Page 70 of Back in Black

Gillian took in his outraged expression and sighed. “If you gave that group even a tenth of the attention you give to the fighters, it’d have to promote goodwill.”

His brows snapped down. “Working with fighters is my livelihood. The bitchy dames in WAVS are just a fucking irritant.”

Gillian set aside her cola and frowned at him. “Enough with the colorful adjectives already.”

“What?”

Irate, she waved a hand, saying, “Fuck this, and fuck that. Expand your vocabulary just a little, would youplease.”

“It’s only a word.” But he grinned over her disgruntlement. “And I kind of like hearing you talk dirty.”

How did he manage to make everything sexual? “You’re being stubborn, Drew.”

“I’m being realistic.” He came to lean over her chair, his hands braced beside her hips on the seat. “Do you have any real concept of how crazy busy I stay? Hell, I travel more than I’m here.”

“Because you micromanage everything.” This close to him, Gillian could see the striations in his dark brown eyes. Whether seducing her or defending his much-loved sport, Drew Black packed a lot of intensity, and so much intensity in one man left her flustered. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, too. There’s no reason for you to oversee every little thing. If you would just—”

“Woman, damn.” His forced laugh had an edge to it. “I do know how to run my own business, you know. How the hell do you think I got along before you showed up?”

“As I recall, you were on the verge of being fired.”

That reminder shot his good humor, and his jaw tightened. “Actually, smart-ass, I’m on the verge of taking this sport to prime time.” He looked at her mouth. “And when I can finagle some free time, I’d rather spend it getting sweaty in bed with you, instead of trying to convert a bunch of prissy-ass wallflowers who faint at the sight of blood.”

She preferred that, too, but his cynicism wounded her on a fundamental level. She wasn’t exactly a fan of WAVS herself. Fanatics never appealed to her, and from what she’d seen, they touted radical views. But she hated to hear Drew continually degrade an entire group of women. After all,shewas a woman, and throughout her career, she’d met plenty of men who discounted the concerns of women. “You really resent them, don’t you?”

“If someone negated all your hard work, twisted your every motive, and always painted you in a bad light, wouldn’t you resent them?”

Of course she would. “I realize the fault doesn’t lie entirely with you.”

“Gee, thanks for the endorsement, baby.”

Trying to hide her smile, Gillian leaned forward and gave him a brief, apologetic kiss. “They don’t really understand the sport, Drew, which is all the more reason why you should try to resolve things.”

He shook his head at her. “I’m impressive, Gillian, I know, but even I can’t do everything.”

Hand over her heart, she feigned a gasp. “Say it isn’t so.”

He straightened away from her. “You know I’m working on a big contract for Brett and juggling misbehaving fighters like Dickey Thompson. I’ve had three trips to L.A. in the past month and another to Canada. I’m negotiating a shitload of deals from sponsors and finessing a new cable show. On top of that, as Officer Sparks warned us, rag-mag reporters are trying to make more out of that damn bomb scare than was there.”

His schedule sometimes left her exhausted, but a man like Drew needed to stay busy. “I’m not sure a bomb threat requires embellishment.”

“You know what I mean. Someone blabbed that I was supposedly a target, and now every groupie reporter out there wants the inside scoop on my ‘death threats.’” He huffed. “Those WAVS broads are probably having a party over it.”

At the very least, they probably felt vindicated. Why hadn’t Drew told her about this before now? “Who’s been in contact with you?”

“Nobody big. I don’t think CNN gives a shit, you know? But people from the fighter magazines have called, and a few cable news programs. I accepted a couple of interviews for that, by the way. After we eat, I’ll give you the dates and times.”

Gillian’s feet dropped from the seat to the floor. “Drew!” It washerjob to handle all his press right now. She wanted to control the outgoing message by handpicking only the places that she knew would improve his image.

If he sabotaged her efforts, she couldn’t do her job.

As if it didn’t matter, he said, “Playboymagazine called, too. They want to set up something.”

Her jaw loosened, then clenched. Fury stirred. Through her teeth, she asked, “Anything else?”

“Yeah. Some of the online MMA sites are talking about it. You know how gossip-worthy news goes viral. Next thing you know, it’ll be the hot topic on every message board out there, so I offered a firsthand account, just to keep the record straight.”

Struggling to maintain a calm façade, Gillian came to her feet. She was suddenly very aware of not being appropriately dressed with him, but she wouldn’t let that hold her back on something this important.

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