He never used to be so goddamn pretentious. Success does something to a man. It’s an unstoppable catalyst.
Odessa spreads her things out at the end of the conference table, taking the chair on Dane’s right.
“Oh, Dane.” Casual excitement colors her tone. “Beckham and I are flying to Vermont next week. He’ll be leading a town hall meeting with Charity Falls and answering questions for an interview that’ll go in their Sunday paper. Front page.”
Her body mirrors his. Apparently I’m made of cellophane.
“You didn’t tell me it was going to be front page,” I interject. Not that it matters. It doesn’t.
“This project is kind of a big deal there.” She turns to me, sticking the end of a capped pen between her pink lips before pointing it at me. “This interview is a huge deal. They’re going to try and use your words against you, analyzing the town hall meeting to come up with pointed questions.”
“No pressure.” Dane tenses his jaw.
“I can handle this.” I take a seat on my brother’s left, but not before removing my jacket and draping it over the back of my chair.
“The last thing we need is negative publicity,” Dane grips a pen between his thumb and forefinger, twisting it back and forth. “We have several major deals in the works. Some just waiting on signatures. It could all change if our image is slaughtered because of Charity Falls.”
“Exactly.” Odessa chimes in, speaking with her hands. “This is the kind of story that goes viral. Today Show picks it up, Facebook sticks it in their sidebar, Reddit gets ahold of it…”
“You act like this is the Keystone Pipeline.” I groan, burying my head in my hands. “They’re wind towers for fuck’s sake.”
“The fact that he doesn’t see the significance of this is what concerns me,” Odessa turns to Dane, cutting me out of the conversation once again.
“Agreed.” Dane furrows his brow as he mirrors her posture. They’re locked in some kind of silent conversation, I’m sure. Communicating telepathically like they share a goddamned brain.
The room is hot. I unbutton my collar, as she tilts her head and smiles at him.
“Don’t worry, Dane. I’ll feed Beckham some handcrafted lines that’ll quell this little story before it picks up any more steam.” Odessa places her hand over his, and he doesn’t flinch.
I’m not sensing a sexual attraction between them. But they click. Genuine, mutual respect filters back and forth between them, taking shape in quiet smiles and easy nods.
Just a couple of fucking pals.
“Anyway.” I clear my throat, rising to grab bottled water from the fridge in the back of the room. “Next order of business?”
Or first order, really.
It’s not like Dane to allow someone else to run the show. Shit, he barely allows me. I have to claw my way up and prove that I’m not some haughty playboy without a care in the world. I give a damn about this company. It’s my “baby” too. I’ve just mastered the art of conducting myself without a giant stick up my ass.
My brother drones on about a couple of clients he’s been wooing on the West Coast, while I’ve been busy romancing the Peterson Corporation. I assure him the Peterson contract is in the bag, and we’re just waiting on the board to meet and take their final vote.
“Oh, here.” Odessa perks up, typing into her tablet. “We have the preliminaries for the test site if you want to go over it now?”
She whips the screen around, only I can’t see it from where I’m seated. Dane’s eyes adjust and his bottom lip juts out as he scrutinizes.
“Is this something we can discuss tomorrow?” I glance at my watch, my stomach damn near echoing. I haven’t eaten in several hours. “I’m going to grab a bite to eat.”
And call some old friends because I’ll be damned if I sit around Golden Oak tasting Scotch and smoking hand-rolled cigars by the fountain that depicts torch-carrying Goddess Demeter.
That was Dane’s idea of a guy’s night last time I was in town…
“Remember we’re having dinner with Uncle Leo,” Dane says.
“I wasn’t aware that was tonight,” I say.
“We’re meeting at six.” Dane checks his wristwatch. “Sam, you’re welcomed to join. It’s a casual dinner at an old diner outside of town. I’ve given my kitchen staff the night off. You’ve been traveling all day. You deserve a decent meal.”
“I don’t want to impose,” she says.
“Uncle Leo would love to meet you.” Dane offers a warm smile. “Please. I insist.”
Odessa’s eyes search mine then return to Dane’s.
“Yes. Please.” I stand, swinging my jacket off the back of my chair. “You can sit by me.”
She ignores me, gathering her things. “Sure. I’ll join if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” Dane retrieves her pen. “And Sam, if you’d like to put your things in office thirty-four, it should be unlocked. Key’s in the door. It’s all yours while you’re here.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” She heads toward the door.
“Meet us at the elevator in a half hour,” Dane calls after her. He steps closer to me the second she’s out of earshot. “What the hell was that?”
“Beg your pardon?” I was about to ask him the same thing.
“You fucked her, didn’t you?” Dane’s hands hook on his hips. “Can’t leave you alone with anyone for five minutes.”
“In my defense, it was before I knew she was Sam the PR consultant. I picked her up at a bar.” I hate how seedy that sounds out loud. “She said her name was Odessa. It was only supposed to be one night.”
“You can’t fuck half of Manhattan and expect to never run into any of them again.”
“Half of Manhattan? Thanks.”
His hand flies up. “I’m sorry. That was a little harsh. But you don’t get a playboy reputation staying home on Friday nights.”
“Gotta get laid somehow,” I declare. “Not the relationship type, and I’m sure as hell not going to find what I need in some kinky sex club.”
Dane fires a daunting glare my way. I don’t know much about the Crystal Swan, I simply appreciate that his urges are distinctly different than mine. Sex for Dane has to be as mentally stimulating as it is physical, at least that’s what he told me once. I prefer not to have to think when I’m balls deep in a gorgeous woman. I don’t want her restrained, quiet, or subservient. I want her riding me, screaming my name, and digging her nails into my back.
Deliciously uninhibited.
“Are we done here?” I slice through our silence. “Because I’m fucking starving.”
My brother cracks a rare smile. I catch a glimpse of it before it fades. “Don’t fuck her again. Not while she’s working for us.”
“Same to you.” Not that I think he’d do it.
“She’s not my type, Beckham. You know that.”
“So you weren’t eye-fucking her right in front of me for the last two hours?”
“You’re delusional. And it’s called being hospitable. She’s a company guest. I was treating her as such.” Dane grabs his silver pen and tucks it into his left breast pocket, a sign that he’s done with this conversation. He takes a step past me, then another, before stopping and turning back. “You like her, don’t you?”
“Fuck, no.” I scrunch my face.
“Right.” Dane rakes his hand along his jaw, seeing right through me.
“Some girls are worth the chase.” My words are about as accurate as that God-forsaken oil portrait hanging down the hall. “Believe me, she’s not. There’s nothing special about her–”
“Ahem.”
Our attention jerks toward the doorway, where Odessa stands with folded arms and averted eyes.
“Maureen said the car’s downstairs.”
Chapter Twelve
ODESSA
“Who’s this foxy lady?” A short man with crinkled gray eyes and a faded Dodgers baseball cap stretches his arms my way the second we walk into a hole-in-the-wall diner in Middle of Nowhere, Utah. I thought the guys were joking when they said the diner was in the Middle of Nowhere, but I saw a sign on the way in that said Middle of Nowhere – 8 miles.