My eyes dart open and look at the clock. It’s 6 pm. I look down and see Zachary is still asleep on my stomach, his long legs wrapped around mine and his arms splayed out in different directions. Between the mind-blowing sex and the warmth of the Caribbean sun, we passed out hard, and we are supposed to have the dinner planned for the record executives at 8 pm. I don’t want to startle him, but we are also way behind, and the panic mode is about to set in.
I gently shake his shoulders. “Zach… Please don’t freak out but it’s after six and we were supposed to meet with the chef at the hotel an hour ago.”
He looks up at me dreamily, then rubs at his eyes like a little boy waking up from a really good nap. For a second, he seems calm. Then, he looks at the clock. I watch his face register the time, and he does, indeed freak out.
Zachary leaps up from the bed, his beautiful body glistening with a thin sheen of perspiration from sleeping in the warmth of the sun.
“Shit! I should have set the alarm! I should have… We shouldn’t have…”
I must make a face that betrays any reserve and instead makes it clear that if he finishes that sentence, I’m going to lose it. He quickly recovers with a charming grin, and crawls across the bed, giving me a long, slow kiss that ignites my core all over again.
“We should have,” he says as he pulls away. “We absolutely should have. That’s not what I meant. But the timing probably wasn’t great. We can make up for it later. How about a quick strategy meeting in the shower and then we can run over to the hotel?”
I almost didn’t catch the shower part, but then it kicks in, and I nod enthusiastically. We barely avoid devolving into another situation like the one earlier, especially when we get into the huge glass shower and Zachary’s beautiful cock goes hard again. But I manage to keep it together, and we end up deciding on a meal plan, seating arrangement, and room choice while still getting cleaned up.
We reward ourselves with a light make-out session before quickly getting dressed, and then speeding back to the hotel in the golf cart.
When we get to the hotel, we are met by an impatient and annoyed looking woman in a chef’s jacket, tapping her toe and muttering to herself in French. Zachary hurries up to her and gives her his best, million-dollar smile, but she just scowls.
“So sorry we’re late, mademoiselle! Something came up with another client, and we were unable to tear ourselves away.”
The chef looks at Zachary, then back at me, then back to Zachary, then she rolls her eyes. “Oh, yes. I am quite sure you were deeply indisposed. Now, tell me how I am supposed to make a proper meal for all of these people in two hours with no prep time?”
Zachary looks at me with a conspiratorial grin, which means it’s my turn to take over.
“Well, since it is our fault for holding you, and delivering our ideas at the last minute, we thought we should make things as easy possible for you. So, how about an Asian ‘street food’ menu? Lettuce wraps, bánh mi sandwiches, fried bananas… simple foods that the crowd can mostly put together themselves! Then, you can just supply them with the ingredients, and we will have to give you a far more detailed, and advanced, plan for tomorrow’s dinner.”
Zachary winks at me, and for a moment, I think the chef is still cranky. But then she nods thoughtfully and strokes her chin. “Yes, yes, I can make that work. That is an excellent idea. And a clever way to showcase some of the fresh ingredients on the island. You’re quite smart, young lady. If you ever decide to abandon your job with this Casanova, please give us a call.”
Then she hurries off, and I double over with laughter. Zachary snorts.
“I don’t think it was that funny. Where did she get the idea I’m a Casanova?”
Reality washes over me in a wave again, and Josie floods my mind. Oh, god. I should have talked to him first. I should have said something. What did I do?
I open my mouth, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to talk to him about everything when Bethany comes walking in from the beach. She looks gorgeous, like a pink-haired doll. She’s wearing a purple sweater covered in big white hearts and jeans, and she’s fixed her makeup from earlier. Her full lips are bright purple, and her huge lashes are coated in thick mascara, making her giant eyes look even bigger. I know I’m staring at her, but she really is beautiful, even though that same sadness from earlier is coloring her whole demeanor. Zachary rushes over and gives her a giant bear hug, which she melts into gratefully.
“Are you doing okay, sweetie?” Zachary asks when he pulls away. Bethany nods.
“As okay as I’m going to be. I don’t want to let that asshole ruin this opportunity for me, so for now, I’m going to push it away. I’ll let my therapist deal with it when I get back. So, how long do I have before the performance?”
Zachary gestures for me to join them since the details are my job. I sidle up next to them and give her a reassuring squeeze on the arm.
“You’ll go on at 10 pm, after dinner. All you need to worry about is being yourself. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Bethany gives me a small smile, then sets her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, friend,” she whispers, and my heart melt a little. I can’t say I’ve had many female friends in my life; just Liza and my sister. But a connection has developed between Bethany and me, and I don’t hate being friends with her. Zachary laughs and gives a little bow.
“Well, I know a moment when I see one. I’m going to go speak to the concierge about making sure the audio equipment and stage are all properly set up. Why don’t you two chat about the details of the performance?”
Zachary disappears, leaving Bethany and me to wander into the ballroom that will act as both the dining room and the performance space. Bethany pokes around for a moment, then picks up a guitar off the stage, sits down on the edge, and starts strumming absent-mindedly. I sit down next to her and hum along, and she looks over at me with a smile.
“I want to thank you for everything. Not just what you’ve done here, but over the last few days. I’m not good at this stuff, self-promotion, or even knowing where to begin when it comes to getting my music out there. You and Zachary have been godsends.”
I shrug slightly. “I mean, thank you, but I’ve been working for Zachary for all of five minutes. I’m sure most of this stuff was in motion well before I arrived.”
“Yes and no,” she says as she tunes the guitar. “Zachary saw me playing my guitar on a street corner in Venice. I had played a few coffee shops here and there, but I was living out of my van. You hear about things like that happening all the time, people getting discovered out of nowhere, but I’ll be honest, I never thought it would happen to me. And Zachary was putting out feelers for me before you started working for him, but I think you re-energized him somehow. I wouldn’t take that for granted.”
I know I am blushing, for a plethora of reasons, but I try to reign it back in. “I’m glad I could help, in whatever small way I did. And I hope I can continue to help, for the rest of the summer anyway. This isn’t a permanent job. I’m just an intern, after all.”
Bethany gives me a serious, almost incredulous look. “Girl, if you have the chance to keep working with Zachary Graham, you need to take it. He is a good man, in an industry where that quality is sorely lacking. From what I’ve seen, first hand obviously, good men are hard to come by in Los Angeles. In any capacity.” She gives a little, conspiratorial wink as if she knows a lot more than she’s letting on. I feel another blush creeping up my neck and then try and get control of myself.
“I have to be honest with you, Bethany. This isn’t exactly the industry I planned to go into when I started law school. I really want to work for a non-profit, and do charity work of some kind,” I say looking at my feet, not wanting to offend her. “All I’ve ever wanted to was help people who really needed it. I’m not sure that is something I can do in the music industry, and still feel good about myself at the end of the day.”
But Bethany nods thoughtfully.
“That’s a shame,” she answers putting down the guitar and picking up a bass, which she plays just as skillfully as the guitar. “You’re really good at this. And I bet you anything you can get more accomplished from a position like the one you’re in now than working for a smaller charity. Right or wrong, people listen when you have a little bit of power. Plus, I have a suspicion that if you worked for Zachary, he would let you do whatever you wanted. But, I’m just basing that on the fact that every time he looks at you, his eyes dance like a kid in love.”
My jaw drops. “Bethany! Come on. That’s… ridiculous.”
“Whatever you say,” she responds with a wave of her hand. “But trust me, girl. Something is brewing there. I wouldn’t let it go without a fight. You never know when an opportunity like that, the job or the guy, will come around again. Once in a lifetime is called that for a reason.”
Bethany jumps off the stage and leaves the room, taking the guitar with her, and I’m left sitting there with nothing but my confusion and mild panic. Is it possible that Zachary has feelings for me? Real feelings? What happened between us earlier was amazing, but it could have just been two people succumbing to a moment of passion. I never really considered the possibility that what was happening between us…
Right, it’s time, I think as I make my way out of the ballroom to look for Zachary. I can’t let this go on any longer. It’s time to confront him with everything I know, or don’t know. Everything about Josie, her diary, whatever his history with women is, and why I showed up for the internship to begin with. I know I’m risking everything by confronting him, but the longer I drag this out, the worse it’ll be. He’s already going to be mad at me for lying, I’m sure of it. But if I have any hope of salvaging whatever is going on between us, this has to happen now.
I walk out on to the huge back patio area of the hotel that leads down to the beach and finds Zachary talking to the concierge and a few members of the wait staff who will be handling the dinner that night. Zachary turns to me with a smile and winks at me, making my heart melt.
This’ll be frigging awful.
After a few interminable moments of waiting, Zachary says goodbye to everyone and saunters over to me, the setting sun glowing behind him and making him look like a fashion model. When he reaches me, he leans forward and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek that sends a shiver through my whole body. He notices, and I try to hide it.
“Sorry about that. Must be getting a little chilly out here.”
Zachary laughs at me. “Sure, that must be it. What’s up? Is Bethany doing okay?”
“As okay as she’ll be. She practiced for a few minutes and then disappeared for some more alone time. Listen… Can we talk? In private? Just for a few minutes before everyone starts showing up for dinner?”
Zachary gives me a serious, but quizzical look. I can tell he’s getting nervous, but I can’t let this go. Not again. Not for another minute.
“Yes, of course we can talk. We can talk about anything, Ava. Is everything okay?”
I guess we’ll see, I think as we make our way inside.