I checked the itinerary my assistant had emailed me and forwarded it to my team, so they knew my schedule for the next several days. I’d be arriving in LA tomorrow around noon, spending the first few hours in meetings, and then the chef I’d hired would cook dinner for James and me at my place. The next two days would look the same. Depending on James’s availability, I would either fly back the morning of the fourth day or the fifth.

She had no idea when I was coming.

I liked it that way.

And what I would like was finally getting another taste of her, of a body that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since I got back from Miami. I really didn’t want to wait another day. I wanted her right now. On top of my desk. With her pussy rubbing against the glass, so her wetness would leave a mark that I could lick off when we were done.

Shit was changing between us.

She was no longer just a girl I’d brought home from the bar and fucked. We’d been talking every day, and we’d video-chatted—something I didn’t even do with my goddamn family.

During this visit, I had a feeling I’d have to be more open with her. She’d want to know about my past. My last name. Where I worked. And that meant I’d have to tell her I wasn’t a practicing attorney even though I kept my license active.

I’d have to tell her the truth—that I worked in the industry, that one of the things holding me back was her age, that I just wasn’t sure if I was the right guy for her.

That coming on to her had nothing to do with signing her to The Agency.

There were agents at our old office in LA who would have done that—hooked up with potential clients to get them under contract. James’s agent was one of those people.

I wasn’t.

I didn’t need to give someone my cock to get them signed.

I just hoped James believed that.

Industry people were guarded, cautious, because everyone wanted a piece of them.

The piece I wanted had nothing to do with her career.

There was a knock on my door. Before I could call out and ask whom it was, Jack, Max, and Scarlett walked in, each taking a seat in a chair in front of my desk. Whoever was in town and at the office usually tried to meet up at the end of each day. My office was the meeting ground since I stocked the most booze.

Scarlett handed us each a piece of paper that showed the new revenue totals, broken down by department. Now that Smith had officially joined our company and BMW was a done deal, I was in the lead.

I set the paper down on my desk and said, “Got anything to say, Jack?”

He shrugged as he continued to stare at the sheet.

“Why are you suddenly so quiet?” I asked him, winking at Scarlett. “The last time we talked about this, you had a whole lot of shit to say. Maybe you’re just trying to calculate how many million I’m ahead of you? Here, let me help. It’s about twelve, and by the time my team processes all of their pending contracts, we’ll be over fifteen.”

“You got me.” Jack put his hands in the air. “Fair and square. There’s no way Max or I will get even close to that number.”

“Fucking-A, Brett, you killed it,” Max said. “How the hell did you keep us from finding out about Smith?”

“My team knows how to keep a secret.”

Both guys looked at Scarlett.

“What did he bribe you with?” Jack asked her.

She straightened her jacket and crossed her legs, trying to look innocent when she was far from it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

When I’d come to her with the idea of keeping the guys in the dark, she’d told me she’d process the contracts herself, so her team wouldn’t rat us out. That wasn’t Scarlett’s job; she was just doing me a favor, so I’d offered to give her half of the bet.

She didn’t want it.

What she didn’t know was that she was getting all of it.

And, because I knew she wouldn’t take the cash, I was going to buy her something with it that she couldn’t return.

“Bullshit,” Max said. “You’ve been in on this the whole time.”

“Max, that would mean I was choosing a favorite, and you know I love you all equally.”

She played them so well.

“Pay up,” I said to Jack and Max.

“I’ll bring the cash in tomorrow,” Max whined.

“Same,” Jack added.

I went over to the bar in the back of my office. I took out four tumblers from the cabinet and poured several fingers’ worth in each one. Then, I carried them back to my desk and handed them out as I said, “Are any of you going to LA this week?”

“I’ll be there the day after tomorrow,” Max said. “Why? You need something?”

Fuck.

Two of Max’s clients had concerts in the LA area this week, so I’d had a feeling he’d be headed that way, too.

“I need you to sleep in a hotel for the nights you’re going to be there.”

All eyes were now on me.

The Agency owned the condo in LA where we all stayed whenever we were in town. We’d bought a place with four bedrooms, so it was large enough to house all of us if we ever needed to be there at the same time.

A smile came over Max’s face as he set his glass on top of the desk and leaned against it to get closer to me. “Tell me, Brett, why do I need to stay somewhere else? Are you bringing someone there you don’t want me to meet?”

That was obvious.

And anyone in this room could answer that question.

If James and I were in a relationship or I didn’t mind the whole world finding out that she and I were fucking, I’d just stay at her place. But the paparazzi were camped outside her goddamn driveway, and the second I pulled into it, we’d be outed.

“Listen…” I paused for a second, thinking of the right way to say this. They were going to give me so much shit about her age and dump on me so hard for robbing the cradle, and I didn’t want to hear it. But, since the blows were going to be unavoidable, I had to just get it over with. “I’ve been talking to—”

I was cut off by the sound of an alert coming through everyone’s phones.

Jack and Max were the first ones to look at their screens.

“Oh, man,” Max said.

“Dude, are you fucking serious?” Jack gasped.

Scarlett lifted her cell off her lap. As I watched her read the screen, I sat back in my chair and sipped my scotch, appreciating that I now had more time to figure out how I was going to tell them.

“She’s the last person I expected to do something like this,” Scarlett said.

“Whom are you talking about?” I asked, knowing they’d tell me, so I wouldn’t have to dig in my pocket to get my phone.

She looked up, our eyes connecting. “James Ryne has a sex tape.”

My fingers squeezed the fucking glass so tight, I thought it was going to shatter in my hand. “What did you just say?”

Jack and Max were staring too hard at the screen, their mouths open, eyes so goddamn wide that I wanted to punch all four back into their sockets.

“The man is yet to be identified,” Scarlett said, “but the woman is definitely James.”

James has a fucking sex tape?

I reached across the desk and yanked the phone out of Scarlett’s hand.

“Hey!” she shouted as I took it from her. “Give that back.”

I ignored her, gripping the cell in my palm, reading the headline that was at the top of her phone.

Rage.

That was all I could feel.

It was coming in through my pores and making my entire body shake.

I wanted to take all of their phones, drop them in my trash, and set the motherfuckers on fire.

But, since I couldn’t, since that would make things too obvious, I looked back at the screen and kept reading.

I set Scarlett’s phone on the desk and pushed back in my seat, staring at the empty glass of scotch. I would need ten more fingers’ worth to calm me down, or my fist would be going through one of these walls.

“Wow,” Max said, his eyes still on his screen.

I could only imagine what he was wowing about.

I reached toward the edge of my desk and clamped it between my fucking fingers to stop myself from grabbing it out of his hand.

If they saw my anger, they’d know.

If I said anything about the sex tape, I wouldn’t be able to hold back my feelings, and they’d know then, too.

“Holy fuck,” Jack said.

My teeth ground together while I watched them stare at the video of the girl I’d been thinking about nonstop.

Of the girl I was supposed to be with tomorrow.

Of the girl who had been fucking some other guy this week.