Jan Colley - Mistress & a Million Dollars / Satin & A Scandalous Affair - Mistress & a Million Dollars

He laughed out loud, taking her unawares. “I didn’t realize you had such a smart mouth.”

Because she’d never let him know it before, that’s why, she mused, chewing the delicate morsel. She’d never let him get close enough.

So why was she letting him get close now? More importantly, why was he trying to get close now, she wondered, watching as his gaze fell to her lips and darkened, as if he were thinking about kissing her. She quickly swallowed, then took another sip of champagne.

Just then, the sound of a helicopter rent through the air as it came close and swooped the yacht. Far too close for Briana’s piece of mind.

And obviously for Ric Perrini’s.

“Damn the media!” Ric growled, striding across the middle deck to look out the side window of the cruiser right near Briana. “Can’t they leave us in peace for one day?”

It broke the moment between her and Jarrod, for which she should have been grateful but wasn’t. Instead she kept remembering that gorgeous laugh of his. It sent shivers of desire down her spine.

“I’m already on it,” Kim said, coming over to her new husband and slipping her arm inside his. “The captain should be on the phone right now to the water police. They’ll sort it out.”

“They’d better,” Ric warned.

“Anyway, we have more immediate problems. The photographer’s about to have chickens if we don’t let him take some pictures of us with our guests.” She smiled at Briana and Jarrod. “You two will have your photo taken with us, won’t you?”

Briana’s fingers tightened around her glass. She knew it hadn’t been Kim’s intention, but even a small mention of her and Jarrod doing something together made her uncomfortable.

“Perhaps later, Kim,” Jarrod said with a tight smile, then excused himself and headed to where an older couple stood looking out the back of the cruiser.

There was a flash of disappointment in Kim’s eyes and Ric stiffened beside his wife, before she quickly gave his arm a squeeze. For all that Jarrod was here today, it was apparent Kim’s falling out with his brother was still an issue between the Hammonds and the Blackstones.

For the Hammonds anyway.

To cover the awkward moment, Briana pasted on her best smile for the new bride. “Hey, that’s all the more coverage for me then. You know how I love being in front of the camera.”

Kim smiled with gratitude. “Thanks,” she murmured, just as the photographer appeared.

Later, when everyone sat down to dinner, Sonya asked Briana how she managed to look so good in front of a camera when it was such hard work.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Briana said, smiling across the table at the other woman.

“I’d love to hear about it,” Sonya said, the warmth in her eyes belying her cool reserve.

Briana obligingly chatted about some of the more obvious facets of modeling, yet she knew they’d all be surprised if she told them the truth. She’d fallen into modeling as a teenager but much preferred being behind the camera than in front of it.

Perhaps one day after she’d made enough money to recoup the money Patrick had lost, she’d further her dream. Until then it really wasn’t such a hardship smiling for the camera or showcasing Blackstone jewelry. And it certainly wasn’t a hardship attending a Blackstone wedding like this one.

Except for Jarrod.

She groaned inwardly. Lately he was turning up everywhere she went. At the jewelry launch the other night she’d never felt so self-conscious being on show before, but seeing him there in the audience, feeling his eyes upon her, she felt as if she was showcasing herself , not the Blackstone jewelry.

And now here he was at the wedding, sitting next to Vincent Blackstone, the late Howard Blackstone’s older brother, deep in conversation. From time to time, though, his eyes were on her .

“You seem to be pretty cozy with Jarrod Hammond,” Jake murmured in her ear, startling her when she must have looked at Jarrod once too often.

Trying to appear nonchalant, she glanced at Jake and saw a very male look in his eyes that reminded her too much of Jarrod. This guy hadn’t missed a thing going on around him. No doubt such ability was part of the reason he was now a rich and successful businessman.

But at least he wasn’t the jealous type, she mused. “We’re distant in-laws, that’s all. Nothing special.”

“Really?” he mocked in an arrogant way that said she wasn’t fooling him.

“You know, Jake,” she said, getting a little irritated being surrounded by males who thought they knew everything. “I think all the testosterone on this boat must be keeping it afloat.”

A surprised look entered his eyes then he burst out laughing. For a moment she stared at him, then began to smile in return. It was quite funny, now she came to think about it.

“I’d have thought a beautiful woman like yourself would be used to being surrounded by testosterone,” Jake teased.

“In the modeling world?” she jokingly scoffed, and received a chuckle from Jake.

“No, I guess not,” he agreed with a rueful grin.

Suddenly she caught Jarrod looking at the two of them. A slither went over her skin and quickly she looked away just as the waiter brought the next course. Once the food was served, talk at the table turned to other things.

Briana deliberately didn’t look at Jarrod after that, preferring instead to concentrate on the speeches and proceedings, though she was aware of him. Afterward, dark descended and they all moved to the well-lit top deck where the bride and groom began their first dance. Before too long, others had joined them, including her and Jake.

As for Jarrod, he seemed to have disappeared. She remained on edge, at first expecting him to show up at any tick of the clock, but when he didn’t, she quickly pushed aside the disappointment that filled her. She wasn’t going to let herself be disappointed by a man again, she reminded herself, then promptly did the opposite when she saw the lights from a small boat moving away from the cruiser, taking Jarrod back to shore.

He hadn’t even said goodbye, she thought, then something on the shoreline caught her attention. Myriad lights began to flash as the small boat approached them.

The media.

Not that Jarrod would give them a second thought. No doubt he’d stride through the pack to a waiting car like he was parting the Red Sea.

After that the evening seemed flat. Briana smiled and talked, and when it came time for the yacht to return to shore, she was glad that the security people held back the media circus while they made their way into a fleet of cars.

Lights flashed in her eyes as Jake guided her into the back of a limousine, but the media’s attention soon focused back on Kim and Ric, who had insisted they would only leave the boat after all their guests had alighted.

“They’re a brave couple,” Jake said, shaking his head as a shower of flashes seemed to light up the night sky through the back window of the car.

“Yes,” Briana agreed. “And very determined to show the world a united front.”

His smile disappeared. “I can understand that.”

The limousine drove off but they didn’t talk much while it weaved through the streets of Sydney to her apartment building. Then Jake walked her to her door.

“I had a good time,” he said, moving in closer, pushing a strand of hair off her cheek.

Briana knew it was a prelude to a kiss and she moved in closer, too. Jake had kissed her before and it had always been nice, but tonight she suddenly wanted him to kiss her like he meant it. As if she was the only woman in the world he wanted.

Only, when the kiss finished, one thing was clear. Jake’s kiss had been just a kiss. And by the wry glint in his eye he knew it, too.