“I’m sure my cousin showed Mimi our video, too. I tell you what, babe. Cioppino takes a half hour to prep and about an hour to simmer, before it’s time to add a few last-minute ingredients. Why don’t we get the broth simmering, and then we’ll call both our families while it cooks?”
“You’re a genius chef.” She mimes a chef’s kiss. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in five, babe.” We walk up the grand staircase together and stop at the top. “If I’m forbidden to go into the West Wing,” she says, “tell me now. Or I’m going there, first thing.”
I look at her blankly.
“In your enchanted castle,” Laila clarifies. “In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast forbids Belle from entering the West Wing. That was my way of saying you remind me so much of the Beast, I can’t stand it.”
“I told you I haven’t seen that movie.”
“I know. I said that to amuse myself.” She smirks. “Do me a favor. Growl at me and say, ‘I forbid you to go into the West Wing!’”
I pull a face that says, Over my dead body.
Laila snickers. “The Beast wouldn’t do that on command, either.”
“Just to be clear,” I say, “you’re supposed to like the Beast, right? He’s the hero of that movie?”
Laila surprises me by stepping forward into my personal space and pulling me toward her. “Hell yeah, we’re supposed to like the Beast. In fact, I didn’t understand my reaction to the Beast as a little girl—the tingle he provoked on my skin and between my legs. But now, looking back, I understand that movie was my first foray into porn.”
I bite back a smile and then growl and whisper-shout, “I forbid you to go into the West Wing!”
“Oooh, baaaaby,” she purrs, like she’s having a little orgasm, and I can’t help chuckling in reply. “Just so you know,” she says, “I’m the kind of twisted bitch who thought the Beast was a five-alarm fire . . . and the prince he becomes at the end when the spell is broken was a total disappointment.”
“Thanks for ruining the ending for me, dude.”
Laila slides her hand to my package to confirm what she already suspects: I’m finding this exchange hot as hell. “Aw, come on, Adrian,” she says seductively, her hand cupping the bulge in my pants. “Nobody watches porn for the plot.”
My breathing hitches. This girl. She knows how to hook me like nobody else. In fact, she’s known it since the minute I laid eyes on her at Reed’s party.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me,” I say. “We’ll watch Beauty and the Beast tonight.”
She smiles seductively. “Fair warning, Beast? I always get what I want, one way or another. You’ll find that out soon enough.” With that, she releases me, winks, and sashays down the hallway, pointedly walking past the door to the master bedroom and disappearing into a bedroom a few doors away.
Seven
Laila
“You two are so beautiful together!” Savage’s grandmother, Mimi, exclaims, beaming at Savage and me on Savage’s phone. Mimi is in her bed in Chicago, while Savage and I are leaning over the island in our new kitchen. And if I thought Savage resembled the grouchy, snarling Beast during our tour of the house, he’s turned into the sweet version of the Beast—the one who had the famous snowball fight with Belle—while talking to his grandmother on this call.
With his grandma, Savage is surprisingly gentle and easygoing. A man who smiles easily and chuckles often. A man who reminds his grandmother to “get plenty of rest” and “drink lots of water” and not to “overdo.” Basically, he’s the guy I’ve observed hanging out with his bandmates, with half the swearing and twice the adorableness.
“Don’t take any of his crap, Laila,” Mimi says.
“She never does,” Savage says.
“Oh, I take some of his crap,” I say. “But only because he’s so charming.”
“Yes, he is,” Mimi replies wistfully. “That’s why I still take some of his crap, too.”
We giggle together.
“Oh, guess what, Mimi?” Savage says. “I checked the shooting schedule, and it looks like I’ll be able to visit for Christmas. You’ll be moved into the new house by then, so I’ll get you a big ol’ Christmas tree. The biggest tree you’ve ever had.”
“How wonderful! Will you come to Chicago, too, Laila?”
I look at Savage and his eyes are saying, Please, please, please. “I’ll be spending Christmas day with my mom and sister,” I say. “But I’d love to come for a few days before then.” I’m curious to find out some details about the house Savage bought his grandmother, but if I were truly his girlfriend, I’d already know all about it. So, I ask a question that seems pretty safe. “Are you excited to move into the new house, Mimi?”
“Very excited. But I feel guilty, too, that Adrian did this for me. When he told me what he did, I told him to return it. But he wouldn’t do it.”
“A house isn’t like a pair of shoes,” Savage says. “But even if I could ‘return it,’ I wouldn’t do that. I bought the house for you, as a gift to myself. I want to see you in that house, Mimi. Now, please, let’s not talk about this again. What’s done is done.”
Mimi addresses me. “See what I’m dealing with here, Laila?”
“He’s incorrigible.”
She flashes an adorable smile at her grandson. “Thank you, Ady.”
“You’re very welcome.”
Mimi’s dark eyes widen. “Ooh! Isn’t it time to add the clams and mussels?”
Savage shrugs. “I have no idea.”
“Well, what does your timer say?”
“I didn’t set a timer. I forgot.”
“Adrian!”
Savage laughs. “I got distracted.” He pulls me into the frame and cups my face in his palm. “Wouldn’t you get distracted, looking at this face, too?”
Mimi giggles. “Yes, I suppose if I were a young man, I most certainly would. Now, show me the pot, sweetheart. I’ll be able to tell if it’s time by looking at the broth.”
Savage points his phone at the pot on the stove, and Mimi confirms her hunch is correct: it’s time to add the shellfish to the soup.
“Okay, now what?” Savage says after completing his task.
“You tell me,” Mimi says.
“Mimi, come on. It’s been forever since I’ve made this and I’ve had a long day.”
“Okay, okay.” She gives her grandson direction, while Savage repeatedly says, “Oh, yeah!” And I must admit, the entire exchange makes me giggle and swoon. They’re adorable together. Endlessly entertaining.
“Laila?” Mimi says.
I peek my head onto the screen, my eyebrows raised.
“Next time Adrian makes my cioppino for you, please remind him to set a timer at each step. It’ll work out fine this time because I’m here to save the day. But next time, he might not be so lucky.”
I look at Savage and, not surprisingly, sadness washes over his handsome features at the implication of Mimi’s comment—that she won’t be around forever.