Page 9 of The American

So, he would refuse to kiss her when given a perfectly good chance? Two could play at that game. Sage arrived at work an extra hour early. She was determined to best him. No matter that his main job was to sit as the company’s poster child, she would still best him.

When the elevator dinged on her floor, she sipped her peppermint tea as she stepped out into the main reception area and just about dropped her cup. Thad leaned against the counter talking to a blushing, giggling receptionist.

Sage nodded, “Tammy. Thad.”

“Tammy! That’s your name.” He nodded. “Suits you.”

Zachary stepped out into the area. “Oh good, you’ve arrived. Together?” His eyes shot up in surprise and suspicion.

“No, not at all.” Sage waved her hand around. “I mean, we were together last night. But no kissing—” She stopped. “I’m sure you don’t need to know the details.”

Zachary smirked. “No, I don’t. As long as your shenanigans don’t appear in the press, we don’t need to talk about any of it.”

Sage couldn’t calm the fire in her cheeks. How could she appear so unprofessional? This whole Thad thing. It was throwing her off her game. She needed some time to do her job without him at her side.

Zachary waved them to follow. “We have to formulate our first press blitz.”

Sage cleared her throat. “Um, since I’m not really a part of the press campaign, might I start working some numbers?”

“Oh, I’d like to work the numbers too, if you don’t mind. I think it might be helpful for us to decide who handles which responsibilities, don’t you?”

Sage sighed. “No, I think we already decided. You are working on the press and marketing campaign and I’m…doing everything else.” She smiled. She knew that division of the workload wouldn’t fly with him, but she couldn’t resist.

Zachary stepped into his office. “We can talk about that in here. And yes, Sage, you are needed at this meeting.”

She followed the men into the room and shut the door behind them all. Once she had taken her seat, Thad and Zachary went over the marketing file and talked of ways to entice the press with their story to get the most coverage possible. “It’s free advertising.” Thad pointed to the resultant sales. “Effective. See those numbers. It’s difficult to copy that return on investment in any other way.”

Zachary sat back in his seat. “So one way to stay in the press’s eye would be to continue to do press-worthy things.”

“Yeeeees.” Thad cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. “Or to be press worthy yourself.”

The pager beeped and before Zachary could answer, a female voice filled the room. “News on channel two. You’re gonna want to see this.”

Zachary clicked the screen on.

Images of Thad and Sage together flashed across the screen, and Sage’s stomach dropped. The headline that bothered Sage the most, “Another one of Thad’s conquests, Sage Parker, co-CEO.” Other sound bytes called Thad the prince taking Wall Street by storm. A royal takeover. And many more.

The more they heard, the whiter Zachary’s face turned. And then a different reporter interrupted and said, “This shot was taken down by the river, romantic meetings in secret, after hours.”

Thad stood up. “Are these legitimate news sources?”

Sage nodded. “They are viewed as such.”

Zachary clicked off the television. “What else do I need to know? So I don’t have to watch this any longer.” His face was indifferent, but the anger flashed in his eyes.

“Nothing. Zachary.” Sage was mortified. She wished to run from the room and hide, right after she called her mom. She glanced at her phone, streams of texts were coming through. “I promise. There is nothing more to the night. The spin is just that, a spin.”

Thad toyed with his paperwork. “Down by the river, I would have kissed her. But she kept it platonic.”

What?She shook her head but he held a hand up. “And that’s all there is to know. She’s stunning. I could easily be attracted to such a woman. But we have no plans to confuse things.” He looked to her, and Sage nodded, blushing furiously, trying desperately to keep the conversation professional. “Exactly. He’s just the sort of man who could excite me, were we free to do so, but we aren’t. We sort of came to that agreement last night.” Without saying anything at all. She felt so chagrined that if not for his restraint, far worse could have been on film. And yet, he covered for her, acted as though it were him making the moves.

“But it doesn’t matter so much what happened as what the press says happened.”

Thad nodded. “Unfortunately true.”

Zachary slammed his hand down. “How can we move forward with the marketing campaign if you two are already an item? Part of the appeal is the prince’s noted availability.”

Sage added. “I know. I’m sorry. Perhaps he can be seen with another lady every week?”

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