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Clearing her throat, she tried to get her head in the game before answering the call. After a deep breath she swiped the screen, “Alan, I’m so happy to hea—”
“What the hell is going on?” Before she could even get her entire greeting out he cut her off. “You weren’t at the airport this morning. You didn’t’ show up at the listening party. We’re about to get back on the plane and Ricco is starting to wonder if he’s a priority at all.”
“Of course he is. I can be at the airport in less than thirty minutes to assure him that—”
“Don’t bother. We’ll be in the air by then. I’ve smoothed everything over this time, which is ridiculous. It’s not my job to spin things, it yours. If you pull this shit next week, you’re on your own. This is the last time I bail your ass out.”
With that promise he disconnected the call. When the line went dead, Maxi’s heart sank. Dropping her head, she let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Billy reached up and brushed his hand down her arm. She was sure that he’d meant the gesture to be comforting but it felt much closer to seduction.
“He’s just one client,” he repeated what Jessie had said.
No. He’s not.
There were only a handful of game-changing clients, and he was one of them. The fact that their firm wasn’t based out of New York or Los Angeles already worked against them when it came to getting A-list clientele. Ricco wasn’t just on the A list, he sat at the top. Representing him was going to shine a very bright spotlight on the firm, and she’d blown it on the first event.
“Don’t beat yourself up over this. He’s not worth it.”
“Yes.” Maxi nodded. “Ricco Kingsley is.”
His voice and expression were unimpressed. “He’s not.”
“You don’t understand, he’s bigger than the Beatles in the sixties.”
“I know. I saw his fans up close and personal.”
“Really?” Maxi crossed her arms. “Was your last flavor of the week part of Ricco-Nation?”
“No.”
“I mean, I know you like ’em young, but—”
“I saw them camped out when I landed this morning, smartass.”
“When you landed? Where were you?”
A small grin tilted his lips and Maxi wanted to do a happy dance.
Since Billy had arrived, he’d looked like a caged animal. He may have appeared composed to someone who didn’t know him as well as she did. But to her, his energy was like a hungry lion pacing back and forth behind bars, waiting for the second he was free so he could hunt his prey and kill it.
She’d recognized the savage look in his eye from every time she’d seen him climb between the ropes. Billy Marshall outside of the ring was a laid back, charmer. Inside the ring he was a killer. That was part of the reason that he’d been nicknamed “The Big Bad Wolf”—he was disarming until it was time to go in for the kill.
“D.C. On another job.”
“But you were at a fundraiser at Senator Robbins’ last night.” The event had been covered by local news and Maxi had immediately spotted Billy. Her body had actually registered that it was him before her eyes were able to send the information to her brain. The second the camera had scanned past him her stomach had flipped at his large frame and alpha stance.
She’d never thought anything could come close to hitting the same numbers he reached on the sexiness scale when he was training or fighting. Watching him in those environments was like witnessing a gladiator from the Roman Empire. The ultimate male specimen. Every muscle in his body was highlighted by a sheen of sweat that glistened off his perfect form.
But seeing him last night on the news, in a suit with the same intense stare as when he was facing an opponent, well, that did actually come pretty close after all. The dichotomy of the formal clothes and the barbaric expression was hot. Really, really hot.
“Keepin’ tabs on me, huh?” He smiled wide enough to activate his panty-dropper one-two punch—the deep dimples that appeared on his right and left cheek. “You know, if you miss me that bad, you can always sext me.”
“In your dreams.”
“How did you know?” He winked, and the combination of that and the bad boy grin had her eyes tearing up and her body tingling down.
“I have to go get tickets from my office before we go.” She spun around, hoping that he didn’t catch her misty eyes and started down the hall.
Billy had always flirted with her. Her and every other female in the Tri-State area. She’d always played off his affections as either an annoyance or something that didn’t have any effect on her, even though it did. Unlike random men on the street, she loved when he flirted with and teased her. Secretly, she sometimes lingered at her dad’s gym if she knew he was showing up, just for the chance to see him and be on the receiving end of his flirtation. But today… Today, it didn’t feel like their banter was feeding a schoolgirl crush; today it felt like safety. Like security. It felt like home.
