not be more perfectly fit to his frame. He exudes such powerful magnetism, added with that brilliant smile he flashes to everyone—but me—and it’s easy to see why people are so drawn to him.
“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong,” Rainey says speculatively, and I twist to raise a brow at her. She’s studying Carrick, one finger tapping against her chin. “No way he’s gay.”
I brace myself, waiting for Rainey to make a sashaying beeline toward Carrick, and my gut tightens. It’s at this moment that the thought of Rainey—my best friend—catching Carrick’s eye does not sit well with me at all. And I have to wonder why that is because I have no stake in him. He clearly doesn’t even like me, and, well, on most occasions, I don’t like him, either.
Carrick would be perfect for her. He’s gorgeous and wealthy beyond imagination, but he doesn’t have an over-inflated sense of importance and he listens to people. I’ve seen it when he’s in conversation with others. Clearly, he rarely talks about himself. Rainey couldn’t do better, really.
“But,” she posits, her gaze coming to me with a smile. “He’s your business partner, and I could never go there. That could make things weird.”
I have to physically hold in the sigh of relief that wants to come bursting out, and I hate myself just a little for it. Because to be thankful Rainey wouldn’t pursue Carrick is horribly selfish on my part, and also means I might have some feelings for him.
Granted, they’d be weird, sick, and misplaced feelings as the man has been nothing but an ass to me.
To my surprise, Carrick’s gaze comes straight to me—tuning out whatever conversation is going on in his little group, and it’s like he knew Rainey and I were staring at him.
“Busted,” Rainey mutters and turns away, immediately sidling in between Adira and Myles as they discuss which petit fours are tastier on the dessert table. She completely abandons me, and now it’s just Carrick and me staring at each other from across a large room.
He jerks his head in such a way as to say, “Come here,” and I don’t question his directive. When I reach him, I’m surprised when he takes a moment to introduce me to the two men he’d been conversing with. One is a doctor and the other a city councilman, and he tells them I’m his business partner in one of his ventures. I don’t have time to feel good about that acknowledgment as the light buzzy feeling I get immediately tells me one of these men isn’t human.
A quick focus on each reveals it’s the doctor with a glamour. He’s a daemon with a light aura, and I’m surprised it’s not just his face that becomes transparent to me. My senses seem to open in a way they haven’t before, and his entire body is revealed. I’m not shocked by my ability expanding, but rather in the extreme differences between human glamour and daemon in totality. The human glamoured man is tall, maybe six foot, but the daemon is short and rotund. Both of them have pleasant faces, but the daemon visage—like many other supernaturals I’ve seen—has a humanoid appearance with some slight alterations. In the doctor’s case, his skin is a little warty looking all over and he has ears that are pointed, and then flop over like a dog’s.
Of course, I manage to control my surprise because but I’ve gotten good at schooling my features. If One Bean flops, I could probably make a go of it playing poker in Vegas.
Carrick explains it’s my birthday today as Fallon’s twin sister, and after they wish me congratulations, he deftly and with good grace extricates us from them. Taking me by the elbow, he leads me over to a quieter corner of the living area to the side of their unlit fireplace.