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“Per usual.” I gesture toward Presley who stands timidly off to the side, her arms stiffly at her sides. Her dark-plum coat is unbuttoned, revealing a pale-pink blouse that’s tucked into a fitted black skirt that hits just above her knee. “Nelson, this is Miss James, my new publicist. She’s going to do her absolute best to keep me in line and make sure this deal with Meridian goes through without any immoral impropriety.”
Her eyes don’t leave mine and I can’t hide the smile that tugs at my lips.
“Pleasure,” Nelson says, reaching out to shake her hand.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” she says sweetly.
“May I have a quick word before your meeting?” Nelson asks.
“Lisa, why don’t you and Miss James head into my office. I’ll be right in.”
The moment they’re out of earshot, Nelson’s smile disappears and his almost purple cheeks grow a shade darker.
“I hope you’re not doing anything stupid, Cyrus.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, knowing full well what he’s implying.
“We both know this is dangerous for you. Please don’t fuck this up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Nelson. I can control myself; I’m not an animal.” I excuse myself and walk to my office for my meeting, knowing damn well he has every right to be worried because if I don’t nip this in the bud right now, I’m not too sure I will be able to control myself.
“Ladies, apologies for the delay.” I close my office door and take a seat behind my desk.
“Not at all, Cyrus. I promise we won’t take up much of your time. Presley and I have spent the morning going over the general tasks that Becky did while managing your relationship. She’s currently working on some social media strategies that will center around your charity work and your upcoming deal with Meridian. We really want to focus on that since they are positioned as a family-friendly company, and also on your newest position of adjunct professor.”
“Okay.” I lean back in my chair. “Sounds easy enough, not too complicated.”
“Also, we did secure you to be the keynote speaker at the annual Chicago Youth in Leadership conference and charity gala. You have done a lot of work with them and they were beyond excited to hear that you’d be willing to not only speak at and attend the gala, but to talk to the children at their conference.”
My chest tightens a little at the thought of spending time with these kids. In truth, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Hell, I’ve wanted to mentor them, but I never made the time. I’d also convinced myself that I wasn’t exactly the kind of role model these kids needed to be listening to.
“That sounds great, actually. Are you sure”—I clear my throat—“that I’m the kind of person who should be speaking to children?”
“Yes,” Lisa says with that look she’s famous for. “We’ve been through this before, Cyrus. You’re an inspiration and you have a lot of wisdom to share with the younger generations. I’m not asking you to father these kids, just share with them about your journey and how you founded your company. Think about what would have been inspiring to you when you were in your early teen years.”
“I can do that.” I glance over at Presley who is furiously writing notes. “How does that sound to you, Presley?”
Her head snaps up. “Good, sir.” She gives me a slight smile. That innocent girl is back. I can’t tell if it’s a show for Lisa or my threat yesterday really did scare her back into her shell.
“As for the gala, Presley will be attending with you. She has a list of some key people that I think you should spend some quality time speaking with. She will even have some talking points for you. There’s going to be a few elected officials there.”
“As in babysitting me? I’ll attend and she and I can go over the list of people the day before, but I don’t need a handler, Lisa.”
She pulls her glasses from her nose. “You’ll do it my way, Cyrus. This isn’t a negotiation. I’m the expert here, not you, so you’re going to trust me and you’re going to follow orders, okay?”
“No negotiation?” I drum my fingertips. “You might be the only person who can get me to agree to that.”
“Agree or fire me.” She shrugs.
“Fine,” I say begrudgingly just as her cell phone rings in her hand.
“I need to take this,” she says, glancing down at it before darting out of my office. “I’ll be quick.”
Presley snickers beneath her breath.
“Something amusing, Miss James?”
“Just that for all your backbone talk, yours seems to have disappeared with Lisa.”
