I’d been lying to myself thinking I could ignore what we’d shared.
Her breathing went shallow as we stared, until she finally broke off eye contact and started punching on her phone.
“I think we need to pump things up,” she said. “Hold on…”
The sound of heavy drums and cymbals filled the plane. Gwen jumped out of her seat and started dancing.
“It’s her new song, ‘My Revenge.’ Such a banger.”
I watched her shimmy in front of me and crossed my legs. She had no idea how lap-dance-adjacent her moves were. The hair flips. Raised arms. Swaying hips.
“Get up,” she ordered as she bounced around. “Dancing is a great tension reliever.”
“Don’t you remember my edict? I donotdance.”
Gwen did a spin. “But it’s just us. C’mon, don’t be so uptight.”
“I have work to do.”
She kept dancing like she hadn’t heard me. As much as I might try to deny it, it was exactly the sort of ridiculousness I needed in the moment. A beautiful woman, dancing like no one was watching, confident that her guidance was going to get me past the PR crisis I’d created for myself.
If anyone could help me get out of my own way, it was Gwen.
11
GWEN
Iwas nervous for the wrong reason.
I was supposed to be focused on my boss, theactualreason I was hovering outside a ballroom in yet another fancy hotel. I mean, Iwasthinking about that part of the scenario, but my mind kept drifting back to the fact that I was about to meet Scarlet Fucking Rush.
IRL.
On the outside, I was fighting like hell to project “competent strategist” because on the inside I was a shrieking fangirl.
“Oh wow,” I said softly as I spotted a blonde in towering heels and a pencil skirt striding down the hall toward us.
“Who is that?” Harrison demanded.
“That’s Willow Grant, Scarlet’s childhood best friend turned publicist. She’s an assassin. Put your game face on.”
I held my hand out to her. “Willow, hi, I’m Gwen Ackland.”
I didn’t have to clarify my position with Ashford Jets because we’d emailed a few times, and I knew she’d already done a deep dive on me.
She took my hand, gave it a brief shake, and focused on Harrison.
“There he is,” Willow said, barely hiding a frown.
They shook hands, and I studied Harrison’s face. His smile looked genuine.
“So nice to meet you, Willow. Can’t thank you enough for making this happen on such short notice.”
“Scarlet will be down shortly, but before she arrives, I want to go over parameters,” Willow said briskly. “We only have twenty minutes for this meeting. No photos allowed. Gwen, you and I will be sitting in, and I’ll be recording it.”
“That’s fine,” Harrison said politely. “Hopefully you’ll both have a chance to enjoy a couple of croissants before you head out.”
“Scarlet doesn’t eat bread,” Willow sniffed.
