Impossible Glamour (18 page)

“What’re you hungry for?”

“Let’s see.” Webber punched the button and we waited for the elevator. “Do you eat burgers?”

“Am I Amanda Legend’s little sister?”

“Oh, snap! That’s right, Amanda can put away the beef. Do you know I watched her polish off two double doubles in one sitting? Not one but two. That’s four patties of beef. With cheese. Plus an order of fries.”

“Where does she put it?”

“Don’t know. But damn, that girl can eat a greasy burger.” Webber snapped his fingers. “I know just the place. Perfect for us burger-loving fools. We’ll do takeout and scenery.” He looked at me. “You know,” he added, “like friends do.”

A tickle fluttered through my belly.

Two friends grabbing a burger. Just two friends sharing a meal. Two friends… I looked into those blue, blue eyes. Nope, who the hell was I trying to kid?

The elevator doors slid open.

“Sure, just like friends,” I said and followed Webber to his car.

Webber

Watching Ellen Delgado Legend eat a double cheeseburger made my heart lighter. A smile captured my face. Amanda, the burger-eating Legend, had nothing on her little sister Ellen. She polished off the final bite of her burger and scrubbed a napkin across her lips.

“Where did you just put all that?”

“In my mouth.”

Big Boy lurched. I raised an eyebrow. So many inappropriate jokes and so little time. She knew it too. Her face turned pink and she looked toward the ocean pounding the Malibu shore.

“This is close to Daddy’s beach house.”

“Who do you think showed me this spot?” I took a long drink of my iced tea. “When I was trying to convince your dad to sign with me, he told me to bring a bottle of Jack, a joint, a pair of bolt cutters, and meet him here.”

“Sounds like Daddy.”

“He is a Legend.”

“Right now, I’m just happy he’s a living Legend.”

“Cheers to that Ellen, cheers to that.” I held up my cup of iced tea and bumped it against her soda. She sat beside me on top of a picnic table and stared out at the ocean. Once a public park, this spot in Malibu had been closed to the public for years. The entrance was hidden by bushes, but Steve seemed to know every secret LA offered. “He looks good, right? I’m not the doctor.”

“He looks…better,” she offered.

Her voice was hesitant. I wasn’t certain if that was her training to become a doctor or if she truly wasn’t certain Steve was on the mend.

“I think it scared him.”

“How could it not? I mean, that man was down for the count. From what the paramedics told me—”

“You spoke to the paramedics?”

“Of course I did.” I slurped my tea. “Damage control, babe. I talked to every person on scene that night. I needed to know what they saw, what they were going to say, and how I could convince them to remain quiet about anything, you know, that might not be in your dad’s best interest.”

“Like the three women he was having sex with at once?”

“Well, babe, he
is
a Legend, but I think that is physically impossible, even for him.”

“Whatever, Webber.” Her eyebrows drew together.

Yowza, Ellen knew all about Steve’s peccadillos. Of course the Legend kids were aware Steve liked the ladies. They probably were all waiting for a third family to show up on the scene.

“My mom is going to come down and stay with him.”

“A saint right, just an absolute saint.”

“If that’s what you want to call her.”

Ouch. Bitterness oozed into Ellen’s words. “I’ve never heard you like this. A little anger rifling through those words, babe. What’s up?”

She pushed herself to standing and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know.” She turned away from the view and looked at me. “Okay, maybe I do know. I mean, he bangs three women, has a heart attack, and then everyone fawns all over him. Even my mother, the woman who had his children out of wedlock and he’s strung along for what? Nearly thirty years? Mama is willing to come down here, stay at his house, and take care of him? What is that? Why?” She shook her head. “And why is it pissing me off so much now?”

“Maybe because you’re a grown-up? Maybe because you love them both and want your mom to be happy? Maybe because he nearly died and that pisses you off too?”

“Webber, why would I be mad at him for nearly dying?”

“Because it’s not like he was mowing the lawn when he keeled over… Or, well, I guess it could be called that if you wanted to create some weird sexual metaphor.”

“Webber—”

“No, babe, seriously. He was doing what he loves to do, granted, and what he does best from what I’ve heard. But what he was doing was definitely not something you’re everyman Daddy-o is doing when he’s pushing seventy-something. Plus…I mean…he and your mom, they still have a relationship. Right?”

“How do they even call what they have a relationship?”

“I don’t know, babe. It’s not something I could do.”

“Monogamy?”

“No, babe. Infidelity.”

“Come on, Webber. You’re telling me that you plan on being monogamous?”

“Babe, again, why do you hurt me so? Hells to the yeah. Go big or go home. Either do the relationship by the rules or don’t do it at all. I don’t want all that bullshit that goes with having to lie and sneak around and cover my tracks. Too much work. I’m either single-to-mingle or locking this shit down tight with one woman.” My eyes landed on Ellen. One woman.

My heart jolted in my chest. One woman.

Oh. Shit.

One woman.

Ellen tilted her head and then turned back to the ocean.

One woman.

The sea breeze brushed through her thick hair.

My heart beat faster in my chest.

That one woman was Ellen Legend.

Deep breath.

No. Can. Do. Already discussed that scenario. Daughter of biggest client. Brainiac not interested in pedestrian agent. Would cure cancer someday while I schlepped movie scripts. Down, Big Boy, down.

I cleared my throat, crumpled my trash into a ball, and turned toward the trash bin to take my shot.

“You can’t make that.” Ellen’s smug mug tilted toward me.

“Really, babe? You doubt my abilities?”

She shook her head. “You’re not making that. Too far. Too small a hole. Not gonna happen.”

“Wager?”

“Sure, why not?” She shrugged. “Whatever you want”—she nodded toward the trash can—“because that isn’t gonna happen.”

“
Whatever
I want?” That could be interesting. Did Little Miss Thing understand the potential repercussions of her bet? Again with the pink cheeks. Would she back down? “Pretty big wager to make, to let me have
anything.
”

“Sure.” She hitched her shoulder up as though she hadn’t a care in the world. “Why not? I said it and you can’t make it. So,
whatever
you want, Webber. Give it your best shot.”

And I did. My best shot.

I turned to Ellen. Her eyes were wide.

“I know what I want, babe. When can I collect?”

Ellen

He made the shot. Air rushed into my lungs and a tingle rushed through my body. “What exactly is it that you want?”

My sex tightened. The heat between us intensified. Damn, my feelings for Webber weren’t going away.

“Well…” He stepped closer. “How about a real date?”

“We discussed this the other night.”

“We did.” Webber’s fingertips brushed my hair. He tucked a strand behind my ear.

“We decided we aren’t a good match,” I said.

“Right-o.” He placed his hands on my shoulders.

“That we weren’t going to do this.”

“You are correct.” He leaned forward.

“That this thing”—I waved my fingers between our bodies—“wasn’t a good idea.”

“Very, very bad idea.” His lips were a millimeter from mine.

“That we shouldn’t—”

The words were gone. His lips pressed to mine and the only thought that formed in my head was that I wanted Webber.

I wanted Webber as I’d never before wanted another man. Forget the entertainment Industry or that Daddy was Webber’s biggest client or that my entire medical school career was in jeopardy. Forget that we were the wrong match, the imperfect pair. The man who thrived on social interactions matched with the woman who preferred a library and a book. The notorious Webzie with the invisible Ellen.

Nope. None of those incongruities mattered. Not one.

His hand threaded through my hair and clasped the back of my neck. Such a possessive touch. His fingers curled around my flesh and heat thrilled through me. So deep, so hungry, so consuming was his kiss that thought fled my mind. Heat—sweet, white-hot heat—consumed every cell in my body.

On. Fire.

Webber’s hand slid down my arm and then up over my shirt. He cupped my breast.

My breath hitched in my chest. Yes. Oh my God, yes. He pressed through the fabric and rubbed over my nipple. His teeth tugged at my bottom lip.

This moment of freedom, of pleasure, of not worrying, cascaded phenylethylamine through my blood. His hands, now beneath my shirt, slid up over the flesh of my belly, his thumbs skimming across the lace of my bra.

Webber pulled his lips from mine. The hungry look of a man in lust clung to his face. “Ellen, I want this, I want you, I want it all,” he rasped out.

My heart jolted in my chest. I couldn’t give Webber my all, but I could give Webber a part of me.

A nod and his lips were back on mine. He ran his hands down the sides of my rib cage like a prayer to my flesh. The wind whipped across the ocean and blasted into us and a shiver tore through me. Webber wrapped his arms around me and tucked my head beneath his chin.

“Come home with me?” He tilted my chin up to his. “Come home with me tonight.”

I nodded. Yes, yes, yes. Why fight this? Why pretend that we could ignore these feelings? Why not be with Webber? I wanted him, I wanted this, and I didn’t want to be alone.

*

Webber’s house wasn’t what I’d imagined.

What had I imagined? A cold home filled with metal, concrete, black leather, and glass. I’d imagined a bachelor pad, slick and cool, a place that screamed unattached single guy.

Again, Webber surprised me.

Agnes met us at the door. Her tail wagged and her nose roamed around my legs, shoes, and hands. Drummond. She smelled Drummond and all the scents of my day at the hospital. I petted her yellow coat and what seemed like a smile lit up her face. On the way to Webber’s, I’d texted my dog walker and he’d picked up Drummond for a sleepover. If I was staying out all night, I guess Drummond was too. Agnes’s tongue swiped over my palm. She’d been fed and walked before we arrived home.

Webber pulled me through the house. Warm colors. Ochre and blue decorated the walls. Thick rugs over hardwood floors. In the hallway leading to his bedroom, pictures of Webber and his mother lined the wall. I paused in front of two frames. Webber, towheaded with thick glasses and a gap-toothed smile on the lap of a gorgeous blonde with long hair. Beside that picture was a more recent photo with Webber in a suit beside his mother, his arm slung over her shoulder. A bewildered look was on her face, her body now more fragile and small.

So much change in his mother.

Webber paused beside me in the hall and followed my gaze. “She’s the best. Fun with a wicked sense of humor.” He sighed. “Guess that’s why I hold on to mine so tight, because I’m holding on to that humor for both of us now.”

My heart clutched in my chest. Aside from his work, his clients, and Agnes, his mother was all Webber had in this world. The depository for the memories of his entire childhood. That past, those memories of his childhood life, that lived in his mother’s mind had eroded to nothing.

“She’s beautiful.”

Webber nodded. “She is.” He turned me toward him. His gaze lingered on my face. He looked at me, really looked at me. For the first time I felt seen, witnessed, the knowledge that this man had gotten by the cloak of invisibility I tried to hide behind.

“Ellen, you’re beautiful too.”

I cringed with his words. Beauty wasn’t something I associated with myself. Smarts. Wits. Academics. All those were elements of my identity I could cop to, but beauty? I supposed it had to be true. My identical twin was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, but physical beauty wasn’t something I cultivated.

“I don’t mean just how you look.” Webber pressed his forehead to mine. There he was reading my mind again. Or saying words that made me feel like he coinhabited a part of my brain.

“Sometimes it seems like you’re in my head,” I whispered.

His lips curled up to mirror my happiness. “I know how you feel. Sometimes you get my words out of your mouth faster than I can get them out of my own.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Ellen, you’re so much more than just the way you look. You’re smart. You’re funny.” He shook his head while his forehead remained pressed to mine. “You’re the whole package plus a bag of chips.”

I threw back my head and laughed. How long since I’d felt this relaxed? Daddy was in the hospital and Kazowski had threatened to flunk me in my rotation, and yet here I stood in the hallway of Webber Connor’s house and laughed. Laughed with a giddiness and a desire deep in my belly.

“You’re fucking amazing,” Webber said.

Heat exploded in my chest. He cupped my face in his hands and stared into my eyes. “I’m not fucking kidding, Ellen. You may be the most amazing person I’ve met on this planet. And you’re exactly what I want.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Webber’s lips stole my words.

Webber

Her lush mouth. My God, those lips beneath mine. I sucked on her bottom lip and a gasp came from her mouth. Big Boy was hard. Hard and completely unwilling to wait, but wait he would. There was too much of Ellen to explore, and while I’d gotten a taste in Santa Barbara, I hadn’t gotten my fill. Big Boy seemed less intimidated tonight. I would take my time and give Ellen more pleasure than she’d ever before experienced on the very off chance she’d fall for me because, fuck, I was totally screwed. I’d completely fallen for her.