Various States of Undress: Virginia (28 page)

Ruston's head snapped back at the vehemence of her tone, but he didn't say anything. Dex did.

“Fuck!” he echoed, and then he took her arm and steered her out of the stockroom and toward the elevator. For once, Eddie didn't say a word since it was obvious from her abject expression that she wasn't in any shape to joke with him. Silent stayed silent, and Muscles stood behind her like a solid mountain of calm. Dex touched her shoulder briefly, which only made her stiffen. When she reached her office, she went straight for the sofa and collapsed on it, face down, burying herself in the soft cushion. She didn't cry. She was beyond crying.

The door closed softly and a few seconds later, Dex knelt beside her; then his arms came around her. Slowly, he turned her to face him. His eyes were wet.

“I made
you
cry?” she said. “The paparazzi is right. I'm a drama magnet.”

He shook his head. “Sweetheart, I'm so sorry.”

“Everything I touch turns to a pile of shit,” she said in a rusty whisper.

“Last time I checked the mirror, I didn't see a pile of shit staring back at me. But then again, I haven't checked in a couple of hours. I ought to. I am a pile of shit, but it's not your fault.” Dex eased onto the sofa and gathered her close. “You have every right to be pissed at me right now. I was an idiot—they were taking the clothes away right under my nose. I even signed the release, and then, when I realized what had happened, my first instinct was to tell you, but the timing . . . I fucked up. I . . . honestly don't know what happened to the stock, but I'm pretty sure my sister has something to do with it. Or my granddad . . .” He trailed off and stared across the room, a miserable, defeated look in his eyes. As she gazed at him, her heart flooded with empathy. Slowly, she reached up and wiped wetness from his cheek.

“Dex. Your grandfather is an asshole, your sister is a complete mess, and I think you might despise them as much as I do the paparazzi. The worst part is there's very little we can do to stop either one of them.” She wiped his other cheek. “Do you think your grandfather was responsible for stealing my stock?”

“No, I think it was Ariel, but who the hell knows. If it was him, he didn't steal it. Technically, he owns it.” Dex cupped her chin. “But I swear to you, I'm going to get to the bottom of this and work it out. I'm also going to hunt down the fucking weasel who took that photo of you. That person was lying in wait and deserves to be murdered.”

She gave him a weak smile. “We talked about this before, Dex. I don't want to visit you in prison.”

“Right. That wouldn't be a great life. And my life . . .” He took a long breath. “Virginia. Despite everything falling to pieces today, despite the future being what it is, I can't imagine my life being more perfect, and it's because of you.” He gazed at her for a moment and then gave her the crooked, sheepish smile that made her heart sing.

“This is horrible timing, but I have to say it. I'm not just obsessed with you. I love you, Virginia. I love you, and I think I have from day one.”

As his words sank in, filling her with relief—with redemption—she stared at him. Her chin began to tremble. “Thank God.” She threw her arms around his neck and began to rock as tears finally spilled from her eyes, warm against her cheeks.

“Oh, thank God. I love you too, Dex.”

He hauled her onto his lap and held her, his face buried in the crook of her neck. After a moment his lips brushed over her collarbone, sending tingles down her spine. Then he kissed his way up to her face—slowly, lingeringly, his mouth brushing against her skin—until his lips hovered over hers. He froze and smiled wickedly.

“Tease,” she whispered.

“You're so worth teasing.” He kissed the corners of her lips and then ran his tongue over her bottom lip. Right as she let out a small gasp, his phone went off with a chiming noise. He groaned.

“What fresh hell is that?” she asked.

“A Twitter alert. Just let me—”

“Oh hell no,” she said, and scrambled off his lap. “Give it to me.”

Dex pulled the phone out of his pocket and glanced at it. “Okay.”

“Now.” She held out a hand. “If you don't, I'm going to take both of our phones, throw them in the trash, and light it on fire. They're obviously cursed.”

“Okay.” He looked up, his eyebrows raised, and handed her his phone.

She intended to toss it on the sofa without looking, but she caught sight of the bra photo again, posted by the mysterious @IloveLilahs. She read the accompanying tweet aloud. “In one minute it goes viral.” Virginia let out a disgusted huff. “Okay, who the hell is behind this? And if they love Lilah's, why would they perpetuate the horror?”

Dex pulled the phone out of her hand. “I don't know. I've been trying to figure it out. Whoever it is started following me on Twitter the day after we had the prelaunch party at Flash. At first I thought was Stacey because most of the tweets were kind of dumb.” He winced. “Sorry.”

Virginia chuckled. “Stacey would never do that, but she does enjoy pretending to be dumb. I used to enjoy joining her, actually.” She stared off into space for a moment and then shook herself. “Anyway, this person is obviously a troll who deserves to be ignored.” But then his phone chimed again, and she grabbed it, scrolling the screen. “Oh! What a bitch. Whoever it is posted the photo
again
and added a TMZ hashtag, a
Post
hashtag, a—”

Dex yanked the phone away and looked around the cluttered surface of her desk. He grabbed a bottle of water, opened it, and poured it into an empty coffee mug. Then he dropped the phone into the mug. “There. No more trolls.” He grinned at her but then looked down into the coffee mug and rubbed his jaw.

“Holy shit,” Virginia said. “You murdered your phone.”

Dex looked up with a stricken expression, and then she started giggling. The giggles escalated, and within seconds she was laughing hysterically, hanging on to his arm for support. “That . . . was . . . awesome,” she said, gasping.

“Give me your phone,” he said suddenly. “I need to see what else—”

“No way.” She let go of him and reached for her purse, swinging it over her head and across her breasts, scampering toward the windows. “Just let it be.”

“You do realize, don't you, that now I'm not going to give up until I get your phone?” He sauntered toward her, but she held her ground.

“Hmm. There are a couple of obstacles between you and my phone that I'm pretty sure will distract you.”

He continued to walk toward her. “Are they round? And soft?”

She shrugged and then faked a yawn, making sure to thrust out her chest the tiniest bit. When Dex growled and made a grab for her, she shrieked and ran back across the room, stopping near the door. “Nice try, sexy Dexie.”

“I want it on the record that I completely oppose that nickname.” He began walking toward her again.

“Sexy Dexie?”

“What?”

She chuckled and pressed her back to the door. “See? You answer to it.” There was a sharp rap on the glass behind her, and she sucked in a breath, jumping forward and straight into Dex's chest.

“Who is it?” Dex asked, his arms coming around her.

Muscles opened the door and peeked his head in. He didn't even blink at the sight of Virginia in Dex's embrace. “Excuse me, but you have visitors.”

“Who?” Virginia asked. But she didn't need to because the shrill sound of Ariel's voice pierced the quiet hallway. “Great.” And then Ariel's voice was joined by the gravelly bark of a man's voice.

“Great,” Dex echoed. “Granddad.”

“You don't have to let them in,” Muscles commented. “It doesn't matter that Mr. Cameron owns the place—we have jurisdiction.”

“Good,” Virginia said. “Tell them to go away. Tell them—”

“No. We're going to settle this once and for all,” Dex cut in. When Virginia glanced up at him, he swallowed but gave her a reassuring squeeze. “We have to. I need to untie my hands. I have to, or Lilah's can't move forward.”

She nodded slowly and took a step back, letting herself slip out of his arms. “Okay.”

“I'll be right outside the door,” Muscles said.

The bickering got louder as Ariel and Dex's grandfather approached, and, before Virginia could mentally prepare herself, they swept into the office, both steely-eyed and pissed as hell. They shared a family resemblance anyway, but it was accentuated by their weary, hateful expressions. She almost felt sorry for them—how had Dex come out of the same gene pool?

“Granddad, Ariel. How are you?” Dex gestured toward the sofa.

Neither of them sat. DB approached Dex and stared at him. “Those goons need to be fired. They didn't want to let me in my own building. I resent that.”

“You resent a lot of things,” Dex commented, staring back. “But I'm not interested in hearing about any of them. The only thing I want to know is what happened to Virginia's new stock.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” DB demanded.

Virginia watched Dex. His gaze swept over his sister, and then he dismissed her, looking back at his grandfather. “Well?”

“I thought you had everything well in hand, Dex.” DB squinted at him. “Don't tell me you're going to screw this store up at the last minute. I'd already made the arrangements to send you to London.”

Ariel gasped, and Dex turned his gaze on her. Virginia watched her—watched her stricken expression turn to pure hate—and then, to Virginia's surprise, Ariel's face crumpled. She stood there, her thin chest heaving, staring at her grandfather. “Are you serious? You told me I had a real shot at it,” she choked out.

The old man regarded her impassively. “Not after the stunt you pulled.”

“What stunt?” Ariel asked. Then her hand flew to her face. “Oh my God, Dex. You told him about the diamond auction, didn't you?”

“No.” Dex folded his arms.

“What diamond auction?” DB advanced on her. “I was talking about your involvement with that slimy fella. The club owner.”

“Dorian,” Ariel whispered. “What does he have to do with—”

“My lawyer called me this morning and let me know that the property I was all set to buy in London had been yanked out from under me. By your boyfriend. What did you think you were doing, talking to him about confidential company business?”

“He—he was giving me tips on property. I was going to find something even more amazing. I was going to surprise you with it.”

“You are a failure,” DB said, enunciating each word. “I know how your mind works, girl. Always trying to take the easy way out. And when you don't get your way—when you get desperate—you do stupid things.” He narrowed his eyes. “Where is Lilah's stock?”

Virginia held her breath, waiting for Ariel to answer. Finally, Ariel's shoulders deflated. “It's in storage,” she muttered.

“Thank God,” Virginia said. “Where? We need to go get it.”

DB turned to look at her, almost as if he were surprised to see her standing there. “We? I don't see why that stock should be any of your concern.”

“Why would you think that? It's Virginia's
job
, Granddad,” Dex said.

“Not anymore. I've had it with her bad publicity, and that photo today was the final straw. That photo is why I came here—to lay down the law. If you want to continue with Cameron Enterprises, Dex, she needs to be cut out of the picture. I'm not going to have my wife's memory desecrated by allowing her store to be associated with Virginia Fulton.”

The words shouldn't have hurt, considering that they were spoken by a bitter old man, but they did. His words made Virginia feel as big as an ant, and nowhere near as useful. She blinked back at him, realizing that he was too hard—too hostile—to ever change his mind. “How unfortunate,” she said quietly.

“Unfortunate for you,” Ariel commented.

Dex pointed at his sister. “Shut up. I'm not even sure why you're still here, Ariel.”

“I'm here to pick right up where you're going to leave off. I'm a fighter, and I'm not giving up.” She let out a bitter laugh. Virginia almost felt sorry for Ariel—she was delusional.

“Besides . . . that photo today?” Ariel continued. “It exploded all over the Internet. I think it's been tweeted, like, a million times already and it's not even an hour old. It's only going to get worse, and I have a sneaking suspicion, Dex, that you're
not
going to give up Virginia. And when you don't, I'll be right here to snatch up that ticket to London.”

“You seem to know a lot about one photo's Twitter history.” Dex frowned at her and then he closed his eyes. “I get it. You're ‘I love Lilah's,' right?”

“Hashtag, you figured it out,” Ariel said.

Virginia stared at her. “Wow, you're dumb. So dumb that I'm not even going to bother mentioning that harassment of members of the First Family is taken very seriously by the Secret Service.” She shrugged. “It might not be a big deal, but just to be safe, maybe you ought to dump that Twitter account.”

Ariel blanched but still managed to glare at Virginia. “It doesn't matter because Dex is finished with Lilah's. Thanks to you.”

“What's strange, though, is that a few days ago, Granddad saw a sample of what Virginia intends to sell, and he said nothing about getting rid of her,” Dex said. He sat on the edge of the desk and gave his grandfather a questioning look. “You said that Lilah's was progressing just fine. I'm not buying your excuse about Virginia's bad publicity. I think you just can't stand to see a woman other than Grandmother making changes to the store.”

“Excuse?” The old man sputtered. “Excuse? I built this place from the ground up. I don't need any excuse.”