Brett knew he was being an ass. He shouldn't take out his annoyance and anger at Dan on Cassandra. She was, after all, only doing her job. Before she’d walked into the room, Dan had told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would agree to whatever Cassandra presented in the meeting, even if he didn't want to do it. Brett knew his agent was only doing his job and he'd already said he’d cooperate with whatever Star Image wanted him to do. He just hadn't liked being spoken to like a naughty little boy. He'd managed to keep his nose out of trouble after the nightclub incident. Dan should be happy with that.

"Are you even listening to me, Brett?"

Cassandra's impatient tone penetrated his thoughts. Shit, how did he cover the fact he'd zoned out? The truth might work.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something else. One more time?”

Her eyes narrowed and he had a sneaking suspicion she didn't quite believe the sincere tone he'd tried to inject in his voice.

"Fine, but please pay attention. I don’t want to repeat everything I say."

"Why don’t I just say yes right now? Wouldn’t it make things easier if I do?"

It's not like I have any choice.

Yeah, saying that out loud would likely make Dan angrier. If Brett wasn't careful, he might find himself having to search for another agent. He knew he'd never get anyone half as good, or someone who’d stand by him if he got into another scandal.

Fingers snapped in front of his face. "Your attention span really is worse than that five year old you claim to hate being treated like."

Dan snorted in laughter again. Brett shot him a quit laughing look.

"Hit me with all the details," he said, focusing his attention back onto Cassandra. Man, he hoped whatever it was wasn’t something totally embarrassing.

"I think I’ve found the perfect vehicle that will showcase to the public there is more to you than what they think they know. This promotion will allow us to piggyback onto other opportunities which, I believe, will help transform the public’s perception of you.”

“Are you sure that’s possible?”

Brett was under no illusion the task was going to be easy for Cassandra and her team. He’d done a bang up job of tarnishing his halo to the point of it being almost black in the eyes of the world.

“Anything is possible if you’re willing to work at it. And from what I understand…” Cassandra paused and looked from him to Dan. He braced himself for what was about to come next. “…you’re prepared to do whatever is necessary. Is that correct?”

The noose of good behavior tightened around Brett’s neck. He had nothing against behaving well, but sometimes he had to push the limits just to see what he could do. If testing himself meant he acted a little out of line at times, he didn’t have a problem with it.

He had to remember, this was only for a short time, just long enough to keep his sponsors happy so they would stop threatening to pull his endorsements. He might even gain a few new sponsors out of this little marketing stunt. Anything was possible.

Even asking Cassandra Fielder out on a date?

Brett squashed that thought with the force of a hammer pounding a nail into a piece of wood. Dating Cassandra Fielder wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities. He didn’t date career women. He also didn’t date older women and he had a feeling she fit that criteria, too. He knew better than to ask.

“Brett, get your act together, will you?” Dan’s muttered words reached him at the same time as Dan’s foot connected none too gently with his shin.

“Yes,” he blurted out and then gave a mental shake of his head. “Yes, you understand correctly.”

God, he hoped that they were still talking about him cooperating and not something else.

“Good.” Cassandra responded. “The project is being sponsored by the Build a Dream Foundation. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re an organization that goes to local elementary schools in disadvantaged areas and build whatever the schools need for their students. Generally, they’re small construction projects, like updating playgrounds or helping the students build gardens so they can grow vegetables and fruits that they can take home to add to their family diets. It’s a fabulous organization.”

Brett sat forward, his interest piqued. “It does sound great. What do they need from me? To be a spokesperson for them? Emcee a fundraiser?”

This was going to be a piece of cake. He could do all those things with his eyes closed.

“Not quite. Their aim is to bring community awareness of what they’re doing. Like all of these types of organizations, they need to raise funds so they can help more schools. They’ve teamed up with a television network and come up with four-week TV special that will have three teams of students competing against each other to build the best garden or playground. The public vote for which team’s project they think turned out the best. The winning team’s school will receive a check for ten thousand dollars and the two runners up will both receive five thousand dollars, so really everyone’s a winner. Those cash prizes will be provided by the network. Various businesses will donate the supplies. Build a Dream will get their name out there and, hopefully, lots of monetary donations to help them. You’ll be seen as a great guy for helping out the kids.”

He’d been onboard with all of it until she mentioned going on television. That was the last thing he wanted to be part of. How many times had someone who participated in some sort of reality show complained about the editing? How it was manipulated so they were seen as a villain when they weren’t. It didn’t take a degree in rocket science to know the network wanted him because of his bad boy reputation. That shouldn’t bother him, but it didn’t sit well. With this show, kids would be affected by how the public saw him. Their team would have no chance at winning and while they would receive a nice check, he didn’t want to be the reason they lost.

“If, and that’s a bit if, I was to do the show, can you guarantee that my team won’t be at a disadvantage because of me?”

Cassandra canted her head slightly and her brow furrowed in confusion. “Why would you say that? How would you being on the team affect the outcome?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I have the reputation of being a bad boy. Who’s to say the network won’t make it look like I’m being mean to the kids or the parents or the school staff? What guarantee do we have that they won’t give my team a fair chance? How is that going to improve my image?”

“I’m sure it won’t be an issue.”

“Do you really think that? TV producers will do anything for out-of-this-world ratings. It would be boring television if there wasn’t any drama. That’s what reality shows are all about these days. Viewers want to see people yelling at each other. Or throwing drinks in people’s faces. So, Cassandra, can you guarantee that I’ll be represented honestly if I agree to do this show?”

Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times and nothing came out.

She has no idea what to say.

In fact, her face appeared to lose a little bit of color with each word he spoke. What was going on? He glanced over to Dan—he was staring out the window.

“Dan, you’re not saying anything. Do you know something I don’t?”

“Look.” The agent turned back. “Sure, it’s television and, yeah Brett, drama equals ratings, which means advertisers jump on board to spend cash for prime time. At the end of the day, it could mean more money for the charity, too.”

“But I have to be the scapegoat?” Brett pushed away from the table, anger firing through him. “And before either of you say anything, I’m aware me getting upset over the possible way the network could portray me is exactly the sort of publicity that normally surrounds me. But kids are involved. I’m not that much of a monster that I want innocent children I’m associated with to be ridiculed because they’re on my team. And, speaking of teams, what about the other two? Who’s signed up to lead them?

He was shocked when the last of the color drained out of Cassandra’s face. What the hell had she gotten him into?