Good fucking God. I couldn’t believe I’d said it!
“No,” he laughed.
“It’s not that part I’m worried about,” I confessed. “It’s my boss. It’s all the work I’d fall behind on…”
Corey and Brody were looking down now. I could sense their collective disappointment. But Mason’s expression was different. He seemed to understand as he caught my gaze, and nodded reassuringly.
“As someone in the business I get it,” he said. “You represent a lot of very important clients. Really big people, who rely on you.”
Very important clients…
Somehow the words struck a nerve with me. I felt a wave of irritation. No, not irritation. More like resentment.
Really big people.
I thought about my accounts, my projects, my work. Not one of them was big. Not one of them was monumentally important anymore, and there was a simple reason for that:
Lilith.
Every time I got a big name client, Lilith took over. Every time I represented someone exciting or landed an exciting new project, Lilith transfered the responsibility somewhere else.
She’d been taking my best work for a long time now, and leaving me the more tedious, boring minutia. And I’d done it. I’d accepted it, without protest, without any blow-back or resistance or even a single word of complaint.
No, I wasn’t doing anything important. And when I really thought about it, I hadn’t been for a long time.
“Okay,” I blurted abruptly. “I’ll stay.”
Corey and Brody’s heads snapped upward. Mason’s perfect mouth curled into a fiendish grin.
“Really?”
“Yes,” I said, somewhere between being abruptly pissed off and suddenly excited. “But on two conditions.”
Corey smirked and folded his arms. “Alright, let’s hear them.”
“One, no one goes easy on anyone,” I said slyly. “Last night was incredible. I want more of it, not less.”
“Done,” the three of them said in stereo. They did it so quickly, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“And the other?” asked Brody.
“We spend a day driving out to Hollywood,” I said, my gaze shooting over to Mason. “I want to see what’s going on with you, your agent, your publicist. I want to know you’re being well taken care of.”
I shrugged again as their eyes went wide with surprise.
“Besides, I’ve never seen Los Angeles. And what’s better than having a movie-star escort?”
Thirty-Six
BRODY
“A week. Yes. A ‘whole week’, if that’s the way you need to put it. Seven more days.”
Her voice was terse. Testy. Like the person she was speaking to wasn’t someone she even liked, much less respected as her boss.
“Lilith, I’ve been with the firm over six years now,” Lauren reiterated. “This is my second vacation. No, not counting weekends. No, I’m not counting that either.”
I watched her grow stern, her brows knit more tightly together. She was beautiful to begin with — especially out here on the patio, basking in the desert sun. But she was even more gorgeous when she was angry.