Page 51 of Turning Up the Heat

CHAPTER TWENTY

“WHATTHEFUCK?” Tom said when he saw the photo and copy for the ad campaign they would be launching. It was the first time that a campaign had been pushed through without him seeing it. And when he saw this one, he was livid.

It featured a nearly nude woman, on a bed, covered with a white sheet. Her dark hair was long and wavy, and she bore a striking resemblance to how Gemma had looked in the Men’s Lifestyle spread that had debuted the week before. Gemma’s feature had made a splash. She’d always been Gemma Rexford when she was hauling barrels in bulky coveralls, but in a short amount of time, she’d become a sex symbol in the rum community.

He seethed at the Cain ads he saw on his computer. The ad copy was the worst part, however: “We don’t need sex to sell fine rum... But it doesn’t hurt.” The marketing department must have worked overtime to find a way to degrade Gemma and her accomplishments and get this out in such a short amount of time.

He picked up his phone and called Bill Edwards, the head of marketing. When the man answered, Tom didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Where did that ad come from?”

“Did you like it?”

“Does it fucking sound like I liked it?”

Bill was silent.

“I know it isn’t your style,” Tom said. “Who did it?”

“Your father.”

“What?”

“It came from him—he suggested it.”

“Pull the ads,” he ordered.

“Why?”

“I appreciate that your team did them, but they aren’t Cain Rum. They’re a cheap shot at Gemma Rexford, and it’s obvious. That’s not how we promote ourselves.”

“But your father—”

“It doesn’t matter. Do what you have to do. Just pull it.”

“Okay,” Bill said.

Tom hung up without saying goodbye. He had someone else to talk to. He walked down the hall to his father’s office. He knocked on the door.

“Yes?” his father called from the other side.

Tom stalked into his father’s office. “What did you do?”

His father narrowed his eyes at him, but his face otherwise remained impassive. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The new ad campaign. Don’t pretend that woman isn’t based on Gemma Rexford.”

“That woman you’re sleeping with? Don’t think I don’t know about your weekly trips to Miami.”

“How do you know about that?” he asked.

“I saw the magazine with her on the cover on your desk. All those trips to Miami—I connected the dots.”

“You went in my office?”

He shrugged. “I went to find you, and you weren’t there. I saw the magazine.”

“You had no right to go into my office.”

He shook his head. “You know, son, I never thought you’d betray the family and the business with a competitor. Especially a Rexford.” Now his father was starting to sound like Reid and Quin.

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