Page 196 of Catfish

“This is a better one.”

“Oh, no, it’s not.”

“It pays more,” she counters.

“I’m completely good where I am. I’m busy with the governor’s events and my other clients, you’re stuck with me for a few more months until my contract is over. Leave me alone.”

Emmy turns her body towards me and narrows her eyes. “There are ways of making you change your mind.”

“Like?” I raise my brows in challenge.

“Like…” She slowly lifts her shoulders. “I’ll think of something.”

“Mhm.”

“Don’t think I can?” Emmy mocks me by lifting her own blonde brows.

Looking down on her, because I have at least three inches on her with my heels, I give her a mirthless laugh. “You don’t know me that well, Emmy.”

"Background checks." She finger guns me. "I'll know your favorite music, color, and bra size in no time."

“You’ve been around the governor too long.”

Her nose crinkles as she averts her gaze from me. “I just threatened to get to know you, didn’t I?”

I can’t help the laugh that bursts through my lips. She is the most non-menacing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s cute and tiny, probably puts a cup over a spider that she finds in her house because she doesn’t want to kill it.

“They make alcohol for things like that,” I convey. Emmy finishes off her champagne in one gulp and starts for the bar.

“I’ll be back.”

“Byeeee,” I coo as she strides through the throng of people. Shaking my head, I scan the crowd—the bar being the first place I land on.

But my eyes fall on a blond-haired man in a navy suit. Laughing and talking to a gentleman in front of him with a glass of dark liquid in his hands. His profile is all I can see, but I've looked at that face plenty of times and…

I mentally shake my head. There's no way.

Chase?

"Are you Reagan Shelton?" Turning around, I'm met by a beautiful woman with striking blue eyes and unflawed pink lipstick.

My immediate reaction of possibly seeing the guy I've been speaking to for months fades as I notice the perfection of the lady in front of me. Medium-brown hair with soft blonde highlights and a button nose, she has the most striking features I've ever seen.

“I am,” I reply, extending a hand to hers. Removing one from her gold clutch, she shakes my hand with an unstressed smile.

"The party is absolutely beautiful," she quips, giving the room another glance. "I've never seen anything so pristine and delicately planned."

“Thank you so much. It was an honor to do it.”

“I’m sure it was. Planned by a woman who is not only talented but beautiful, I can see why my husband hired you.”

I smile. “You’re Mrs. Ricci, I’ve heard so much about you. I mean, from your husband, he said that you’re celebrating your five-year anniversary?”

She returns my smile. “Almost eight.” I clasp my hands together because I swear the events these kinds of people hold are so beyond my grasp of comprehension it’s unreal.

“That’s wonderful, congratulations.”

She smooths down her glittery gold gown that is held up by two thick straps on her shoulders. “Thank you, Miss Shelton. I’ve heard you’ve been working with him very closely.”

---