“You’re fine. And I don’t know how I can ever repay you for doing this especially since you’re clearly not on the clock right now.”
“I’m happy to help,” I said, carefully stitching the fabric together as tightly and neatly as possible.
“Let me at least pay you something for your time.”
“No, that’s totally unnecessary.” I meant that. Did I need the money? Sure. But I hadn’t offered to help hoping to get something out of it. I’d offered to help because I could alleviate wedding-day stress in one small way for her. “I’m already almost done. It’s not a big deal. I had some time before I go downstairs for my shift at the coffee shop.”
“You work at the coffee shop too?” Eloise asked. “Wow. You’re on your feet all day. I work at a desk, so I have the opposite problem. I’m a slug after a nine-hour work day.”
“What do you do?” I asked Eloise as I stepped back to check my work. A desk job sounded amazing right about now. My feet were killing me and I wasn’t sure I knew how to straighten my back to a proper posture position anymore. This was gearing up to be the longest day of my entire life.
“I’m in social media for a professional football team. Sydney, that reminds me, we need to get ahead of this wedding on social platforms. We need to release photos ourselves, not allow them to leak.”
That was interesting. So someone was famous or an influencer.
“Whatever you think, El. I trust you entirely.”
I made another adjustment to the dress. “How does that feel? Does it feel secure?”
Sydney glanced down and smoothed down the fabric. “It feels great. Thank you so much, Mia. Please, let me do something for you. You saved me from wearing jeans and a stretchy top at my wedding.”
Waving my hands, I protested. “No big deal.” Then I had a thought. “Uh, but there is one thing you can do. Don’t tell Mr. Beckett I work at the coffee shop downstairs. Please.”
All three women stared at me in surprise.
“Mr. Beckett?” Dakota asked. “Who is that?”
Eloise laughed. “It’s JJ, Dakota.”
“Oh, duh.” She laughed. “I’ve just never heard anyone call him mister anything.”
“We will definitely respect your wishes, Mia. But is there a particular reason you don’t want him to know where you work?”
I nodded. “Yes. I don’t want to see him ever again.” My feelings for him were complicated and ridiculous. He infuriated me with his insistence that I had stolen from him, and yet at the same time, I was still attracted to him. Which was stupid and I didn’t have time for that kind of nonsense in my life.
Tucking my sewing kit back into my bag, I straightened up. “I’ll be right downstairs at the coffee shop if you need anything else. Just pop in and find me and I can do a quick fix if the seam starts to go anywhere else.” Though I was seriously contemplating begging one of my co-workers to switch shifts with me, because I was starting to feel like I couldn’t stand without swaying. I also felt a little lightheaded.
“Thank you.” Sydney looked like she wanted to give me a hug, but at the same time like the very thought made her feel awkward.
I backed up to save her the decision. “You’re welcome.”
No one seemed inclined to talk me out of my vow to never see James again, so what did that tell me? They must think that was the smart choice to be making. Or maybe they were just minding their own business.
Whatever the case, this was it. I was going back to my ordinary dull-as-dry-toast life.
I waved and opened the door to exit into the hallway.
And ran smack into James.
Chapter Eight
JJ
I grabbed Mia’s arms when she plowed straight into me and prevented her from stumbling. “We have to stop meeting like this,” I said.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, jerking away from my touch.
“I was waiting for you.”
“Why?” she asked in exasperation. “We’re done here, James.” She started down the hallway at a fast clip.
She had a great question. Why was I waiting for her? I didn’t even know exactly. “I want to hear the truth.”
Hearing my own words out loud, I knew what it was I wanted. I wanted the truth to not be the truth if the truth was she had targeted me as a mark, and hooked up with me for the sole purpose of robbing me. Because I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that she was that good of a con woman to have faked everything.
Orgasms included.
“What truth? Because you think I’m lying and I know you’re lying.”
That caught me off guard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What am I lying about?” Besides everything.
Mia slapped the elevator button. “Bullshit. What is the real situation here? One, no one calls you James. They’re all calling you JJ. Two, the bride’s cousin said something about getting ahead of the social media on the wedding, which means the bride and/or groom are famous in some capacity. Three, you have a ton of money. None of it adds up.”
I cleared my throat and held the door open for her when it opened.
“You’re either a drug dealer as originally suspected or you’re some kind of trust fund baby due to inherit a major corporation.”
Both of those offended me. “Neither of those are the truth.” I watched her slap the button for the lobby level and cross her arms over her chest. “I’m a professional football player.”
She dropped her arms and stared at me. “What?”
“I’m a wide receiver. I went to LSU with the guys I’m here with this weekend. Dak North, Oleksander Volkova, also known as the Ukraine Train, Miles Williams, and Cash Young.”
Understanding dawned on her face. “I thought the nickname the Ukraine Train was vaguely familiar. Football. Wow.” Then she looked up at me. “Well. I feel incredibly stupid. I actually believed you were a luxury boat salesman.”
That made me feel like a total dick. “Don’t feel stupid. I shouldn’t have lied. It was wrong. But I don’t know. I just liked that you didn’t know who I was, that you were talking to me as me. As James. Not as the player you would want to be seen with. Does that make sense?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding completely grumpy. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. It was just a one-night stand.”
At the time, it really hadn’t felt that way. But I guess she was right. “A very hot one-night stand.”
The doors opened. She turned to me with a smirk that both made my dick hard and gave me a warning she was about to say something I was going to hate.
“It was very efficient,” she said.
Yep. I hated that.
But it was also so well-timed and so completely savage, that I was even more hot for her, and more determined than ever to see her again.
And with that, she stormed off, disappearing into a crowd of fifty Japanese tourists checking into the hotel.
* * *
Her comment wrecked my night.
Sure, I was happy for Train and Sydney. They looked very much in love, Train continually putting his hand on Sydney’s baby bump as they smiled at each other. Dak and Eloise spent the night ogling each other and making out. Dakota Macnamara kept mentioning how much she missed her husband.