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CHAPTER NINE
Ashlyn
“When I said I want you to cover him, I did not mean that close.” Cici jerked her phone in front of my face, long enough to see that one of the partiers from last night had snapped a picture of Liam dragging me to the exit, half-thrown over his shoulder like booty won in some kind of battle.
I cringed, my cheeks hot. I hadn’t noticed the flash, and would’ve never heard the click, but it was clearly the two of us. His face was dark, dangerous, and mine was half covered with hair as I glared around at him. Even then, my body seemed to be curved toward him.
It pretty much summed up our evening at Ardor in a nutshell. “In my defense, it’s a great picture of me.”
“Local playboy Liam Macklen leading the latest in a long line of dates from one of his clubs last night.” Cici read the caption, her face growing steadily more red as she went along. “No word on who the woman was, but we can safely say that Macklen is keeping this one tight to the chest.”
“It’s very clever. Whomever wrote the copy for that should be proud.”
Cici sighed. “I don’t think that I made myself clear enough when I gave you this assignment. No more jokes. Ash, this is serious. We need Leden Co. as a client. We need the business; we need the publicity. Which means we also need Liam Macklen to play his part as a sweet, recently converted monk who never wanted anything more than he wants to be the CEO. You get that, right?”
“I get it, Cici, I’m sorry. I went there to bail him out, and he refused to leave.” I fiddled with the buckle in my seat belt, suddenly thankful how short the drive from Liam’s place to mine was.
Cici tapped her fingers along the steering wheel. “So you slept with him?”
I opened my mouth. “Well…” I gulped. “Yes, but it was actual sleep. Not what you’re thinking.”
Her eyes widened. “You know just as well as I do that if someone got even a glimpse of you in this get-up, charging out of his penthouse, it wouldn’t have mattered if you went there to fuck him or not. Sex sells, and I cannot have Grove Communications spotlighted like that.”
I looked out the window so that Cici couldn’t see the hot rush of tears that filled my eyes. “I’m sorry; I really am, Cici. What can I do? Are you taking me off his project?”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
Cici pulled in front of the little plot of apartments I’d recently moved into. “Because in the five minutes that it took me to get dressed and the ten it took me to drive here, Liam Macklen made several concessions.”
My heart stuttered. “What do you mean?”
Cici swiped open her email. The top message, still unread, showed a subject line. “Signed contract from Liam Macklen.”
“He texted me too. Said he would only send the documents over if I agreed to have you cover his case. Only you.”
I had a feeling that she rolled her eyes at that last part. But I didn’t dare look at her. She’d read my face in an instant.
I sniffed hard. “He did?”
“Don’t get starry eyed. He knows he screwed up too, and I know for a fact he’d rather deal with you than Peter or me. He’s smart, not romantic.” She turned to face me, her messy bun shifting in the move. “So listen up. You are going to deliver Leden their new CEO on a platter. But no more slumber parties. No more Instagram pictures with your ass in the air. Liam Macklen is far too important.”
“I know.” And I did. But why did my throat suddenly feel so tight?
“Are we clear, then?”
I nodded slowly. “Crystal.”
“Get out of my car then, you whore.”
“Excuse me, we slept. Actual sleep. With pillows and snores and drooling galore.”
Cici rolled her eyes. “Sure, okay, that’s exactly what I figured.”
I stumbled out of the car and onto the sidewalk of my apartment building. God, my level of clumsy had really skyrocketed the past twenty-four hours. “It’s true.”
Cici’s only response was to turn up the volume on her car and go speeding out of the parking lot. I raised a hand in farewell, knowing she wouldn’t look back. And she didn’t.
