CON
Iavoided the Brand Development department like the plague for the next couple of weeks. It wasn’t hard. I was busy as hell with the new crop of problems that had sprung up since I solved the others. When I first started in this business, I thought that a good agent got to the point where there were no fires actively burning. That if I worked hard enough or long enough, I could take a long, deep breath and not feel the jabbing pressure of unresolved issues. It took me a few years of working myself into the ground to realize that point never came. I could have worked every minute of every day for the rest of my life, and people would still be waiting longer than they wanted.
But I learned that the problem wasn’t me—it was just that this was an impatient town filled with people who wanted to come first and foremost to every single person in their orbit. And try as I might to avoid it, narcissists made this world go round. It used to piss me off, but after two decades, I finally understood that it took a certain kind of person to think they could make it in this industry. If I only signed levelheaded, reasonable actors, my roster would whittle down to less than what my father had maintained. I had to take the big problems with the big payoffs, or I wouldn’t make it in this industry. That had been hard when Halley lived at home, but now I had all the time in the world. I could spend every waking second putting out fires if I wanted to. And if doing so kept me from thinking certain, inappropriate thoughts, then that was just another benefit.
For the rest of August, I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves and got my hands dirty. I took a cutthroat approach to contract negotiations that kept me haggling long into the night, and I enjoyed it. I’d never been able to completely immerse myself like this because I’d had a daughter to take care of. As it turned out, I liked dropping off to sleep with millions of dollars running in circles around my brain. It wasn’t about the money, really. I had more than enough for the rest of mine and Halley’s life. It was the challenge.
Although on the rare morning when I didn’t have a meeting or a problem to solve, the challenge was finding something to do other than think about how Lily was two floors below. I’d caught a glimpse of her here and there, her golden hair shining like a beacon as she walked through the lobby.
I never saw her with other members of the brand development team, and it made me wonder. I tried to keep my finger on the pulse of company culture, so I knew they weren’t the most welcoming department. I considered calling Angelina Bangert, the head of it, but I knew that might be counterproductive. Angelina had made it clear she wanted to be more than colleagues a few years ago, and I’d rebuffed her.
Two weeks after my ill-fated encounter with Lily on the sidewalk, Landon and I met for lunch. He didn’t have much time, so we went to a sandwich shop that was never crowded and sat under the striped awning in a table that faced the sidewalk, our backs to the windows of the shop. Landon glanced around a few times before he was satisfied that no one was in earshot and then said, “I don’t have anything yet.”
“Then why did you practically sweep the fucking table for bugs before we sat down?” I asked, exasperated. Landon’s caution was legendary. It was why he was the best, but it was also aggravating as hell to be his friend sometimes. Even at the place we’d gone for happy hour every week for the last fifteen years, he liked to sit with his back to the wall and insisted we always have the same server.
Landon shrugged, unconcerned. His philosophy was that if you never let your guard down, you never slipped up. He bit into his sandwich and chewed, his eyes surveying the street all the while as if he was doing a threat assessment.
“She’s got Hayes and Sons tailing you,” he said after he swallowed. “Mid-level firm on its way down. You’ve probably noticed.”
“I’ve definitely noticed,” I said wryly. The car that had tailed me so conspicuously two weeks ago hadn’t let up. Occasionally he drove a different vehicle, but it was practically a joke between us now. He waved hello in the morning, and I gave him the finger. Once I sent him a drink when I noticed him sitting across a restaurant I was eating dinner at, and he gave me a thumbs up when it arrived.
“Word is, she paid them a retainer, but they haven’t seen a dime since,” Landon said. “They’re not exactly highly motivated right now.”
“Good.” We ate our sandwiches in companionable silence for a while. I was idly watching people walk by. Landon was studying them with narrow eyed intensity that caused some to look back uneasily.
Then he said, “Do you know her?”
I glanced up, expecting to see a client or a colleague, or maybe even someone who wanted to be a client and recognized me. I didn’t expect to see Lily staring at me. The sight of her was like an electric shock. My heart jumped, and the hair on the back of my arms stood up. Landon noticed, of course, and raised his eyebrows over his sunglasses. “I guess you do.”
Lily had been walking toward us from the direction of the agency, but she must have stopped short when she saw me. Now that I was staring back at her, she started walking again. I could sense her reluctance in the way her hands knotted together even as she set her chin firmly.
“Hi,” she said when she reached us. She glanced at me, then smiled at Landon politely.
Landon stood smoothly and held out his hand. “Landon Campbell.”
“Lily Anderson.” Her smile brightened as she shook his hand, and she tucked her shining blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m Halley’s friend. Mr. Walker was kind enough to give me a job at his company for the next year.”
Landon’s cheek twitched, the only sign he gave that he was amused by anyone referring to me as Mr. Walker. “Con doesn’t give anyone anything,” he said. “You must have earned it.”
“She graduated with a 4.2 GPA, and she got accepted to several top tier law schools,” I said before Lily could respond. “I figured a year here would scare her away from entertainment law.”
Lily looked at me, clearly surprised I’d bothered to look at the resume she’d sent when she thanked me for the internship. I hadn’t at first. It was only in the past two weeks I’d opened her email again and looked at the attachment. It was clearly an undergraduate’s resume, but it was impressive for what it was. She’d had leadership roles in her sorority, as she’d mentioned at lunch. She’d also attached her transcript, so I knew that her course load hadn’t been a cakewalk.
“And don’t call me Mr. Walker,” I added, meeting her gaze for the first time since I’d snapped at her on the sidewalk two weeks ago. “It’s Con.”
“Or asshole,” Landon said, surprising her into a laugh.
“I’ll stick with Con,” she said, her eyes still on mine. What could only be described as a frisson ran through me as I stared back at her. I was aware of Landon glancing back and forth between us, his bemusement morphing into comprehension, but I still couldn’t look away.
Finally, the sound of the bell above the sandwich shop door tinkled as someone came out. Distracted, Lily glanced up. My eyes stayed on the curve of her cheek, the defined underline of her jaw, the glint of a diamond stud in her earlobe.
“I’d better go get my lunch,” she said, breaking the spell.
I wrenched my gaze away before she could capture it again. My heart was beating unpleasantly fast, and low, throbbing irritation was simmering up. I didn’t want to notice her glowing skin and golden hair. And I sure as hell didn’t want Landon to see me noticing. I felt his gaze boring into the side of my head. When I didn’t look back, he said to Lily, “I’ll pull up a chair.”
“Oh, no,” she said hurriedly. “I have to get back for a meeting. It was nice meeting you, Landon. I’ll see you back at the office, Con.”
The bell tinkled again as she went inside. Landon waited until the door closed behind her, then raised his eyebrows expectantly at me.