Page 84 of Reckless

“God, Tyler, I didn’t realize you were still competing with me for Mom’s affection. I can tell her. I don’t care what she thinks.”

I didn’t believe that for one second.

“Imagine her face,” I continued. “The only child that lived up to her expectations turns out to be less than perfect.”

“There is no such thing as living up to her expectations,” Madison said in an icy tone. “You are such a baby. I can’t believe we are related sometimes.”

“Ditto, monster Maddie. You don’t have a single fun bone in your entire body.”

Cursing was beneath Madison, so she just hung up on me and sent me the details I asked for.

Twenty minutes later, I was already bonding with Parker Wilson over the fact that if Madison was a guy, we would totally punch her in the face. And even though he laughed at my personal opinion of my big sister, he wasn’t caving in about the wedding.

“Sorry, man,” he said and sounded anything but sorry. “I don’t do weddings and I won’t disturb my clients.”

“The bride is pregnant and doesn’t like parties in the first place. The groom is pussy-whipped. We would be out of there by midnight.”

“I get it. But my clients are celebrities who come to my hotel, because no one tries to take their pictures and no one asks them for an autograph. They want the peace and quiet. No offense, but your party sounds like a huge problem. A problem for me, my staff, and my clients.”

“We will keep it low key.”

Parker burst out laughing at that.

“You are the second person from your family that called me. You people are not low key. And my hotel is all about low key. Not to mention I have a personal issue now with that arrogant sister of yours. She killed every chance you had of me doing you a favor. She is lucky I don’t have time for petty games or one word from me to the right people and six months from now she won’t be able to find a single high-profile client to hire her.”

I noticed his calm tone disappeared completely when he started talking about Madison, so I decided to use her as bait.

“I have time for petty games,” I let that sink in for a moment, then continued. “The best way to stick it to my sister is to have the wedding at your hotel without her being the person to arrange it. The internal turmoil will drive her crazy.”

“Look, I have a hotel to run. Getting back at your sister is not on the top of my list.”

That wasn’t a flat-out no, so I took his answer as a maybe.

“She bribed your assistant to get her hands on your phone number. When she couldn’t convince you to book the wedding, she dragged her ass to your office. Madison is not used to failing. Honestly, I think that’s the only thing she is scared of. And losing to me would be the last nail in her coffin.”

“Even if I would enjoy the retaliation, I still have my clients to think about.”

“Celebrities get married too. Numerous times. And they want to do it as privately as possible. You already have the privacy issue sorted out. You just need someone to run the show.”

“Like I would work with your sister.”

“There is something about her that no one can deny.”

“And what is that?”

“People want her. She’s that good. Think about it. Your own assistant risked giving your number, just to have Madison organize her wedding.”

“I see your point, but I don’t care about weddings, man.”

“But you care about the level of satisfaction your clients experience.” That seemed to catch his attention, because he remained silent for a while, and I decided to push him a little. “Your clients need a private place to have their weddings. They need someone they could trust not to sell their pictures to the tabloids. You are that person. Not to mention the money you will make just from this additional service. People spend an obnoxious amount of cash for their weddings. Celebrities even more so.”

“People do spend a lot of cash at weddings.”

“We are the best proof of concept. You won’t risk a relationship you already have with one of your clients. You will see how it goes with your own eyes. We will pay. Madison will do everything. You won’t have to lift a finger.”

“You have two hundred guests. Our restaurant has one hundred seats.”

“I know. Madison rented a tent for your garden.”

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