Cass laughed and held her hands up in defense. "Just looking."
"That's what I want," Wyatt continued as he turned to look at Kelsey. "Her everywoman quality."
"So find another everywoman," Siobhan said. "Just do it fast."
"There isn't one," he mused, his gaze glued on Kelsey.
"Then it's not really every girl, is it?" Siobhan said.
Wyatt had been silently cursing the fact that his show had hit a wall. But when Siobhan's words got through the noise in his head, he slowly turned. "Wait. Say that again?"
"Uh, I don't know exactly what I said. I just mean that you don't really want every girl. You want that girl. You just want every woman to think they could be her."
"Siobhan, sweetheart, you're a genius." He pulled her close and kissed her hard on the mouth while Cass broke into delighted laughter, followed soon by Siobhan once she got over the shock.
"I hope that means you have a plan," she quipped.
"I do indeed," he said, then started across the room.
"Wait," Siobhan called. "There's one thing I need to tell you. Jensen reached out again."
"No advance images," Wyatt said. "We've covered that."
"Yeah, well, this time he went through my intern. Told her he'd really like to focus on the show. I guess he's intrigued."
"Good for him. The feeling isn't mutual." At the same time, Wyatt wasn't stupid. And he knew that both the Examiner and Jensen had a reputation for both making--and destroying--careers.
He sighed. "Go on."
"He's looking for an exclusive advance peek. In exchange, he's offering a guaranteed series of articles on you and the exhibit."
No way No fucking way. "In other words, he's poked into my family life and wants to get closer than he can just by trolling public records."
"The upside is publicity," Siobhan said. "And my boss thinks he's making a solid offer. I think--"
But she didn't get the words out, because Wyatt threw up his hand with a very firm, "No. It's not solid, it's bullshit. He's interested in my family, not my art. Give him a sneak peek and we get all those perks? More like we give him an early look and that gives him time to aim the knives. Start to criticize. Leak bogus statements that the work is flawed. Unoriginal. That it's all just hype, and the grandson of a Hollywood legend is a no-talent hack who changed his damn name because he doesn't deserve it."
"Or they could rave," Siobhan said flatly.
"The answer is no."
"Good," she said, then shrugged when Wyatt looked at her with genuine surprise. "I told Keisha and Jensen I'd present the offer. I didn't say I agreed with it."
Wyatt actually laughed. "There's a reason we're friends," he said. "And now I need to go see about another woman." He gave them ea
ch a quick hug, then started across the room for a second time.
Only this time, Kelsey wasn't there.
"I think she and Griffin went home," Evelyn said. "Too bad, too. I like that girl, and I hate to drink alone. Join me?" she asked, holding up an empty glass.
"What the hell," he agreed. "Let's go see where we can fill that for you and find a fresh one for me. And while we're chatting, maybe you can write down Griff's phone number for me."
When she did, he offered to trade a favor for a favor, but just the suggestion insulted her. "I play a lot of Hollywood games, but I don't trade like that. Not with friends. What do you need with my client? You planning his photo shoot?"
"His sister's," Wyatt admitted.
"Ah. Looks like I'm getting a tiny peek into the Wyatt Royce secret sanctuary. I know about Cass, of course. But I don't think you've formally announced any of the models, have you?"