Trust in Advertising (31 page)

Her hand came up and met his as it rested on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

An hour later, Vincent began running through the new pitch. He only had a few hours to practice and had to get all traces of the old campaign out of his memory. Lexi stayed huddled under Vincent’s jacket while as he presented.

Occasionally, she corrected him or suggested he reword the phrasing to make it seem less stiff, remembering Julian’s concern with Vincent. But for the most part, she sat back and watched a master work.

Of course, Lexi noticed, there was nothing stiff about Vincent as he strode back and forth across the room, passionately explaining the idea of the campaign and why he felt it was the right path for Julian to take. He exuded confidence and power when he spoke. Each gesture, each facial expression was designed to give emphasis to all the main points. Lexi remained captivated as she watched him move, and the deep tone of his voice washed over her like a caress. The sight of him in his element was extraordinary.

When he finished, Lexi sat stunned. “Vincent that was amazing. You’re so natural with it after only a couple run-throughs.”

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Proud but exhausted, Vincent smiled and sat down next to her on the couch, his head tipping back and his eyes closing, but his smile never wavering.

“Thanks. I think we did it, Lexi. This is so much better than the original. He has to love it.” He yawned, then tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch.

“I’m going to review the PowerPoint one more time. Why don’t you get a little sleep?” He handed her a throw pillow then waited until she placed it under her head and closed her eyes.

“Fine,” she said through a yawn, “but only because you’re my boss and you ordered me to.”

Vincent laughed as he walked to his desk. She was by far the most stubborn woman he had met in a long time, and yet somehow, she was getting under his skin. He found himself looking forward to moments like this when they would banter back and forth like old friends. “Like I could get you to do anything you didn’t want to do.”

He waited for her snarky comeback, but was met only by silence. When he turned around, he saw the gentle rise and fall of her chest accompanied by the sounds of her deep breathing. The beautiful Alexandra White was already fast asleep.

As she lay there, Vincent couldn’t help but think about what a kind, selfless woman Lexi was. Who better than she to be jaded by the breaks she had been dealt her in life? And yet, through the death of her mother and then her father, which inevitably turned her life upside down, somehow Lexi came through it with her beautiful spirit intact.

He envied her—her strength, her perseverance, her grace, al of the tiny facets that made Lexi the most intriguing person he had ever met. How he wished he had her ability to be true to herself despite the rotten things life threw at her.

But Vincent knew he was different, bitter and cynical because of the past, which he had unfortunately allowed to dictate who he was. While she was light and sunshine, he was nothing but clouds and darkness.

He flew through the slides of the PowerPoint, not really paying attention to them anymore, only wanting to shut his eyes for a few seconds for a power nap. After fighting the urge through the last few frames, he finally succumbed when a soft “Vincent” escaped Lexi’s lips, drawing him to her side. He knelt beside her as she twitched in her sleep.

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“Harry,” she whimpered as her dreams continued, her body becoming more restless with each passing moment.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. Harry’s safe, don’t worry.” For some reason, her distress cut through Vincent, and he found himself compelled to try and comfort her.

He ran his hand down the side of her face, his fingers lightly brushing the soft, creamy skin. Careful not to wake her, he sat down on the couch, patting her leg as he closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, hoping to get in a quick power nap before dawn. As he settled in and got comfortable, Lexi unconsciously curled up beside him like a kitten.

His head tipped back to rest on the couch, and a smile of masculine satisfaction played across his lips when she breathlessly said his name one last time.

Then he drifted off to sleep.

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∙ 15 ∙

Madison’s tiny feet zoomed across the plush carpet before she abruptly stopped. She turned to her mother, who stood in the doorway wide-eyed with shock.

“Mommy,” Madison whispered, her head slightly tilted to the side, “is it nap time?”

Anna chuckled. “No, baby, it’s not nap time. And I thought Leigh was making this up,” she mumbled to herself as she stepped into the room.

“Is Uncle Vincent dead?”

“Well, he might be soon,” Anna snickered, imagining what would have happened if Jade walked into the room and made this cozy discovery. Lexi’s head was nestled against Vincent’s chest, his arm draped protectively around her, holding his jacket in place over her body. The look of peaceful contentment on his face alone would have sent Jade into orbit.

“Why is Lexi laying on Uncle Vince?”

Anna quirked an eyebrow and wondered about that herself. “I think they had a lot of work to do last night.” She glanced around the room and took in the presentation boards and scraps of paper littering the floor.

“Ooh, they stayed up past their bedtimes? Lucky.”

At the sound of his niece’s high pitched laughter, Vincent’s eyes popped open and darted around the room, trying to locate the source of the noise.

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“Who died?” A very disoriented Vincent stretched his arms high over his head and waited for his sister to answer. He paused only for a second to look down and find Lexi nestled at his side. A little stunned, he looked up at Anna and found her with her hands planted on her hips, grinning.

Madison’s high-pitched voice brought him back to reality. “My pet fish Ariel died the other day, remember? Mommy said she gave him a burial at sea, but really she just flushed him down the potty.” Madison crept closer to the couch. “Lexi, Lexi, wake up. Did you and Uncle Vince have a nice sleepover?”

Lexi stirred, but kept her eyes tightly closed. When she finally moved, she began patting Vincent’s chest, as if trying to figure out what, or rather who, exactly she was curled up against. Anna snickered when she heard Lexi repeating

“No, no, no.”

“Morning, sunshine!” Anna sang as Lexi’s eyes slowly opened to find three faces watching her closely, waiting for a reaction. Madison smiled as she crawled into Vincent’s lap, nestling up on the other side of him and mirroring Lexi’s position. Lexi looked scared while Anna remained silent, but she looked even more terrified when she dared to look up into Vincent’s eyes.

“You snore like a freight train,” Lexi said as she pushed off of him and perched herself on the opposite end of the couch, smoothing out her hair and tugging at the bottom of her wrinkled shirt.

“I do not,” Vincent said indignantly as he placed a kiss on the top of Madison’s head. “Anyway, you talk in your sleep.” He cast a mischievous glance in her direction.

Lexi’s face went white, and her eyes got huge, as if she remembered quite clearly the wildly vivid fantasy she had been frolicking in all night long. One that possibly involved her legs wrapped around Vincent in the back seat of a long, black limousine. Her cheeks flushed pink, not even wanting to imagine what she might have said, or God forbid, moaned in her sleep.

Vincent tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I couldn’t understand a word of it. You just mumbled a lot.”

Lexi let out the breath. She didn’t have time to worry about the dream or if he was telling the truth once Madison began asking questions.

“So do you guys have sleepovers a lot?”

Anna snorted as her daughter’s question made both Vincent and Lexi’s cheeks turn red.

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“No!” they said in unison.

“Oh,” Madison’s face fell. “Well, next time you have one, can I come?” The hopeful smile on her face was impossible to resist.

“Um, sure?” Lexi replied, looking to Vincent for some guidance, but he was busy glaring at Anna.

“You can be the chaperone, baby. Someone needs to keep an eye on these two, I think.”

“Do you ever have sleepovers with Miss Jade and Lexi at the same time?”

Vincent’s mouth fell open at his niece’s innocent but probing question. Anna didn’t even try to hide her amusement as Vincent sputtered in shock.

“Madison, who Uncle Vincent invites to his sleepovers is none of our business.”

“Anna, you’re not helping here.” Vincent was interrupted when Lexi let out a yelp.

“Wait, what time is it?” Lexi glanced over at the window and for the first time noticed the bright sunshine streaming into the room. She was on her feet in a matter of seconds, Vincent’s jacket falling to the floor at her feet.

“Shit! I mean shoot. Oh hell, sorry, Anna!” Vincent apologized and swept Madison into his arms, kissed her cheek, and handed her off to his sister.

“When the school calls about Maddie’s language, I’m making
you
go in and meet with the principal, Vincent,” Anna scolded, waving her finger at her brother, who was paying absolutely no attention.

“It’s almost nine thirty. We have three hours until the presentation,” Vincent said and sat down behind his desk to begin typing as Lexi ran around the room picking up all the wadded up pieces of paper.

“It will take you at least twenty minutes to get there,” Lexi offered as she hastily stuffed the papers into the trashcan beside Vincent. “Traffic won’t be a problem at this time of day. I used to work in the same part of town as his studio,” she said in answer to Vincent’s quizzical expression.

“We’re just going to get out of your way. It looks like you have a lot to do here,” Anna said as she carried Madison toward the door.

“Wait.” Lexi dropped the last piece of trash into the can and stole Madison from Anna’s arms. “We need to run a very important errand before you go.” She winked at Madison and whispered something in her ear.

“Yes, Mom, it is very important. We need to, um, scout a location. Isn’t that what Daddy does?” Lexi threw her head back and laughed out loud, Vincent joining in soon after.

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“That’s my girl, Madison,” Vincent chuckled.

“Oh, go get a cookie, you two. Like I don’t know that’s where you’re headed.”

Anna laughed, and then waved them out the door.

With Madison and Lexi gone, Vincent tried to busy himself behind his desk to avoid any further interrogation, but his twin wasn’t having any of it. “So, do you want to tell me what the hell was going on in here?”

“We’re working under a major time crunch, that’s what’s going on here. We had to completely redo the Stone presentation last night. Lexi found out that Reid gave a presentation that had a similar theme to ours, and I couldn’t walk in there without something that would blow Reid out of the water.” He pecked away at the keys on his keyboard, his eyes fixed on his computer screen. “What we came up with is even better than the original, I think.”

Anna crossed her arms and cleared her throat to get Vincent’s attention.

“And this morning?”

“What about this morning?”

“Well, you two looked very …
cozy
on the couch together.”

Vincent rolled his eyes. “We were sleeping, Anna. Nothing happened. Lexi fell asleep on the couch around four this morning. I worked a few more hours then had to close my eyes for a minute for a power nap. Next thing I knew, you and Madison were standing there and launched into your version of the Spanish Inquisition.”

Anna and Vincent stayed locked in a stare down of wills, waiting to see who would give in first. Anna, of course, won.

“She’s my assistant.”

“She’s brilliant, beautiful, witty, and puts up with you and your shit.”

“Language, Anna.”

“Bite me, Vincent.”

“What do you want me to say?” Vincent waited as Anna gnawed on her lip, trying to formulate the right words.

“Nothing, I just want you to be happy. Sue me.”

“When this presentation is over and Stone hires Hunter,
then
I’ll be happy.”

Vincent gathered up the presentation papers that were scattered on his desk.

“That’s not what I meant, Vincent.” Anna pouted as her brother made his way over to her.

“I know, Anna, and I’m fine, but thank you for worrying.”

“I just think that you and Lex—”

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“Uncle Vincent! I got you breakfast!” Madison flung herself through the door and handed Vincent a chocolate chip cookie.

“A cookie at this hour of the morning?” Vincent eyed the treat. “I wonder whose unhealthy version of breakfast this is.”

Lexi gave Vincent a dirty look and yanked the cookie from his hand as she passed. While he watched, she took an exaggerated bite out of it and winked.

“Deliciously unhealthy.” Vincent opened his mouth to protest, but Lexi silenced him with a smug smile. “You snooze, you lose.”

Madison snuggled up to her uncle. “Don’t worry, Uncle Vince. I brought you an extra.” She placed another tiny treat into his hand.

“Honey, we need to let them get back to work.” Anna started to usher her daughter toward the door.

“Wait! Where are the invitations?” Madison demanded.

Lexi watched as Anna handed her daughter two blue envelopes from her purse. On the front, written in crayon, were Lexi’s and Vincent’s names and dozens of little flowers. Madison skipped over to Lexi and bounced up and down as she ripped open the paper and pulled out the card inside. “Can you come? Can you come?”

“A tea party? I would love to come to your tea party, Madison. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Uncle Vince, you’re coming, right? I have your hat all picked out.” Madison grinned at her uncle, who bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Are you going to make Lexi wear a hat too? I bet she would like a really fancy hat.”

“Ooh, Madison, how about that pink one with the feathers all around it?