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The sleep was good, the dreams even better. But the wake up taste mixed with the crick in my neck from sleeping with my neck hanging over my sofa bed? Not so good.
My phone is chiming and I figure it’s the alarm before I even manage to open my eyes until I remember I didn’t even set the alarm.
I have a moment of near panic until I remind myself that there’s no rush. Not for the next few days at least. I can be a little late into the office, who’s gonna notice?
Without opening my eyes I shift my neck and try to go back to sleep, willing myself back into another Jack Mercury dream but the damned phone has other plans.
Shaking myself awake enough to answer, I fumble for it and almost drop it when I pick it up.
It’s my boss, Naomi.
Why aren’t I in the office yet?
“Umm. I’m doing some research. Fieldwork.”
How does she know I’m not in the office yet? I thought she was way dumber than this.
“Well finish your research pronto, Fanning. There’s some media crew down at the office, trying to sneak past security and making noise about that Jack Mercury contest. We can’t afford any more bad publicity and the editor’s told me to fix it which means you have to fix it. Now. Understand?” she says savagely before hanging up.
I feel confused, scared, and a little relieved.
I’ve never been late for work at the office and it’s dawning on me that maybe Barbie boss Naomi can’t fire me after all because then she’d have no one to do anything for her.
Having never really thought about things in that light, I feel partly relief.
What terrifies me is having to go down to the office and try and fix whatever she was just talking about.
Media crew? Ugh.
The thought of a camera in my face is mortifying, but it’s probably just some rival entertainment reporter or worse, a social media ‘journalist’ trying to boost their video views by giving people who actually work for a living a hard time.
By the time I get to the office and show my ID to security to be let through into the building there’s more than just one media crew.
The whole front of the building is teeming with news crews from every network and police have been called in to control a growing crowd.
I feel sick and hope this has nothing to do with the little problem I’ve been sent down to fix.
The security guard looks relieved once he sees my ID.
“We’ve been waiting for you to turn up,” he says, puffing air out of his cheeks and tipping his hat back.
I feel double sick.
“They’re upstairs,” he adds with a knowing look, creasing the corners of his mouth and jerking his thumb up in the air.
As if I should know what the hell that means.
By the time I’m in an elevator my knees are knocking and I can only tell myself I’ve been found out.
They know. Of course, they know.
You can’t make over seven hundred dollars in phone calls on the office line and not expect to found out, Olivia.
Idiot!
Ah well, I never liked this job anyway. Too bad I can’t make rent this month either.
Guess I’ll just die of mortification.
The elevator pings and the doors slide open once I reach my floor.
The sound of office chatter is suddenly silenced and I blink a little, so many lights shining right in my face.
An unfamiliar voice breaks through the suddenly quiet room and once my eyes adjust to the light I can make out the unmistakable figure of the last person I’d ever expect to see stepping through the small crowd.
It can’t be. I couldn’t have.
A soft moan escapes me before I watch the scene tilt sideways before I hit the floor.
It’s him.
It’s Jack Mercury.
Chapter Four
Jack
I’ve worked with the biggest names and the so-called prettiest faces in the business for twenty years.
Had fans of every description try all kinds of things just to get close, sometimes too close for comfort.
But I’ve never felt the way I do when I set eyes on her, Olivia Fanning. The contest winner and definitely not the first girl to faint at the sight of Jack Mercury in person.
I’ve spent the past hour or so meeting and greeting the whole office waiting for the grand prize winner to actually get here, signing autographs, my cheeks aching already from all the selfies.
But it’s not me I’m thinking about when I shove past the security ignoring everything else to try and catch her before she hits the floor.
It’s her.
To think I was almost gonna bail from this whole contest idea.
I would have missed her, after all these years of waiting she could have passed me by.
I’d never forgive myself now if I let her out of my sight, even for just a minute.
