Page 16 of His Perfect Woman

I walked over and pulled her in for a hug, striving to make it as platonic as possible. “Forget I said anything. I’ve never been much of a morning person. I was just being moody is all. I’m not worried about anything. We’ll find a way to make everything work. I still believe we’re perfectly suited to pull it off.”

“Okay,” she submitted hesitantly. She pulled back and squinted her eyes at me. “I vote we work out the terms of our relationship, what happens publicly and privately, as we go along. The rest of our lives are still free for us to do whatever we want. We just keep things under wraps so nothing gets complicated. We’d have to anyway for our images. If the media paints you as a cheating womanizer, you’re even worse off than where you started.”

I nodded. “Makes sense.”

She spun on her heels and went into the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and resisted the urge to follow her in. The problem was...she wasn’t giving in to everything that I wanted. Not everything. And I wasn’t worried about her getting hurt...I was worried I would be the one to get hurt.

9

Victoria

Lucas insisted on me sharing a car with him to the office, but I refused. I was dressed in one of my sleekest pantsuits and I was determined to walk into work in the shoes of the only role I had originally signed up to fill—a PR consultant. That’s the job I signed up to do, and as far as I was concerned, Lucas’s and my arrangement had nothing to do with that.

I ignored the lingering stares and whispers as I marched through the workroom floor straight to the conference room for our AM meeting. I had the perfect strategy planned. Beating around the bush would only inspire more gossip and rumors. It was better to go in, guns blazing, and call out the elephant in the room to reassure everyone.

I intentionally planned my arrival to be just a few minutes late, so everyone else would already be seated and waiting for me by the time I breezed in. I purposefully avoided looking at Lucas as I made my way to the head of the table.

“Good morning, everyone, and thank you for convening here,” I announced sharply. “As you know, Lucas has invited me onto the Heartstring team to help out with the media and public relations, which is precisely what we’re going to discuss this morning. But first...I know you’re all curious about what you’ve seen in the media following our...somewhat surprising press conference the other day.”

I tensed up slightly, but quickly blew out a breath, trying to hide my lingering resentment towards Lucas for pulling that stunt.

“Yes, it is true that Lucas and I are entering into an engagement. But as far as everyone in this office is concerned, it has nothing to do with my job or what I’ve been hired to do. So, with that behind us...let’s move onto damage control. No one’s talking about Lucas’s love life in a negative light anymore. That’s good. But we need to redirect the focus back to Heartstring’s mission. We need to remind them why the service you’re offering is more important than its employees’ and executives’ personal lives.”

“Well, if that were the case, we wouldn’t be in this position to begin with,” Camille grumbled.

I ignored her beyond a brief, passing glance and continued. “I’ve put together an outline for featuring successful matches from the site. With three years under your belt, you’ve managed to bring together some couples that, by this point, have resulted in engagements and marriages. We need to remind the press and everyone else about these successes so they’ll be reassured that the service works. It’s the perfect celebratory focus for the three-year anniversary.”

Jada stood and passed out the files I had asked her to put together. “These are profiles on the couples we have successfully matched who are now in long-term relationships with marriage on the horizon,” she explained, handing each one of us a spiral-bound folder. “They’ve each agreed to our terms to be considered and given us details about their lives and relationships so we can pick the best ones to highlight.”

We each started flipping through the options as I explained that we would feature upwards of fifteen to twenty couples on the site, with a larger emphasis on three to five star couples, who would be more prominently featured and invited to the anniversary party.

“This woman’s knocked up. Shotgun wedding,” Camille huffed.

I nodded. “Not the ideal image for what we’re looking to promote.”

Jack leaned forward and laughed. “I can’t see these two exactly being envied by the masses...however superficial that may be.”

He held up a photo of one of the couples—both of them with yellowed, half-toothless grins as they posed with cans of cheap beer and hunting rifles.

“Ah, yes. One of our matches from the southern region.” I smirked. “They told us they’re getting married in a hayfield with a tailgate-style reception. No, I don’t think they’re quite right for this.”

“There are a few in here that look promising,” Lucas noted. “But what about skeletons in their closets? What if once they’re in the spotlight, cheating or secret debt or a myriad of other issues pop up to tear them apart?”

I jotted down some corresponding numbers on a sheet of paper and slid it across the table. “These are my recommendations for who to feature, but you’re right, Lucas. They’ll all be thoroughly vetted before moving forward. Everyone’s got a thing or two to hide, and the last thing we need is this positive spin being turned into another PR nightmare.”

“Here’s a thought,” Jack offered with his fingers poised under his chin. “Why don’t we feature you two?”

“Who two?”

“You and Lucas.”

“Uh...that’s really not...I don’t think…,” I stammered uncomfortably.

“That’s not a good idea,” Trent concluded.

“Thank you, Trent. I think.”

“Think about it,” Jack continued, unpersuaded. “We know your histories. There’s nothing bad or scary waiting in the wings to mess the whole thing up...at least beyond what they’ve already called Lucas on. And with him being our CEO and you being our PR consultant, it only increases the interest. And it puts us further away from this whole debacle with Lucas’s reputation. Two birds with one stone and way more press.”

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