Page 13 of Life’s Too Short

WILL HAVE YOU COVERING

YOUR EYES!

VANESSA

I was dabbing Carmex on the split in my lip when I heard talking in the hallway. I leaned on my fingertips to peer through the peephole. Adrian, with some girl who was holding a Chihuahua.

I could barely see him from that angle, but I had a full view of her.

She was pretty, which I guess wasn’t surprising. The man was a ten. He could probably date supermodels if he wanted to.

Adrian got closer to her to look at the dog, and he shifted into my line of sight. He was still in his suit from earlier, only he’d lost the jacket and tie. The top two buttons of his light-blue work shirt were undone and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbow.

God, he was sexy. You could make a calendar of the many looks of Adrian Copeland and raise enough money to fund the cure for cancer. Adrian, jogging shirtless. Adrian in a suit. Adrian, with my cranky niece on his chest.

He looked annoyed. He had his arms crossed. I couldn’t really hear what they were talking about.

My laptop chimed with an incoming Skype call.

Drake.

I left my post and sat down and answered.

Drake Lawless’s tan face popped up onto my screen. Judging by the palm trees behind him, he was someplace tropical. I was already jealous.

He had on his shark-tooth necklace, no shirt as usual, and his blond hair was wild. I could practically smell the coconut sunblock and ocean through my computer.

“’Sup, gorgeous.” He gave me one of his dazzling smiles. “Sooo…Jesus’s Abs?”

I snorted. “You have no idea. The man is God’s gift to all of us,” I said, poking around my desk for a nail file. “It was like Jesus’s Abs take the wheel over here.”

Too bad I’ll probably never see him again unless I look through a peephole.

Drake didn’t get a chance to reply because Laird walked naked across the back of the screen.

“Laird!” I shrieked, turning hard to the left. Both men laughed from my laptop.

“Hey, Nessa,” Laird called.

I huffed indignantly at my floor. “Laird, I’m still not speaking to you.”

“Oh, come on.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

I peeked up at the screen. Laird stood grinning at me over Drake’s shoulder, a direct view of his crotch mercifully covered by Drake’s body.

I crossed my arms. “First you leave me for Drake and make me scramble to find a new cameraman, and now you’ve made me see your balls. Just when I thought my week couldn’t get worse.”

Both men laughed again and Laird walked off screen, penis swinging. I looked back at Drake. “Please buy your employee some pants, or give him a fig leaf or a loincloth or something?”

He chuckled good-naturedly.

Typical Drake. Zero decorum. Camp Lawless was like a hippie commune. Naked yoga and going on about chakras. I wouldn’t be surprised if a goat wearing a lei with a chicken riding its back wandered through next.

Drake tipped his head. “You need anything, butterfly? How’s motherhood?”

“Good. Great. It’s amazing how much it changes you. I find myself saying things like, ‘It’s just baby pee.’ Like that’s okay, like it’s superior to the regular kind so I should be fine that it’s on my goose-down comforter.”

He laughed.