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Reddington

Regina Morelli had some nice taste if the Bellissima headquarters were any indication. They could make a pretty nice mint if they rented offices they weren’t using to self-employed tenants.

That wasn’t why I was here, though. I was here because we had zero time to waste.

The fact was that if I was engaged to Jade, then we were already behind schedule.

Which was why I’d remedied all of that with a few calls.

One of which I’d made to Maria—sweet woman, obviously liked me—to ask permission to bring a hair and makeup crew and stylists to pay Jade a visit to get her ready for our engagement photo session.

It was taking place in—oh, let’s see—a little over two hours.

Leading my entourage, I knocked on Jade’s door before merely walking right in.

Just as I’d suspected, she was in no condition to up and go take engagement photos to be featured in the paper.

Her back was to us, but as I stepped aside and allowed my crew the space they needed to set up, she turned around, practically jumping and causing the stack of papers in her hand to fall to the ground.

Her hair was a disheveled mess in some knot that seemed to have started to come undone hours ago, and she’d never done anything about it.

Her face didn’t have a bit of makeup on it, which was good actually because it’d make the makeup artists’ jobs a lot easier.

And don’t get me wrong here, I had no problem with the way she looked.

If anything, I thought she was immensely beautiful, but I also knew it wouldn’t fly for formal engagement photos.

And I felt like it went without saying, but she wasn’t wearing a bra, her nipples pressed up against the silky fabric of her top. I’d seen her wear it a dozen or more times when she’d worked for me, and I still had no idea what to make of it.

See, this was why I preferred custom suits tailored to me.

Off-the-rack never did anything for me, and it sure as shit didn’t get across the message that I wanted—this suit cost more than the down payment you put on your house.

It was all about exerting power. Sorry, it was just the way it worked.

I didn’t make the rules, only followed them.

Jade’s eyes tried to throw daggers at me, forming the thinnest of slits that I was surprised she could have even seen out. That would cause strain on her eyes later, I mused. Not that it was my problem. Her stupidity, not mine.

“I’m going to close my eyes and when I open them, I sincerely hope for your sake, all of these people are out of my office, and you’re gone with them,” she warned, emblazoned with frustration.

“Should we leave?” the stylist asked, pausing in her endeavor to set up a rack of clothes in the corner.

I shook my head. “No.” I signaled for her to get back to what she was doing. “Continue. I’m calling the shots, not Jade.”

The woman nodded and went back to her job. Smart decision. She obviously had respect for the man cutting her paycheck.

Jade, on the other hand, stood her ground, slamming the papers onto her desk and causing an uproar.

Everyone stared at her, and I placed my fingers on my forehead, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“All right, listen up, there’s nothing to see here,” I nearly shouted, my voice booming in the space.

Then I pointed to Jade. “Go sit in the chair, and let the professionals do their job. We’re taking engagement photos in less than two hours, and I have no time or patience for your bullshit.

Our engagement announcement should have already been in the paper by now. ”

She walked past me and stuck a finger in my face, pursing her full lips. “You piss me off, more than you’ll ever know,” she said.

I grinned. “Feeling is mutual. Now sit down.”

Begrudgingly, Jade did as she was told, setting her arms on the chair as a hair stylist began undoing the mop on her head, and the makeup artist stood in front of her, starting to add shit to Jade’s face.

In the meantime, I walked behind the desk and sat down in the leather chair, leaning back slightly with my elbows resting on the arms of the chair and my hands together in front of me. “See, it’s nice to be pampered.”

Jade was practically vibrating with anger, her nostrils flaring. “I’m still training. This is highly inappropriate, and when Maria finds out—”

I held up a hand, stopping her. She didn’t honestly think I hadn’t thought of everything, did she?

Because if that was the case, she needed to take a crash course on her fiancé.

I didn’t do anything half-assed. Never had.

Half-assed work was for losers who were either too afraid to go the distance or jackasses who couldn’t figure out a way around a brick wall that was right in front of their faces. Neither of which described me.

“Relax. Maria already knows. I promised to send her the link to the gallery so she can weed through the photos herself.” Shrugging with a cocky grin, I added, “Memories and whatnot.”

As more people on the team began swarming like bugs to the smell of a carcass, Jade tried to duck and dive in her chair, grinding her teeth as she stared me square in the eyes. “When you told me about the engagement party, it would have been nice if you clued me in on this, too.”

Oooh, someone was angry. Why couldn’t she have been like every other woman I’d been with who ate this shit up, only being with me so that I could do more things like this for them?

That was right, I hated those women, and I’d broken up with every single one of them.

Don’t even start with me. I knew I was complicated as fuck.

I was like the SATs—no matter how hard you studied me, you would never figure me out. Was I gloating about that? Yes, yes, I was.

Being easy to crack was as snooze-worthy as back-to-back infomercials.

Leaning back in the chair more, I caused it to rock slightly. “I was going to, but then I realized I don’t owe you an explanation. As long as you didn’t have to lift a finger, I figured it’d be fine.”

“Don’t you think I need a ring, genius?”

Shit. I left it at home. Maybe I didn’t think of everything. No worries, though. I was quick on my feet. “Maria will be letting you use hers.” Once I called her and offered to pay her for the loaner.

Her mouth shut faster than a mousetrap that caught its victim.

The hair stylist brushed through her hair, but the brush got stuck and Jade squealed. “Ow!” She turned around, upsetting the makeup artist, and shouted at the woman. “How would you like it if I did that to you?”

“Sorry, ma’am, but you have a lot of knots in your hair.”

Jade made a noise that was reminiscent of a jungle cat’s growl. “It’s called a messy bun. I’m working at a magazine. I’m not a goddamn model.”

Fired up, her eyes wide as ever, she commented back to me. “As for you, Red, you figured wrong. If we’re going to be engaged, then I want to know everything.”

“Noted. I’ll let you know the next time I go to the bathroom.” I knew that wasn’t what she meant, but seeing her get riled up made me so incredibly happy. Sick? Maybe. True? Unfortunately.

“So help me God, Red, if you make a bathroom schedule and send it to me—”

“I’m not actually going to do that.” I laughed, leaning forward a bit to stop the chair from rocking every few seconds. “I will let you know when I get my balls waxed, though.”

“Real intelligent to say that in front of all these people. I thought rich people were supposed to have class.”

“I do,” I said and mimed drinking tea with my pinky in the air.

“And be smart.”

“Most aren’t. I am, though. They all signed a non-disclosure agreement. Anything we say, they can’t repeat. I use my brain.” I looked sideways, analyzing her desk. “Not that I can say the same for most other people.”

She heaved a sigh. “How are you going to get an announcement of our engagement in the paper so fast anyway? Don’t you have to plan that stuff in advance?”

“I’m Reddington Lyons,” I replied, as though that was explanation enough. To her, it might not have been, but it was.

“Thank you for reintroducing yourself.”

I smirked. “All I have to do is ask for something, and it’s mine.”

Silence for a beat, but then Jade spoke up. “Must be nice.”

“I don’t hate it,” I conceded, drumming my fingers on the desk before getting up. “I know the owner of the paper, and he’s going to run it this weekend.”

I walked over and got a better look at the work I was paying to have done.

I wasn’t surprised by how beautiful she looked.

Jade was even attractive to me with knotty hair.

What I was surprised about was how fast they managed to be pulling this all together.

Usually, people were slow. It must’ve been the insane amount of money I was paying them for a short amount of time.

Don’t listen to people when they told you otherwise, money talked. And that you could take to the fucking bank.

One of the makeup artists approached Jade’s eye with a long, black wand thing and her hand shook, nearly poking her in the eye. Damn, that would hurt.

Jade’s face went beet red, and I thought she might punch the woman. “If you don’t get that brush out of my face, I’ll shove it up your—” Who was I kidding? She attacked with her words, not her hands.

“Ignore her. She got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” Couldn’t piss the people off who still had pokey things near your face.

Jade tossed me a dirty look as another woman dabbed at her lips with a tissue. When they were done, she asked, “Is this how our engagement party is going to be?”

“Brat,” I muttered.

“Answer, please, because, if so, then you can count me out.”

“No can do. You’re the main attraction. But no, you can do your own hair and makeup for the engagement party. As to what you’ll wear, the stylist will pick out something for that, and you can take it home.”