Chapter 4
REID
The laps cooled me off, helped clear my mind.
I’d never been a gym rat, though I did cycle every afternoon, but I loved swimming.
By the time I’d finished my three miles, I was cutting it close.
I’d lost track of time. I rushed back to the penthouse and had just finished buttoning my jeans when the receptionist called.
“Reid, Ms. Connor just got in the elevator.”
“Thank you.”
The ding of the elevator sounded a few seconds later. I sucked in a breath when Hailey Connor stepped out.
I was fucked.
I’d thought my reaction to her in my office had just been a momentary lapse. I’d been wrong. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was wearing a simple white dress. Again, she wore absurdly high heels that made it too easy to imagine her legs wrapped around me.
I stretched out my hand. “Ms. Connor. Thank you for coming here, on the weekend, no less.”
I shook her hand, determined to stick to formalities, to ignore the tightening of my jeans. The joke was on me, because instead of letting her go, I wanted to pull her closer.
“No problem. You sounded like you wanted to get the ball rolling right away on the phone, so I thought it’s best to hurry up. Strike while the iron’s hot and all that. Before you changed your mind.”
By her tight voice, it was clear she hadn’t forgiven me.
“I apologize again. My assistant had informed me about the meeting about five minutes before you arrived. No doubt she didn’t want to give me a chance to cancel. I don’t appreciate being blindsided.”
“Clearly. Let’s set a few things straight.
This is how our cooperation is going to work.
I’m going to ask you questions. Some might make you uncomfortable.
I need you to answer them anyway. And I need you to be completely honest. I also need you to follow my advice.
These are my terms.” She gave me a daring smile that only fired me up more.
I could count on one hand the people who disagreed, hell, even challenged me.
“Your terms?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes.”
“We’re doing this on my terms. I’m the client.” I stepped closer, enjoying the sight of her licking her lower lip. She straightened, pushing her chest out, but her cheeks turned pink.
“No, you’re not. Not until I agree to sign you on.”
Her brown eyes flashed. Her body language told me she’d stick to her guns no matter what. The longer I looked into her eyes, the more challenging her gaze became.
Working with her wouldn’t be easy. I was certain of that. I should have told her I could contact another PR agency. Instead, all I wanted was to close the distance between us, claim her mouth, kiss her on my terms, have her bend to my rules.
“I promised I will cooperate. So, I will.”
I took a step back, gesturing toward the living room. “Come on in. Want to have a drink?”
“Since I’m not driving, why not?”
I led her to the enormous bar area, which had a glass wall next to it. The penthouse had been designed for entertaining. I never did. I’d always been that way. Just one more thing Marion had been unhappy about. I lived here because it was practical. I only needed three minutes to get to my office.
“What do you want?”
“Can you make a dry martini?”
“Sure thing. Let me find the ingredients.”
I found everything I needed in the second overhead cabinet. I mixed a martini for her, poured whiskey for myself.
When I turned around to hand her the glass, I noticed she’d opened a recording app on her phone and froze.
“What are you doing with that?”
“I like to record conversations in case I forget details.”
“No.” The word came out clipped and cutting, and I expected Hailey to give me shit about it. To my surprise, her gaze softened.
“Okay. I won’t record this. But I’d like to take notes, if that’s okay? Just key words. They won’t mean anything to anyone else… you know, in case they fall into the wrong hands.”
Brilliant. Now she was handling me with gloves. I nodded, feeling idiotic. She’s here to help. Not sell you to the press.
There were stools at the sleek counter, but we ended up sitting at the dining table. Hailey took out paper and pen.
“Want to tell me why you changed your mind about our collaboration?”
I hesitated. She held up her hand. “You know what, you don’t have to tell me if it’s not pertinent to the case.”
“It is pertinent.” I forced myself to keep talking.
“My sister said she’s been having a hard time at school since this whole issue started.
It’s paramount for me that she and my parents are kept out of this.
I don’t really care what anyone writes about me unless it hurts them. And it looks like it is.”
Something changed in her gaze. It was still soft but different than before.
“I understand. It’s an unfortunate side effect of scandals. Families sometimes must deal with the fallout. Reporters hound them.”
I stiffened. “You think that’s likely to happen?”
“Hard to tell. You’re not what they’re usually looking for. But since Marion is a celebrity….”
“That can absolutely not happen. How do I fix this?”
“First things first. I will talk to your sister, give her some advice on how to respond to verbal attacks.”
I had not expected that.
“It’s not a PR problem, per se. Bullies at school.”
“I can still give her advice.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I can’t stand the idea of kids being bullied.”
I felt an instant kinship with Hailey. I liked this woman.
“As I said, I can give her tips.”
“I would appreciate that. I tried, but it’s not my area of expertise.”
“I can also coach her and your parents preemptively about what to tell reporters, so they’re prepared in case they’re contacted.”
“I don’t want to worry them except if it’s absolutely necessary.”
She pursed her lips. Fuck, they were just beautiful and begged to be kissed.
“We’ll circle to that another time.”
I smiled. “This is your idea of a compromise?”
She smiled back saucily before sipping her drink. She then ran her finger around the rim of the glass. Was she even remotely aware of how sexy this was? How sexy she was? I barely stifled the impulse to move closer to her.
Her next words reminded me why she was here.
“Let’s talk about Marion.”
I just grunted, tightening my grip on the glass. She was here to sign me on as a client, nothing more.
“She alleges you cut off access to her funds and cut off her friends’ access to her. What’s your stance on all this?”
I looked straight at her, because I only planned to say this once and I wanted to leave her no doubt it was the truth.
“She cheated. With my friend, the former manager of this hotel, Lincoln. When I found out, I reviewed the payments she’d made with my credit card. Turned out she’d paid for a lot of their entertainment with my money. I froze her access to my accounts and fired him.”
I hadn’t said this to anyone. Not one soul. I had to admit, it had a therapeutic effect. I also felt like the world’s biggest moron.
Hailey went very still.
“Why did you not make a statement?” I appreciated that she wasn’t pitying me. No, I’m sorry, or this sucks.
“How would that make me look?”
“Like you put your trust in the wrong people.”
“Like I was an idiot for not seeing what was going on right in front of my eyes. They played this charade for two years. Two whole years. And you know what she said when I finally discovered it? That I’d been asking for it.”
“She didn’t!”
Maybe it was the fact that she was indignant on my behalf, but I just couldn’t stop talking.
“She said I never wanted to entertain her. Hell, what do I know? Maybe I did bring it on myself. I asked him to look after her when I was away on business trips, or worked late, because they were getting on well. Now I know why.”
I’d gone from not wanting to say a word on the topic to spilling my deepest fear. How had that happened?
“Reid, trusting your friend and your girlfriend does not make you a fool. I cannot tell you how to feel, obviously… but from an outsider’s perspective, you’re the scorned party here.”
“I don’t want this public. In fact, I would like you to keep this to yourself.”
She nodded. “I will not discuss this with anyone. I promise. But it will be harder to retaliate if you don’t want to give your side of the story.”
I closed my eyes. “I don’t want to retaliate. I just want the story to die down.”
Her silence told me just how impossible that was. Hailey tapped the pen on the paper. She hadn’t written down one word.
“Why exactly were you supporting her? She used to have a lucrative career as a TV moderator and now as a lingerie designer.”
“She also spends a lot more than she earns.”
“Ah, that explains why she’s pushing to have her own modeling TV show. Dragging this breakup through the tabloids is ramping up her profile. It’s a questionable tactic, but unfortunately, it often works.”
Hailey rubbed her temple, casting her eyes over the table, then back up at me.
“Right. Well, I just need your sister’s phone number from you tonight. I’ll be in touch about the rest.”
I hadn’t expected that. I’d envisioned Hailey staying here for hours on end, throwing question after question at me.
“I thought this would take longer.”
“I need some time to come up with ways to tackle this. My usual approach is to fight fire with fire, but I can see why you don’t want that, and I can’t come up with solutions on the spot. For now, I want to talk to your sister.”
Damn, I wanted her to stay. I didn’t care if we talked about me or not. In fact, I preferred if we didn’t, and talked about her instead. I wanted to know why she’d chosen this career, why she was so adamant to talk to my sister. Did she get so personally involved with all her clients, or just me?
She rose from the table.
“I just have one more thing for you. The contract. Read it, and after you sign it, you can mail it to me.” She took a stack of papers from her purse, laying it on the table.
“So, you’ve officially decided I deserve to be your client?”
She gave me a sassy grin. “Well, yes. You’ve made an impression today.”
“Good enough to persuade you to have another drink?”
“Oh, no. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Wouldn’t dream about it.”
“One drink was enough.”
“Was it?”
She cast her gaze down, then quickly back up before pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
I was making her nervous. Did it make me a bastard that I enjoyed it?
The way her cheeks flushed a little when I shifted closer, until there were just a few inches between us.
The way she’d averted her gaze after I asked her to stay, as if she didn’t trust herself to say no if she looked me in the eyes.
“I’ll be in touch. Send me your sister’s number and the signed contract at your earliest convenience.”
The business tone was back on, and she glanced at the elevator. She wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. Probably the best course of action, but all I wanted was to find an excuse to keep her here.
“I will.”
“Have a great evening, Reid.”
She hurried to the elevator, and I barely held back from going after her. Jesus. How had we gone from being at each other’s throats in my office to this?