Chapter 6: Hailey

By Monday, Zach and I had fallen into something of a routine. We didn’t exactly get along – I was still trying to figure out what the problem was and Zach was set on making everything as difficult for me as he could. Still, I couldn’t deny how much he affected me. His confidence was sexy, his scent arousing. It was hard battling my growing attraction, but I was determined not to let it affect me. I was only here for one reason – to straighten him out. Not to be another scandal in his life.

I woke that morning and turned over in under the warmth of my covers, my body tingling from another wicked hot dream I’d had about him the night before. His tall, dark and handsome persona had me fighting against my own ethics, even in my dream.

“God, why me?” I whispered in the early morning light and ran my hands down my stomach, tucking one hand into my panties.

Memories from the dream the night before rolled over me, Zach naked and hungry for my body. I moaned and slipped two fingers into my tight entrance, forcing myself to open my legs as if he were demanding it of me.

“This pussy is mine, Hailey,” he whispered against my neck, forcing the thick head of his cock down inside of me.

I buckled and moaned as lubrication bubbled inside of me. “Then take it. Take me.”

“I already have you baby.” He licked the side of my throat and pressed in farther.

Pleasure swelled in my stomach, and I trust my fingers harder and faster into myself until the world disappeared. Stars burst behind my eyes as I fucked myself over the edge, coming harder than I had in forever.

I pulled my hand from my body and panted loudly in the quietness around me. I was in trouble.

There was no fucking way I was going to survive him. No way.

****

Zach surprised me by managing to get into the office by seven most days, which in itself was a feat. It felt like a total win.

This week, we had to face the press. Ken had set up a press conference for Zach. It was good for Zach to get out into the public, he’d said, give him an idea of what he had to deal with. You couldn’t help the people if the people didn’t know who you were.

I agreed with that. I was eager to see Zach in his business gear. Since we’d started working together I’d only been spending one-on-one time with him. We were making progress but his business was everything but one-on-one.

“Let’s run through your press conference,” I said to Zach. He was wearing the midnight blue suit he’d been so against in the shop. With a lime green tie, it looked stunning – it picked up his bright green eyes and with his black hair he looked Latino sexy. I found myself once again fighting the urge to reach out and run my fingers through his hair. My dreams played at the edge of my vision, but I forced them back.

“That’s not necessary.”

I nodded and glanced down at my notes. “I’m not going to tell you what to say, but if you fuck up, I will tell you what not to say. That’s what I’m here for, Zach.”.”

As far as I could tell he was the rebellious type toward his fsther, acting out like he was much younger than he really was. Other than that – which shouldn’t have affected the business – I couldn’t put my finger on it. Zach seemed like he had mood swings but I had a feeling it was because he was swinging back and forth with his feelings toward me, not the rest of the world. Half the time he was charming, the other half he insulted me. There were times when I felt like we might be equals and other times when he made me feel totally out of my depth.

All of that was anger though, and I couldn’t figure out what it was about. I didn’t want to run to Ken and ask him, either. That would make Zach seem insignificant. If I couldn’t do my job, then I wasn’t going to succeed because I’d run to someone else. I could help him become a better man. The evidence was already there that he was capable. He was just a cocky playboy with more interested in ruling the world and fucking his way through a million women than running a billion dollar company.

I got it. More than I should have.

“Make sure you put forward the persona you’re father is looking for from you.”

He glanced over at me. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Hailey. Do your research. I’ve been around awhile.”

I ignored the jab.

“Take the media into account, treat them as an ally, not as your enemy. It will make them more inclined to write good things about you. Also, if you’re completely open about what you want to say there’s nothing to hide.”

”Is this part of a script they give you at your job? It’s cute. Really.”

He was nervous and jabbing at me. No biggie.

I cleared my throat. “Avoid any potential controversies,” I said. Zach’s eyes flicked to me before he moved them away again. “And most of all, show them that you’ve got it covered,” I finished.

He turned and put his hands on my shoulders, smiling down at me. It was cocky, arrogant. Handsome. “I’m good. Save your breath, okay?”

I simply gave him a look. It was about all I could do. The man was breathtaking to look at, and far too big of a personality to ignore. I wasn’t the only one in trouble if he got his act together. We all were.

They announced his name and a moment later he walked out in front of the press. Camera lights flashed, reporters with microphones called out. Zach moved toward the podium and smiled as if he was born for the camera. His attitude – arrogance and authority – showed the way it had when he’d marched to the men’s room that first day, and I could see what he meant when he said he had this.

He did know exactly what he was doing.

I listened to him as he started speaking about the women empowerment campaign. He spoke about the woman who started it – I jotted down her name – and what her vision was. He added how serious it was for the company to carry on her legacy. The way he spoke gave me goosebumps. Zach Nettles had a way with words that I hadn’t heard him use with me before. It was mesmerizing to listen to him address the press. Even when they started asking questions he wasn’t thrown. He answered with confidence.

I looked at the crowd and watched the small audience respond to him. His audience consisted of mostly women and they were enthralled by him. I could understand why. He was telling them how he meant to make the world a better place – an equal place – and how he wanted to give women their power back. And they believed him. Hell, I believed him. Everything he said sounded so right, so powerful.

The press conference was over in less than half an hour and Zach was back with me. He grinned at me, flashing me that cocky smile again.

“I told you I had it,” he said.

I nodded. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “You did. It was spectacular.”

His smile changed, becoming softer and almost a little sincere. “You were checking me out, weren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “You wish, buddy.”

Zach was still smiling. “Maybe. For what it’s worth, thanks for the pep-talk.”

For some reason, I blushed. He was being so nice. Something about him was ridiculously charming. It was like being in public had drawn something else out of him, another side.

“You did well,” I said, sounding like an idiot.

A woman approached, smiling.

“Do you mind if I interrupt?” she asked and bit her lip like she was trying to pick someone up at a bar.

“Sure. What can we do for you, Miss?” Zach didn’t seem too interested, but he was playing it off well. She was beautiful. There was no way he wasn’t thinking about stripping her out of the tight red dress she wore.

A pang of jealousy shot through me.

I shoved it away immediately. Zach was nothing to me; his romantic pursuits didn’t matter.

“I’m just an admirer,” she said. “I wanted to tell you personally how encouraging your campaign is.”

Zach had turned his charm to full blast and I realized he hadn’t been giving me much of it at all. He put his hands on his hips. Miss Thang folded her hand over her chest, pressing her breasts together to give Zach a better view.

Was he going to fall for this?

“They’re calling you a modern-day hero,” she said. “That’s quite something, huh?”

“It is,” Zach said. “We all need to do our part.”

“Oh, yeah. I agree.” She was still smiling and it wasn’t hard to spot the seduction she had going. I looked at Zach again. He was looking her up and down like he wanted to serve her up on a silver platter.

Zach had just made a speech about how important women were, how men and women were equals, and now he was looking at this woman like she was a piece of ass? This wasn’t going to go down very well if any of the reporters that were still floating around caught a whiff of what was going on. I tapped Zach on the shoulder.

He looked annoyed when he looked at me.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Can I talk to you? Alone?”

Zach looked back at the brunette. She gave him a half shrug. He shot her a smile and stepped away so that we were out of earshot.

“I don’t think you should be doing this,” I said to him.

“What are you talking about?”

I tried to find the right words. “I mean, you’re not exactly promoting what you were just talking about in there.”

Zach blinked at me. Was he going to pretend he didn’t know what I was talking about?

“Look,” I said, throwing caution to the wind. “I know she’s hot, but you just got done talking about women’s empowerment. If I can the lust in your eyes then others can too. You can’t have cheap, meaningless sex after you praised women so highly in your speech. If someone sees you, your Company is done and your dad’s biggest fear will come true.”

His expression changed. It happened like someone had flipped a switch. One moment he seemed frustrated but that charm was still in the air, and the next he was furious, his eyes blazing, his lips pursed into a thin line.

“Listen to me,” he said. He kept his voice low, which was a relief. I didn’t need a full-on fallout in front of the media. “I am not going to stand there,” he pointed in the direction of the earlier press conference, “and let you and my father and everyone else that wants something from me, strip everything I am away until all I represent is the business. You don’t get to do that.”

I was angry now, too. “It’s all well and good to be a pain about this, Zach,” I said. “But if you’re out here, representing, you are the Company and your personal life has to take a backseat. If you can’t see that you need to separate your personal life and your business life, then you’re in the wrong career.”

Rage flickered across his face, his eyes spewing fire.

“Don’t you dare suggest I walk away from this,” he said. His voice was low and threatening.

I shook my head. I hadn’t meant it that way at all. Before I could tell him, someone called his name. I started to explain, but he held up his hand.

“The moment’s over. Find someone else to tag along with today.” He turned and walked away, leaving me to feel stupid. I’d overstepped my bounds. Kind of. Maybe? Fuck.

I turned back to the brunette who was standing to the side, watching us like we were her favorite show on HBO. She looked around as if she wanted to ensure no one saw her before she stepped toward me.

“Are you his PA?” she asked.

“I’m a PR agent,” I said. “I work with the Company.”

“Oh, so like the image and stuff?”

I nodded. Yeah. Stuff. She looked around again. Her eyes were big and brown and she was beautiful in a model sort of way. When her eyes found me again her face was serious.

“I don’t know who you are, but you won’t be able to stop this.”

I frowned. “Stop what?”

“I know all about the women, what he does when he thinks everyone is looking in the other direction. Whatever you’re doing, it’s not working. I’m going to find hard evidence about all the women he’s stringing along and I’m going to expose him for the fraud, the asshole he really is.”

I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around what she was saying.

“I don’t think…”

“No, save it,” she said. “Whatever you want to say, you’re wrong. I know what I’m talking about. You’re not going to be able to save him, no matter how much he pays you. This man has dug his grave a long time ago. It’s just a matter of time.”

She turned around and walked away, leaving me stumbling over the words I could have said. What was she talking about? Fragments of her sentences bounced around my mind. All the women he’s stringing along, hard evidence, expose him for the fraud he is.

I connected the dots – his charming way of being around women, the campaign, how flirty he was, how worried Mr. Nettles was. This was a lot bigger than I thought.

Zack was a womanizer. Maybe he wasn’t aware of it? Or better yet, maybe he didn’t see it that way. He seemed dead set on the desire to live his life as he saw best. Not that I could blame him a bit. It was his life. The only one he got. To be ruled by his father’s company and the demands of that life had to get old – fast.

If anyone caught wind of this – even if the brunette had been nothing more than a heartbroken ex, even if it was all a lie – this could be detrimental to the business. I had the feeling, though, that she wasn’t just a heartbroken ex. She was talking at least a little bit of truth. Her accusations and the intensity with which she delivered them sounded too intense. We were at a press conference for the company’s empowerment campaign.

I had to get Zach away from there. There were people out there who wanted to burn him, and their Company image would suffer. I had to talk to Mr. Nettles.

I looked down at my notes again. I’d circled the name Zach had mentioned. Nora. I needed to find out exactly who she was and what she’d started with the company. It was time for me to consider exactly who this family was and what they had to lose.

Because they were about to lose it, and they didn’t even know it.