The Weekend Proposition (15 page)

“They were never engaged,” Tyler said. “Spencer didn’t cheat on Ava. They were broken up.”

“Pierce,” his grandfather said. “This is absurd.”

“I’m sorry,” Pierce said. “I never thought she’d go this low. I don’t know what’s gotten into my granddaughter, but I can assure you she’ll be dealt with.”

“I don’t care what this rag reports,” Spencer said. “I’m used to the media. Coda isn’t.” Spencer rubbed his temples. If he’d never taken Coda to Connecticut none of this would be happening right now. But if he had never approached her, he would have missed out on the best weekend of his life.

“This will die down,” his grandfather said. “Coda is tough. She’ll be fine.”

“Right now we have ten minutes before the client gets here,” Pierce said.

“I don’t give a shit about the client.” Spencer banged his fist on the table. “I have more important things to deal with.”

“I’m sure Coda will understand,” his grandfather said. “You’ll call her and explain it to her after this meeting.”

“No,” Spencer said. “I’m going to Brooklyn right now and apologizing to Coda on behalf of my delusional ex-nightmare.” Hopefully Dakota hadn’t seen the article. It was still early enough that she could still be at home.

“You can get in touch with Coda?” Vince asked as he entered the conference room with a stack of sketches. “I need to talk to you about her.”

“What are those?” Pierce asked.

“The new logos but I need the artist to sign off. I can’t get in touch with her and up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t know you could either, Spencer.”

“What are you talking about?” Spencer said as he flipped through the artwork. “These are spectacular.”

“Are they from the new artist you mentioned?” Tyler asked. “When did we contract a freelance job?”

“What new artist?” Spencer continued to look at the designs. They were just as Coda had described. These were her idea. “Who did these?”

“Coda,” Vince said. “I’ve been working with her in the evenings. She has a knack for logos. She takes the client’s direction and does exactly what they want.”

“Why is she here in the evenings?” his grandfather asked.

“She cleans the office,” Spencer said. “That’s how I met her.”

“Really.” The old man grinned. “She was resourceful enough to come in at the bottom level. Very impressive.”

Spencer should have known Jack Cannon would appreciate Coda’s tactics. She was a go-getter. Exactly the kind of employee he sought out.

“Why didn’t you present these designs before today?” Pierce asked.

“In all of our early meetings, Tyler said no to simplicity. We said we wanted a flashier campaign,” Vince offered. “Coda designed these after we had agreed to move forward on what we had discussed as a team. She was just playing with the design. We used these logos so I could teach her a new computer program.”

“I wouldn’t have made that call if I had seen these,” Tyler said. “Huh, Coda?” He rubbed his jaw. “Did you call her?”

“I’ve tried all morning,” Vince said. “It wasn’t until I saw that horrible article in that rancid paper did I realize that you even knew her, Spencer.”

“Are you calling her from the main number?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, but now I know why she might not be picking up.” He glanced at Spencer. “I wouldn’t pick up if I saw this.”

“She thinks it’s me.”

“Surely she knows that article means nothing,” his grandfather said. “Haven’t you called and discussed it with her? She knows you were never engaged. She’s your girlfriend.”

“We had a misunderstanding last night.” Spencer couldn’t explain the real reason Coda was upset with him. “I haven’t spoken to her this morning.”

“Coda never mentioned that you were seeing one another,” Vince said. “I had no idea until I saw the paper, but I should have put it together when you asked for what she had already designed. I thought it was a coincidence.”

“She told me to tell you. She said you would know what I meant. I thought maybe the two of you had discussed the logo before. I had no idea she had worked on it.” Spencer had asked her and she told him she hadn’t. She probably didn’t want to get Vince in trouble.

“I’ve tweaked her designs, because hers were raw, but the more I look at hers the more I realize they’re what the client wants. I didn’t want to present them to you until I had her permission. I figured we’d need to work out a contract with her. I was going to explain to you that I’d been mentoring her. I was pretty shocked to see that you two are dating.”

“Right.” Spencer studied her designs. How had he managed to screw everything up?

“We need to get that girl in here,” his grandfather said. “Spencer, I don’t care what you have to do, I want Coda on staff.”

“The waitress?” Pierce asked. “We don’t know her qualifications.”

“I’d say she’s much more than that.” Jack looked at his grandson. “She’s Spencer’s girlfriend and a pretty talented graphic artist. She went to NYU. I don’t care if she waits tables or cleans this office at night. She has a flair for agency work. I haven’t seen work like this from someone so green in a long time. She’s special, and we need her.” He looked at Spencer. “Why the hell didn’t you know anything about this?”

“We just started seeing one another,” Spencer said. “I’ve never seen her work.”

“Now you have, boy. Get her approval on these designs.”

“It’s not her approval I’m worried about,” Spencer mumbled. “We need to postpone the meeting.”

“The client is already on their way here,” Pierce said. “Get Coda in here and she can sit in on the meeting. If they like her work, we’ll offer her a job.”

“No,” Spencer said. “I’ll approach her and discuss her designs with her as a professional, but first I need to clean up your granddaughter’s mess and apologize.”

I need to apologize for so many things.

“Postpone the meeting.” Spencer looked at his brother. “Tell them we had a glitch but we will have the designs ready by the end of the day. If Coda agrees to work for us, we’ll present her logos tomorrow morning, and if not, we’ll have to let the Bradford account go.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Pierce asked. “In the forty years of this company’s history we have never lost a client. I’m not about to now because you can’t get your love life in order.”

“Maybe if you had stayed out of my love life in the first place we wouldn’t be in this predicament.” Spencer stood from the conference table. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a personal matter to deal with.”

“Jack, get him under control,” Pierce demanded.

“I can no more control him than you can manage Ava. We never should have tried to keep them together.” His grandfather walked out of the conference room with Spencer. “You do whatever you have to do to make things right with Coda.”

“I can’t force her to work for us.”

“I’m not talking about that.”

“You’re not?” The old man’s attitude surprised Spencer.

“She’s unique. I saw it in her eyes. She has a spark. But you know what I really noticed?”

“What’s that?”

“The passion in your eyes when you look at her. I’ve only seen you look that way one other time.”

“When I’m going after a national campaign?”

“When you sit in front of the piano.” He nodded. “Coda is your muse, Spencer. Whatever happened between the two of you can be fixed. Don’t lose her over a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“That’s my boy.” He patted his grandson’s back. “Now go get her. I’ll handle the Bradford account.”

“Thank you.” He headed down the hall and to the elevators when his assistant stopped him. “Mr. Cannon.”

“It’ll have to wait, Lynn. I have to get to Brooklyn.” He pushed the down button. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“You have someone in your office,” she said. “A very persistent girl. Judging from her accent, she’s from Brooklyn, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She insisted that she wait in your office. She said she’d call her lawyer about that horrible article if I didn’t let her.”

“Did she?” Spencer smirked. “Her lawyer, huh?”
My girl has spunk.

“Should I call security?” Lynn asked.

“No, that won’t be necessary.” He walked toward his office. “Hold all of my calls please.”

“Yes, sir.” She sat back down at her desk as Spencer turned the knob on his door.

He didn’t care what had brought Coda to his office as long as she was there. When he opened the door, he found her leaning against his desk. She straightened her back when he entered.

“I was just on my way to see you,” he said.

He closed the door and moved toward her but she stopped him and waved the tabloid in front of him. “Did you see this?”

“I did.” Every time he saw it he became more disgusted with it. “I hope you know that nothing she said was true.”

“I am a waitress from Brooklyn.” She shrugged. “That part’s true.”

“I was never engaged to her.”

“I know,” she said. “I didn’t even see the stupid thing until I got on the subway. Someone left it on the seat. I knew it was the work of a vindictive, jealous woman.”

“Ava will be dealt with.”

“It was useful when I needed to get inside to see you.” She tossed the paper on his desk. “Your assistant panicked.”

“Yes, I heard. You do know an attorney can be expensive.” He grinned as he took her hand. “I hear you’re going to contact one.”

“I’ve recently come into some money. I can afford one.”

“About that...” He cleared his throat. “I shouldn’t have—”

“No.” She put her finger to his lips. “That’s why I’m here. I need to apologize for making you feel wrong for doing what we’d agreed upon. We both decided to that proposal. What were you suppose to do? I would have been pissed if you tried to stiff me.”

He kissed her finger before pulling her into his arms. “I should have asked you if you were okay with accepting the money. I shouldn’t have just pulled out the check and waved it in front of you as if it meant nothing me to me.”

“Yes, that would have been better.”

“You have always been more than a business deal to me. Even when I came into that diner last week, I knew you were more.”

“How?”

“I can’t explain it, but when I met you in my lounge I had to get to know you. I would have done anything for a few more minutes that night but instead I let you scamper out of the kitchen. I used your financial situation as an excuse. I shouldn’t have done that but I wanted to help you. You’re not a victim or a charity case. I never saw you that way.”

“I shouldn’t have said that. You were trying to help me, but I let my pride get in the way. When I accepted the first payment from you I told myself it was a mutual situation. It was before I knew you.” She stroked his cheek. “But yesterday was different.”

“I should have realized that. I was fulfilling my end of the deal. I wasn’t thinking. I thought if I got the money out of the way we could move on. I want to move on.”

“I do too.” Her expression lit up her whole face. “These past few days have been like a dream. The time we spent together meant so much to me. I want to get to know you better.”

“Good, because I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not sure I can take the money.”

“You need the money.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I won’t let you go back on our agreement.”

“Spencer, I don’t feel—”

“Coda, I have a lot of money. My family is very wealthy. I work hard to contribute to my income, and when my father died I received a huge trust. I don’t want to sound callous, because I try not to take my life for granted, but I’ve always had money.”

“That two-hundred thousand doesn’t mean much to you, does it?”

“Not as much as it means to you.” He wanted her to have that money. “Please take the money. I got what I needed out of our agreement. Actually, I got more than I ever bargained for.” He held up his hand before she could protest. “I don’t mean that I paid for
you
. I compensated you for your
time
. The fact that you’ve trusted me with your mind, body, and soul has nothing to do with that deal. Can you understand what I’m saying?”

“You do have my mind, body, and soul. I don’t know how you managed to grab hold of me so fast but I don’t want you to let go.”

“I don’t plan on letting go.” He ran his fingers through her hair, inhaling her vanilla-scented shampoo. “I missed you last night.”

“It was a long night for me too. I wanted to call, but after the way we left things I was afraid you wouldn’t want to hear from me.”

“I have something for you.” He walked over to his desk and pulled out a small notebook. “I wrote it down.”

She gasped when he handed her the book. “Our song?”

“I stayed up all night making sure all of the notes were exactly the way I played them for you on Saturday night.”

The melody had haunted him from the time he stepped into his car and pulled away from her apartment the evening before. As soon as he got home he sat in front of his piano and worked through the night. When he finished he called Tyler and asked him to meet him at the gym. He hadn’t been sure he’d ever get to share the song with Coda, but he needed to get out all the aggression he felt over how the weekend had ended.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and opened the book. “I can’t read the notes.” She laughed. “You’ll have to play it for me.”

“I have a piano at my house. I hope you’ll come there and let me play for you. I’ve never wanted to play more than I do now. Thank you for that.”

“I think your dad would have been really proud of you. You’re an artist, Spencer. The music is in your soul. I felt that when you played. It was one the most inspiring moments of my life.”

“You’re my inspiration.” He led her over to the leather couch across from his desk and pulled her into his lap. “I’m not the only one who has talent. I had another inspirational moment in my conference room this morning.”

“Without me?”

“You were with me.” He placed soft kisses along her jaw and neck because he couldn’t help himself. “I saw the logos you created for the Bradford account.”

“How?” She pushed him away so she could look at him. “I don’t understand.”

“Vince followed my direction. Do you remember the ideas you gave me on Friday morning? He knew exactly what you meant because you had already created them.” He pointed his finger at her. “You’re a naughty little thing, aren’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?”