"So, how are you enjoying the conference so far?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling at him. I saw his eyes dart down to her practically naked body before he answered, and I felt my hands clenching into fists.
"Uh, it's good. I really liked Professor Fulton's talk this afternoon. What did you think? I didn't see you there."
"Oh, um, I've been sitting in the back mostly. Yeah, the talk was good. Very informative." She nodded her head vigorously. I wondered if this geeky bozo could see how full of shit she was. If he couldn't, he didn't know her very well. That thought made me want to smirk, but I held it in.
Finally, he just stuck his hand out to me and said, "Parker Grayson, I'm in school with Grace."
I held out my hand and opened my mouth to speak when Grace cut in, "This is Rick… Ryder. He's in law school at, uh, Stanford."
Parker looked dubious. "Stanford, huh? Great school. How do you two know each other?"
"Oh Rick's parents are friends of the family. You know. We go way back. Right, Rick?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Right."
"Oh, well it's cool that you two got to see each other here then. What's your law focus, Rick?"
I narrowed my eyes at Parker and glanced at Grace. She looked panicked. My eyes traveled down to her cleavage.
"Well, Parker, I would say my focus is parts inspection."
Parker looked confused. "Oh, you mean like the law surrounding industrial labor laws?"
"Sure Parker," I said.
Grace laughed nervously. "Well, it was great to see you. We'll have to do coffee when we get back."
Parker turned his confused face from me and grinned at Grace, his eyes sweeping her body again. "Sounds good. I'll call you."
"Okay." She waved at him.
I watched him turn his scrawny body and walk away. I was legions above him in the looks department, so why did I fucking hate Parker Grayson?
I turned back to Grace. "Rick Ryder?" I asked. "Nice save if you didn't want him to know what I do."
"He's too straight-laced to get it. Hell, yesterday, I wouldn't have gotten it." She fell back in her lounger, exhaling.
My chest felt tight and I wanted to punch something. "Ready?" I said, gathering our things.
"Oh, okay… if you are." She looked at me nervously. "Carson, I'm sorry, it just wouldn't look good for my career if it got out that I was canoodling with a porn star."
"Canoodling, Grace? Jesus, I don't even know what the fuck that is."
"You're mad," she said, biting her lip.
"No, I'm not mad. I'm just ready to leave."
She nodded and started grabbing her stuff too, putting it into her bag. It was then that I spotted Tawny Anderson, a girl who worked for the same company I did. She was a beautiful redhead with a killer body. I hadn't ever made a film with her, but she had propositioned me for some extracurricular time on many occasions. I had never taken her up on it.
She was standing at the bar a couple feet away with a girl I didn't recognize. "Hey Tawny," I called and she turned around, her eyes lighting up.
She walked over to me and met me right in front of Grace's chair. "Carson!" she squealed, kissing my cheek and pressing her large breasts into my chest.
I smiled suggestively at her. "Hey baby, how are you?" I asked, pulling her into me and gripping her ass.
"I'm great, gorgeous. I heard you had a family emergency. Anything I can help with?" She ran one finger down my chest.
"Maybe. What did you have in mind?"
"I'm sure I could think of something." She giggled. "But I thought you didn't mix business with pleasure."
"I might be able to make an exception for you," I said, raising my eyebrows and squeezing her ass tighter.
That's when Grace cleared her throat, and me and Tawny both turned our heads to see her standing there with her shoes and cover up on and her bag on her shoulder, looking for us to move so she could get by us.
"Who's she, Carson?" Tawny demanded.
"She's no one, babe," I said, and the look that came over Grace's face nearly brought me to my knees. She looked like I had just slapped her in the face and kicked her while she was down. I felt that look like a punch in the gut.
Grace didn't wait for us to move, but instead pushed past us, knocking Tawny off balance. "Watch it girlie!" Tawny said angrily. Grace didn't even look back.
"Anyway," Tawny said, turning back to me and taking my hand and replacing it on her ass, "where were we?"
I was such a stupid fuck up. Holy Christ. What had I done? I was so fucking hurt when she made me feel like an embarrassment, like a nothing in front of her friend. I had automatically reacted, trying to make her feel the same way too. And I'd succeeded. And it felt like shit. "Sorry, Tawny, I gotta go," I said, taking her by the shoulders and physically moving her out of my way.
"Wait, what? I thought we were gonna hang out!" she whined.
"You were right," I said over my shoulder. "I don't mix business with pleasure. Almost forgot for a minute there."
I jogged in the direction Grace had gone, looking around and finally spotting her going through the door to the hotel. I raced after her.
When I got inside, I ran to the elevators, hoping to find her waiting for one. I had fucked up. I had to make this right. She wasn't anywhere to be seen. I flashed my room card to the guard and pressed the "up" button furiously, swearing under my breath. When the elevator finally came, I jumped on and when a few people tried to follow me in, I held my hand up and said, "Sorry! Emergency! No one else is gonna ride this elevator!" They stepped back, confused, as I pushed Grace's room floor. No one else was gonna slow me down in getting to her. Panic coursed through me. Shit, I had done this. I had fucking done this.
When the elevator doors opened, I raced down the hallways and as I turned the corner, I saw Grace almost to her room, taking out her key card. When she heard me behind her, she turned, surprise filling her expression, the hurt still clear in her large, blue eyes.
She turned back around to her door.
"I'm sorry, Grace," I said, desperately.