AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Quit working on them? They were already done. Katie had stayed at the office until nine last night making sure theeighty-eighthard copy invites were ready to mail out as soon as Lori gave the go-ahead.
"Tucker is already working on the new designs for the invites, programs, place cards, etcetera, but Katie, you need to coordinate with the printing company and get all that sorted out," Lori directed.
Ugh, Mr. Miller over at LTD Printing was not going to like this, but at least she wasn’t poor Tucker. The in-house graphic designer’s jaw was so tight his teeth were probably cracking.
Lori continued on, unaffected by the tension building up around the table. "Ebony, there are a few updates we need to make for the press suite. First, let’s go ahead and get…"
Ellis poked Katie in the ribs and she tuned Lori out to look at the notepad on the table.
CAN I GET A RIDE? ALEX IS WORKING LATE AND I'D RATHER HIM HAVE THE CAR
Ellis’ husband was an emergency medicine resident at a hospital across town and until he paid off his medical school loans, the two men were sharing a vehicle. Their schedules worked out more often than not, but since their condo was on Katie’s route home, she’d been giving Ellis rides here and there so he didn’t have to Uber. They’d gotten in the habit of stopping for Happy Hour drinks when they got off in time to do so.
Katiescribbledback:
Of course! Wine bar?
HELLS YES!!!
Ellis was dotting his exclamation points with a vigor that made Katie giggle when the Dragon Lady sliced in with her sharp tone.
"Ellis?"
They both straightened up like guilty school children.
"Yes, ma’am?"
"Ihaveaspecialprojectforyou."
Lori nodded at Anjali and the face of none other than Landon Ryan took over the screen.
Katie’s stomach dropped through the floor and straight into the stadium basement. Had it really happened this fast?She stared up at the screen, lips open and poised to defend herself as she waited for Anjali to click again and a picture to pop up of her having coffee with Landon. Or eating tacos. Or making out in an alleyway. It would be just Lori’s style to incorporate some humiliating interlude into the meeting to make an example of her. How could she have been so stupid? So careless?
Katie’s thundering heart about strangled her in the seconds it took for rationality to flood in. The photo of Landon wasn’t snapped from a cell phone. No, this was a professional shot, taken by a really good photographer. Someone who had managed to capture the playfulness that simmered underneath Landon’s intensity. His eyes bored back at the camera, but the baseball bat slung over his shoulder and the smirk toying at his lips made him more mischievous than defiant. The photographer must have known him personally because they’d captured a part of him beyond the All Star baseball player. A part of him Katie had only come to know today.
"This photo was taken by Stella Rhodes, the doctor’s wife I was telling you about from the ACB," Anjali said. "She and her friend, Rowan Sanchez, co-create these amazing portrait pieces. They go by the handle Stella and Row on social media. Stella is the photographer and Rowan isa very talented graphic artist. Just see for yourself."Click."I think portraits like these could draw in a record breaking sum at the banquet’s live auction."
Anjaliwasn’twrong.Katiewouldhavebidontheartworkina second if she had that type of money. Stella had captured the essence of Landon Ryan and Row had honed it by imposing bold colors and shapes. The shadows of his face were highlighted in green, the contours in violet, andthebaseballbatslungoverhisshoulderglowedhotpink.Buthis eyes stayed true to form—mesmerizing, magnetic, and still blue. They’d matched the shade perfectly, somewhere between azure and cobalt.
Katie’s lips hummed just looking at him up there on the screen, her mind blown that she’d actually, literally been kissing him just hours ago. Her fingertips fluttered against her bottom lip, remembering.
"It’s stunning, Anjali," Lori said, throwing compliments out like Katie had never, ever heard. "I’d love to do the entire starting lineup, but we just don’t have the time. Let’s do as many as we can, all the way up to the banquet, and Ellis that’s where you come in. You’ll be coordinating with all the players and their personal teams to make this happen. Anjali’s got too many things on her plate to deal with scheduling, but she and Stella may even need to fly out to meet the team while they’re on the road to get this done in time."
Katie slumped down in her chair, a bad taste slithering into her mouth as she pictured Landon meeting up with Stella or Row—or how about both?—in some hotel hallway in Denver or Los Angeles. She’d been feeling pretty special after their little rendezvous in the alley, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been playing the same games with Stella Rhodes. She just sounded sexy and that portrait was too damn…intimate.
Or how about Anjali? Katie hadn’t really noticed before, but she definitely had a buttoned-up Priyana Chopkra thing going on.
Katie put her own pointless jealousy aside when she took note of Ellis’ distressed pose. He was nodding to Lori, jotting down notes as she spoke, but his free hand clenched into a fist under the table. Katie scribbled thenslid the notepad back into his line of sight.
Fuck the wine barTequila?
MLB After The Game
EXSN Sports - Channel 809
REPORTER1:A lot to talk about tonight, eh, Landon?
LANDON:Have at it, Jeff.
