He must be closeted…or something. I hadn’t seen anything online about him being gay or bi, but maybe I’d just overlookedit.
“Well, my body under this is a direct consequence of my diet, so I think I’ll keep with my tenders and let you lay waste to yourplatter.”
“I do love food,” he acknowledged before continuing rightalong.
I gave him some time before finally picking up where we left off. “So what are you thinking, now that you’re digesting what I said and thefood?”
He pressed his thumb against his cheek, eyeing me in a way I couldn’tread.
“I think you should meet mymother.”
“What?” I asked, totallythrown.
“Yeah.” He nodded subtly. “You need to come meet the fam. My mom’s a great judge of character. If she likes you, which is rare, then maybe I’ll dothis.”
“I’m not meeting your family, Jace,” I said sternly. “Comeon.”
“No, I think you’re cool, and I’m considering it all more than I did before, but I’ve always said, if Nance doesn’t like someone, I don’t trust them. And I’m not going to sign over a year of my life and walk away from my job and my family if I don’t trust someone. I need time to think it over anyway, and you’re intown…”
“For the night. And now it’s already been an extranight.”
“Well, if you can’t stay, consider it ano.”
God-fucking-dammit. Hard to reason with someone who had all the cards. “Okay, okay. When are we doing thisdinner?”
“That’s more like it,” he said, smirking like he realized he had all thepower.
I didn’t like the feeling of not being in charge, but I was desperate for this account, so I would put up with whatever ridiculous requests this guymade.
4
Jace
“What are your thoughts,Mac? You think we should be celebrities?” I glanced in the rearview mirror at Mac in his little car seat. Droopy-looking black snout, creased brown face, purple tongue sticking out as he panted, and those wide, black eyes assuring me that, in fact, he still didn’t understand a damn thing I said tohim.
We were en route to the hotel Dax was staying at in downtown Fever Falls. I almost felt bad he had to stay in town for another day, but he didn’t have to stick around if he didn’t want to. Only if he wanted me to consider the sort of ad campaign he was pitching, and which I needed some time to thinkon.
I should have blown him off like the other bigwigs who’d called with offers. Hell, I had every intention of doing just that when I headed into Fever Pitch to chat with Dax. However, since things had calmed down, it was easier for me to think straight, and what he was talking about was a lot of money for me to throw away without so much as giving it a secondthought.
High six figures. A guy could do a lot of good with that muchmoney.
Was I really considering any of this, though? Or was I just interested in continuing to chat with Dax? Both,maybe?
I pulled into the porte cochere at his hotel and called him. He came out a few minutes later and slid into the passenger seat, talking on hiscell.
“Just tell Baxter I’ll get back to him tomorrow about that whole ordeal. I’m in ameeting.”
“Yeah, I can imagine the kind of meeting you’re going to have tonight.” The words were unmistakable on the other end of the line, and Dax turned to me as though to see if I’d heard. I made no attempt to hide myamusement.
Were they just joking around, or was Dax into guys? And why did I give a shit, since it wasn’t like we would do anythingtogether.
“Okay, Carter. Later,” he said, then hung up and closed hisdoor.
“Sorry, that was myassistant.”
“Ooh, you just keep getting fancier and fancier. Sunglasses indoors, martinis, and now anassistant.”
He eyed me curiously. “Do I seem like a cliché LA PR guy? I promise I’m that and so many more of the dickbag aspects you might assume about me.” He flashed a smile, looking more like a model than a PR guy in thatmoment.
