“I love your look. It’s fresh and enchanting and gives me an idea of how to brand you to our readers.”
“Thanks,” Sophie beamed, tucking her curls behind her ears. “I can’t wait to hear your plan.” She’d never considered the idea ofNaked Runwaybranding her. Now that she was, she rather liked it. They’d branded the Prince of Manhattan as a rake. What would they come up with for her? Hopefully not as a flake.
The sound of voices prevented her from inquiring more.
Ms. Birdie, Frankie, and the man from the coffee shop walked into the conference room. Stone Cold. A man who had both intrigued and startled her earlier. His shaved head and broad shoulders were completely at odds with the suit he wore. One shouted menacing, the other important. Why was he—oh.
“Hello Stone,” Isabella said. “I’d like to introduce you to Sophie E. Clark.” She glanced at Sophie. “Sophie, meet Stone Blackthorn, your bodyguard.”
“He’s going to be my fake boyfriend.” Incredulity painted her words as she stared at his scowl.
“You’re my new client?” Stone asked.
“Is there a problem?” Frankie inquired. “We can call this whole thing off. It’s not too late.”
“Nonsense,” Ms. Birdie said. “No one is calling anything off. Sophie, dear, why do you look so concerned?”
Sophie waved open palms; fingers splayed. “Look at this guy. No one will agree to an interview with him in the picture, fake boyfriend or not. He’ll scare them off.”
Stone tugged at the collar of his suit jacket. “I suggest you—”
“Why don’t we all take a seat?” Isabella said. “Sophie, you can start your presentation. Perhaps that will help us all better understand your concern and give Stone a solid understanding of his upcoming mission. Stone, I was so sorry to hear about your accident but was very happy you could do this job. How is Ryder?”
Stone’s expression went carefully blank. “He’s doing fine.”
“Wonderful. He’s a great guy and deserves happiness.”
“Yes. He does.” Stone turned his attention to Sophie. “I’m ready when you are.”
Sophie wanted to ponder that weird exchange but now wasn’t the time. She had bigger problems to consider. The biggest was how her daydreams could survive in the shadow of Stone’s towering presence. His impenetrable gray storm aura would cast ugly thunder clouds over her sparkly, iridescent one.
She stepped to the front of the conference table where a computer was set up and slid her flash drive into the slot.
The ladies took a seat, and Stone leaned against the wall while Sophie pulled up her PowerPoint. The title page appeared. “Stone, my column will be titled:Find Your Book Boyfriend.”
She really liked the graphics for this screen. It had vectors of men, holding the book in which they were the hero. Or at least they were her vision of what each of the heroes looked like from the descriptions given by the authors of their book stories.
“Each month, one of these images will be featured in my column and next to them will be the real-life single man who matches them.”
Stone snorted.
“I missed that, Stone,” Sophie said sweetly. “Did you have a comment?”
“Other than the whole thing sounds ridiculous,” he responded, “I don’t.”
“I’m certain it does sound rather odd to a man like you. My column is geared toward those with the heart of a romantic. The keywords areheartandromantic. On the surface, you appear to neither have a heart nor know the first thing about romancing a woman.” Under normal circumstances, Sophie would never be so rude, but if he was on the fence about accepting the position as her bodyguard, her mission was to dissuade him.
He raised a brow. “You’re very astute.”
Sophie took a deep breath, focusing on the screen. This was her moment, her dream. She couldn’t allow Stone’s intimidating appearance to distract her. With a determined click of the remote, Sophie dove into her proposal, hoping her passion would be enough to eclipse any doubts from the women in the room—and maybe, just maybe, soften the foreboding edge that Stone brought into the mix.
“Book Boyfriend Connoisseurs conducted a survey of all its members to discover their top one hundred book boyfriends,” Sophie said. “The survey was broken down into categories. Mycolumn, for this year, will focus on the top twelve winners in the contemporary romantic comedy category.”
“Why romantic comedy?” Frankie asked.
“Because it will set the tone for the column,” Sophie replied. “One of happiness and ease.”
“I’m not totally sold on that, it’s a bit boring, but move along, time is wasting,” Frankie ordered.
