after a moment I said, “I should probably get going.” I stood up. “Thanks so much for having me over.”
“Of course,” he said, standing up with me. “I’ll walk you to do the door.”
We started across the marble floors, my heels echoing in the large space. Just before he opened the door that led down the hall to what I now realized was a private elevator, Leo said, “Wait. Will you do me a favor?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“Stay here,” he said, and went back inside his condo, which is a silly thing to call a place that was more like a mansion in the sky. When Leo came back, he held a stack of papers in his hand. “This script has been floating around the office for months. It’s been read by a dozen executives and ten junior readers but no one can figure out what’s missing. It should be a good story but something is off. Would you read it and let me know what you think? You can write notes on this copy.”
“Yeah,” I said, stunned. “Sure.” One thing I realized in taking this script from Leo Armstrong was that he intended to see me again. That was good—for the magazine, of course.
As incredible as the balcony had been—as amazing as he was with his lips and hands—I decided to use him like he was using me. Mutually beneficial. If a woman wanted to be in his presence, they had to sign away their rights to him. He got all the comfort of doing whatever he wanted in the relationship knowing he’d suffer no consequences.
Eventually, he’d tire of me and unceremoniously dump me like he did every other girl.
Sure, he seemed nice enough right now, but that was because he wanted to sleep with me. As soon as he got what he wanted from me, his true colors would come out and then I’d be nothing to him.
Fine.
That would simply make it easier to do the hit piece that Kait was looking for me to write about him for Crush.
But will you really sleep with him if that’s what it comes to? Sleep with a man you don’t respect, who doesn’t respect you?
I sighed, knowing that this was the worst part of it all.
Sleeping with him was what I was looking forward to most.
Chapter 7
“Spill it,” Kait said, practically pulling me into her office. “I want every detail.”
I was surprised to see Alexa and Bethany sitting in Kait’s office. They were all waiting, pens hovering over notepads.
“Grab a chair from down the hall,” Bethany said.
I took the extra chair from Kait’s assistant’s desk and rolled it into Kait’s office, where all three women looked at me as eagerly as children waiting for their birthday presents.
“Kait said you were at Leo Armstrong’s place last night,” Bethany began, once I sat down.
“Must have been some audition,” Alexa smirked.
Shifting in my seat, I licked my lips. “I totally blew the audition.”
“It certainly doesn’t sound like you did,” Kait said, slowly swiveling her chair like a lion circling its prey. “You clearly did something right.”
“How did he get you to his apartment?” Alexa asked. “Like, what was his excuse?”
“Alexa, he’s Leo Armstrong,” Bethany snickered. “He doesn’t need an excuse.”
I had to admit, Bethany was right about that. “He just called and invited me over,” I said. “That was sort of it.”
“And?” Bethany and Alexa asked at the same time.
“And I went. His place is huge. It has its own elevator,” I added lamely.
Alexa and Bethany exchanged looks like they couldn’t believe the boring details I was handing over about a such a huge player. I didn’t feel comfortable at all telling them or anyone else about the balcony incident, and other than that we didn’t exactly talk about too much—at least nothing news worthy. What we did talk about had been clouded by the way he made me—and my body—feel when his hands were on me, something I thought every waking second since.
“Look at her, she’s blushing,” Alexa said.
“You’re holding out on us, Sophie,” Bethany said.
I looked to Kait, knowing she planned to get it all out of me. “Sophie,” she began. “I shouldn't have to remind you already that this story is due in a few weeks. I intend to have it in the next issue. There’s no dragging your feet on this.”
“I understand,” I said, feeling like I was failing already. I wasn’t there to protect Leo Armstrong, no matter how good his fingers felt inside me last night. That’s what