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“How wonderful that you already know one another,” Angela enthused. She introduced the rest of the people around the table, but my mind was taken up with Fort’s closeness, and his power-businessman persona. Goodluck bit a nail, unimpressed.
“Let’s begin by looking through some mockups designed by our art department,” Angela said.
“I need coffee,” Goodluck interrupted. “Fair-trade organic decaffeinated coffee, if you have it.”
“Of course,” Fort agreed in a smooth voice. “We should have had it waiting. Angela?”
The woman stood and scurried from the room. A moment later, Goodluck exited after her, leaving me to face the confused looks of everyone else.
“I’m not sure he’s coming back.” I felt a blush spread across my cheeks. “He has a short attention span for everything but photography, but we’ve discussed which photos he’d be willing to contribute to the campaign, if you’d like to take a look?”
Fort smiled, and something about that smile reminded me of ghostly leather cuffs. His eyes were lion’s eyes, dark hazel and gold, even more intense under bright boardroom lights than in his guest room. I hid my hands under the table before I was tempted to rub my wrists.
“Thank you, Ms. Pope,” he said. “Let’s stick to business. And if you’d like some irresponsibly sourced, caffeine-infused coffee, there’s some right next door.”
A wild chuckle escaped me. “Irresponsibly sourced?”
“Grown in Antarctica and harvested by endangered rhinos.”
I shook my head, trying to be the sober business manager. “I don’t drink coffee, but thank you for the offer. Before I show you the photos, can you show me the mockups, and some samples of the watches you’re hoping to advertise?”
Forty-five minutes later, I’d been schooled on what distinguished a plain watch from a fine watch, and a fine watch from a luxury timepiece. I’d tried on some Sinclair watches and brainstormed about them in conjunction with Goodluck’s images. I’d conferred with Sinclair’s talented art director on the mockups’ tiniest details. I thought Fort might leave at some point, but he stayed, contributing measured and intelligent opinions, making my heart race with unprofessional lust.
There were several ads planned, and the amount of money they intended to invest in the campaign floored me. The clear, focused way they worked floored me too, since I was used to decoding Goodluck’s wispy thought trails whenever I needed to get anything done.
As I’d suspected, Goodluck never returned to the Sinclair boardroom, even after Angela showed up with the fair-trade decaf. Their marketing director agreed to send the final contracts to Goodluck’s lawyer, and we were done. As everyone stood and filed out of the conference room, Fort turned to me.
“We’re grateful that Mr. Boundless agreed to take part in our 50th anniversary advertising campaign. Thanks for your help in making it happen—and thank you for staying after he disappeared.”
“You’re welcome.” I stared at his textured, pressed suit and dotted silk pocket square. “So, you take a pretty active role in the Sinclair business?”
“Yes. I oversee public relations, product presentation, and corporate branding for my father.” He smoothed a hand down the front of his suit, a casual gesture that made me even more aware of his body. “I see you do the same kind of work for Goodluck.”
“It’s nothing like this.” I glanced around the gleaming room, then gestured toward the window, slipping by him. “Wow. Look at your view.”
I had to distract myself, to remind myself why I needed to walk away from this meeting and forget about Fort St. Clair, no matter how professional and charming he was. He followed me to the window and stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. It felt weirdly proprietary, the way he stood so close.
“You can see the top of the Black Wall from here,” he said, pointing.
“Is that why you thought of Goodluck for your ad campaign?” I asked, turning to him.
“Yes.” He hesitated a moment. “No. Not really. After I met you, I did some searching online.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to learn more about Goodluck Boundless, the Black Wall, those kinds of things. The idea for the watch ads came out of that research.”
“Oh, that’s great.”
Holy crap, he’d Internet-searched me just like I’d Internet-searched him.
“I’m glad to see you looking better,” he said. His gaze skimmed down my body, then ended up somewhere in the area of my neck. Was he thinking about the collar he’d taken off me? What had he done with it?
“It must be a relief to see me acting like a normal human being,” I said, trying to sound breezy.
“Normality is overrated, don’t you think?”
Smooth voice, white teeth, those crazy-sexy lips. Was he flirting or just being nice? I didn’t know what he wanted from me, didn’t even trust myself to guess. I couldn’t fall for him, which meant I couldn’t stay here a moment longer.
“Well, it’s been great to see you again,” I said. “I should probably…get going…”
Before I could slink around him, he held out an arm, trapping me where I was. “Are you busy right now, Ms. Pope? Are you doing anything for lunch?”
