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Nope, he was not telling her to stop.
He turned to the publicist, who couldn’t be more than a few months out of college. She was dressed impeccably, with oversize glasses that made her look even younger.
“My deepest apologies,” he said to Sakura as he took his seat.
“I already explained,” Daphne said. “I was the one who set the alarm, and I was supposed to wake you up. I didn’t see the time was set wrong.”
Chris didn’t like her taking the blame for what was his fault. But she was the assistant here, and he couldn’t argue without it looking odd.
“Tonight we’ll both set alarms,” he said.
“Actually, tonight you’re going to want to set multiple alarms.” Sakura placed two sheets down, one in front of each of them. “You have a full day tomorrow, starting with a morning flight.”
“Ah,” Chris said. “The elusive itinerary.”
He hadn’t meant it to sound critical, but in his Zane voice everything sounded critical, and Sakura flinched.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was working on it up until this morning. There are still a few things to be added.”
“Last-minute tour means last-minute arrangements,” Daphne said. “I’m amazed at how fast this came together. I thought it took weeks to arrange a tour like this.”
“We got lucky with the LA slot,” she said. “They had a cancellation on the panel and reached out, and we’d already been trying to whip something together. Publishing is not the fastest-moving beast.”
Chris lifted the itinerary. “It’s very full.”
This time, her flinch was more of a tense, complete with a flash in her eyes that said Zane was already turning out to be exactly what she expected. An asshole.
Which was kinda Zane’s brand, but here was the thing about acting the part of an asshole. Sometimes, it was great. He could demand first-class treatment and refuse unreasonable requests and set boundaries, and it’d be chalked up to He’s an asshole.
But he didn’t want to be that to someone like Sakura. Once branded that way, though, he had to do backflips of niceness to counter it.
“Full is good,” Daphne chirped, a little too brightly.
“It is,” Chris said. “I meant that I’m happy to see it so full. Thank you. I know that was a lot of work.”
Mmm, still not quite right. Chris’s voice would make that sound like genuine appreciation. Zane’s made it sound like praise delivered from on high.
He continued before Sakura felt obligated to respond. “All right. So let’s look at today. The panel is at two, so we need to leave at…”
Was that time right? They had to leave in ninety minutes?
“Traffic,” Sakura said. “Plus they like you to be on-site two hours early so they can be sure you’re there. There’s a green room where we can hang out and wait.”
Chris caught Daphne’s expression. “Do we need to stay in the green room? Or can we look around the festival?”
“Absolutely. We’ll take a wander.”
The server came, and they ordered breakfast, Sakura adding that they were “in a bit of a hurry.” Then it was back to the schedule.
“Panel from two until three, followed by the signing. That ends at five. After that, if you need a bite to eat, we’ll have to grab it from the green room because we’re hitting a few stores for stock signings.”
He frowned. “I thought it was only the festival signing today.” He heard how that sounded and added, “Which is fine. I’m just trying to get it all straight.”
“Stock signings mean you’re only signing store stock,” Daphne said.
He laughed, a real one. “Hence the name?” He lifted his mug. “More coffee required.”
Sakura gave him a smile for that. “It’s all new to you. I know. Please feel free to ask questions.”
