Chapter1
The restaurant was very fancy, probably the most beautifully decorated place Aaliyah had ever been inside of. Her job as an assistant in the public relations office for the Brewers basketball team sounded as if she lived a glamorous lifestyle filled with sexy basketball players and posh nights out. But the truth was, her life was filled with getting coffee for people who actually lived that life and trying to scrape up enough money for dinner each night. She’d been toiling away at that lifestyle since she’d graduated college two years ago and was just waiting for her big break so she could finally start doing something real in the office instead of just asking if people wanted cream and sugar in their mugs. So when Eli, one of the biggest PR people in the office, asked if she’d liked to get some dinner to talk about her future, she jumped at the chance.
In the two years she’d been working there, Eli had hardly even glanced her way. She knew who he was, of course; everyone knew who he was – he was “the fixer.” The saying that any press is good press was Eli’s life motto. He had the ability to spin any type of negative press about the players or the organization into something good. She definitely admired his ability and could never stop herself from stealing glances in his direction if she passed him in the hall or had to deliver a file to him. But most of the time, his face was buried in those files and he wouldn’t even glance in her direction. He would just give her a cursory nod and she’d be on her way. But she’d taken a chance recently, a big chance, and left her own file on his desk. It was a proposal for a plan of action for the organization’s top star, Max Connors.
Max’s career was hurting; everyone could see it. Even she could, and she personally hardly ever followed the sport; she’d only taken the job because it was open when she needed one. But Max’s constant partying late into the night and showing up for practices (and even his last game) hung over was becoming a big problem. He was too reckless, and fans weren’t loving their wholesome boy from their very own city like they used to. Aaliyah had heard that they were thinking of releasing him from his contract, buying him out just to get rid of him, but she felt things could still turn around for him, that he could repair his reputation and stay on the team. So with a little bit of help from a bottle of wine, she got up the courage and drew up a plan of action for the star – some ideas about how he could repair his image, allowing the organization to keep its leading scorer.
Of course, in true Aaliyah form, she’d thought she’d blown it when she’d tried to sneak the file on top of a pile of other papers that she was to leave on Eli’s desk and was shaking so hard that she’d dropped the whole stack just inside of his office door. It would figure that the only time he actually paid attention to her was when she was completely humiliated and scooping everything up off the floor. She’d let her hair dangle down into her face as she’d tried to avoid looking at him, but to her surprise, she’d felt him kneel down to help her with her things.
“I’m so sorry about that,” she had said, her voice shaking as much as her hands.
What had she been thinking, she’d silently admonished herself. How did she ever think that she could get someone like Eli, the known fixer, to take her proposal seriously? He probably had the entire situation under control and she was just being foolish. In an attempt to save any dignity, she had quickly scooped up the manila folder and attempted to hide the label with her fingers.
“Don’t worry about it,” he’d offered. “Is that one mine too?”
“Um-no… it’s-something else…” she’d stuttered.
He’d smiled at her indulgently, like one would a child. “But it has my name on it.”
She’d felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment and, for the millionth time in her life, was thankful for her mocha complexion so he couldn’t see her embarrassment. She was always one to embarrass easily but loved that her dark complexion could hide it easier than some of the other women she knew.
“Well, yes… I mean, it was for you. But it’s not important anymore.”
He’d placed his hand on the file and gently, yet firmly enough that she knew she wasn’t going to win, tugged it out of her hand.
“If you don’t mind, I like to decide what’s important and what’s not.”
Her heart had pounded as he’d opened the folder and started to read its contents. She could only imagine how furious he might be that she’d thought even for a moment that he would need her help or how silly he might think she was when he’d read through her ideas. At that moment, she’d wished more than anything that a giant hole would appear in the floor to suck her down inside so she wouldn’t have to see Eli, or anyone in the office for that matter, ever again.
“Hmmm….”
“I’m so sorry, I know it’s none of my business about Max… I just thought… Well, I’d heard some things about him, and I think his career can be saved still.”
She’d known she had to sound ridiculous with her stammering, but she couldn’t help it. She’d felt humiliated having to explain what she’d even been thinking. Especially since, at that moment, she’d had no idea what she’d been thinking putting her nose into business like that. But she’d risked a glance at him anyway and was surprised to find him smiling.
“I think you’re the only other person in the office who thinks that.”
Aaliyah’s heart had hammered harder.
“Aside from me, that is.”
She’d let out a breath, and he’d looked her up and down, making no motion to hide the fact that he was appraising her.
“Do you really want to help Max with his career?” he’d asked her.
Well, it wasn’t that she necessarily cared about helping Max specifically. Personally, from everything she knew about him, she thought he was a pompous jerk and a playboy, and she really wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, she wanted to be given a chance to do her job, the one she’d thought she’d been hired to do, so she wasn’t going to make the distinction of helping Max versus helping her career; she’d just nodded her agreement that she wanted to.
Eli’s eyes had lit up. “Perfect. I’d like to talk to you about some ideas over dinner tonight. I’ll have my secretary set it up and contact you today with the details.” He’d turned around and walked back to his desk, the sign that she was dismissed.
And that’s how she came to find herself in the most exquisite restaurant she’d ever been in, about to have dinner with a legend and hopefully further her career. He was already waiting when she arrived, and she had to clamp her hands around the handle of her purse in order to make herself stop shaking. She’d changed her outfit too many times to count. She had finally settled on a fitted black dress that cut only slightly low in the front but was modest enough for a professional dinner. Although she realized that if she was going to start launching her career, she was definitely going to need more clothes for occasions like this. She had no money, which was definitely a problem, but she hoped that if her career started to go upward, then maybe along with that would come a raise, at least enough so that she wasn’t scraping away at pennies three days before every paycheck came in.
Eli was already there in a very expensive-looking suit, waiting calmly as he tapped away on his phone. She was sure he was always working. She marveled at how important he really was, and her excitement leapt that he was taking time to have dinner with her.
“Ah… Aaliyah, so glad you could make it.” He stood from his chair as the maître d’ helped her into hers. She was stunned at what a gentleman he was and smiled and thanked him again for his invitation.
“I just have to finish up this e-mail quickly as we wait for the final part of our party.” He glanced back down at his phone, so he didn’t register the look of confusion on Aaliyah’s face. She studied him for a moment, his prominent jaw and his brown hair graying at the temples. It was obvious that he was quite the looker, a man of power and prestige, yet she glanced at his ring finger and saw it was empty. Rumor had it that he had tried to settle down once when he was younger, but he’d ended up heartbroken. He was now into his fifties and still a self-proclaimed bachelor. It’s sad, she thought, he’d be quite a catch for someone.
Her thoughts were snapped away from him as the maître d’ approached the table again. “Mr. Connors, your table, Sir,” she heard.
When she looked up, she had to bite her lip to keep her jaw from dropping to the floor. There in front of her was the playboy himself being seated right across the table. She wasn’t one to think she’d ever get star struck, but she’d never had dinner with two men who held more power than most of the people in the city combined. Suddenly, she felt very self-conscious about her discount black dress and her overly worn strappy shoes.
“Eli,” Max greeted him, and Eli gave a grunt of hello back as he quickly finished his message.
Then Max turned his baby blue eyes on her, and she could tell why all the female fans flocked to watch him, especially when he turned on his smile and greeted her warmly. “Well, hello there. I didn’t know we were going to have company tonight.”
Max’s eyes flicked from Eli to her, and she saw something sparkle in his eyes. She knew immediately that Max was getting the wrong impression. She needed to turn his thoughts around and make him see that she was here for business purposes only.
“Hello,” she greeted and stuck out her hand for him to shake. “I’m Aaliyah Burns. I work with Eli, and he brought me tonight to talk about some ideas to help with your career.”
Max shook her hand but looked at her warily. “My career? Eli, what is she talking about?”
Eli finally stopped tapping at his phone and put it in his coat pocket. “First rule of public relations when working with your client, Aaliyah: never start talking business like this without a drink in your hand.”
He snapped his fingers at the waiter and signaled they were ready to order, even though she hadn’t even looked at the menu. It hardly seemed to matter, though, because Eli ordered for all of them: whisky for the boys, and white wine for her. He also ordered their entrees; he asked for “the usual,” whatever that meant. Normally, a man ordering for her like that would be completely insulting, but she had to remind herself that he was doing her an extremely big favor by bringing her along to work with Max, so she wasn’t going to step on any toes.
“Now, Max, as you’re probably aware, your contract with us is almost up. Do you want to stay on this team?”
Max shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but his eyes betrayed how important it was to him to keep playing for the Brewers. “Yeah. I mean, I’d like it to get renewed. But isn’t this something you should be talking to my agent about? Negotiations?”
Eli shook his head and gave a sad smile. “I like you, Max. I’ve watched you grow with this organization since you were fresh out of college. You were a star and brought in a lot of fans. We all adored you, and I’d like to see you continue to play for us.” Eli paused and took a sip of his drink as Aaliyah watched on anxiously.
Could it be possible that Max didn’t even know that things were looking so bad for him?
“Here’s the problem, Max: there won’t be any negotiations for a new contract.”
Aaliyah turned wide eyes toward Max as he slammed the table in frustration. “What are you talking about? I’m the leading point person on the team! You guys need me!”
Eli kept his voice even and calm, and Aaliyah made a mental note that she was going to have to do that in the future. Remember that no matter how frustrated the client gets, she has to remain calm, like Eli.
“True, you are good for the team. But there are other young players the organization has its eye on. We pride ourselves on our reputation – the way our players are stand-up men, people you’d want to know, and people you respect. You may score a lot of points, but many other players can do that too. The problem is your reputation no longer fits with the Brewers.”
Max’s voice turned really low, so low that Aaliyah had to lean in a little to hear what he was saying. Anger seeped out with his words, and she almost felt bad that he was being blindsided so much.
“Then why the hell did you invite me here? Why the hell did you ask if I still want to be a part of this team?”
Eli glanced over at Aaliyah, and something about the way his eyes raked over her made her feel like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Because I think there’s a way we can change all of that,” he answered.
*
The fury was boiling up inside of Max after Eli dropped the bomb on him that the team might not be keeping him. Who cared what his reputation was? The fact of the matter was the only thing that should be considered is how many points he could score, and he was easily the highest scorer on the team. Sure, he scored quite a bit off the court as well, but why should that matter? Yeah, he knew that the Brewers kept a pretty high reputation as far as their level of respect, but they were also a winning team, and that’s why he’d never considered that his reputation should matter all that much.
Apparently, he’d been wrong.
Not to say that he’d have changed his lifestyle. Parties after games, after practices, and, hell, basically any time he felt like it. Girls crawled in and out of his bed whenever he wanted. He had enough money from his contract to buy whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and enough celebrity that he hardly needed to buy anything because most people gave him whatever he wanted. But if it came down to it, was he really willing to give up his place on the team? Sure, he’d get a contract with another team, but he needed to stay where he was; moving wasn’t an option.
The good thing was he had Eli on his side. If the team was just going to dump him straight out, then would they have sent Eli, their top PR person, to help fix it all? And he didn’t know who the girl was, but it seemed even better that they were sending more than one person to fix it for him. Eli was back on his phone, tapping away, before he revealed whatever plan he had for Max, so Max took that moment to take in the girl across the table.
Of course he’d checked her out when he’d come to the table, but he had basically ignored her after that because he’d thought she was Eli’s date and there were just some guys you didn’t steal a woman from. Eli was definitely one of them. But now that he knew she wasn’t with him…. well, he’d decided she was worth a second glance. She was attractive, he would definitely give her that, with her smooth mocha skin and her long, silky hair. It was painfully obvious how shy she was, but when her eyes finally glanced up from the spot on the table that she’d been studying, he could see they were an amazing brown with flecks of bright gold that made them unbelievable. She offered him a small smile, and instantly, he knew he wanted to make that smile larger, to see what it really looked like.
Her only downfall that he could see was the frumpy way she dressed. Underneath that ridiculous black dress she was wearing, he knew that she had a good body, and he wished she was showing it off a bit more than she was right then. He really hoped, if he was going to be working with her, that in their next meeting, she’d wear something a little more… well, technically a little less.
Eli finally looked up from the phone and put it away again, giving Max his full attention.
“So, let’s talk strategy. Your reputation is in the tank—no one thinks highly of you, and whether you want to admit it or not, it’s affecting your game. So, how exactly are we going to fix this?”
Max thought about all of the things that he’d seen other players do after they got in trouble. Charity events, working with kids, donating money–whatever it was, it didn’t matter to him. He’d do what he was told to stay on the team, and he’d just have to tone down his partying a bit and be slightly more secretive about his women. It could be done though, he knew it, and so he just sat patiently waiting for Eli to tell him the plan.
“We are going to get you a girlfriend.”
Max nearly choked on the drink he was sipping as he looked at the man as if he was crazy. His gaze shifted toward Aaliyah, and he could see that Eli had surprised her with this plan as well.
“Um… say that again? You’re getting me a girlfriend? What? Are you just going to go to the store and buy one for me?” This idea had to be a joke. There was no way Eli could be serious about getting Max a girlfriend. But the man picked at an imaginary piece of lint on his suit and waited for Max to get the hint: this plan was no joke.
“Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. A girlfriend? What will that solve?”
“That,” Eli began coolly, “will solve everything. Having a girlfriend will end your massive partying and your woman-hopping because you will be a settled man. And the woman will be loved by the media, making you loved by the media again. With fewer distractions, you will do better again on the court, and the organization’s reputation can still remain intact while you remain with the organization. It is a win-win situation and basically your only option.”
There was no way that Max wanted to give up his lifestyle. The thought of that alone made him depressed. “Why can’t I just do charity or something like that?”
“Because no one will believe it. No one will believe that you are a changed man if you donate a couple of bucks, and you won’t be a changed man because you’ll keep partying and swapping out women. This will force you to stop.”
Max shook his head in disbelief. Just when his celebrity was at its peak, he had to give it all up and settle down into a life he didn’t want. But what other choice did he really have? Eli was a master at this sort of thing, and Max knew that he wouldn’t steer him wrong. Plus he knew that the man was also right, that even if he swore up and down he’d change his lifestyle, unless there was something there to force him to, he wasn’t going to ever change.
Max let out a heavy sigh. “All right. If I do this, where are we going to find a girl who is going to go along with this plan?”
Eli grinned as his hand gestured over to the silent Aaliyah. “You’re looking at her.”
***
It took a moment for Eli’s words to sink in, and when they did, Aaliyah still wasn’t sure she’d heard them right. The entire time she’d been sitting there, she’d thought that Eli was going to share her ideas, which happened to be the same as Max’s, with charity events and things like that. She’d never dreamed of a publicity stunt like the one Eli was proposing, which she supposed is what made him an expert in the field and why she was still getting coffees, but she couldn’t help feel that the idea was disgusting all the same when it came out of his mouth.
To pay someone off to make her Max’s girlfriend was demeaning and awful. She wanted to bolt out of her chair right at that moment and tell him she wanted no part of the plan, but when Eli’s eyes turned to her, she felt riveted to her seat. He wanted her to be the “girlfriend?” That thought made her head spin. She was such a fool thinking that Eli had invited her because he’d actually thought she had some good ideas, when the fact of the matter was she’d only been invited as a piece of meat. Words were forming at the tip of her tongue that she was ready to spit out at Eli, to tell him where exactly he could stick his idea, but she knew she’d lose her job immediately if she said what was on her mind.
So what could she do? How could she get out of this horrible plan while still saving her job? Worry was swirling through her mind when she registered that Max’s eyes were trained on her, hot and intense. She wanted right then to crawl under the table and hide away.
“What’s in it for her?” was the first question Max asked.
Eli’s smile became friendly as he looked at Aaliyah. “There’s a lot in this for her. First of all, this will be a contract, so she will get paid to date you, as well as this will help boost her career in the PR industry. After all, it’s not what you know but who you know, and dating one of the hottest stars of the NBA will certainly get her far.”
Eli winked at her, and she thought about all of the possibilities that he was talking about. Her career for starters. She’d been dying for an opportunity for doors to be opened for her, and she knew that Eli was right: it was all about who you knew. Not that she’d thought she’d ever wanted to be a part of something like using people for job advancement, but sometimes she felt like there would be no other way. And the money. It really didn’t matter how much—anything was better than what she was getting at the moment. She had no savings, nothing in her bank account, and was one more bad check away from being evicted from her already crummy apartment. It wasn’t as if her moment could get her any less than what she had, so there would be nowhere for her to go. She actually needed the money and needed a better job. But could she really do something like that? Be someone’s girlfriend to get what she needed?
It wasn’t as if she was just using him or anything. Truthfully, he was using her, too, to further himself and for money. They were in the same boat—needing the other to agree to the plan to make their lives better.
“What will the contract say, exactly?” Aaliyah asked the question even though she knew the answer didn’t really matter—she was going to say yes.