Page 54 of Killer Body

She nodded. “It’s a nice hotel. I like the robes and that double shower.”

“You were there last night?”

“No, I checked in this morning. I heard about what happened, though.” She narrowed her eyes. “You know what I think?”

Gabriella looked into those deceptively innocent blue-green eyes and tried to swallow the knot in her throat. “Tell me.”

“It’s that bitch, Rochelle.”

Another shiver shot through her. “What about her?”

“Like she’s the one. Someone damn near killed me in the sauna at my health club. Someone trashed your room at the hotel. But nothing’s happened to her.”

“Maybe she’s going to be next,” Gabriella said.

“I doubt the hell out of that one. The bitch offered me her husband to back out of the competition.”

“She offered you Jesse?” Gabriella couldn’t stop the hot flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. She looked away, out the window.

“Not likethat.As my agent. Jesse told me he might be able to get me some film work, something respectable. Take the attention off those recent events of mine.”

“Did he offer you money, too?”

“No. I don’t need money.”

“No, you don’t. Jesse offered you what he thought youdidneed.”

Gabriella ached to tell Tania Marie about her own offer from Jesse, and her conversation with him, but she didn’t dare take the chance. With a chill, she recalled that Tania Marie, not Rochelle, was the one who was staying at the Westin—the site of her room-trashing. Besides, Tania Marie was a loose cannon, with questionable regard for decorum.

“That reporter was right about you,” Tania Marie said. “Youarethe perfect fit. I can lose to you, but I cannot lose to that bitch, Rochelle. You know she’s screwing Bobby Warren?”

“Nobody knows that.”

“The tabloids do.”

“The tabloids also claim that you had sex with one of America’s most respected news commentators.”

“Had to tie him down, right? It was all me, and he was just overcome.” Tania Marie wiped her eyes. “The man’s not as pure as his image. You don’t get to be his age and then just accidentally end up cheating on your wife with an assistant younger than your daughter. My problem wasn’t what I did or even getting caught by that stupid housekeeper. It was believing him when he said he loved me.” She bit her lip.

“We’re not so different, after all,” Gabriella said. “We’ve both been betrayed by the men we love.”

“Like I said, I can lose to you, but not Rochelle. Have you ever really checked her out? She has those damned French manicured toenails. They’re acrylics for sure, and her fingernails match. That’s how all the manicurists wear theirs, just clipped down to nothing, and they paint that toxic shit on.”

Gabriella glanced down at her own acrylics and the lilac frost that covered them. At least she had opted for tasteful polish. “How do you do your own nails?”

Tania Marie laughed. “Hey, in some ways, Mother Nature kicked me in the ass. But I’ve got great nails, great teeth and great hair.” Across the narrow space in the car seat, she pointed a sharp, burgundy-coated stiletto at Gabriella. “Believe it or not, these are all mine.”

“Believe it or not, Ibelieveit.”

“Good.” Tania Marie turned to her and lowered her voice. “Now, what are we going to do about that bitch, Rochelle?”

At that moment, Gabriella decided to tell her about Jesse McArthur’s offer.

FOURTEEN

Rikki

With that terrible beginning, Lucas and I find our own twisted path to peace and conversation. Now, here we are, only two hours later, driving different cars down the same freeway, having agreed to talk more.