George took one look at my smitten expression and started laughing.
I couldn’t help laughing, too, my heart still melting at Constantijin’s words. It was the very first time he made me feel soft and mushy rather than hot and wet. It was…a good feeling.
“George.” It was all I could manage to say.
George patted my hand. “I know, hon, I know.”
Constantijin liked me. He cared for me. I was pretty sure of it now.
I turned to George again, intending to share with him what Constantijin’s parting words were – so much better than the last time, weren’t they? Instead I found myself staring at Mr. Fix It instead. I mean, Drake. Dear Lord, I had to stop thinking of him as the guy who fixed my problems. Because he couldn’t be that. In the future, it would be Constantijin who would be fixing my problems since he liked me, cared for me, was in lo---
Bad Yanna, bad Yanna. Stop jumping to conclusions.
“Care to dance, Ms. Everleigh?”
Without thinking, I looked over my shoulder, searching for a pair of silvery eyes. In a little while, I found Constantijin’s wry gaze taking the situation in.
I let out a sigh of relief, amazed that he wasn’t going berserk.
My phone beeped.
Heart racing, knowing who it was from even before I saw Constantijin’s name on my screen, I clicked his message open.
Don’t think I’m not jealous. I am. Too f**king much.
The words made me smile, my toes curl, and my face heat up.
Ah. Constantijin and his rudely romantic words – what did it say about me that I couldn’t get enough of his unique way of showing I, umm, mattered?
Drake offered his hand. “Shall we?”
Taking it, I laughed when he immediately whisked me to the dance floor with a little twirl. I had a great time dancing with him – and any number of other men. There wasn’t a moment I had to myself, with one guy after another asking to dance with me. And I did, with all of them.
They flattered me outrageously and asked for my number. I felt like the belle of the ball, but even I knew it wasn’t because I was the prettiest girl in the room. It was because they thought Constantijin Kastein was interested in me – and I had rebuffed him. That got my “market value” rise pretty high in the men’s eyes.
Constantijin wasn’t doing anything to stop the speculations, standing next to his mother throughout the evening, never dancing with anyone else.
An hour later, my phone beeped again and I couldn’t get it out fast enough.
Dance with me again?
Smiling, I typed my reply.
No.
Let me see what you could say to that, I thought, almost humming to myself. A waiter offered me champagne and though I normally didn’t drink any kind of liquor, I found myself accepting a flute.
My phone beeped just as I was lifting the glass to my lips.
Have sex with me?
I choked on my champagne.
Lesson #7
Sometimes, you have to make a choice with your billionaire:
To f**k or be f**ked up.
It was a Monday again, and I had two snowflakes and a mysterious red-colored Post-It stuck to my LCD screen. By now, I had totally given up beating Charli to work. I had even arrived an hour earlier than my call time one day but lo and behold, Charli was already sipping her cappuccino in her office by the time I rushed in.
The first sticky note was a congratulatory message. Or at least I assumed it was since 70% of it was written in French. One day, I really had to tell Charli that my multilingual skills didn’t exactly extend to her native tongue.
The second snowflake had me gulping.
Do you think smutty manga set in high school will be accepted by American TV audience?
Explain and present. Due Friday.
Just my luck to get this question…this would have been so much more suitable for Arian, who had no qualms talking about anything sexual in public. In last Friday’s event, I totally heard her ask Constantijin very innocently if he thought her br**sts were too huge.
Yeah. I know. I totally wanted to puke after that.
Staring at Charli’s troubling sticky note, I mulled over my choices. God, smut in high school was, like, so difficult to tackle. If you thought bedroom and smutty scenes in Gossip Girls or Vampire Diaries were hot, wait until you read shoujo manga by, say, Kanan Minami. That girl totally redefined high school sex.
Peeking at George, I saw him frowning similarly on his own snowflakes. “Huge assignment for Friday?”
He nodded, saying feelingly, “Super-y.”
I laughed, the nervous knots in my stomach easing a bit at George’s newest made-up word. I loved it when he did that. Glancing back at my LCD, I realized that I still had one Post-It left. Unfolding it, I recognized the bold scrawl immediately.
Constantijin.
Just the thought of him writing this note had me catching my breath. It felt like he was writing me a love letter, which was totally romantic and totally unlike him. I loved it.
MISS YOU.
I snatched my phone from my bag, unable to keep myself from replying.
Got your sticky note, I texted him.
He texted me back immediately. That’s not the answer I was hoping for.
I didn’t bother answering, but I was smiling the whole time I worked.
It was already half-past twelve by the time George nagged me to have lunch with him. Apparently, the official boyfriend of the guy from 25/F was having lunch here, which meant no playing hooky for George.
The cafeteria was noisier than usual, even for the usual lunch crowd. It seemed like everyone was still talking about last Friday’s party, and everyone I passed by either congratulated me or stared at me. Well, most of the women stared at me. As for the men---
I found myself wriggling closer and closer to George until I was practically hiding behind him. It wasn’t an easy feat, with my four-inch heels causing me to tower over him. Men actually nudged each other when I walked past them, and some of them even winked at me.
“You’re an overnight sensation, honey,” George exclaimed.
Boy, did I hope that was true. If it was, then that meant all this weird furor would be gone by tomorrow – right?
As George and I queued up at the American station, a voice behind me asked, “Late lunch?”
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my---
It was him. Of course it was him. I had recognized Constantijin’s voice but a part of me couldn’t believe I’d see him again this early.
Stay calm, stay calm, I told myself as I summoned up a smile to my lips, trying to ignore the way my heart was near to popping out of my chest in excitement. Constantijin looked utterly sophisticated and gorgeous in his black and white suit, minus his usual tie. His eyes possessively roamed over me, and I tried not to squirm when his gaze slowly traveled down my bare legs.