Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(21)

"What do you want, Jackie?" I asked, trying to make my tone bland rather than hostile.

She reached into her own monstrosity of a bag. It was pea-green leather with a big red stripe down the side. She pulled out a small piece of paper, brandishing it like a weapon. "I have a list of functions that you need to attend. Mostly luncheons."

I sighed, waving at one of the empty chairs at our table. "Sit down and tell me what you're talking about, Jackie."

She sat and started in, as if she had rehearsed the whole spiel. "As the significant other of a powerful and influential man in this town, you have some new obligations. You'll be expected to attend lunches and brunches, and tea parties, nearly every day of the week."

I felt my face stiffening the more she spoke.

"Being with James is a full-time job. I'm willing to show you the ropes, since you can't possibly understand what all of this entails-"

"I have a job," I interrupted her. "I'm not looking for another one. I have no wish to go to functions with a bunch of strange women every day."

She let out a very put-upon sigh. "I was afraid you'd say that. You can't possibly comprehend the kind of responsibilities that James and I have had to own since our childhoods-"

I laughed in her face, my extremely rare temper rearing its very ugly head, the words she'd chosen setting me off. "Responsibility? You are going to lecture me about responsibility? I have had to care for myself since I was a child. You probably still live off your parents' wealth," I guessed. I saw by her expression that I was right. "Don't you dare speak a word to me about responsibility!"



       
         
       
        

I instantly regretted losing my cool, but I didn't take anything I'd said back. It was nothing but the truth, if an indelicate one.

"I didn't mean to upset you again," she said carefully. "I know you don't like me. And I know you think I don't like you, but that's a nonissue to me. I'm trying to help you."

I raised a hand. "Don't. Don't try to help me. Don't try to tell me what I need to do with my time."

She sighed that put-upon sigh of hers. "Fine, I'll go, but let me know if you reconsider."

I looked at Lana after she'd left. "What's with her?"

Lana shook her head. "She's an odd one, so I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing it's half self-promotion, since she could claim to dress you for all of the functions she's plotting. The other half would be that she actually thinks she's trying to help you, in her own misguided way. My advice would be to challenge her. Her personality demands it. Give her some arbitrary conditions to being your dresser." She snapped her fingers as though an idea had struck her. "I know. Tell her you only want to wear clothes from up-and-coming fashion designers. Insist that you won't wear anything else. That will drive her crazy, but she's perverse enough that she'll enjoy it."

I wrinkled my nose at her. "I'll try it, though I don't understand it."

She just shrugged. "Jackie takes time to understand, but I guarantee she'll grow on you."





CHAPTER SEVEN

Mr. Muse





We chatted and ate and chatted some more. We had been talking and laughing for hours when Lana looked at her phone and groaned.

"I need to get to a meeting. Thanks for doing this," Lana said, beginning to gather up her things.

"Thanks for inviting me. It's nice to discover that James has some female friends that aren't complete psychopaths."

She threw back her head and laughed. She was a sight, with her blonde mermaid hair and her twinkling eyes.

We were just standing up from the table when I spotted James striding through the door of the now crowded café. People stopped in their tracks to watch him, myself included.

He only had eyes for me as he approached.

He wrapped an arm around my waist, gripping tightly, before he turned a dazzling smile on Lana. "We'll walk you out," he said.

We walked her out, flanked by our security, of which Lana had said not one word, and said our goodbyes. I was surprised when James led me to the car, and then followed me into the large SUV. It was only two p.m. I hadn't imagined he'd get off work so early. 

"Are you done for the day?" I asked him as he crowded me into the middle seat.

He buckled me in like the control freak he is, before answering. "I am." He grinned. It was the most charming, incorrigible smile, the smile of a kid ditching school and getting away with it because no one could tell him no.

I traced his lips with one finger. "That's good news," I said softly.