“You made a comment earlier about how I keep all the women straight, but I’ve never had that problem. I’m not the player you think I am—I only play one in themedia.”
“Why do you care what I think?” Iasked.
“I always have, Georgina. You have power overme.”
That Sebastian ever gave me a second thought both surprised and flattered me. “Ido?”
“Of course. What you say and do influences my team and my boss. In a way, my career is in yourhands.”
My heartdropped.
More than heknows.
“You underestimate others and yourself,” I told him. “You don’t need all that to be good at yourjob.”
He rubbed his nose. “Years ago, when I’d still been a style editor, I went to a party in the Hamptons. A friend of mine from college was there, and she’d recently married some bigwig producer. She drank way too much and I’d barely had one, so I took the keys to her Ferrari and drove herhome.”
“I read about this,” Isaid.
“Everyone did. Leaving the party, I swerved into a ditch to avoid a drunk driver and totaled the car. The headlines ran wild. According to the press, I was having an affair with a married woman. I was a drunk and off to rehab. One gossip columnist even speculated my friend and I were conspiring to get her husband’smoney.”
It was one of the first stories that’d come up when I’d searchedSebastian Quinn. “What happened when you set themstraight?”
“I didn’t. My name was everywhere. Vance noticed. My coworkers started high-fiving me in the halls. Social media took an interest in my love life. It was natural for me to run with it because I’d already been putting on a persona since college. Within a year, I was promoted to creative director-at-large.”
Hearing him use his full title, one that might be mine soon, formed a pit in my stomach. “You believe your rep got you to where youare.”
“I know it did. And now it’s threatening all ofthat.”
I shifted on the bench. Vance had sworn me to secrecy, and technically, I owed him my loyalty, but having this conversation was beyond uncomfortable. “It doesn’t have to,” I said. “Drop the bad boy act. You don’t need it, and I don’t believe you everdid.”
“You don’t know that,Georgina.”
“You’ve got to let go of the notion that some stupid gossip item got you here instead of the truth—it was yourtalent.”
“I’m not doubting my talent,” he said. “I’m saying a fuckload of people in this city have that. You need more to getnoticed.”
“Sebastian.” I sighed. “You’re already at thetop.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ll staythere.”
Vance’s warning rang through my thoughts.If he storms in here one more time making demands, he’ll get an unwelcome reality check.I wasn’t sure I could keep Sebastian from reacting impulsively to the information I had, but Icouldopen his eyes to the fact that the persona he’d crafted was hurting more than it washelping.
The question was why I wanted to. If Sebastian changed course and delivered whatModern Manneeded, would Vance rescind my offer? Why should I consider Sebastian’s feelings at all? My first day, it’d taken a lot of guts to show up and present to his team, and his support would’ve smoothed the way immeasurably. Instead, he’d gone out of his way to make it hard on me. He’d thought I was a joke. For all Vance’s faults, at least he’d always taken meseriously.
Sebastian squinted and let out a whistle. Bruno lifted his head as Opal jumped up, her entire body wiggling as she found her way between Sebastian’s legs. She launched her front paws into his lap to lick hisface.
I never would’ve pictured the debonair man I’d met at the coffee shop laughing through kisses from a mutt. Then again, he’d just started to reveal another layer, one that showed he wasn’t necessarily the person heprojected.
That was why, as much as I wanted my own success, I wanted his too. I’d brought fresh perspective and ideas like I’d been hired to, but Sebastian had put in the work, however grudgingly. He was still the right man for the job, and unlike me, he actuallyenjoyedit.
“Steer the magazine in the direction it needs to go,” I said, picking at a notch in Bruno’s leather leash. “If you take over, I become obsolete. Walk in with me as a united front tomorrowmorning.”
“Bringing you in made everyone think I failed to save the magazine,” he said, smoothing both hands over Opal’s head as she panted at him. “Once I submit, they’llknowI did. I don’t want to lose the respect of myteam.”
I was all too familiar with that fear. I became a different version of myself each morning to secure respect. Even now, I was afraid to open up to Sebastian about why Neal had left, and why I warred with myself every day, due to the possibility that he might see me as weaker. “We don’t have to fight each other at every turn. We can work together. It’s not toolate.”
“Too late forwhat?”
