Chapter 24
Bennett
She had to be screwing with me.
“What are you doing?”
Annalise’s eyes fluttered open. We were sitting side by side in oversized chairs as two women rubbed our feet.
“What?”
“You look like you’re about to start moaning.”
Her eyes were actually glassy and hooded. She leaned in to whisper to me. “Honestly, I probably could…you know…from a foot rub. It’s my favorite thing to relax ever.”
Jesus Christ. I looked down at her feet. I’d never sucked a woman’s toes before, although I hadn’t been opposed to it. The right opportunity just never presented itself. But right now, I was absolutely positive I’d totally been missing out. If a little foot rub felt that good to a woman, I might have even been neglectful. I needed to remedy that shit right away, and I knew just where I wanted to start. Wonder what the two masseuses would’ve done if I’d gotten up and bumped one out of the way, replacing her hands with my mouth.
Annalise shut her eyes and went back to her happy place. I watched her for a long moment and then leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“If that’s your favorite thing to relax ever, then the douche did you a favor by breaking things off. I can think of a few things that would leave you feeling spineless.”
She laughed. Only I wasn’t kidding. And I had the strongest urge to be the one to prove that to her. I tried to relax and enjoy the rest of my rub, but it was too late. The next thirty minutes basically consisted of me fantasizing about all the things I could do to the woman sitting next to me that would make her think a foot massage was child’s play. Well, that and thinking of all the disgusting feet with funguses that the woman rubbing my feet had rubbed right before mine. I needed some way to keep the constantly threatening hard-on at bay.
After our massages were over, we walked next door to an Asian noodle house for some lunch. Annalise’s phone started to buzz while we looked at the menu.
“It’s my mom. Excuse me for a moment.”
She didn’t get up from the table, so I listened to one side of the conversation.
“Hi, Mom.”
Pause.
“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll bring dessert.”
Pause.
“We just had dinner the other night. She said something about going to her sister’s for the weekend. But I’ll ask anyway.”
Another pause. This time, her eyes jumped to meet mine. “Umm. I doubt it. But I can ask him, I guess.”
She talked for a few more minutes and then hung up.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
Annalise sighed. “Yeah. My mother just can’t help herself. She’s having a private wine-tasting party with the first bottles of the season next weekend. She told me to invite my best friend, Madison, and then she told me to invite you. Once she locks on to the scent of an eligible bachelor for her daughter, she’s like a pit bull. I’ll tell her you’re busy.”
“Why? I don’t have any plans except work this weekend.”
“It would be…I don’t know…weird for you to come.”
“No weirder than sitting next to you watching a five-foot-tall Asian woman almost give you an orgasm.”
She laughed. “I guess you have a point.”
“Plus, we both know the truth.” I winked. “Your mom inviting me isn’t really for her daughter.”
“I told her we were competing for a promotion, not to keep our jobs here in California. I haven’t mentioned the possible move to Texas because I figured there was no point in making her worry. But if I told her the only interest you have in her daughter was to have me shipped off eighteen-hundred miles away, I think you’d be surprised how much her friendliness changed. She’s super protective of me.”
Definitely not the only interest I had in Annalise. But she had a point, and if her mother knew about Texas or any of things I’d fantasized about doing to her daughter, I was pretty sure she’d be chasing me out with a corkscrew in her hand.
“Are you an only child?”
“Sort of. My sister died when she was eight.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. She was five years older, so I was only three when it happened. She had neuroblastoma—a childhood cancer that’s really aggressive. I wish I remembered her more. Although, at least I don’t remember too much about her passing. But to answer your question, I don’t have any other siblings. My parents started to have trouble with their marriage after that. What about you? Any other full-of-themselves Foxes running around out there I should look out for?”
I shook my head. “Just the one. My dad died when I was three—heart attack at thirty-nine. Mom never really got over it or remarried. Although, she moved down to Florida to be near her sister two years ago, and lately she’s been mentioning she goes for walks with some dude named Arthur. Figured I should probably take a trip down there soon, see if I need to be kicking Artie’s ass.”
“That’s oddly sweet.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Oddly sweet.”
The waitress came and took our lunch order. Annalise ordered a soup, appetizer, and lunch.
“You sure as shit can eat for a little thing.”
“I didn’t eat anything this morning because of my nerves about flying. And I won’t be eating until eight tonight, so I figured I better stockpile.”
The reminder of her dinner with Tobias tonight ruined my appetite. “So where is this date tonight?”
She frowned. “It’s not a date.”
“Oh, that’s right. Let me rephrase. Where is the business meeting with the guy who wants to get in your pants?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t want to tell you.”
“A romantic little Italian bistro with candles? Maybe a corner booth next to the fireplace.”
“Jerk.”
“French? Maybe Chez Affaire.”
“It’s at the same place we ate last time. The same exact restaurant where both of us shared a meal and discussed business with the entire team from Star. The same place that seemed like a logical and convenient choice for a meeting just two weeks ago. Yet I’m sure you’ll be convinced that now he has an ulterior motive by picking it.”
I’d been teasing her, but fuck, the thought of the two of them having dinner at the hotel she’d be staying at really yanked me. And I wasn’t even going to attempt to convince myself it had anything to do with business. I’d already admitted once that I was jealous. There was no point in exposing my weakness to the competition a second time. So I sucked it up. At least I tried to.
“It is a convenient choice. Very convenient.”
***
Maybe I hadn’t given the guy a chance.
Tobias patted me on the back as we left the office of the Director of Film Acquisitions. He’d raved about the marketing plan I’d come up with, including the new logo and taglines. And now it was the third office he’d walked me around to that seemed to love my ideas.
“I’ve been here three weeks, and that was the first time I saw Bob Nixon smile. You either hit it out of the ballpark, or that guy started on new meds recently.”
“Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I know you had something come up earlier today, so I appreciate you still fitting us in.”
We walked back into his office. “Anytime. Glad I can help. Now that I’ve seen some of your great ideas, I’m really looking forward to seeing your final concepts when we come up to tour your office in a few weeks. I’ve heard great things about your work from Annalise, and now I know why.”
I was beginning to feel like a total idiot. I’d let my personal feelings get in the way of business—let it cloud my judgment toward Tobias—and God knows I’d ridden Annalise hard about this guy. And here she was building me up to the guy who was going to pick the campaign that would go a long way toward keeping my damn job.
“I’m sure her presentation will be just as on point, if not more so. She’s incredibly talented,” I said.
Tobias’s office phone rang. He picked it up and told whoever was on the line that he needed a minute and then held the receiver to his chest. “Why don’t you pour us two celebratory drinks?” He lifted his chin, pointing to a long credenza positioned under the windows. “Middle cabinet has a nice brandy and some glasses.”
While he talked on the phone, I took out two crystal highball glasses and a decanter filled with amber-colored alcohol. The top of the cabinet had a bunch of framed photographs, so I perused while I waited. One had a little blond boy and an older girl sitting on a rock somewhere in the mountains. A few were of various celebrities and Tobias at different movie premieres. The last was a photo of a woman with the same two little kids from the first framed photo, only they were older in this shot, and all three had their hands up in the air as they barreled down a drop on a rollercoaster. Their smiles were huge.
I shook my head. I’d been really blinded by jealousy. This guy was obviously happily married, and had a nice little family. I’d totally misread the situation last time.
Or…maybe I didn’t.
Tobias hung up as I set down the last framed photo.
“You have a beautiful family,” I said.
He came around his desk and took one of the glasses of brandy I’d poured, then lifted the picture I’d just set down. Swirling the liquid around in his glass, he stared down at it.
“Candice is beautiful alright. Too bad she’s a fucking bitch on wheels. We separated nine months ago. With all the #MeToo crap going on, figured it would be better to keep up my façade as a happily married man in public.”
He lifted his glass and clinked it with mine. “Speaking of beautiful women, I’m looking forward to seeing what your colleague came up with later.”