Page 29 of More Than Words

I scoffed, suddenly irritated that his inability to manage his talent was now leaving me to pick up the pieces. “And you’re okay with letting him tell you what to do? Doesn’t he have a contract with Vivid? Enforce the timeline of the document exchange. If he doesn’t deliver, then let legal deal with him.”

“Isobel,” Sloane soothed, sitting back in her chair, and letting it swivel gently from side to side. “Evan has some clauses built into his contract that limit the time we are legally allowed to call him into the office or require him to take part in promotional events. He’s threatened to take the penalty and scrap the book if we don’t find a solution to this. The pre-orders have already been up for over a month, so I’d like to avoid the bad press Vivid would get if we do that.”

“So, your author is a prima donna, and I need to send in a babysitter to get him to behave. Is that where we’re at?”

Adrian sighed, clearly thinking that having this discussion in Sloane’s office would give him the edge. “All I need from you is a list of authors and some hard copies of their books. Evan will choose who he wants to work with, and then we’ll go from there.”

“And if my author doesn’t buy into this?”

“Then we’ll choose someone else.”

Turning back to face Sloane, I clenched my jaw, trying to remain professional. “At the first sign of misconduct by anyone in Adrian’s department, I want my author protected by Vivid. If we’re coming to the rescue in this situation, we have the flexibility to call the shots, and I want my editing team to have eyes on this document if my author’s name is being attached to this project.”

“Those sound reasonable. I’m sure we can include those in a written agreement between the two parties. Adrian, does that sound amenable?”

“Evan is a professional. I don’t see why there needs to be a mention of misconduct. What happens if your author harasses him?”

“Alright,” Sloane interrupted as I opened my mouth to respond. “Both authors will be equally protected in the very unlikely event of something inappropriate happening during the consultation process. It would behoove both of you to play nicely during this, because it is in everyone’s best interest to get this book to print on time. Isobel, forward me a copy of that list once you narrow down the field, and keep in mind we need someone who knows how to write something graphic and spicy. Adrian, please get this settled with Evan as quickly as possible so we can arrange travel.”

Sloane opened the screen of her laptop, apparently dismissing us. I still had mixed feelings about this, but I was already narrowing down the authors who lived in the Boston or Hartford areas that I knew could handle something like this. One, in particular, didn’t have trouble being thrown into a new environment with someone who may be less than social. Now I just needed to convince Chase that this project was worth taking on and hope that Evan was alright working with her.

Adrian was quiet as we both gathered our things—a tense, awkward silence surrounded us as we stepped out into the hallway and walked back toward the reception desk.

I hated that he still seemed to be able to get under my skin. My reaction and defensiveness to his request for help weren’t making things any easier between us, but neither was his intentionally antagonistic behavior before we went into the meeting.

The receptionist was busy as we passed by her desk, and Adrian stepped forward to open the glass door to the foyer where the elevators were located.

“Thank you,” I whispered when I passed him, flinching as his hand grazed my back as the door closed behind us. This awkward tension was killing me.

This consultation project was going to upset the balance that we’d found over the past few weeks, and I wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t prepared to deal with the shift in my perception of him.

Knowing he was hiding a thoughtful, sensually generous—but that was beside the point—intelligent, playful persona behind the façade of Dickhead, made things harder for me. I didn’t want to like him, and he surely didn’t like me—not with the looks he’d given me in that meeting when I pushed back.

Shifting nervously from foot to foot, I watched the numbers change on the display above the elevator, fighting the urge to look behind me at where I knew Adrian was standing.

“Fuck this,” he mumbled as his hand circled my wrist, tugging me toward the stairwell door.

“What are you…?” I trailed off when I looked behind me at his murderous gaze. Deciding not to push the issue, I stumbled after him into the stairwell landing, the door closing behind us with a thump.

Turning to lay into him for manhandling me, he shook his head once, advancing on me, and I hastily backed up into the wall behind me. My fingers flattened against the cold concrete block as he caged me in with a hand on either side of my head.

“What tha fuck was that?” His voice was a raspy growl, his thick Bostonian accent unmasked and his face full of irritation.

“What was what?” I asked, my tone breathier than I ever wanted it to be in his presence.

“You in that meeting. I asked you for help, and you immediately implied that Evan was going to be sexually harassing one of your precious writers.”

Fighting back the urge to smack him, I straightened up, narrowed my eyes, and leaned toward him. His eyes widened as I encroached on his personal space, but he didn’t move an inch. “Excuse me for being cautious because your department has a reputation for being arrogant dicks about everything. If I remember correctly, you want my help, not the other way around, so I need to make sure you aren’t going to come in and bully my talent and throw off all my schedules. Everyone I have regionally is under contract right now, and saving your ass isn’t something I get paid for.”

Adrian’s jaw clenched as he stared into my eyes with that unnerving intensity he was so capable of, but I wasn’t backing down or letting him bulldoze over me as he did with everyone else.

“Sloane wasn’t asking you to help. That was just a courtesy. This request came from above her. If Evan tanks this release, we all lose, so why don’t you look at the bigger picture here and realize the revenue my department brings helps everyone stay afloat. If he nails this one, that’s one more mommy porn author you get to keep under contract, so just get me the list and quit being so condescending about it.”

“Excuse me?” Did he really just say my authors write mommy porn?

“You heard me. I don’t think I need to repeat myself. I may need your help now, but your job is secure because of my department.”

“Why you piece of…” My voice trailed off as I tried to keep my anger in check. He was goading me, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of feeding into this perception he had of me being difficult.

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