Chapter 5
5
Maybe it was fate.
Or maybe it was simply a coincidence.
Iris did work for the company, after all. But either way, Angel wasn’t going to question it. What he knew was that Iris was here, in this conference room, sitting only a few chairs away from him at the other end of the table. He hadn’t planned to come to this meeting originally. Usually his team presented him with an endorsement opportunity and gave him a rundown of the brand and their mission. They talked numbers, he signed off on paperwork and showed up to set for photo shoots, commercial tapings and promotional events, and then he moved on to the next thing. But he’d joined today’s meeting at the suggestion of his manager, Valerie, who knew he was climbing up a wall. After the success of “Summertime Fine,” people were all abuzz. His fans wanted to hear more music, and if they had their way, they’d have his next album immediately. The issue was that his label was back to rejecting his songs. “Summertime Fine” had worked for them only because it had the pop R & B sound that they wanted. He’d been stressed, and it was messing with his creative flow, so he’d joined the meeting today as a way to give his mind a break.
Now his attention was focused on Iris. They were about to spend a week together on the campaign tour. He couldn’t believe it.
“I’m so sorry that I won’t be able to travel with you like originally planned,” Iris’s colleague Paloma said. “But you’re in the best hands with Iris.”
Iris sat with her back ramrod straight, her hands folded in front of her. She looked at Angel and his team and nodded in confirmation. Angel bet that she’d been the ideal pupil in school, earning straight As and a perfect attendance record. The thought made him smile. When he and Iris caught eyes, she blinked, and her cheeks flushed. She glanced at her hands before bringing her gaze back up to his, offering a soft smile of her own. The small act melted him. He wished they were the only two people here and that they weren’t separated by a large conference room desk. He wanted to ask how she’d been. Had she thought about him over the last couple weeks? He’d certainly thought about her. He wanted to know if she’d heard his song. If so, did she know that it was about her? Did she like it? Or wait, what if it had made her feel uncomfortable? Crap, he hoped not.
“Just as another refresher, these are the products we’ll be promoting,” Paloma said, grabbing Angel’s attention by placing three small brown containers onto the table. “Cleanser, moisturizer and SPF.”
Valerie Marks, Angel’s manager, unscrewed the cap of the moisturizer. Her pale blonde hair was held back by her black-framed glasses that she never seemed to actually wear. She sniffed. “Smells delicious. Like brown sugar.” She passed it to Angel. “Here, smell this.”
He took a whiff as well. He’d smelled the products before at the campaign shoot weeks ago, but he’d since forgotten the scent. The brown sugar aroma wafted up his nostrils. “Yeah, it smells amazing. Like something you can eat.”
“Thank you,” said Dominique Johnson. She’d been introduced to Angel as Save Face Beauty’s CEO.
Valerie passed the product to Angel’s publicist, Claudia Chin, who sat to his right. Claudia dipped her finger into the moisturizer cream and rubbed it between her fingers. “Ooh,” she said. “I love this consistency.” She then passed the container to Ray so that he wouldn’t feel left out.
Valerie and Claudia were the women who helped Angel keep his life in check. Valerie had been Angel’s manager for the past three years, ever since he’d ditched his previous manager, Eddy. Valerie was a business veteran and a straight shooter. She’d done a world of wonder for Angel’s career in a short time period. And Claudia was the reason that Angel was here at the Save Face Beauty’s offices to begin with. She’d handled every detail of his ambassadorship while he’d been performing and recording and traveling over the past several months.
Valerie and Claudia were protective of Angel, because he had this little problem where he tended to say yes to everything, even when he was exhausted. Even when an event occurred on his birthday. Like the Atlanta stop of this meet-and-greet tour. He didn’t usually make a big deal of celebrating his birthday anyway, so he didn’t mind. He’d rather make more money than rest.
Paloma moved on to explaining the tour’s logistics to refresh everyone’s memory. They’d start in Los Angeles, and then continue to Seattle, then onto DC and Atlanta, finishing in New York City with a final event attended by beauty influencers and sweepstakes winners, where Angel would perform a set for the crowd.
“This goes without saying, but can we make sure the stores are playing his music at each location?” Claudia asked.
“Absolutely,” Paloma said, nodding. “Or if Angel would like to curate a specific playlist, we can share that with the stores too.”
“Curating a playlist would be cool,” he said.
Claudia raised an eyebrow, looking at him. “Are you sure you have time for that?”
“For sure.”
Paloma clapped. “Awesome! If you can share the playlist with us within the next couple of days, that’d be great.”
Claudia and Angel nodded. He let his eyes drift briefly toward Iris again, who was already looking at him. Her gaze moved across his face, and he stilled, letting her study him, wanting to be studied by her. He remembered how it had felt to hold her while they danced together. Had she thought about that moment as much as he had?
“Will there be a limit to the number of fan photographs?” Valerie asked, pulling Angel’s attention away from Iris.
“A limit?” he repeated.
“We don’t want to exhaust you,” Valerie said gently. “Having him take pictures with the first one hundred fans at each store seems like a lot.”
He appreciated Valerie’s intention, but he’d hate for anyone to travel to see him and not get a chance to speak to him. “I think I’ll be okay.”
Iris spoke up, still looking directly at Angel. “If you decide that one hundred people is too much, please let me know. Your comfort is our priority. If there’s anything you need during the autograph signing or photo ops, please don’t hesitate to ask. If you need to take a break at any time, just say the word.”
“Thank you,” he said, and Iris nodded. Their gazes held for a beat before Iris looked at Valerie, who confirmed her satisfaction with Iris’s answer.
To Angel’s disappointment, the meeting ended soon after.
“Since we’ve finished a little early, we’d love to record some quick content for our social media with Angel,” Paloma said, as everyone stood. “If that’s okay.”
“Yeah, of course,” Angel said, before Valerie or Claudia could answer for him.
“Great! I’m going to quickly run to the restroom and then I’ll escort you down to our studio,” Paloma said.
“Actually, I’d be happy to escort them,” Iris cut in. She went to the door and waited for Angel and his team, smiling patiently. Angel smiled back as he approached her. He felt a crackle between them, some kind of force that drew him to her. They fell into step together with Valerie, Claudia and Ray walking behind them.
Now it was Angel’s turn to study Iris. Her short hair was tied back today in a low bun. She wasn’t wearing as much makeup as she’d worn at the wedding. She was beautiful.
“So how’s Maxine?” she asked.
Angel’s brows rose. She’d remembered his dog’s name. It was such a small thing that made him so happy. “She’s great. Missing me right now, like I’m missing her.” He smiled. “How is everything with you?”
“Good,” she said. “I’ve, um, been doing good.”
She glanced back toward Valerie and Claudia, who were deep in discussion, looking at something on Claudia’s iPad. Iris looked at Angel again.
“I wanted to apologize to you,” she said quietly, leaning closer.
He took the chance to lean closer as well, taking in her floral-scented perfume. “Apologize? Why?”
“The way I reacted at my sister’s wedding. How I ran away from you after we danced. It was unnecessary.”
Now that he had some context about her not being in a place to date, he’d never hold her reaction against her. “It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize about that.”
She gave him a doubtful smile. “You probably think I’m the most awkward person on the planet.”
He shook his head. “Not at all.”
“You were just trying to be kind to me when it was clear that I was having a bad day, and I appreciate that.” She laughed softly. “This morning, I even convinced myself that your new song was about me.”
“It was,” he said honestly.
Iris’s steps faltered and she stared at him. He stared back. “But…why?” she whispered.
“I felt like you could use a song.”
Her lips parted. She blinked once, twice.
“Did you like it?” he asked. He held his breath, nervous and all too eager to hear her answer.
“I—” She glanced at his team again. They were nearing the elevator now. Some of her colleagues were rising from behind their cubicles, looking at Angel, discreetly holding up their phones. But Angel didn’t care about that. He was focused on Iris. She cleared her throat. “Yes, I did. I do.”
Warmth spread throughout his chest. Iris liked the song. Even if Pitchfork or The Fader reviewed it and tore it apart, he wouldn’t care. Because the song was about Iris and she liked it and that was all that mattered to him.
“Good,” he said, grinning at her. “If you hated it, I’d have to quit music altogether and when people asked why, I’d be too embarrassed to tell them the truth, so I’d have to lie and say I’d decided to pursue other passions, like making homemade soap.”
Iris burst into surprised laughter and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “Why homemade soap , of all things?”
“Everybody likes being clean, don’t they? I’ll never go out of business.”
“It’s not a terrible idea,” she said. “But if you decide to mass-produce it—because you have to assume that all of your fans will want some of your soap—could you keep the integrity of your brand? Natural ingredients can be costly. Once you get big, you’ll probably end up adding synthetic ingredients.” She tapped the side of her head, mouth curving into a smile as she looked at him. “Just something to consider.”
“Wow, nah, those are good points.” His grin widened, delighted that she was entertaining this fake idea of his. “You sound like you know what you’re talking about. We should discuss it more over coffee.”
Once he said that last sentence, he immediately regretted it. He’d meant it as a joke, because he knew from Violet that Iris wasn’t dating right now. But it was clear that Iris thought that he was being serious. He watched in dismay as her smile fell a fraction and she bit her lip.
“Angel, I think you’re great,” she whispered with furrowed brows. “I mean, obviously you’re great. But this is my job, and even if it wasn’t, I don’t…we…I mean, I…” She trailed off, obviously struggling for a way to let him down easy. Her cheeks flushed again.
Although it stung to hear this, he remembered what Violet had said about not taking Iris’s rejection personally.
“I get it,” he said, eager to put her at ease. “I hear you loud and clear. I’ll be a perfect gentleman on this tour. I want you to know that.” He smiled and added, “I won’t ask you for any more dances at twilight.”
Iris laughed, and the light sound relieved him. Her shoulders relaxed as she sent him a grateful look. “Thank you for saying that.”
“Of course.”
They faced each other as they waited for the elevator to reach their floor. Iris was still smiling. Her eyes began to roam his face, pausing at his hoop nose ring and then lingering on his mouth. She bit her lip again and rubbed the back of her neck.
Angel might have grown up as a sheltered kid, and he might not have had his first kiss until he was eighteen. But he knew enough now to recognize when a woman was interested in him.
He had a feeling that Iris was interested, or at the very least, intrigued. But she was determined not to act on it.
He had no choice but to respect that.
“Thank you for waiting!”
Angel blinked and Iris turned abruptly. Paloma was rushing down the hall toward them as fast as she could move. Dominique was right behind her, glancing between Iris and Angel with a quirked eyebrow.
The elevator finally reached their floor and opened its doors. Iris looked at Angel again, and he was suddenly filled with reluctance to leave her.
“Iris, can I speak to you for a moment before my eleven o’ clock?” Dominique asked.
“Oh, of course,” Iris said. She spared one more look at Angel. She smiled, and it zapped him straight in the heart. “Thank you for coming in today. I’ll see you next week.”
She held her hand out toward him. Angel took her hand in his, and he felt a rush as their palms pressed together. Her skin was soft and warm.
“See you then,” he said.
Iris stared up at him. Their handshake was lasting longer than necessary but neither pulled away.
“Iris?” Dominique prompted.
Iris blinked and dropped his hand, taking a swift and sudden step backward. Immediately, he missed her touch. She cleared her throat and waved goodbye to him and his team. Angel held his hand at his side, palm tingling as he watched her walk away with her boss.
Funny that he was surrounded by people all day long, and in the few minutes he’d talked to Iris, he’d felt less lonely.
He hoped that by the end of the tour, they might at least become friends.