Just a Taste (Private Relations 1)

While the elevator made its way up to the thirtieth floor, she took a moment to reflect on how well the meeting went then sighed. With a slight shake of her head, she stepped onto the elevator and headed back toward the ground floor.

Her internet research skills really left something to be desired. She read countless articles on the company, but had only heard mention of James Conroy, the CEO, and of course Chris Marks, whom everyone already knew. He’d been an amazing college football player until his knee had been blown out junior year. There hadn’t been any mention of Deacon at all.

Shaking her head, she realized that James was the J, Deacon was the D, and Chris was the C in JDC. That was pretty clever of her, putting it together now, after the most awkward business meeting of her life.

She thought she had been so diligent. She knew what they did, who they represented, and that they were considered to be one of the biggest up-and-coming PR firms in the Los Angeles area. She knew they had amazing connections, and that they were expanding their business outside of sports.

Shrugging, she decided that no amount of research could have prepared her for the shock of seeing Deacon James in the flesh again.

Chapter 2

As the door to the lobby closed, Deacon exhaled, not even realizing that he’d been holding his breath. Well, he thought to himself as he made his way back to his office, that was awkward.

Opening the door and walking toward his desk, he flopped down in his desk chair.

Time had really done some great things to Sara. She was pretty back then, but now she was even more so. That curly red hair had been a little wild in college, but she’d managed to tame it. It had fallen in soft waves down her back today. Her facial features were a bit more defined. She’d gotten rid of the glasses. That was a shame.

Not that any of that was important now. Taking a moment to run the last half hour through his mind again, he came to a few conclusions that left him feeling slightly uncomfortable.

She acted like she didn’t realize who he was, but he had a feeling that was more about the contract than anything. Putting himself in her shoes, he’d be hard pressed to forget someone acted like that big of a prick after sex. She probably wanted to nail him to the wall by his dick.

From his earlier conversation with Chris, he knew that her business was fairly new. Chris said the food was excellent, but that she wasn’t really doing much advertising. It was almost strictly word of mouth. JDC was planning to use her catering service pretty regularly. Hell, they basically had her on retainer. For a new business, that kind of contract was probably a big deal.

That would also explain why she was amenable to making changes to the document. He fully expected her to say no. She probably agreed so readily so they’d sign the freaking contracts already.

Deacon grimaced slightly. Summing it all up, he had basically boxed her into pretending she didn’t remember how much of a giant asshole he was to her and insinuated himself even further into her presence. All in about fifteen minutes. Excellent work.

The only thing to do at this point was to go and talk to her about it.

Ugh. What would he even say?

With that thought, Deacon settled into the press release he’d left unfinished on his desk previously. Tapping the arrow keys absently, he stared into space, as if trying to pull the words to explain why the Los Angeles Legion’s star running back Lamar Riggs was in trouble with police again for possession. JDC could stay afloat on the mayhem this guy wreaked, alone.

Finding the words, his fingers tapping quickly on the keys, he wrapped up the last of the release and sent it over to his contact at Total Sports News. After setting up a press conference for the next morning, Deacon leaned back in his chair and took a calming breath.

They really needed to stop representing this guy. He was a mess, and didn’t appear to want to change that. It was really becoming a pain in the ass.

At the tap on his door, he raised his voice and said, “C’mon in.”

Chris stood in his door way, looking utterly exhausted.

“So your meeting with Lamar went well, eh?”

Chris mildly flipped him the bird and said, “I am really beginning to fucking hate that guy, Deak. There’s no good way to spin two felony counts of cocaine possession. I told him he needed rehab.”

As if suddenly remembering, “Thanks for meeting with the caterer for me. How did it go?”

Deacon winced and said, “Well. About the caterer. I may have, uh…had sex with her and then never called her again in college.”

With an amused snort, Chris asked, “Did she punch you in the balls?”

Glaring, Deacon said, “Thanks, buddy, but no. She acted like she didn’t know who I was.”

After a short burst of laughter, Chris finally managed to speak again. “That probably stung a bit, right? She didn’t even remember you!”

A little defensive, Deacon said, “Actually, I’m pretty sure she did. I was a little surprised once I recognized her. She picked up on that. I’m sure of it.”

“Well, dude. You totally earned that. Wait, you didn’t chase away the caterer, did you?”