Trust in Advertising (65 page)

The only difference was the ache in her chest it now caused as well. Lexi crawled under her covers, knowing that in a few short hours she would be face to face with Vincent for the first time in days. Even though it terrified her, on some small level, it excited her too, though she wasn’t ready to admit it.

Thursday morning, Lexi overslept. Lexi never overslept. But on the morning of the meeting with Vincent and Elizabeth, she woke up a half hour late and ran around the apartment in her underwear looking for the skirt that went with the blouse and pumps she was currently wearing. She had laid it down somewhere in an undisclosed location that she had yet to discover. Just as she was about to scream, she found it neatly folded on the coffee table beside her vase of glass flowers from Vincent. She glared at the beautiful blooms she spent way too much time looking at and snatched the skirt. Sliding it up her thighs, she chastised herself. “Get your head out of the clouds, Lexi. He’s a man, nothing more.”

The words had felt good to say, empowering, but as she ran her fingers over the smooth, colorful glass blooms, she realized they were a complete lie. Vincent wasn’t just some random guy. He was so much more than she wanted to admit.

With her head held high, and by some miracle, almost on time, Lexi walked through the doors of the restaurant and was greeted by a beautiful, golden-haired hostess. “Good morning, welcome to Rocco’s. Are you dining alone or meeting someone?”

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“I’m meeting two other people. They’re probably here. I’m a minute or two late.”

“A lady and a gentleman?” The hostess smiled knowingly.

“Yes, how—” Lexi watched her come out from behind the desk and grab a menu before she started leading her into the dining room.

“He had the same terrified look on his face that you have. Breathe. Whatever it is, it’ll work itself out, one way or another.” She nodded her head to a table in the corner. “This way.”

Lexi could have spotted him in a crowd of a thousand. The second her eye caught a glimpse of his tousled hair, she was fixated on him. In his black pinstripe suit, he was more mouthwatering than the Belgian waffles Lexi had just walked past. The green tie he wore made the flecks in his eyes pop from thirty feet away.

For Lexi, there was no one like Vincent Drake. Never was, never would be again.

She raised her internal defenses and made her way to the table.

Vincent spotted her the moment she walked into the room. Her hair caught the morning light, the streaks of caramel becoming more visible than ever. Her eyes were like saucers, huge and afraid, as she scanned the tables, looking for them.

She had on a fitted red blouse and a black pencil skirt that made it impossible for him to take his eyes off of her. As soon as she found his face in the crowd, she paused and then put on her best aloof, screw-you attitude and refused to break eye contact with him until she was standing right beside the table, her perfume swirling in the air all around him.

“Good morning, Elizabeth.” Lexi’s face softened as she bent over and hugged Elizabeth. Vincent jumped to his feet and held out her chair for her.

When she stood back up she said a clipped, “Vincent,” then took her seat beside him.

The hostess handed her the menu. “I hope you enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you,” Lexi said over her shoulder, allowing her badass façade to fall for a moment, making Vincent smile.

“I appreciate you joining us, dear,” Elizabeth began hesitantly. “I know it was short notice.” She glared at Vincent.

“That was my fault. I was supposed to call earlier, but I didn’t want to bother you.” The words fell out in an embarrassed rush. Vincent shook his head while Elizabeth simply grinned. Why, in the name of all that was holy, was he acting 393

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like an awkward teenager around Lexi now? Fortunately, he was saved from further humiliation by the server.

“Here you go. Three coffees.” He set cups down for Vincent and Elizabeth, then turned to Lexi and smiled. “The gentleman said you’d like coffee as well.

I hope that’s all right.” Lexi nodded her head appreciatively.

Without thinking, Vincent reached for the cream at the same time as Lexi, their hands crashing into one another, nearly spilling a water glass in the process.

“You can use it,” Lexi pulled her hand back like it had been electrocuted.

Vincent let out a nervous laugh. “Actually, I was getting it for you.” He wrapped his fingers around the tiny pitcher and offered it to her. “You know I don’t touch the stuff.”

Her fingers brushed against his as she took it from him, a tentative smile on her face. “Thank you.”

“And how many sugars would you like today? Four or five?” The smile vanished from her face and she glared at him, but Vincent merely held the tiny packets in his hands, teasing her.

“Three,” Lexi said indignantly, snatching the packets from his hand and pouring them into her cup one by one. By the time she got to the third packet, Vincent was already dangling a fourth out to her, knowing she had been lying when she said only three.

Lexi seemed to temporarily forget her annoyance with him and playfully grabbed the small white packet from his fingers and poured it into her cup.

Vincent watched her swirl the spoon around, changing the dark black color into a muddy brown.

Elizabeth sat back and watched their interaction, smiling. They chatted briefly about nothing in particular and then placed their orders. Lexi chose the French toast with bananas and extra whipped cream as Vincent chuckled beside her, not surprised by her order. Elizabeth opted for the veggie frittata and mumbled something about skipping lunch today.

Lexi glanced at the menu, then said with a sneer to Vincent, “Egg whites for the gentleman? Perhaps a bran muffin too?”

Vincent’s eyes flicked to the server who had his pen at the ready, then back at Lexi. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he said, his eyes never leaving Lexi.

“Extra whipped cream too?” the server asked.

“Absolutely.” Lexi arched one of her beautiful eyebrows at Vincent in surprise, but that was all the reaction he got until she shook her head.

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“Living dangerously?” Lexi asked, smoothing her napkin over her lap, breaking their eye contact.

“Just making some changes. Trying new things.” Again an awkward silence blanketed the table until Elizabeth cleared her throat.

“So, the reason I wanted to talk to both of you is, well, this.” Elizabeth waved her hand back and forth at the two of them. “And this is Elizabeth Drake speaking, your boss, not your mother. If I was speaking as your mother, this would be a very different conversation.” She looked back and forth between the pair and watched their heads slowly bob up and down in understanding. “I know there are some things of a personal nature that you both need to straighten out
together
.”

She stressed the last word, and Lexi’s cheeks turn red. “The thing is, tomorrow is an extremely important day for Hunter. Marradesi cosmetics could easily be one of the most lucrative accounts we’ve ever secured, and I need to know that you two can put aside your personal issues and work together on this like adults.”

“Absolutely,” Vincent said quickly, shocked that she assumed he’d be anything but professional.

“Elizabeth, I’d never let anything interfere with the presentation tomorrow.

I’ll get Vincent everything he needs so he’ll be ready.”

“About that,” Elizabeth paused and sipped her coffee while Lexi and Vincent both sat up straighter in their chairs, sensing she was about to drop a bomb of sorts. “I want you to give the presentation together.”

Vincent nodded his head in agreement, but Lexi paled to the point that she looked like she might faint.

“Hear me out, dear.” Elizabeth patted her hand reassuringly. “You two together are magical. I know you don’t want to hear that right now, but it’s true, and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. You’re captivating, the way you interact with one another, the banter, the completing one another’s thoughts. I won’t even get into how much Francesca has asked about you in our phone conversations.”

Elizabeth sat back and let them both take in what she had implied.

“Elizabeth, you’ve seen the headlines. Hunter is still all over the front pages of the papers. How will it look if the woman originally accused of being the mole in the company is now making multi-million dollar pitches? The gossipmongers will have a field day.”

“I don’t care what people think, dear. I don’t think you should either.”

“But the press—” Lexi tried one last time, but Elizabeth shook her head and dug in her heels.

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“I’ll take care of the press.” Confident and strong, Elizabeth raised her chin and laid down the law. “The bottom line is this: the client likes you together, and I like you together, so tomorrow you will be giving this presentation
together
.

That means the rest of today, you two are going to be locked behind closed doors prepping for this. Understand?”

“Absolutely,” Lexi and Vincent said at the same time, earning a big smile from Elizabeth.

“Excellent.”

The food arrived and saved them from any further discussion on the matter.

Vincent noticed that Lexi pushed her French toast around on her plate for a while and guessed that it had something to do with the news, but after a while, she seemed to find her appetite and polished off her meal. As soon as Elizabeth paid the bill, Lexi was on her feet and excusing herself, explaining that she had so much to work on that she didn’t want to wait another second. She politely thanked Elizabeth for breakfast and told Vincent she’d see him in a few minutes in his office.

As soon as she disappeared from the restaurant, Vincent turned to his grinning mother. “That was low, even for you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You just manipulated her into spending the day with me. You know we have the Marradesi presentation nailed down.”

Elizabeth shrugged unapologetically. “True, but she also wasn’t speaking to you before my … what did you call it? Oh yes, manipulation. I didn’t manipulate her, per say; I manipulated the situation so the two of you get to spend the day together working out the details of the presentation … or whatever else might come up.”

Elizabeth tossed a few bills onto the table for the tip and took her son’s arm as he led her from the restaurant. “Either way, you’ll be talking. And together. So don’t blow it.” She took out her keys and unlocked her car door. “I was completely serious about the presentation. I expect you both to be professional and nail it.

So you better find a way to make
both
work. Call me if you need me. I have to drop something off down at the Chronicle. Love you!”

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Back at the office, Lexi pulled together the presentation packets and printed out the outline to make notes on when Vincent came back from his next appointment. When Elizabeth first announced that she wanted Lexi to be part of the presentation, part of her had wanted to run from the restaurant and crawl back into bed to cry the day away. But the other part of her, the one that was becoming stronger each day, wanted this. Lexi knew that she deserved to be a part of this presentation. She had worked her ass off and earned a place beside Vincent in front of the Marradesis. Elizabeth had given her a wonderful opportunity, and she was not about to let her down, even if it meant spending the day in close proximity with Vincent.

She rifled around her desk and noticed presentation boards were missing.

In a panic, she rushed into Vincent’s office, hoping to find them there, but they were gone. She was just about to call him when Tony turned the corner carrying a pile of boards.

“Hey,” he said, sounding almost polite. “Were you looking for these?” He held up the boards, and Lexi fell back against her desk and sighed.

“Yes. What were you doing with them?” Lexi eyed him suspiciously.

“I—I made some changes to them.”

Lexi’s temper exploded. “You had no right to do that. We present tomorrow and—” She grabbed the boards and scanned them. Her eyes shot back to Tony, who rubbed the back of his neck and nervously shifted in place.

Victoria Michaels

“Yeah, well, some things just needed to be erased. Before you freak out again, Elizabeth knew I was doing it. She gave me her blessing or I wouldn’t have touched it.”

Lexi hardly recognized the man in front of her. He was docile and apologetic and hadn’t uttered a horrible word to her in the few minutes he’d been there, a personal record for him. The revised boards were spectacular, particularly the new background. “Why?” she asked.

Tony sat down in one of her desk chairs and sighed. “If you tell anyone this, I’ll deny it, but Vincent and Elizabeth know and you may as well. Jade used me too. She flirted with me, came on to me all the time, did a few other things I won’t go into detail about, but she was using me to find out information on other accounts. She fed me a bunch of lies, telling me that Vincent always talked about me and said what a loser I was. Those errors you guys always found in the boards, they were her idea as a way to get back at him.”

“That bitch.” Lexi set the boards down and folded her arms across her chest as Tony continued.

“Yeah, she was. She admitted the only reason she was with Vincent was to make contacts and further her career. I should have said something, but my stupid pride …” He tilted his head toward the pictures on the wall of Vincent and his campaigns. “He deserves every success. The guy’s brilliant.” He looked pointedly at Lexi and said, “I’ll deny that was well, so don’t go repeating that either.”

A smile spread across her face. “Scout’s honor.”

He pointed to the boards. “So, do you approve of the changes?”

“You mean where you took Jade out and put Natasha in her place?

Absolutely.” Lexi laughed. Knowing how much Jade hated the other model only made it that much sweeter.

“She always talked shit about her, so I figured who better to replace her with.” Tony stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Well, I guess I’ll get going. If Vincent or you want any changes made, let me know.”