Mandy Makes Her Mark Read Online Free PDF Page A

struggling—and she would have been fine with Tad working less, because it would mean more time he could spend squiring her around. So why had she worked so hard on Tad’s behalf? There was that uncomfortable wave of emotion again, the giddy state that being with him always caused. She couldn’t bear to admit that she’d cared so much about his feelings when he clearly didn’t give a rat’s ass about hers. “If I didn’t keep you booked, I’d hear about it from Luna,” she lied. “And you know how she can be…”
    Oops. There went that insensitivity again. Rubbing his face in the breakup. “What I mean is,” she said, taking a breath and trying to make her tone more conciliatory, “it made good business sense. You and Luna were together, and I felt it was my responsibility to keep you both booked.”
    â€œYou could book Luna with your eyes shut,” Tad observed, without a trace of envy or bitterness. “You never needed me.”
    â€œIt was my responsibility to the agency to keep my best model happy,” Mandy repeated.
    â€œAnd where did that get you?” Tad lifted his glass in a toast. “You worked your ass off for her, and she left anyway. Here’s to loyalty.”
    â€œYou—you can’t—” Mandy gripped her glass harder. “You want me to toast to loyalty on the day after my sister ditched us both and I had to fly down to this inferno to make Marc Lark happy?”
    â€œNot her loyalty,” Tad said, in a surprisingly gentle voice. “Yours. Mine.” He waited until she picked up her glass, and added “Ours.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    When Mandy clinked her glass of Dr. Pepper uncertainly against Tad’s, she noticed that his smile was unlike any other she’d ever seen on him. It was rather…crooked, actually, and didn’t accentuate his strong jaw the way his usual blinding grin did.
    It was, as a matter of fact, surprisingly imperfect. A faint flutter somewhere in the vicinity of Mandy’s heart accompanied the revelation, so that when she whispered “To loyalty,” it came out a little wobbly.
    They drank together, with the solemnity of people sealing a deal, their eyes locked. Mandy was trying to figure out if this new vulnerability she’d glimpsed in Tad was a result of heartbreak or something else. She had no idea what was going on behind his deep blue eyes. One thing that was hard not to notice, however, was that the moment seemed to be going on an awfully long time, each of them sipping and staring, the sounds of conversation fading into the background around them.
    â€œListen, Amanda,” Tad finally said, setting his glass gently down on the bar and leaning in closer.
    A clattering of breaking glass and a high-pitched shriek interrupted the moment. They both turned to look. Standing in the entry from the bar to the restaurant, clutching each other and staring at a serving tray full of spilled drinks and shattered glasses on the floor, were none other than Sylvie and Jayde.
    â€œSee?” Sylvie sputtered, pointing at the mess. “’zactly what I’m sayin’. Right?”
    â€œRight!” Jayde pouted as the pair lurched around the mess. They were clearly drunk, and headed straight for the bar.
    â€œMandy!” Jayde said, brightening, when she spotted them. A waiter had followed them into the room and was busily cleaning up the mess.
    â€œI’ll go help,” Tad muttered grimly, slipping off his barstool and taking the long way, avoiding the drunk girls, before kneeling next to the mess and starting to help pick up shards. Mandy would have been impressed by the display of courtesy had she not suspected that he was merely trying to avoid having to deal with one of Jayde’s dramatic outbursts.
    Mandy grabbed both girls by the arms and dragged them to a booth, shoving them in either side. Since Sylvie was the greater flight risk, she