JACE: Eh, you’re alright. That dick,tho…
I laughed out loud, like a fucking idiot, which reminded me why it had been a good idea to get rid of Carter beforereplying.
ME: LMAO. Well, he misses youtoo.
JACE: Careful with compliments. You know how those give me a big head. And I’m trying to be innocent at my familybarbecue.
ME: Are you seriously at abarbecue?
JACE: Of course! Mom loves a good old-fashionedbarbecue.
Sometimes Jace and his family were too goddamnperfect.
ME: How’s thefam?
JACE: Keeg is trying to play fetch with Mac, which just looks like Keeg throwing a ball and then walking Mac to it. Wish you werehere.
It irritated me how excited that made me. Considering I had to be out there next week to handle our first major publicity project, I knew it wouldn’t be too long before I was back in his sights onceagain.
There was something refreshing about Jace still being the same guy I’d met out in Fever Falls. A part of me had been worried, and was still worried, about losing him to those things I knew poisoned so many others, and while it was too early to be sure whether or not that would happen, I was rooting for Jace. I wanted him to prove me wrong about what I’d come to expect from guys who fell prey to deals likethis.
* * *
For the next few days,the Hacksmore account was our number-one priority as we prepared for the early stages of the campaign, trying to get the maximum amount of exposure for our new goldenboy.
Carter, Elliot, and I headed to Fever Falls the followingweek.
“I’ve got Lena Hermosa’s flight and hotel arranged for this Thursday,” Carter noted as he and I sat in the back of the Tesla the car service had sent to transport us to the hotel. Elliott had booked a slightly later flight than us, so we’d have to meet up with him later and discuss some of the details we werearranging.
A YouTube influencer, Lena Hermosa would be our first major interview. While Elliott had encouraged us to go with a bigger network, not only would she maintain Jace’s small-town, good-ol’-boy image, but her reach would create an immediate social-media frenzy in the same vein as so much of what Jace had managed to accomplishalready.
Carter added, “I’m assuming you already saw that Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana are vying for a new social-media police hunk.” Carter knew me well enough to know I stayed abreast of the hot topics of ourindustry.
“Of course I saw. Figured copycats would start crawling out of the woodwork. I’m sure Freyda Inc. will be managing their accounts. Maybe if they’d just tried a little harder to woo JaceKruse…”
“Not sure they could physically accomplish the sort of harder we’re talkingabout.”
“Jace had already made up his mind before any of that, so it was my impressive PR skills that made thathappen.”
Carter glowed, as though he was so pleased with himself for knowing about the secret little tryst between Jace and me. And as I checked my phone in my pocket and saw a message from Jace, I decided to wait until I reached the hotel to respond, since I didn’t need Carter giving me hell over our innocentfun.
When we made it to the hotel, the moment I was safe inside my room, I checked Jace’s message:Let me know if you want to meet up once you’re all settledin.
I was a little tired from the flight, but my desire to see Jace again far outweighed mygrogginess.
14
Jace
“Dax Munro,”I said as I approached the bar at FeverPitch.
Dax spun around on his stool, a grin spreading across that sexy mug of his. It was that charming Dax Munro smile I’d found myself missing over the past few weeks, nearly a fuckingmonth.
Too fucking long, that’s what itwas.
He pushed to his feet, and we hugged. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a family approaching us. “Excuse me,” a young girl said as she camecloser.
I turned to Dax, who motioned to her. “You have fans now. This is how itgoes.”
