Page 75 of Down to One

"Katie," Lori said, "before Landon goes into the press suite fill him in on the media strategy we were discussing regarding him and Layla."

Katie weeped inside at the "we." She wanted zero to do with any strategy that involved Landon and Layla in the same sentence, and she had less than zero desire to talk about it with him. Obviously this was some sort of test—from the universe, from Lori—to see if she was worthy of the new job, perhaps? She pulled it together and did her best to pretend he was John Maverick or some bigwig executive or, hell, even the President of the United States because that would be less nerve-wracking.

"Right, so, Mr. Ryan, as far as you and Ms. Lamar are concerned, we’re going to put out to the press that a friend gave her the ticket to the banquet at the last minute. If you’re asked in the press suite, just play it coy, say it was a pleasant surprise to find out you were sitting together, something along those lines."

"Or, you know, I could just talk about the charity we’re here to raise money for tonight." He took a sip of his glass, raising one eyebrow in challenge towards her.

Katie’s mouth hung agape—until she saw the smug smile tugging at his lips. He was baiting her, trying to trip her up in front of her boss. He was fucking with her job, yet again, and treating her livelihood like some kind of joke. Katie straightened her spine and looked him dead in the eye with her best professional smile.

"Yes, excellent idea, Mr. Ryan. That is why we’re here after all. I have no doubt that you can come up with the perfect narrative to suit your needs. I’ve seen you do it, so we have no concerns there."

She’d been careful to keep every ounce of sarcasm out of her voice, but Landon’s hand with the drink halted for that telling second before he tossed back the remainder of the amber liquid.

Happy to be under his skin, Katie pressed on: "We’ll try to limit the photos of you and Ms. Lamar together tonight. You did the step and repeat of course, and we’ll get one more of you leaving…um… together, but we don’t want to oversaturate the media with photos this early on. I’ve already talked to the photographers, but if they approach you—"

"Oh!" Lori interjected. "Jerry Dalton just walked in. I need to say hello. Keep talking, I’ll be right back to take Landon through the press line."

Katie held back until Lori was a step out of earshot, then continued on as if she’d never been interrupted.

"—but if the photographers approach you, I guess I don’t need to tell you how to pretend you don’t know Layla Lamar, do I Mr. Ryan?"

She tried to brush past him, not caring what excuse she’d have to tell Lori, but his hand slipped around her elbow to stop her. He leaned in, his voice low and close enough to her ear to drive her crazy.

"What’s wrong, sweetheart? Worried someone else will be getting that hot fuck tonight?"

Her scowl drew a satisfied chuckle from him and he rubbed it in by letting a finger drift up her arm, drawing out the most decadent goosebumps in its wake.

Katie wrenched out of his touch, squashing back the wave of regret that followed. "Don’t flatter yourself. You weren’t that great."

"Yes I was." His reply came right away and with cocky assurance. Then he lowered his voice and added, "I’ve never seen a woman come so easily. My fingers, my tongue, my cock…you creamed all over me. I rocked your fucking world and you know it."

Katie gulped, her pulse galloping at the base of her throat. His words were damn near orgasmic. She took a nervous scan of the room then put an extra foot of professional distance between them before she finally shot back, "Yeah, well, being decent in the sack doesn’t compensate for all your other faults."

"Ha! Like what?"

"Your suffocating ego, for one. The fact that you’re a fucking liar for another."

His eyebrows shot up. "When did I lie?"

She snarled at his ignorance. "Oh I don’t know, how about the time you said you didn’t know Layla Lamar? Awfully coincidental you end up here together just three days later, isn’t it?"

Landon shook his head. "Unlike you, I’ve been up front from the get."

Katie’s eyes about popped out of her head. "Excuse me? What have I not been up front about?"

"Sweetheart, you can’t even be honest with yourself, how the fuck can you be honest with me?"

He’d meant to hurt her, and when he saw that he actually had, he cleared his throat and looked away, but he didn’t take it back. How could he, when they were probably the truest words ever spoken to her? Katie couldn’t decide if she wanted to cry or slap him for how bad they stung.

Lori saved her by swooping right into the tense silence. "What did I miss?" she asked, looking between them.

"Nothing," Landon answered. "We were just discussing how crazy of a coincidence it is that the tabloids reported seeing Layla and I together in Pittsburg earlier this week, and here we are now, together and in the flesh."

"There are no coincidences in life, you know that darling," Lori said. "I put that story out."

"You put that out?!" Landon and Katie said the exact same words simultaneously.

Lori actually laughed. I tried to get TMZ to run it but they wouldn’t touch it without photos. Rumor Loves Gossip ate it up. We had to get a feel for how the public feels about you two as a couple before bringing Layla all the way out here. Good news, they love you together."

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