Signed Page 9

  But that meant our relationship would only be professional.

  His hands would never touch me again.

  I’d never feel his skin against mine.

  “Did the two of you work things out?” Tim asked with his eyebrow raised as he sat next to me. “I didn’t realize you knew each other.”

  I turned toward him and opened my mouth, pausing as I thought about how I should respond. Tim had been with me since I was thirteen. He knew the details of what had gone on with Calvin; he certainly didn’t need to know anything had happened with Brett. It wouldn’t look good for either of us, especially since I’d already lost one agent.

  “Things are fine now,” I told him.

  The door opened again, and the four partners walked in. Based on their expressions, I didn’t think Max, Jack, or Scarlett knew that Brett had bent me over the table. But I wondered if they had noticed that Brett changed his suit. Instead of black, he now wore navy with a striped tie rather than a solid.

  I wanted to ask him if we’d gotten something on it, but that wasn’t really appropriate anymore.

  “Here’s how this is going to work,” Brett said, sitting in the same seat he’d been in before. “I’m going to put together a contract that will outline my scope of work and the percentages I charge. If your attorney has questions, we’ll address them. Once you’re signed, my team will start working immediately.”

  “I just got off the phone with her attorney,” Tim said. “He’s aware of the situation, and he’s promised to have the contract read by the end of the day.”

  “Good. Now, you’re going to need a publicist. I have one on my team who’s the best in the business. You’re free to hire her, or you can look elsewhere, but you need someone to handle the media.”

  I glanced at Tim, and I could tell we agreed.

  Tim’s eyes moved from mine to Brett’s, and he said, “We’ll use yours to keep it all in-house.”

  Brett nodded and continued, “Assuming you sign the contract, you, Tim, and I will fly to LA tomorrow morning. My team will set up an appointment with the police, and you’ll speak to them until they have all the information they need. Then, we’ll swing by your house to get your personal items, and we’ll fly right back.”

  “Wait.” I glanced at Tim to see if that answer was on his face, too. He looked as clueless as me, which meant this was all news to him. “Why do I need to grab personal items?”

  “Because you’re moving.”

  I felt my eyes widen, and my hands gripped the edge of the table, pulling me closer to it. “I’m moving?”

  “That’s the only way this will work. I have to get you out of LA. It’s toxic for you to be there right now.”

  “You want me in Miami?” I knew my questions were repetitive, but I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Moving here would only bring me closer to him, and that would make this even harder. “What do I get out of this?”

  “You get the best fucking agent in the business.” He took his jacket off and set it on the next chair, his cuff links banging on the wood as his arms returned to the table. “My plan is to reintroduce you to the media, but it has to happen slowly. We need to get them comfortable with you again. That means, keeping you out of the direct spotlight for just a little while. If we throw you right back in to auditions and industry parties in LA, you’ll get rejected. That’s why I’m scaling back, keeping you in Miami, starting with local fundraisers, charity events, places where you’ll be noticed and photographed but in a positive environment.”

  He glanced down at his hands, and my eyes followed. My skin began to heat as I thought about the way he’d used them to hold me against the table and rub my clit.

  “My team will decide what you wear. Whom you’ll speak to.” His stare moved back to mine. “But something needs to be made extremely clear. I’m the boss. That’s nonnegotiable.”

  “Where will I live?”

  “Our realtor will find you a place,” Scarlett said.

  I’d almost forgotten Brett’s other partners were still in the room with us.

  “We’ll have a lease signed before you return from LA. If the apartment isn’t available for a few days, we have one here for our clients to use while they’re in town. It’s large enough for you and Tim, if you’d both like to stay there.”

  I knew Tim wouldn’t be moving to Miami with me.

  I didn’t even know how I was going to move here.

  Everything was spinning.

  Fast.

  And I had no control over any of it.

  Brett’s plan was going to change my whole life.

  Again.

  “You need to make a decision, James.”

  Everyone in the room was looking at me, waiting for an answer.

  There were so many other agencies in LA and some in New York, and I hadn’t met with any of them. I wondered what their ideas would sound like, if they would come up with a better plan than Brett’s.

  “You want your career more than anything in this world. I’m going to get it back for you. Trust me. I know what’s best for you.”

  Brett’s words repeated in my head.

  Something made me want to trust him, to believe he would try his hardest to get back what I had lost.

  Deep down, I knew he wanted me as badly as I wanted him. He just wanted to help me more.

  I had to respect him for that.

  Still, it stung like hell.

  I glanced at the partners’ faces, moving from Scarlett to Max and finally Jack. There was confidence in their eyes. Determination. A will that my old agent never had.

  Then, I looked at Tim. I didn’t need to ask what he wanted; I already knew.

  My eyes shifted once more and fixed on Brett’s.

  I knew what this meant.

  I knew what I would be giving up.

  Somehow, I’d just have to find a way to accept it.

  “Okay, let’s do it,” I told him. “Let’s get me signed.”

  15

  Brett

  I stood in the doorway of James’s walk-in closet in her LA home, looking around the large room at each of the built-in racks and across the shoe and purse section in search of her suitcases. “Where are they?”

  “All the way in the back,” she said from the master bathroom as she packed up some of her shit. “They’re on the left side, near my jackets, but on the very top where I can’t reach.” She paused, and I heard her feet on the hardwood floor. “Here, I’ll show you.” She moved past me and stopped once she stepped inside. “God, she cleaned everything up.”

  “Who?”

  “My housekeeper.” She crossed her arms over her chest, like she was hugging herself. “It was such a mess in here; there were clothes everywhere.” Slowly, she turned toward me. “I told you I lived in my closet after the video was leaked. I wasn’t kidding. I was too scared to walk by a window in case the paparazzi were in the trees outside.”

  Those fuckers were relentless.

  I’d dealt with some who had done far worse than climb trees to get a photo.

  She was staring at the space directly across from us, and I could tell she was remembering it all.

  I didn’t like the thought of her living in this room.

  I didn’t like what she had gone through.

  I especially didn’t like that she had experienced it alone, everyone but Tim leaving her.

  Fuck, I should have handled shit differently.

  “You all right?” I asked when she looked at me again.

  Neither of us had moved. I wasn’t even sure if she had taken a breath.

  She nodded.

  “You want to show me where the suitcases are?”

  “Oh…right.” She walked toward the back left corner and pointed toward the ceiling. “They’re up there.”

  I counted five. “You want me to take all of them down?”

  “You said move, but does that mean permanently, or will I be in Miami for only a little while?”

  “I don’t
know the answer to that yet, James.”

  She looked around her closet and said, “Just grab three. I can always have my housekeeper ship something if I need it.”

  I took down three of the suitcases and brought them to the center of the closet where I opened each one and spread it out over the floor. “Do you need me to reach anything else?”

  She stood a few feet away, watching me. “No.”

  Tim had headed home once we were finished at the police station. He had young children and wasn’t able to make the move, but he would come visit in the next week or so.

  That meant we were alone in her house. In her bedroom. In a space that I wanted to throw her across the fucking mattress and bury my cock inside her.

  “I’ll wait for you in the kitchen,” I said, taking out my phone as I walked there.

  I responded to the inquires that concerned my clients, and then I called Scarlett. I wanted to update her on what had happened, so she could pass along the info to my team.

  “How did it go?” she asked as she answered her cell.

  “Not good.” I opened the fridge, looking for a bottle of water and grabbed one when I found them in a drawer. “We were at the police station for almost the whole day. They couldn’t find a Calvin Parker who fit James’s description.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “Me, too.” I moved over to the sliding glass doors and checked out her pool. “They’re going to keep searching their database, but I don’t think they’re going to find him in there.”

  “If he blurred his face and disguised his voice, I’m going to bet Calvin Parker isn’t his name.”

  “I’d double that bet.”

  “So, what now?”

  I turned around, heading into her dining room on my way to the living room. “The police assigned her a sketch artist, and she and James worked on a drawing. But, Scarlett, it’s been three months since she saw him. She was drinking that night and rushed out the next morning. I got the impression the details of his face were a little hazy, and James wasn’t confident with what she had come up with.”

  “Has the hotel been questioned?”

  “The police are going there tomorrow to request their security tapes.” I took a long drink, finishing almost half of the bottle.

  “Things are at least going in the right direction; that’s good. How’s she holding up?”

  I looked around the corner at the door to her bedroom. She was still in there and had yet to bring out any of the suitcases. “The questioning at the police station got pretty intense, especially when she had to tell them what had happened at the hotel. She got all torn up and had to take a few breaks. She got through it; it was just really rough on her.”

  “And how are you doing with all this?”

  “This isn’t about me.”

  “Come on, Brett. Don’t go and shut down on me now. I know you were hoping no one would notice, but when we got back to the conference room, it reeked of sex, and you changed your suit and tie. Maybe you fooled the guys, but you didn’t fool me.”

  I sighed, shaking my fucking head.

  Of course she had picked up on that.

  “I’m not talking about this, Scarlett.”

  “You don’t have to give me any details, but I need to know James can handle everything that’s going on and focus on improving her image while balancing whatever is happening between the two of you.”

  “There’s nothing happening,” I growled.

  “So, you’re done?”

  “Yes.”

  “Brett—”

  “Scarlett, it’s over,” I hissed. “Next question.”

  She paused and then asked, “When are you and James coming back to Miami?”

  “As soon as she’s done packing.”

  “And Tim?”

  “He’s not moving, like we suspected.”

  I heard paperwork rustling in the background, and I took another sip.

  “Should we look for a new manager?” she asked.

  “I think he’s good for her. Shit, he brought her to us. When she returns to LA, he can be more active. In the meantime, my team will do whatever she needs.” I took a seat in front of the fireplace, which gave me a clear path to her bedroom door. “Did the realtor find James an apartment?”

  Scarlett laughed. “Yes.”

  “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  “Because the apartment is in your building.”

  I rested my elbows on my knees and rubbed my forehead. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

  “The realtor asked if you’d have a problem with it. I didn’t think you would. It’s a big building, and you have your own private elevator that brings you straight to the penthouse. The chances of you running into her in the lobby or garage are slim to none. So, what’s the big deal if she lives a few floors down?”

  The big deal was that James was going to be in my office every day, and now, she was going to be in the building where I lived. There was no break. She would be everywhere I fucking turned, and I had to keep my hands off her.

  “I can have the realtor keep looking, or I can forward you the lease for James to sign when you’re on the plane.”

  My hand dropped from my forehead.

  Scarlett was testing me.

  “Send the lease,” I said. “If James likes the photos, I’ll have her sign it.”

  I moved over to the pictures that hung on the wall in the living room. There were at least thirty framed shots of James on different magazine covers and movie posters, and some were photos with her friends.

  She was gorgeous in each one.

  Just as gorgeous as the real thing, which was now standing outside her bedroom, all three suitcases in front of her.

  Over the next few months, I’d be spending a lot of time staring at that face, thinking about it, exerting more restraint than I’d ever had in my life.

  “When can she move in?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you in the morning.” I hung up, and as I walked over to James, I said, “You got everything?”

  “I think so.”

  “Then, let’s go.”

  With a tumbler of scotch in my hand, one that had already been refilled twice during this flight, I opened my email and scrolled until I found the information the realtor had sent. It showed the layout of the apartment and multiple pictures of each room along with the terms of the lease.

  I tilted my laptop toward James as she sat in the seat across from mine. “Here’s the place that’s up for rent.”

  She put her phone down and looked at the screen, checking out the pictures as I flipped through them.

  “It’s really nice,” she said. As I got to the last shot, our stare met. “The view is pretty.”

  “It’s available tomorrow. It’s month to month, and it’s close to the office. Or do you want the realtor to look for a different apartment?”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  Her eyes didn’t convince me. Her voice was too soft.

  “James, you need to be honest with me.”

  It was real fucking ironic I’d asked that of her when I couldn’t be honest myself. Because, as much as I was listening and paying attention to what she wanted, I couldn’t pretend like my thoughts weren’t on her pussy. That the hard-on busting through my boxer briefs wasn’t from staring at her lips and what I wanted her to do with them.

  “All of this is just a lot,” she said. “I had to hide from the paparazzi to get in and out of my house today. I’m all over the media, and people are saying the most horrible things about me. I’m moving…” She hesitated, chewing the inside of her lip, and it made my cock throb even harder. “And, now, you’re my agent, and I’m supposed to pretend like nothing has happened between us and that you’re not the guy I’ve been thinking about for the last month.” She reached for her diet soda—a reminder she wasn’t even old enough to order something stronger. “It’s going to take me a minute to get used to everything.�
��

  She lifted her legs and bent them over the next seat, the yoga pants showing her long, lean thighs and the dip between them that housed that warm, tight cunt. The sweater that was supposed to be covering her tank top was open, revealing the curve of each tit.

  I put my laptop in the bag and zipped it up, slamming the rest of the scotch. When I set the glass on the table, I checked the monitor that hung at the front of the plane. There was still four hours left of the flight. Staying in this seat, knowing she was this close, wasn’t going to make this hard-on go away.

  “Are you tired?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “But I’d like to watch a movie, if you don’t mind.”

  I handed her the remote from the table and stood. “I’m going to head to the bedroom and try to get a few hours of sleep.”

  I didn’t wait for her reply. I just turned around, adjusted my cock, and walked toward the back of the plane.

  16

  James

  Me: You’re not going to believe this. Brett, the hottie from the bar, is an agent. MY new agent.

  Eve: Shit like this only happens to you, I swear.

  Me: He wants me in Miami for a while, thinks I need to get out of LA with everything going on. So, I’m on my way there now. In his company’s private jet. With him. Alone. Gah.

  Eve: I’m sick at the thought of you leaving me.

  Me: Come visit. I’ll buy you a ticket. When are you free?

  Eve: I’ll check my schedule and let you know. You’d better only be texting me because you and Brett are taking a break between rounds of him fucking the shit out of you. Give me details. I’m severely sex-deprived at the moment.

  Me: He cut things off between us. He just wants to be my agent. That’s it.

  Eve: That’s stupid. Is that what you want?

  Me: I want him as my agent, AND I want him to be making me a member of the Mile-High Club right now. Sadly, that’s not going to happen.

  Eve: How do you know he won’t change his mind? What’s he doing right now?

  Brett had left me to go into the bedroom about fifteen minutes ago. I’d tried searching for a movie, but I couldn’t focus on what was on the screen. The thought of him in that bed was all that had been on my mind.