by Claire Adams
"And why am in a swimsuit instead of a dress?" I asked, wishing I could cover myself up.
"We've hired a photographer to take pictures of you with the guests. We thought having you in a swimsuit would make for a better shot. Guys will love it and it fits in better with the bad boy image we're giving the bike."
I wasn't wild about the direction the marketing campaign was taking, but I'd signed a contract and the money was good, so what could I do?
Silently, I took my place, smiling broadly in my swimsuit and stilettos as sweaty men in business suits lined up to get their picture with me and were then assaulted by salesmen eager to make a commission.
It was a miserable way to spend an evening, and I found myself wishing Ethan were there. At least his marketing parties had been fun and him and his entire staff had treated me with dignity. Here, I just felt like a piece of meat.
Suddenly, there was a ruckus at the door, and I turned to see Ethan storming into the room, as if in answer to my wish.
"Kayla! Grab your clothes. I'm taking you the hell out of here!" he called out when he saw me, and the dream-come-true quickly turned into a nightmare.
"What are you doing here?" I gasped, even though I was relieved to see him.
"No, that's my question. How could you take a job working for R.E.B.?"
"What are you talking about? It's a free country. I can work for whoever I want." I was suddenly defending the job I hated.
"Yeah, but you know they're my worst competitor. You shouldn't have agreed to work for them," Ethan fumed, and I could see the betrayal in his rage-filled face. Still, I stood my ground and refused to back down.
"They were the ones offering me the job. I'd finished working for Speed Motorcycles and R.E.B. made me the best offer, so I took it. You can't tell me you wouldn't do the same."
"Yes, I could. Nathan Diehl is a hack, making cheap knock-offs of other designers’ quality bikes, and Jay Wendt is a sleaze and a womanizer. He would have raped you a few weeks ago if I hadn't shown up to stop him."
"I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself. I had Jay handled perfectly fine on my own, even without you, and he hasn't given me an ounce of trouble since. And, if Mr. Diehl is such a bad businessman, why is that he's got you sweating so bad. Obviously, he's good enough at what he does to be number two in the industry. Why don't you admit what's really bothering you?"
"What's that?"
"You don't like it that I'm an independent woman with my own career. You like to be in control and to hold all the power. You have that at work and at home, but you don't have it with my career, and that drives you crazy.
“Well, fuck you, Ethan Colson. When it comes to modeling, I'll do whatever I want. If you don't like it that I'm working for the competition, then you should have Speed Motorcycles make me a better offer. Until then, I'm staying here."
"The hell you are. You're staying at home where you belong. I committed to you and you committed to me, and that means I'm the head of our household and I call the shots."
"What is this, the turn of the century? Being committed to each other means we're equals in our relationship," I insisted, but Ethan shot me a look of pure maliciousness.
"Oh really? And what part of being equals makes it okay for you to insist that I'm open and honest about everything while you keep secrets and do things behind my back?"
There was nothing I could say in response, and my eyes cast down at the floor. Ethan pressed his advantage, shouting out angrily, "You knew it was wrong to take this job, and that's why you hid it. Working for the competition is a betrayal of me as your equal partner, and doing it behind my back is even worse. It's just a different kind of cheating. How can you justify it?"
"I can't," I admitted, and my confession took all the wind out of him. I approached him and took his strong hands in my own. Blinking back tears, I said, "I needed the money. That's the only reason I did it."
"Well, you don't need the money now. I've got more than enough. Just quit and let's go home."
"I can't quit. I'm under contract with R.E.B., and I'm sure you being here right now is already in violation of it. You'd better go and let me finish the job."
"Fuck their contract. I'll just buy you out of it. Give me a number and I'll write the check right now."
"No, I can't do that. It wouldn't be right. It's my contract, my job, and my career."
"And, you’re my girlfriend. I want you to quit. Let's go. I'll have my lawyer settle everything in the morning."
"No, you don't understand. I don't want you to buy my way out of this. It wouldn't be right."
"Of course, it would. I've got the money; I can afford it. In fact, I can afford anything you want. You'll never have to work again."
"But that's just it. I want to work. I've been trying to be a model for years, ever since I was a teenager. I've worked my ass off to get where I am today, and now that my career is finally taking off, my billionaire boyfriend wants me to throw it all away so I can sit back and take advantage of his money.
“No, forget it. I've worked too hard and I want this too much. One day, I'm going to travel around Europe, modeling for all the biggest brands, and Kayla will be a household name. People will associate me with beauty and glamour and all the best things in life. Me. Little ol' Kayla Brandt, the middle child from the middle of nowhere."
"So, you won't quit and come home with me?"
"No, I won't. I'm sorry, Ethan."
"I thought you loved me. I thought what we had meant something to you."
"I do love you and what we have means so much to me; but my career means something to me, too, and if you loved me like I love you, then you wouldn't ask me to give it up."
"Come home with me, Kayla. Look what they've done to you. They've turned you into a sex object. Quit now and come home with me, or don't come home at all."
"Fine then," I shouted back at him.
I turned on my heel and strode back to the motorcycles with my head held high. Jay and Nathan were both staring with their mouths agape, as was everybody in the crowd. I turned to face Ethan and I could see his face was purple and twisted with rage.
With an alluring smile plastered on my face, I put my arms around the guest standing closest to me, a pudgy man in his sixties, and said, "Smile for the camera. You'd look so sexy on the new Road Rage. Let's get our picture together."'
He grinned stupidly and I planted a kiss on his cheek just as the photographer’s flash went off. When my vision cleared from the light, I saw that Ethan was storming out of the room with his fists clenched. I wanted to go chasing after him, to tell him I was sorry, and to tell him I quit this stupid job and wanted to be his forever — but I didn't.
It took all my effort not to, but held fast to my principles. My career and my name were at stake, not just my pride and independence. I needed to stand firm. If I caved now and allowed my career to be ruled by my boyfriend, I would be setting a dangerous precedent.
Not to mention the fact that if I allowed myself to be a kept woman, living a life of luxury off of someone else's wealth and spending money I hadn't earned, I would hate myself for it. I wouldn't be me anymore. The woman Ethan had fallen in love and committed himself to would no longer exist. In a strange way, the only way to preserve the relationship we had was for me to refuse to go home to the man I loved. So, I drew in a deep breath and resigned myself to a long night at this shitty job.
"That was quite the scene earlier. Are you alright?" Jay Wendt approached me at the end of the evening.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, being careful to keep as much distance between him and me as I could without being obvious about it.
"Do you need a place to stay tonight? My car is parked right out front." He stepped closer to me, and I moved around the beverage table to create a barrier between us.
"No, I'm fine. I still haven't changed my mind about us. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to..." I couldn't finish the sentence, but I didn't need to.
Jay held up a hand apologet
ically and said with an embarrassed grin, "I wasn't talking about taking you home with me. I was just offering to drive you to a hotel if you needed a ride."
"Oh." I blushed. "Thanks, but I prefer to take a taxi."
"Okay, but if you need anything, just let me know." Jay put his arm on my shoulder in a sympathetic gesture, but it quickly slid down my back to grab my ass. So, this was what it was going to be like being single again? I'd only broken up with Ethan a few hours ago and slime balls like Jay already thought it was a free pass to hit on me.
I hurried from the hotel and got in a cab.
"Where to?" the driver asked, and I realized that I didn't know how to answer. Where to? I had told Ethan I wouldn't go home to his mansion in Beverly Hills. I'd lost my best friend when she slept with Mick. I couldn't face going home to my family after Ethan had so generously helped Tommy. They'd think I was the most selfish brat on the planet, and I was afraid they'd be right.
What kind of a person chose her modeling career over a great guy like Ethan? One who wasn't willing to give up who she was just for a man, that's who — and one who now didn't have any place to go.
Tears sprang unbidden to my eyes and I reached in my purse for a tissue as the cabby stared at me impatiently. As I blew my nose, I reminded myself that this wasn't the end of the world. Surely, I wasn't the only woman on earth to stand up for herself against Ethan's strength and charm and dump him. That was it. With new confidence, I told the driver where to take me.
It was the middle of the night and all her lights were off when I walked up to her front door and rang the bell. I could hear the sound of yapping dogs on the other side and it was several minutes before lights turned on and I could hear footsteps approaching.
Gwyneth Manzranni opened the door, looking beautiful even with no make-up on and her bathrobe on.
"Kayla, what are you doing here?" She was surprised to see me, but she opened her arms wide to me in a welcoming hug. "Is everything alright?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a wailing sob as I finally released the tears of my heartbreak.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ethan
"This is an outrage!" I shouted out furiously. "This is my damn company and whatever I say goes!"
I'd lost my temper, but I didn't care. Kayla had been gone for three nights now, and I'd hardly slept at all in the last 72 hours. The bed was too empty without her and the house was, too. I needed her back home with me, so I called a board meeting in order to make it happen.
"You can't just expect me to change our whole advertising campaign on a whim," Keith, my head of marketing, said. I wanted to fire the son-of-bitch right on the spot.
"We understand your feelings for Kayla are strong, but you can't let it interfere with your business decisions. Throwing out all the work Keith has done so far would be incredibly expensive, and buying out a model's contract from a different company is a huge waste of company resources." My CFO, Steve, had the nerve to back him up. Now that was two assholes I had to fire.
"I've shown you plenty of other models that will work for a much cheaper rate and have the availability we need. Just pick one of them and let's move on," Keith said with a tired sigh.
"I don't want another girl. I only want Kayla." I knew I sounded like a pouting child, but I didn't care. She was the love of my life, and if she wanted a big paying modeling career, then that's what I was going to give her.
"Kayla is a sweet girl, but you're letting her make you irrational." Angela just had to put in her two cents worth, too. Fuck. Had everybody in this damn company turned against me? Putting her hand on mine from across the conference table, she said to me softly, "This isn't like you. What do your business instincts tell you?"
I pressed my hands to my eyes, trying to clear my head. My staff was filled with intelligent people whose opinions I'd always been able to rely on. If they were all telling me I needed to gain some perspective on this situation, maybe they were right; but how could I? Try as I might, I couldn't separate the feelings of my heart from the thoughts in my mind.
Slamming my palms against the table, I said adamantly, "This is the right decision. I know you all think it's just because I love her and I want her back, but that's not it.
“Kayla is a damn good model and beautiful as hell. The issue of Speed Magazine with her on the cover was the biggest selling month to-date, and the All-American has brought in better sales numbers for the short time it's been on the market than any other bike we've released.
“That's not because I love her and it has nothing to do with our break-up and the fact that I want her back. That's a testament to her as a high-end model. She is professional, hardworking, and has that ‘it factor’ that gives her massive appeal among the public.
“We'd be fools not to hire her as the face of our company, even if it means paying huge amounts of money to buy out her contract at R.E.B. Whatever it takes to make her happy is what we're going to do."
"So you want everyone here to turn this company upside down to make your ex-girlfriend a star just so you can win her back?" Keith sounded annoyed, and it took all my effort not to punch him out.
"No, I expect my hired employees to follow the directives given to them by me as the CEO and owner of this company, and that directive is to do whatever it takes to secure the model of my choosing as the center of a new advertising campaign. We've launched plenty of them in the past, and this one is no different. So, make it happen."
"Only this time, we're not talking about some ingénue we can hire for cheap. You want me to find your missing girlfriend and coerce her with bribes of money and fame until she finally accepts the job in hopes that she'll come back to you."
"No. Okay, yes. There is a part of me that hopes that I can win back her love if she is working for this company, but that's not all of it. I really do want her to be the face of our ad campaign.
“I think she'll do the best job of any model I've seen, and if securing her to take the job means you have to promise her that she'll have absolutely no contact with me, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I want her for the job weather she ever talks to me again or not."
"Really? So, if she says she'll only take the job if you are outside the building anytime she's around, then you still want me to make the offer?" Keith asked, looking flabbergasted.
"Yes. I'd rather she got the job of her dreams and was happy, then to have her come back to me and be miserable," I said honestly.
Angela blinked in surprise. "You really do love her, don't you?"
"You know I do. You saw me when I was drunk off my ass the last time we were broke up. In fact, you were the one who encouraged me to commit to her," I shot back at her.
"I know, but I thought you were in love with her the way men usually love a woman: selfishly with their own agenda first on their mind. I figured you liked having her around because she made you feel good; I didn't realize you loved her enough to want her to be happy even if it meant you had to sacrifice your own selfish desires."
"Well, when you put it that way, neither did I," I said, and a little smile of chagrin curled the corners of my mouth.
"Look, I don't know about any of that psychobabble. All I know is I love Kayla and I want her to be happy. She wants to be an international modeling star, and that's what I'm going to make sure she gets.
“If she comes back to me, all the better. I'll treat her right and never let her go again. If she never wants to see me again, then I guess I've gotten what I deserve. As long as she gets what she deserves, and that's being a modeling star."
"Well then, there's only thing left to do," Keith said with a grin. "I've got to secure that modeling deal."
Steve was smiling, too, as he said, "Angela, get hold of Miss Brandt on the phone. Tell her we want to meet in a public location of her choosing without Mr. Colson in attendance. Do whatever it takes to get her there."
"Yes, sir." Angela smiled and gave me a little wink. "Don't worry, Ethan,
true love conquers all. We'll get her for you."
It felt good to hear that, but it was a promise she couldn't keep. Days went by and no one was able to locate Kayla. Her agent hadn't seen her, nor had her lawyer, nor even the people at R.E.B. It was like she had completely disappeared off the face of the earth.
"You sure you haven't seen her, Mrs. Brandt?" my voice was practically pleading as I spoke to her mother over the phone.
"You know I'm grateful for your help with Tommy, and I think you're a terrific man, but my loyalty has to be to my daughter," she said regretfully, and I felt my heart fall. Then she said something that made me sit up straight. "You must have had heartaches before. Have you ever stopped by to visit your ex, Gwyneth Manzranni?"
"How would you know about her?" I was instantly suspicious.
"Well, you know ex-girlfriends sometimes talk. In fact, if I was in a city all alone, looking for a place to stay, I might team up with someone I had an ex in common with; but I honestly can't tell you a word about where Kayla might be staying. She's my daughter, and I would never betray her trust."
"No, of course not. Sorry you couldn't help, Mrs. Brandt." I was grinning widely.
It was late at night after a long day at work and I knew I should wait until morning to go talk to her, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. So, I threw on my jeans, boots, and my leather jacket over my white tee-shirt and hopped on my bike. It was a racing motorcycle and the fastest thing in my garage.
Gwyneth lived across the city up on the hills overlooking the ocean, but I got there in a matter of minutes. I was so excited; I was out of breath as I rang the doorbell. I caught my reflection in the window and quickly ran my fingers through my short-cropped hair, trying to clean up my appearance.
I heard the sound of yapping dogs as someone approached and as I heard the locks being turned. I tried to think of exactly what I could say to Gwyneth to get her tell me where Kayla was. To my surprise, it was wasn't Gwynn who opened the door, but Kayla herself.
She looked absolutely stunning, with no make-up on her freshly washed face. Her blonde hair was pulled back into the braids she liked to sleep in, and she was wearing a short, white, silk nightgown beneath a matching robe with her feet bare. I thought I'd never seen a more beautiful sight in my entire life and I longed to pull her into my arms and kiss her.