She knew Colin was a creep, but she never thought he'd stalk out on her like that. For a second there... Pushing past her thoughts, she immersed herself in the best standing spa she could simulate. Thankfully, it helped, and after a half an hour or so, she was ready to emerge with a clearer mind. Things were going far too well to let some jilted ex-lay get under her skin because he felt like he couldn't enchant some attention out of her whenever he took a notion to.

Fuck him.

She had better things to focus on. Much happier, hotter, gorgeous things. Slipping into her robe, her head snapped up at the sound of her buzzer, and she quickly shrugged her feet into her slippers, half-hopping her way over to it. Exhaling all of the tension left in her, she checked the peephole before looking out.

Quirking a brow, she opened the door to the deliveryman waiting there.

“Package for Miss Rhodes.”

“That's me.”

“Sign here, please.”

Extending an electronic box, with a stylus dangling off from it, the delivery man waited for her to give him her signature, looking about as enthused with his job as a Vegan at an all-you-can-eat-meat buffet.

“That oughtta do it,” he told her when she passed the digital contraption back, bending to lift a box and handing it over to her.

“Have a good night.”

“You, too,” she answered with a far off, preoccupation ringing her tone as she backed into her apartment and closed the door with a nudge of her hip.

She hadn't sent for anything, but the moment she saw the sender's address, all of the butterflies came alive in her belly again. He was sending her gifts now. Because he was just that awesome. Nipping her lip, she hurried into the living room and plopped down on the rug, tearing into the paper to get to the expensive-looking, black box within. There was a card attached to it, but she never read those first.

She was too much of a kid where gifts were concerned.

Gingerly lifting the lid, she gasped when her eyes fell on the dress folded in gold, tissue paper. Squeaking, she lifted it out, standing to let it fall against her, like a kid in a candy store. Sexy, inky, and svelte. It must have cost a fortune. Reaching down for the card envelope, she fumbled to open it:

Keystone Plaza

National Ink Casting Party

Friday at 8

Be my +1

-Liam

Hugging the dress close, a twinge took her gut. A casting party meant cameras.  Cameras meant publicity. And God, this dress.

Sighing, she ran her hand over the frock, swallowing her nerves and making her way to the closet to hang it before it wrinkled.

Liam

There wasn't a woman alive more beautiful to him.

His heart pluming in his chest as she exited the car, he watched her for a stretching moment before he emerged himself. Taking in the entrance to the tat studio and dorms he'd soon be hosting competitions in for National Ink, he gave the photographers and guests the required wave before taking Jackie's arm and making his way into the building.

It was a moment he had long been waiting for. The crown jewel of opportunities that would cement his brand in the eyes of the nation, and the international viewers tuning in. After this, Raw Ink's expansion was all but assured.

“Red or White?” A redheaded server with full sleeves of inked mermaids and sailor motifs asked, giving him a suggestive glance he politely ignored.

“What do you think, sweetheart? Red?”

Jackie grinned.

“Definitely Red.”

Pursing her lips before she caught herself and forced a smile, the redhead, lifted a wine flute each from her tray and passed them over to the pair, giving them a serviceable nod on her way out of the foyer where Liam and Jackie had positioned themselves.

The party was just winding up, but there were plenty of spectacles underway to keep them occupied while they waited for the media circus to make their way to him for the never-ending series of two minute interviews that would soon serve as teasers for the episodes they had yet to record.

Liam was proud of himself, especially for being cool under pressure, but most of the ease that evening was wholly attributable to the woman beside him. Inclining his head, he stole a kiss from her, fully aware of the many cameras hovering around. He could feel her tense before she relaxed into it and kissed him back, and he raised his head with a purposeful glint in his gaze.

“The only thing that matters is us,” he told her.

She parted her lips to respond, but another voice intruded before she could get a word out.

“Making your way up the ranks, huh? Explains a few things.”

Colin smiled through his glare then catching Liam's expression he made his way past them, making a show of taking the arm of a random beauty and saying something that was probably extremely corny to make her laugh. He was just as much a dickhead in real life as on the show, and it took all of a second for Liam to shake his comment off. No way he'd let that little half-celebrity fuck screw this up for him.

“You alright?”

Jackie's mouth twitched up into a forced smile.

“He's not worth the brain space,” she managed, though it was obvious his comment cut a little more deeply than she liked.

“Come on, I'll introduce you to the director.”

They circled the party, meeting all of the “who's whos” before heading upstairs to catch a view of the amazing back lawn the cast would soon be enjoying. The mansion was amazing. High ceilings.  Exquisite, marble flooring. An indoor lagoon. And outside? A garden to rival all gardens. Liam could only imagine what sorts of “missions" the writers had planned when the show got underway.

Reaching the top landing, the lovers headed out to the balcony, pleased to find it empty. Pressing her against it, his lips found hers again, and they kissed for what seemed like forever before finally coming up for air.

“What do you think?”

Jackie smiled but it was a smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes.

“It's... amazing.”

Liam tilted his head.

“What's wrong, Jackie?”

Averting her eyes from him, she shrugged, turning her attention to the amazing front lawn.

“Tell me.”

Looking to him, she gave him a half-shrug.

“I just... I don't know how wise it was for you to bring me out with you. With the show... It's bound to come out that our parents are engaged. I don't want to-”

“Shhh...”

Pressing a finger to her mouth, he cupped her cheek.

“I don't want us to be a secret, Jackie. You understand that right?”

“I'm not suggesting-”

“I want everyone to know how I feel about you. You're the realest thing that's ever happened to me, and I know we're strong enough to surmount whatever the hell might come.”

She took a deep breath, but eventually nodded, holding his gaze like she wanted to believe him, even if she didn't just yet. But that was her way, wasn't it? Worry. Suspicion. She had a need to have her bases covered, and some things just can't be planned.

~

“You're... father,” Toya said uncomfortably, extending the phone to Liam with a look that told him the old man hadn't exactly called with a pleasant tone.

“Tell him I'm working,” Liam answered, flipping another page in the episode notes he'd been given to digest over the weekend.

“He's insisting you take the call. I'll just... leave this right here.”

Giving him an apologetic shrug, Toya lowered the phone to the desk and headed back to her station without a glance back. Sighing, Liam stared at the phone a long minute before he finally picked it up.