“No dresses or frilly little blouses. Leave all your makeup behind,” he said, his gaze dipping fleetingly down to the front of the feminine floral blouse she was wearing with jeans. Gia experienced his stare like a flickering, teasing pressure across her skin and breasts.
“You won’t need any of those things, because I’ll be disguising you as a teenage boy.” He scowled slightly, his cool gaze lingering on her chest. “With some luck and a really good breast binder, I just might be able to pull it off too.”
Five
The next morning, Seth waited patiently in the cluttered rear storage room of Studio K on Melrose Avenue. His longtime friend and owner of the salon, Karen Leads, had been briefed only on what she needed to know about Seth’s scheme with Gia. Karen had many famous clients and knew the advantages of keeping her mouth closed. Karen owned the exclusive salon and had arrived before normal operating hours to help him with his plan. She’d let Seth and another accomplice in through the back door.
The idea was that anyone following Gia—and there was sure to be several—would think Gia had just scheduled a quick pickup of products at Karen’s salon before it opened.
He glanced at Leti Fishmann, a UCLA geology graduate student, fussing with her fuchsia scarf in a nearby mirror. Both his niece, Joy, and he occasionally hired Leti for part-time modeling work. In addition, Leti walked Joy and Everett’s rambunctious golden retriever, Marley. Leti was a friend and could be trusted with the minimal information they’d given her. Yesterday Gia had suggested that they use the woman who worked as her body double for the red-herring role in their little escapade, but Seth had nixed that idea. He’d rather have someone like Leti, who cared more about her doctoral dissertation than the possibility of landing a plum role in some future television or film production. He wanted someone immune to bribery. Despite Gia’s scowl when he’d said that yesterday, he’d remained insistent on not using Gia’s body double. They were not going to use a struggling Hollywood actress he didn’t know, and certainly didn’t trust, for such a crucial role in their escape from Los Angeles.
Leti was wearing the print dress, jean jacket, newsboy cap and eye-catching fuchsia scarf Seth had specified in yesterday’s planning session with Charles and Gia. Seth had provided her with a brown wig that had been styled in a haphazard bun just below the cap.
“How do I look?” Leti asked him distractedly.
“Pretty good, once you put on the glasses, especially,” someone said breathlessly.
Seth glanced around to see who’d answered, his stare sticking on Gia Harris as she entered the room. As they had agreed upon the day before, she wore the precise same outfit as Leti. She whipped off her sunglasses, her light green eyes betraying her wariness and anxiety over their clandestine venture.
Or over seeing him again. Seth couldn’t be sure.
Duplicate that face? he thought bitterly, his gaze on Gia. Not a chance, Seth said to himself with a trace of bitter annoyance. The past two years had only made her more beautiful, if that was possible.
“She’ll pass from a distance, anyway,” Seth said, standing and scrutinizing Gia’s form and outfit closely. “Turn around,” he told her.
He saw the flash of anger in her eyes. He quirked up one brow in an amused, sardonic expression. “Please.”
Something flickered across her features. It struck him that he’d told Gia the same thing before, on that damn night in Daphne DeGarro’s tacky dressing room.
He’d instructed her to “turn around” a few times before their night together was over.
He clamped his teeth tight as erotic memories rushed him. Gia reluctantly turned around. He forced himself to focus, inspecting her closely.
“Were you followed?” he asked Gia, stepping over to Leti, where he made some quick adjustments to her wig to better match Gia’s hairstyle.
“Jim is positive we were,” Gia reported. “By a black SUV and a dark green Lexus, at the very least.”
“I’m Gia, by the way,” she added tensely, crossing the room to shake Leti’s hand.
“Leti Fishmann,” Leti returned.
“Thank you so much for helping us out with this.”
“I’m glad to do it,” Leti said. His adjustment complete, Seth dropped his hands from her wig. Leti gave him a big smile. “Both Seth and Joy have helped me out too many times to count.”
“Joy is your niece, r
ight?” Gia clarified, her gaze on Seth.
He nodded.
“Well, I’m very grateful,” Gia said, her eyes pinging back and forth between Seth and Leti.
“You’d better get going,” Seth told Leti. He handed her the salon bag of products they’d prepared earlier.
“Keep your face averted to the right,” Gia instructed Leti as she handed her the sunglasses she had just removed. “They’re parked on both sides of Melrose, a half block behind my driver, Jim.”
Leti nodded in understanding. “Good luck, both of you. See you, Seth,” Leti said, going up on her tiptoes. He lowered his head, and she gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. She hurried out of the room to the salon.