Dangerous Stranger (Beautiful Entourage #4) (3 page)

“That’s great,” she said. “I didn’t have any idea you were gay until you told me.”

Max shrugged. “I’m pretty quiet about it.”

“Is Jett your first?” she asked.

I liked hearing her say my name.

“Yeah.” He rested his hand on my thigh. “We’re pretty great together.”

“We are,” I said in agreement.

“Well, you’re welcome to come over whenever you want,” Ophelia said to me. “I won’t stand in the way of true love.”

“Thanks…”
She really didn’t notice me eye-fuck the shit out of her?

She finished her beer and left it on the coffee table. “Well, I’m going to get ready for bed. I’m assuming you guys want to hit the sack too.” She winked then walked into her bedroom.

“Yeah, probably,” Max said.

“Goodnight,” she said.

Max held his beer up. “Goodnight.”

“It was nice meeting you,” she said. “I suspect we’ll be getting to know each other pretty well.”

Unfortunately
. “Yeah, I think so.”

Ophelia

When I woke up the next morning, I brewed a pot of coffee then made pancakes. I turned on my iPod and listened to music while I cooked, needing something to listen to while I endlessly flipped the pancakes in the pan.

A hand touched my shoulder and I flinched at the unexpected affection. I yanked my ear buds out.

“Sorry,” Jett said quickly. “I just wanted to say hi. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He stepped back and eyed the spatula in my hand. “And I hope you aren’t going to beat me with that…”

I realized I looked like an ax murderer so I lowered the cooking utensil and released a laugh. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

“It’s okay.” He eyed the pan. “Pancakes?”

“I hope you’re hungry.”

“Wow, you’re the best roommate ever.” He had a nice smile on his lips. His face was slightly scruffy from not shaving for a few days. I liked the rugged look, with a hard jaw line and broad shoulders. His blue eyes were bright, and it was the only soft feature he had. He towered over me at six feet, and his arms were the size of my legs.

My brother had good taste in men.
“Well, not when I scream at him for leaving his razor in the bathroom or leaving his dirty dishes out. Then he says I’m a cleaning Nazi.”

He chuckled. “You like your apartment clean. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

I liked gay guys. They were sensitive and understanding. “Tell him that.”

He came closer to me then stood beside me. “How can I help, sweetheart?”

“Sweetheart?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah.” A confident smile stretched his lips. “You supported Max when he needed it. And now you’re making breakfast for him. If that doesn’t make you a sweetheart, I don’t know what does.” His arm touched mine, and I could feel the warmth transmit into me. He smelled good, like distant cologne. He wore the same clothes he wore the night before, but he rocked it like the outfit was brand new. His powerful chest and narrow hips were obvious even through his clothes.

My cheeks stretched into a smile. “I think you’re the sweetheart.”

He continued to stare at me, his eyes bright. He leaned close to me, just a few inches away. If I didn’t know he was gay, I would assume he was going to kiss me. “So, how can I help?” He glanced down at my lips then looked into my eyes.

My arms actually broke out in goose bumps.
Was a gay guy seriously charming me? I needed to get my head on straight
. “You can set the table.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do.” He pulled away, taking his smell and warmth, and placed everything on the kitchen table.

“Sleep well?” I asked as I finished the last batch of pancakes.

“Yes. Did you?”

“I had a hard time getting to sleep.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I kept thinking about my parents…I hope they accept Max. It would break my heart if they didn’t.”

“They will,” he said with confidence. “Give it time.” He poured himself a cup of coffee then sat down.

After I finished the pancakes, I set the plate down then sat across from him.

“They smell amazing.” He eyed them but didn’t take one.

“You can eat,” I said.

He eyed the bedroom. “I’m not sure if I should wait for Max…”

I waved his comment off. “He might sleep until two. You never know with him.”

“In that case…” He put a few on his plate then dug in.

I did the same.

Jett snuck glances at me every few minutes, taking in my face before he looked away.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said quickly.

“You keep staring at me.”

He flinched noticeably then played it off like he hadn’t. “You have the same eyes as your brother.”

“Yeah, it’s one trait we share.” I lathered my pancakes in syrup and scarfed them down.

He ate with perfect manners and kept his elbows off the table. I couldn’t help but notice the size of his powerful body. He was exceptionally good-looking, the kind of guy I would talk to if I ran into him somewhere. I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to know him.
Why were hot guys always gay?

“What do you do, Ophelia?” he asked. “Are you a model?”

“Model?” I asked. “Why would you ask that?”

“Well, your apartment doesn’t look cheap. And you’re beautiful.” He said it while he looked into my eyes, like he wasn’t ashamed of what he said.

He found me beautiful? I assumed I looked like a troll to him since he preferred men. But I appreciated the compliment anyway. “I work for a fashion magazine. I’m the assistant chief editor.”

“Impressive,” he said with a nod. “Good for you.”

“I like it. Sometimes I get to keep the shoes from the ads.”

“Even better,” he said as he kept eating.

“So, you really like my brother, huh?”

He averted his gaze and concentrated on his food. “I do. He’s a strong man that has confidence I’m immediately attracted to.”

“He is pretty great,” I agreed. “I’ve always looked up to him.”

“It seems like he should be looking up to you,” he said. “You’re very successful, bright, and beautiful.”

I tried not to smile. “You’re the biggest ass-kisser I’ve ever met.”

He stopped eating. “I’m not kissing your ass…”

I chuckled. “If Max likes you, then I like you. You don’t need to try and impress me. Don’t stress about it.”

He returned to eating. “Your opinion does matter to me, but my compliments were genuine. But you must get sick of hearing them since you get those comments all the time.”

“Not really,” I said. “My brother tells me I look like a gremlin almost every day.”

He laughed. “Sibling love.”

“And I say he looks like a giant douchebag.”

“Burn,” he said. He finished his plate then touched his flat stomach. “That was delicious. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Max came out of his bedroom with messy hair and sleepy eyes. “Morning.” He stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

“Morning,” I said. “There’s food and coffee.”

“Thank god.” Max moved to me and gripped my shoulder. “Morning, babe.”

Jett flinched at the touch, like he wasn’t expecting it. Then he recovered. “Morning. Take a seat next to me.” He pulled the chair out for him.

Max sat down then glanced between us. “What were you guys talking about?”

“How much of a kiss-ass he is,” I said with a laugh.

Jett shrugged in omission. “She’s exaggerating.”

“I have a feeling she’s not.” He gave Jett an ominous look.

I’d never been around Max when he had a boyfriend so I wasn’t sure how he would behave. They seemed to have a relationship based on friendship and jokes. It wasn’t much different than a relationship between a man and a woman.

Max helped himself to the pancakes. “These are good.”

“Thanks,” I said. I looked at my watch. “I need to get going. But I’ll see you later.”

Sadness came into Jett’s eyes. Or was that something else? “Thank you for breakfast.”

“Anytime.” I walked into my room, but before I closed the door I heard some of their conversation.

“Try anything and you’re dead,” Max said.

“I understand,” Jett said. “You don’t need to repeat yourself.”

I had no idea what that meant, and I didn’t ponder on it.

***

Cameron arrived at my office at noon to pick me up for lunch. “Ready to eat?” he asked as he knocked on the door.

“I’m starving,” I said. “I only had pancakes for breakfast.”

“Then let’s get going.” He stood in front of my desk with his hands in his pockets.

After I grabbed my purse, I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Where do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care,” he said, like always.

“I’m in the mood for Mediterranean. Is that okay?”

“Whatever you want.” He held my hand as we left and walked up the sidewalk.

When we entered the restaurant, Cameron walked in first then headed to the table. I followed behind him then took a seat. Once we were sitting, he immediately looked at the menu and made his selection within seconds. Then he looked out the window like he was bored.

“How’s your day going?” I asked.

“Fine. Pretty slow.”

Cameron was a lawyer but it didn’t seem like he cared much about his job. I’m not sure why he killed himself during school to do something he hated. But I didn’t press him on it. He didn’t ask how my day was going.

A blonde waitress approached our table. Her hair was in a braid over one shoulder, and she was extremely pretty. I liked the color of her eye shadow so I stared at it for a while, wondering where she got it from. “What can I get you guys?”

Cameron stared at her like she was an abstract painting. “Uh…what do you recommend?”

I cocked an eyebrow. He never asked that question.

“Our special of the day is our mahi mahi. Everyone seems to like it,” she said with a smile.

“I’ll take that,” he said.

He didn’t even like fish.

“And you?” she asked as she looked at me.

I looked at Cameron and saw him stare at her chest. “I’ll have the chicken
breast
.” The jab was directed at him.

“Great.” She took our menus. “It’ll be out soon.” When she walked away, Cameron still stared at her. And I assumed he was staring at her ass.

“How would you feel if I checked out every cute guy that walked by?”

“Huh?” He turned to me, clearly not hearing a word I said because our waitress’s ass was more important.

“Forget it.” I looked out the window. I knew Cameron checked out other women and that didn’t bother me. But to do it right in front of me, and with such enthusiasm was disrespectful.

He didn’t make conversation with me. His eyes searched the restaurant.

“You don’t even like fish.”

He shrugged. “I’ll give it another chance.”

There were a lot of good things about Cameron, but when he pulled shit like this I forgot about them. “Since you’re so interested in our waitress how about you go out with her instead of me?”

He sighed in irritation. “Not this again…”

“I’m being serious.”

“You’re always being serious,” he said in a dark tone.

“I don’t care that you check out other women just don’t do it in front of me. It’s not much to ask for.”

“I wasn’t checking her out,” he argued.

Now I wanted to smack him. “More than anything, I hate lying. Be a man and own up to it.”

“You need to chill out.”

I was starting to boil. “You need to be a better boyfriend. We hardly see each other because we work so much. So when we are around each other, you should pay more attention to me and actually look at me, not the waitress’s rack.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Why are you such a pig?” I hated this side of myself. He brought it out of me and I loathed that fact. I was calm and reserved and it took a lot to make me mad. But Cameron had been pissing me off lately.

When we first started dating a long time ago, I was the only girl in the world who existed. He couldn’t stop staring at me, and he wanted to know every detail of my day. Now he was more interested in waitresses and anything with a vagina. I knew relationships got stale as time wore on but I felt like he wasn’t making an effort anymore.

I started to feel helpless, like Cameron didn’t really care about me. But if that was how I really felt, why was I still in this relationship? I deserved more and I wouldn’t put up with less. “Now that you’re officially single, you can ask out Blondie.” I snatched my purse then stormed out.

“Ophelia!” Cameron called after me.

I kept walking. I was sick of his shit. When I made it out of the restaurant, I felt a little better. I still had twenty minutes left on my lunch break, so I could grab a sandwich and head back to the office.

“Ophelia.” Cameron chased me. “Don’t be like this.”