Page 16 of The Sweetmate
“I’m uncomfortable with the nudity. Professional, remember? All the abs. Muscles. Skin.” She speaks the words as if they’re insults.
“Sorry. I heard you and came in here before I finished getting dressed.”
“Well, go finish.”
“Does this mean we’re still going to work together?”
She finally stops wiping the counter. Her eyes narrow on me. “I’m here for work, not pleasure.”
“I find pleasure in work. You can have both.”
“The only pleasure I’ll be receiving from you is turning your image of a playboy into a respected, wholesome chef.” She pauses in thought and then declares, “And your cooking. Strictly for research purposes. I do need to know my client in order to promote his skills properly.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to make a joke about her knowing all my skills. “That’s true. I agree with everything you’ve said, even if I don’t like some of it. I appreciate your help and professionalism. Full honesty, I’m attracted to you. I wasthinking about you in the shower, and it’s going to be hard to fight it, but I promise to try and behave.”
She rolls her eyes. “You can’t help yourself, can you? You’re just full of flattery. Listen, that’s what gets you into trouble. The interviews you do. The people you interact with.” Lisa inhales a deep breath. “It’s easy to misinterpret your intentions. Innocent or not, you’re leading people on or coming off as a brazen horndog.”
“Horndog?”
“Basically. You flirt with anyone with a pulse.”
“And is of legal consent. Please. I’m not completely shameless.” I ignore how hurt I am by her assumptions. She’s not wrong, but she’s not completely correct either. A lot of my interviews have been taken out of context. Videos of me were manipulated to appear far steamier than what had really happened. It’s not my fault people have made reels of me licking icing or slowing down footage of my hands rolling out dough. They’re the perverts, not me. Well, notonlyme.
Her face is serious except for one brow being raised. “I really want this opportunity. And I don’t quite understand it, but I have a feeling we could make a good team.”
“That’s part of the fun in life.”
“Having a good team?”
“Not understanding it. Blind faith. Mystery.”
“That’s the worst! I hate not knowing or understanding something. Anyway”—she extends her hand—“let’s get to work, partner.”
“Partner.” I take her hand in mine, and the touch sends a shiver down my spine. I’d love nothing more than to observe and commit every feature of her face to memory, but I know if I hold her hand any longer, she’ll become uncomfortable. It’d be inappropriate. Unprofessional. Creepy. All words that wouldsend her packing. I release her hand and excuse myself to go put on some clothes.
As I’m pulling the zipper up on my pants, the bathroom door rattles from what sounds like an ogre beating it down. “What did you do?!” Lisa rages.
I quickly unlock the door and swing it open. “What? What?”
She holds her phone screen up. “It’s everywhere. You raged out on a passenger for taking too long through security?”
“No, no, no. That’s certainly not what happened. He was being a jerk to the airport security and holding everyone up. I offered help. I tried to diffuse the situation. I gave the guy a simple solution.”
“Did you cuss him out and resort to name calling him? And then had your bodyguard go after him?”
Unbelievable. I hate social media.
“You know what? Whatever. It doesn’t matter what I said or did. It’s out there and everyone’s already made up their mind about me.”
Lisa sighs. “We’ll fix it. I believe you. We’ll get good press out there. We’ll show people who really are.”
“They don’t want that. I also made friends with a little girl who I promised to dedicate siren cupcakes to and gave out an autograph. Nobody recorded that. It happened five seconds after that douchebag.”
“Finish getting dressed. We have work to do.”
Before we go to meet with a representative from the network, Lisa and I sit down in the living area of our suite. She wants to go over a content plan for my socials. While she’s been asking me lots of questions, I’d like to ask a couple of my own about her.
“What made you choose public relations?”
