Cross Check (Marriage Contract #1) (12 page)

“You can’t know this was her,” I say quickly.

“Can’t I though?” he replies, holding out his cell phone to
me, “Check out the text that just came in.”

I rise shakily to my feet and go to him, taking his phone in
my hands. On the screen is a new text from Cordelia herself. It reads:

Sorry little bro,
had to do it. Enjoy the spotlight! xoxo

“But…why?” I ask, shocked by her callousness, “Why would she
leak this?”

“To try and embarrass us,” Jay says, pacing the length of my
office, “She thinks she can shame us out of accepting Dad’s terms. Make the
whole arrangement into a sideshow.”

“Well, if that’s true she’s doing a bang-up job,” I say
resentfully, “I’m sure the videos of you smashing that guy’s phone will be all
over Reddit within the hour.”

“She thinks she can just swoop in and steal the company from
me,” Jamison fumes, “After never showing a scrap of interest her entire life.”

“You know as well as I do that it’s not the company she’s
interested in,” I reply, crossing my arms, “She’s just interested in adding
another billion dollars to her hedge fund fortune once she sells it off.”

“Fuck that,” Jay says determinedly, “She’s not getting this
company. I’m gonna make damn sure of it.”

“What’re you gonna do, take a hit out on her?” I shoot back.

“No,” Jay replies, a sly smile spreading across her face,
“I’m just gonna beat her at her own game. And
you’re
going to help me.”

“Oh?” I scoff, “And how is that gonna play out?”

“She thinks she can scare us off this deal by making our
relationship tabloid fodder,” Jay goes on, “But what if, instead of freaking
out about a few blog posts, we embrace the attention?”

“Embrace it,” I echo flatly, “Embrace being gossiped about
by the same people who catalogue what the Kardashians have for breakfast?”

“Hey, any press is good press, right?” Jay smiles, placing
his hands on my shoulders.

“Not in my book, it isn’t,” I reply, “I’m not a celebrity,
Jamison. I’m a business woman.”

“Looks to me like you’re
both
now,” Jay points out.

“Do you know how hard I’ve hard to work to be taken
seriously in this job?” I ask him, stepping out of his embrace. “From the
second your dad hired me, I’ve had to fight for respect every step of the way.
I’ve had to be ten times more professional than my male coworkers, ten times as
talented.”

“And now you’re poised to be the co-president of this
company,” Jay says, “Your hard work has paid off.”

“All the more reason not to throw it all away now,” I tell
him, “If I just let this tabloid story unfold, I’ll lose my credibility.
Everyone will just see me as Jamison King’s girlfriend.”

“Well.
Fiancée
, actually,” he corrects me. 

“My point,” I snap, “Is that no one is going to respect me
if I let this story go unchecked.”

“And my point,” Jamison replies, “Is that the story is
already out there. It’s not going to go away if we ignore it. If anything, it’ll
be much worse if we let the tabloids fill in their own sordid details.”

“So, what are you suggesting?” I ask, planting my hands on
my desk.

“I’m suggesting that we take control of the narrative,” he
says, stepping up behind me, “We tell our story to the world, our way. I’ve had
plenty of practice getting the media to eat out of my hand, Brody. We can turn
this thing around. But we have to move fast.”

I arch my back as Jay places his hands on my hips. I can see
our faint reflection in the wall of windows before me. I have to admit, we make
a formidable pair. Not to mention a photogenic one. I’ve always worked behind
the scenes in entertainment, never stepping in front of the camera myself. But
now that the lights have been trained on Jay and me, I guess I don’t have a
choice. He’s right about one thing—we can’t force this story out of the
headlines now that Cordelia’s handed it to the world. The only thing we can do
is try to work it to our advantage.

“Well. We’re gonna need some kind of game plan,” I finally
say, turning to face Jay.

His resolute smile widens as he brings his hands to my hips.
Pulling my body flush against his, Jay catches my lips in a searing kiss. That
gesture speaks volumes more than words could ever say.
We’re in this
together,
I feel in his kiss.

That’s all the assurance I need. Which is lucky, since it’s
the only assurance I can hope for in this bonkers situation.

“First things first,” Jamison says, pulling away from our
kiss and straightening his tie. “We’re gonna need a little help.”

“From who?” I ask.

“Pippa!” Jay calls, “Would you get in here please?”

“Yes, Mr. King?” my assistant replies, poking her head
through my office door.

“Do me a favor and get Charlie Bridges on the phone,” Jay
commands, “Tell him it’s Jay King calling, and it’s urgent.”

Pippa nods and disappears once again, off to track down Jay’s
contact.

“Who the hell is Charlie Bridges?” I ask Jay, “And what can
he do for us?”

“Charlie Bridges is my agent,” Jay tells me, sitting down on
the edge of my desk, “He’s been shaping my career from the very beginning,
particularly when it comes to my public image. And as far as what he can do for
us, well… the sky’s the limit, Brody.”

“Mr. Bridges in on line one!” Pippa says over the intercom.

Jamison takes the call, putting it on speakerphone for my
benefit.

“Charlie,” Jay says, “I’m here with Leah Brody.”

“Ah, Leah Brody: the fiancée!” a slick voice says over the
line.

“Actually, we’re not officially engaged,” I say testily,
rolling my eyes, “So that’s Leah Brody: the business partner and fellow tabloid
darling, at the moment.”

“Ooh, you caught a live one, Jay!” Bridges chuckles, “I like
you already, Leah.”

“I’m assuming you’ve seen the press coverage,” Jay cuts in
before I can chuck the phone across the room.

“That I have,” Bridges replies, “Steamy stuff. Looks like
you two have had a busy couple of days.”

“Well, for obvious reasons, we’d like to get out in front of
this thing,” Jay says to Charlie, “Any suggestions?”

“Loads of suggestions,” the agent replies, “But I’d prefer
to deliver them in person, if that’s all right with you.”

Jamison looks up at me, silently asking my permission to
bring Charlie into our office. And as detestable as he sounds over the phone, I
shrug my consent. Just because he’s obnoxious doesn’t mean he’s bad at his job.

“Come on over,” Jay tells Bridges, “And make sure to bring
your A game.”

“I always do,” Bridges replies, and promptly hangs up the
call.

Before you can say “public relations disaster”, Charlie
Bridges arrives at our office. Jay had Pippa run out for some rations, so
there’s a lovely lunch spread arrayed on my desk when the agent arrives.

“All this for me?” he grins, strutting onto my turf.

He looks exactly as I imaged from his manner on the phone:
mid-40’s, thick-set, no chin to speak of, head shaved bald. His clothes are
expensive but utterly lacking in taste. He walks with the swagger of someone
who’s made a lot of money by less-than-noble means.

All told, he looks like a bonafide asshole.

I look on as Jay and Charlie share a hug, thumping each
other on the back in true macho style. These two have been working together
since Jay’s career really took off eight years ago. And whether I like it or
not, Charlie Bridges has a lot more experience dealing with the media than Jay
and I do. We need his advice right now.

“Good lord,” Charlie says, staring at me from across the
room, “I thought you were pretty in those paparazzi pictures, but you’re even
more gorgeous in person. I love a redhead.”

“Thanks,” I say shortly, keeping my arms tightly crossed,
“You can help yourself to some lunch, if you like.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Charlie says, diving into the spread.

“So, you know our situation,” Jay says, coming to stand
beside me as Charlie loads up a plate for himself.

“Most of it,” Charlie replies, making himself a sandwich, “I
know that you’re both contenders for Loudon’s place at the company, and that
you’ve got some kind of affair going on. That’s as much as the press has picked
up on so far.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” I
jump in, “It’s true, Loudon was considering each of us for his position here at
King Enterprises. But because he was taken from us before he could make a final
decision, his wish was that Jamison and I get married and run the company
together as co-presidents.”

“It was all in his will,” Jay adds, “The whole arrangement.”

Charlie Bridges stares at us long and hard.

“You’re kidding, right?” he finally asks.

“Nope,” I say, “That’s the real story.”

“The lawyers gave us two weeks to make a decision,” Jay goes
on, “We can either agree to get married and run the company together, or one of
us has to bow out of the marriage and the presidency. If we can’t come to an
agreement, then Cordelia gets the company for herself.”

“She’s the one who leaked the story to the press,” I add,
“To try and embarrass us out of seeing Loudon’s wishes through.”

“Well, from the pictures I’ve seen, it looks like you’re
seeing those wishes through just fine,” he grins, getting a real kick out of
our predicament. “I mean, you are an item, aren’t you?”

“You could say that,” I reply crisply.

“I’ve made Leah aware of my wishes to proceed with the
agreement. She’s still weighing her options,” Jay clarifies.

“Weighing her options,” Charlie chuckles bawdily, “Is that
what the kids are calling it these days?”

“We haven’t come to a final decision about what we’re going
to do, is all,” I tell him, annoyed by his adolescent antics.

“Well,” Charlie sighs, swallowing down a big bite of his
sandwich, “I hate to break it to you, but it looks like the decision has been
made for you.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, shooting Jay a look.

“Now that your relationship is in the tabloids, you’re gonna
have to embrace it,” Charlie goes on, “That’s the only way you two come out of
this looking good. You could deny your relationship, but no one would believe
you. You could offer up the details about this legal predicament you’re in, but
no one wants to hear about arranged marriages and whatnot. It’s not romantic.
My advice is, you sell this power-couple angle. It’s absolutely your strongest
play.”

“What if the details about Loudon’s will get out somehow?” I
go on, “Won’t people think we’re awful liars if they realize this thing was
arranged?”

“Honestly,” Charlie says, “No one would even believe this
story about the will. It’s way too outlandish for most people to stomach, no
offense to your dad. Look, people want to hear the simple love story. Give them
that, and they won’t bother listening for anything else.”

“What do you think, Leah?” Jamison asks me.

“I just want this whole scandal to be over so I can get back
to my work,” I tell him. “And if that means letting the rest of the world
believe that we have some kind of fairy tale romance, that’s fine with me.”

“Super,” Charlie grins, wiping a blob of mayo from the
corner of his mouth. “First things first, you’re gonna need a high profile
sit-down interview to introduce yourselves as a couple. How’s tomorrow
morning?”

“Sounds great,” Jay says, “The sooner the better.”

“Sure,” I agree, feeling rather like I’m selling my soul to
the devil, “Let’s do it.”

“I’ll start making some calls,” Charlie says, pulling out
his smartphone, “Then the three of us can start going over your talking
points.”

“In the meantime,” I sigh, heading for the door, “I have a
call of my own I need to make.”

Ignoring the curious stares of my coworkers, I march through
the King Enterprises offices with my head held high. I’m not going to give
Cordelia and the rest of the world what they want and be ashamed of myself for
having a romantic relationship with Jay. That’s nonsense. But there is one
person I want to check in with before this whole thing gets even more out of
control, and that’s my dad.

Closing the conference room door behind me, I pull out my
phone and make a video call to Frank Brody. He deserves to hear what’s going on
from me, not some staged interview. I can feel my pulse speed up as the phone
rings. There’s no telling how my dad will react to this news. I can only hope
he’s not angry about being blindsided. But there’s no more time to worry about
it as his smiling face pops up on my screen.

“Hey there, Lee!” he says, sitting in the kitchen of our
little cottage, “Fancy hearing from you during a work week.”

“Hi Dad,” I say, a knot rising in my throat at the sight of
my father in the midst of all this chaos, “Am I catching you at a bad time?”

“Not at all,” he replies, noting my strained manner, “Is
everything all right, Lee? You seem a little put-out.”

“Things are a little crazy here in the city,” I go on, “Have
you, uh, seen anything in the news? About me?”

“Should I have?” Dad asks, scratching his head.

Of course he hasn’t seen the paparazzi pictures. My dad
isn’t exactly big on celebrity gossip, and the news hasn’t gotten to the major
outlets yet. That means I can prepare him for what’s about to come. I guess
that’s a blessing.

“Well, there’s been some gossip lately about me and Jamison
King,” I tell my dad.

“What about you and Jay?” Dad asks.

“Um…” I stall, “About us being a couple.”

Dad doesn’t say anything for a good long moment. Finally, he
asks, “Well, is it true? Are you two really together?”

“I guess…we are,” I tell him, “In a way.”

To my amazement, I watch as my dad’s grin grows even wider.

“Well, that’s just fantastic!” he crows.