Page 63 of Overexposed

Lips pursed, he narrowed his eyes. “Five thousand per additional hour over three, with a proviso to add an additional five thousand if it exceeds three extra hours.”

“So if it’s an evening that ends up at least six hours, I make thirty thousand atop of the twenty-five thousand?”

A muscle jumped in his cheek. "Additional twenty thousand. I meant only an extra five thousand, not five thousand extra per hour.”

“Oh, damn. That’s a deal-breaker. No dice. Have a good evening.”

Seven exhaled a hard breath. “Fine, but it will only be three thousand extra per hour. So slightly less than the first three hours, but only a thousand less if it is afullextra three hours. If it’s two hours and fifty-nine minutes, no deal.”

The speed at which he caved to the requests said he really wanted to close this deal.

“You said that the made-upwe’re datingstory was only one of two solutions. What’s the other one?”

Dipping his chin, Seven studied me for a long moment. The sobriety in his expression stilled any smart-ass remark I’d been considering. Whatever the other choice was, he reallyhatedit.

“The other one is Gem steps forward, debunks the stories, and tells everyone it was him and not me. He’ll have to do a round of interviews, probably a couple of appearances. One of the late shows, I’d imagine, and maybe a couple of radio shows or podcasts.”

I frowned. That seemed overkill to clean up a story about Seven dating me. Then again, killing a blind item or piece of celebrity gossip with the truth was never easy. People preferred the salacious to the sainted.

“It’ll put Gem back in the headlines, and it will probably stir up a lot of interest in our previous work, particularly when he was onscreen, and the demands will start to roll in again.”

As disinterested in having that attention on Gem as Seven appeared to be, it didn’t sound like jealousy or envy. No…

“Gem doesn’t want that.” It was and wasn’t a guess. Gem being aggrieved because people always mistook him for Seven, and being genuinely stunned when I recognized him also spoke volumes.

“No,” Seven said. “He doesn’t. If I can’t convince you, then…I’ll eat the damage to my reputation and the deal. I won’t like it and I’ll probably curse your name, but I’ll do it.”

I didn’t care about him cursing my name so much. The fact he was willing to give up something that seemed to mean a fuck-ton to him for hisbrother?

That mattered.

“So three thousand extraperhour in addition to the initial five thousand for each hour after the first three, to be a total of twenty-four thousand. If it’s under three hours, then you also prorate by the hour, so it’s more for the extra forty-five minutes than twenty minutes.”

He frowned but nodded. “However, we will rounddownto the quarters rather than round up unless it’s so close it might as well be.”

Dickish but acceptable. “If it exceeds six hours?”

“Stray, if it exceeds six hours we are stuck together, trust me, I’ll make it worth both of our whiles.”

Somehow that didn’t comfort me.

“For how long?”

He winced, running a hand over the back of his neck. “Not going to lie, at least through the next premiere and all the press tours coming up.” He paused. “Possibly longer.”

“It’ll keep the attention on the project and your new relationship instead of Clara Belle?” At his nod, I snorted. “Probably earn you some latitude if the film sucks if they like the salacious side better.”

His scowl was almost funny. “It doesn’t suck.”

Too easy to bait. “Uh-huh, so you say. And I have to go to the premiere?”

“Yes,” he said, with about as much enthusiasm as I felt. “We don’t have to like it. We just have to go.”

I snapped my fingers, smirking. “Ah, so it does suck. Got it. This all sounds like I need new clothes.”

“I’ll take care of all wardrobe costs. I can give you a couple of shops where you can get everything you need, and they’ll send me the bill.”

Rolling my eyes, I huffed. “They can also leak to the tabloids that you’re dressing up your girlfriend.” I knew how controlling the story played out.

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