Page 10 of The American

“Possibly.” Zachary rubbed a hand along his chin. “Let’s watch the press for a couple days. Another solution might present itself.” His eyes looked far too calculating. And Sage felt a growing worry.

Chapter 6

Thad tried to concentrate. The marketing team sat around a long rectangular table. Images of Thad flashed along the screen at the back wall, the progressive ad sequence looked good. Thad was looking forward to getting this nailed down so he could move on to some real CEO work.

But everyone in the room felt frustrated. The images of he and Sage had not stopped appearing on websites and talk shows. They were waiting until Sage and he were old news. But one week later and the hype of their relationship was still going strong.

Zachary knocked on his door. “You have a minute?”

He nodded, then he stood and excused himself from the team.

“We have to get moving on something.”

“I know. The picture by the river just appeared on another talk show. Everyone keeps calling, asking for appearances. It hasn’t died yet.”

Zachary ran a hand along his chin. “This story, this idea that two CEOs found each other is really resonating with people. Not just any CEOs, two of the best looking CEOs in the business and one a royal.”

Thad sensed where this was going. “It will die faster than you think. People want conflict more than anything else, secrets, intrigue, disputes. They feed off of it.”

“Well, we can provide them with conflict too. Think of it, a Princess CEO.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, maybe we should run with this idea. You said yourself you’d love to pursue her, well, do.”

Thad grimaced.

Sage entered. “You wanted to see me?” She looked from one to the other. “What’s up?”

Zachary motioned that she take a seat. “Thad and I were just talking about how your story, from last week, has not gone away.”

She huffed out a breath. “It’s only gotten worse actually. I just want to apologize. I could never had predicted this would happen, though I should have seen it coming.”

Thad chuckled. “You can’t take all the credit. That was epic dancing.”

Someone had posted a video of their final dance moves and it had one million likes on YouTube.

Zachary cleared his throat. “All press is good press. I think we are missing an opportunity to pick up more buyers. If you can’t beat them, join them.”

Sage’s face went white. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying date. Get to know each other. Just do it in a very public way.”

Sage’s head began to shake as if to say no.

Thad was inclined to agree. For one, he legitimately wanted to pursue Sage. She was special. But he was purposefully waiting until things weren’t so complicated. This whole set up would probably ruin whatever chance they had.

Zachary continued without asking what they thought. “And consider a royal wedding, here in Manhattan.”

Thad’s stomach dropped. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Let’s give them what they want. Make a show of it. Ride this publicity as long as it will take us, and then when it dies down, you guys can quietly break up or whatever.”

“But Zachary.”

“No, you two created this mess. On the eve of launching our whole new marketing plan featuring bachelor of the year, Prince of Torren, you get him on the news as something else, someone already taken.” He held up a hand. “And before you say to take pictures of him with another girl, the country already loves you Sage. They want to see you together and will see his betrayal as a betrayal of my company.”

Sage rested her head on one hand and sat in silence.

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