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He laughed. “You were born ready. Look at you.”
All she was wearing was a soft cream-colored lounge suit—a tracksuit, basically, but looser and in a fine cotton fabric that draped just the way she liked it.
“You could walk out of this building dressed like that,” he said, “and you’d be better dressed than most of the people in the city. You’ve got style, baby,” he added in a terrible impression of…
“Was that supposed to be Frank Sinatra?” She frowned. “Elvis?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, which cracked her up. “My point is, you achieved something on your own.”
“With some pretty good eye candy on my arm,” she said. He inclined his head in thanks, and she went back to checking out the reactions.
In another minute, she found her first negative review. “Oof,” she said, and the punch to her gut did indeed feel physical.
“Do not read the opinion pieces,” he said. “They have nothing better to do than tear you up.”
“Down,” she corrected absently. “So you saw this?” She turned her screen to him. His face told her that he had.
Another Fielding Gets Famous by Standing Next to Someone Famous, the headline said. Megan closed one eye, as though that would soften the blow, and read the article. They had gone into the archives, and most of the pictures were of Kane and his old girlfriends. And they were determined to give both her and Kane hanger-on status.
“Your brother knew what he was doing,” Alessandro said.
“He told me it was just a happy accident, meeting Didi Ravello. The company was in trouble back then, and his name being in the media helped.” She glanced sideways at him. “And I might have only been in college, but even I knew he was having a hell of a lot of fun at the same time.”
Alessandro barked a laugh. “I hope she did, too.”
“Ew.” Megan shuddered. “Moving on!”
“Scusami.”
“Anyway. I guess they were right. That was why it was so hard for Ellen when she came along. Cat thought she was using Kane the way the other women did. Not ‘using,’ just…”
“Enjoying,” he put in.
“Right.”
She looked back at the article. “That isnotwhat I’m doing,” she said.
“I know.” He hugged her. “You are not your brother. I am not an actress looking for eye candy.”
Megan hoped she believed him.
Enough looking at the bad news. She opened her email instead. Today was Saturday, but Megan often spent weekends at work.
What she found, though, made her gulp and squeak, “What?”
“What?” Alessandro said.
“I’ve got—” She opened a few of the latest emails. “Eight—no, ten—job offers!”
“That is wonderful,cara. Of course people want you after seeing your work with the Studio.”
“I’m not—don’t they know I already have a job? I—they’re sending it to my work email, so yes, they know. I can’t believe this!”
“Believe it.”
“I can’t.” She hopped off her stool and began pacing. “I’m not looking for a new job! I meant volunteering for the charities. Not a whole new job!” She clicked on one of the offers. “This is a global marketing company! This is a fashion house! These guys run a foundation like Kane’s.” She waved the phone at Alessandro. “I was just talking about PR for the foundation, and these guys want topayme to do it!”
“It sounds as though you would love it,” he said, but Megan didn’t want to hear it. Why were people acting as though they knew what she wanted better than she did? She came to a screeching halt in front of the rack of clothes that still stood in her living room. Yasmin thought she knew what Megan wanted to wear. And these people sliding into her DMs thought she was desperate to leave the job she was born to do and jump ship just because of one successful campaign!
