“Good morning. We’ve got a jam-packed day,” she said.
Turns out, it’s not nearly as good a morning as I thought it was,I very carefully did not say. At least her tone was normal, which meant she hadn’t noticed the state I was in.
“Get up,” she continued. “Things have changed. I’ll explain as you get ready.”
“Should I be concerned?” I sat up.
Her mouth went tight. “Maybe. I don’t know. There’s been a wrinkle.”
I threw back the blanket and got up, heading for the bathroom, hoping I’d moved fast enough to keep her from noticing anything below the belt.
“Spill it,” I barked at her as she jogged in behind me. Seeing as we were in the honeymoon suite, the thing was designed for all sorts of water fun that we wouldn’t be having. There was a soaker tub in front of a window overlooking the city, a glass-walled shower room with four different types of shower heads, and a steam bath.
“We’re scheduled to leave for Manhattan in an hour and a half,” she began, but she cut off abruptly as I stepped into the shower room. “Hold on, at least let me get out of here before you strip down!”
“Unnecessary,” I said. I went to a control panel and flipped a switch.
The glass walls of the shower went opaque instantly. I stripped off my boxers and forced myself to go soft—not an easy task when I couldn’t stop thinking of Gwen just a foot away on the other side of the stall.
“Damn, I forgot how fancy this place is for a minute,” Gwen said, relieved. “Okay, this works. So after all my calls and sleuthing last night, I was able to piece together some of what happened. Turns out the rejection wasn’t all Scarlet’s idea.”
I forced myself to only give my dick one stroke as I cleaned up. “So she’s got someone in her ear?”
“A lot of someones, but there’s one player in particular who’s going to be a problem. This guy Ian on her team. I used to work with him, so I know how he operates. Super charming, loudest voice in the room, and always looking to work an angle. It sucks that he’s working with her now.”
I frowned as I finished cleaning up. “What angle could he possibly have in this scenario? Does he have a problem with me?”
“It’s complicated, and we don’t have time to get into it now. What you need to know right now is that things have shifted, big time.”
“Okay, what does that look like? How does it change the plan?”
I turned off the water and grabbed one of the two robes hanging off to the side. I opened the door abruptly, startling her.
“Well?” I demanded.
Her eyes rested on me for a moment, and I was transported back to the night we’d showered together. I wondered if she remembered it too.
“You’re having brunch with Scarlet Rush today.”
I froze. “No.”
“Yup,” she said with a shrug that didn’t look nearly as apologetic as I thought it should. “And your job is to sweet-talk her into accepting your apology when you go on the show tonight.”
For a moment, all I could do was stare.
She huffed. “Look, I know that sweet-talking people isn’t exactly your favorite thing to do, but we all agreed that when it came to this, you’d just have to take one for the team, right?”
Did she think I was upset I’d have to play nice? I wasn’t upset. I wasstunnedat the magnificent work Gwen had managed to pull off while the rest of the world was asleep.
“Holyshit. How did you manage it? And where are we meeting her?”
“If that was an unspoken compliment, then thank you.” Gwen did a little bow. “And we’re meeting her at The Four Seasons, where she’s staying. She couldn’t make it easy on us and stay at a Ashford property, of course. As for how I did it, I managed to call in some favors, twist some arms, and now you will be sitting down with her in an empty banquet room so you can ask Scarlet to call off her fans.Nicely. With a smile.”
“Damn.” I glanced at the clock on the vanity. “Guess I need to hurry.”
We made it to the airport on time despite the morning rush, and Gwen locked into battle mode the second we were in the air. Even Dominic knew not to interrupt her.
“Pop quiz: the most important part about this meeting is…”
