by Taylor Hart
Mr. DaVinci had a reputation for outstanding PR work and nothing on the shady side. While other firms used provocative campaigns and downright salacious images and innuendos, DaVinci always kept it family friendly. He prided himself on this. It was what had drawn her to this firm. Pinching his lips, he sighed in clear frustration. “You’re good, Ms. Song.”
“That’s why you hired me,” she said confidently. Turning back to her desk, she took in a long breath. “I can help you find someone. I can help with—”
“You’re the only one who will do.”
Spinning back around, her eyes connected with Kade Kincaid.
He stood in the doorway of her office, wearing a black leather jacket and holding his helmet. He had on jeans, and his hair was rumpled. He wore one of those tight under armour t-shirts she always wondered why people thought were okay to assume served as casual clothes.
“Mr. Kincaid.” Mr. DaVinci had on his aristocratic voice again. “So good to see you.”
Kade put up a hand. “Can I speak to the lady alone please?”
Mr. DaVinci looked uncertain and turned to her.
“It’s fine,” she said, her heart rate kicking up a notch, but she did feel nervous. Even butterflies, she thought to herself. How ridiculous. She wasn’t some teenager.
“Okay,” Mr. DaVinci said as he rushed out of her office, ceremoniously closing both doors behind him.
Mr. Kincaid stood there, looking all bad boy dashing and glared at her. “I was confused the other night when you threatened to expose me as a sham.” He pointed at her and let out a light laugh. “Then I actually thought you were brilliant because why would you do it as part of a job?”
Part of her wanted to laugh because of the obvious cockiness of this man. The other part wanted to flip him off. “I told you I don’t date. I take as much pride in my work as anyone else. The other night was work. But a date would be blurring those lines.”
Moving to her desk, he put his hands on it and leaned in. “No. No, it’s something else.”
Attraction filled her. This man was what every other woman in America would want to date. “You don’t understand.”
“Price.” He exhaled. “Why would you do it as part of your job? What are you making?” he whispered and put a hand over the side of his mouth conspiratorially. “Eighty? A hundred?” He said the numbers flippantly. “Name your price.” He challenged.
Anger burned into her at this cocky, snotty, larger than life football player. Strike that—at the dynasty. The oil money dynasty that Kade Kincaid represented. She was pretty sure he’d never wanted for much. He said, ‘eighty, a hundred’ like it was nothing. Like she hadn’t just spent four years investing in her education in order to earn that money. “No,” she said calmly, resolutely, crossing her arms tightly. “I’m not going out with you.”
“Why?” He pushed forward, coming to lay his hands on the desk in front of her.
“I told you—”
“You don’t date.” He said the words like they were bitter pieces of salt. “C’mon, Ms. Song. I was at that auction. You worked it. You had the audience. You made them laugh. You ..." He sputtered and flashed her an admirable glance her way. “They liked you.”
She shrugged. “So what?” She knew how to be liked, knew what to say to the press. Yes, she was a good Vanna White if she wanted to be, but she didn’t want to be Vanna for him. Dating anyone wouldn’t do. When you had a heart condition no one could fix, you kept personal relationships at a distance.
Complete confusion filled his face. Pulling back, he looked at the newspaper and pieces of glass on the desk. “Is it really because I broke your vase? Because I’ll replace it.”
Staring at her vase, she felt defensive over it, as if all his wealth could replace her mother’s offering. He would never understand. “There are just some things that can’t be fixed.”
Looking confused, Kade turned to her bookshelves. He picked up different books on the shelf and thumbed through them, then put them back down noisily.
It was getting aggravating, having him here. “Mr. Kincaid, I will help you find a replacement date who is quite suitable. She will be every bit a Titans’ cheerleader and non-stalker Sheena that you’ve dated in the past.”
His dark, brooding eyes were back on her. Heaving out a sigh, he took his leather jacket off and tossed it across the arm of a chair. “No.”
Getting more and more infuriated by the second, she threw her hands up. “Mr. Kincaid—”
“Kade.” He waved away pretense. “Just Kade.” He didn’t get closer to the desk, but he put his feet shoulder width apart and crossed his arms, appearing very stalwart, almost militant. As if he were a cop standing in front of a crime scene before he scoured the place for clues. “I need you to go on that date.” Sizing her up and down, he held his ground.
“No.” She said even more defiantly.
“What if we worked out a contract between us. Just something your boss doesn’t even have to know about. We decide on a quick and tidy sum for the date. I mean, the date is a date, right? I’ll take you up in my helicopter and take you to dinner. We’ll let them record us, and Texas, heck America, will be happy. And no one has to know about the money.”
“I don’t want your money.” Her voice was ardent. No one understood, and she wouldn’t give them a chance to understand. She didn’t date.
Still keeping his arms crossed, he shook his head. “I didn’t want to do this.”
Confused for a moment, she watched him go to his jacket and pull out a sheet of paper.
He read from it. “Notice of foreclosure.”
Stunned, she bolted to her feet. This was over the line. “How dare you!”
“I had my guys look into you.” He didn’t look a bit remorseful.
Of course, he would. He was Kade Kincaid. He wasn’t an ordinary run of the mill guy. Every part of her started to shake. “Get out." How dare he? She picked up the vase she’d been fixing and threw it across the room at him.
He dodged it, picking up his jacket. He left an envelope on the chair. “I’m giving you this, as a gesture.”
She held her ground. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He pointed to the envelope. “No strings attached.” He pulled the door closed.
She let out the breath she was holding and quickly sucked in another. She stood there wondering what she would do. Her heart raced, and she sat back in her chair, trying to calm herself. She needed this job. She had to keep it together.
A thought struck her. Would Kade go talk to Mr. DaVinci? Would he complain? She knew Mr. DaVinci would never allow her to stay, not after this. Not with a guy with the name Kincaid getting upset.
Standing, she decided to go talk to Mr. Davinci. She didn’t want to, fearing the worst, but she had to know what Kade had told him.
Moving to his office, she saw him wave her in, the phone still at his ear. He put up a finger to have her stay then turned it off and gave her his attention. “Well, Mr. Kincaid says it’s all good. He’ll figure out something for the date, so you’re off the hook.”
“Okay.”
He waved her away. “Apparently, he has another someone in mind, so just help him transition with the press, and you’re golden.”
She felt sucker punched. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re good.” He turned back to the phone. “Yeah,” he said into the phone. “Can you hold on a sec?” he asked whoever was on the phone, turning to her and handing her a file. “I told you about the Senator’s daughter who needs some PR help. Please meet with the family tomorrow and let me know your plan to help clean up her image.”
Taking the file, she turned back to the lobby and went back to her office. She was mystified. It wasn’t like Kade Kincaid to give up so easily.
Strolling into her office, she eyed the envelope on her chair. Unable to stop herself, she went to it, ripping it open, then tugging out the piece of paper within.
Quickly unfolding it,
she read what it was.
A deed to her mother’s house.
He’d bought it? She stumbled back, but kept reading.
The language stated the home was now owned by her and her mother. She held to the chair to steady herself.
There was a little yellow piece of paper taped to the deed. It had a phone number on it and the words ‘A gesture of my affection. Call or text anytime.’
Chapter 6
Kade stood in his weight room at seven the next morning, sipping his protein shake and thinking about Felicity.
The woman was infuriating. He could still see the flash of anger in those brilliant green eyes as she’d chucked a piece of the vase across the room. It was funny to him how insanely attractive he found her redheaded fury.
Putting down his shake, he went to his treadmill and hopped on. Normally, he liked to run outside, but today, he had an appointment with his father down at his office. He had to be down there before nine, so this meant his run had to be cut short.
His father liked to randomly summon him to his office. Worry wove through him as he wondered if Anthony would be there. He wondered if this whole meeting was about Anthony and Sheena and how he needed to stay away from her. Pushing the treadmill up a couple notches, he went into a full out sprint. Man, he needed the release of the run today.
Seconds later, the doorbell sounded.
Crap. Who could it be? It was too early for normal people. If it were Ace or X, they would just come through the backyard and straight to his gym. He pressed the off button and hopped off the treadmill.
Annoyance filled him. If it was his brother again, it was time for a pounding. He raced up the stairs to the door. Annoyance turned to anger. If his brother wanted to fight, he needed to come inside. They could destroy the front room, but he wouldn’t listen to his brother defend that snake of a woman.
He got to the front entry and flung back the door. To his amazement, it wasn’t his brother. All the anger whooshed out of him. It was her.
Felicity Song.
It was so strange that at this exact moment he thought about how her name actually meant happy song. Happy music.
She didn’t look how she'd looked at the auction, all satin and pearls. Or at the PR office, all professional. No, today, she wore a t-shirt with a grey hoodie, unzipped, but the hood pulled over her hair. The t-shirt was a Titans’ t-shirt, he immediately noticed, which pleased him. She pulled off her sunglasses and held the envelope up. “What is wrong with you?”
Of course he recognized the envelope with the deed in it. Yanking his ear buds out, adrenaline pounded through him. What the heck was she doing here? He thought she would call. Or text. Not come to his home. Taking a calming breath, he strove to speak casually. “Hey.”
She pulled her hoodie off, her red hair sparkling like an autumn mist. It reminded him of pumpkins and Thanksgiving and everything fall. He loved fall. It had been his mother’s favorite holiday. Wait, was he really thinking about the color of her hair and pumpkins?
She snapped in his face. “Hello!”
“Oh.” Had she said something?
She shook her head. “I don’t know how you found out about my momma’s house, but you can’t just buy people off.”
His defenses went down. “I’m sorry. Look …” He trailed off, going quiet before starting again. “The morning of the auction my brother came over.”
She looked shocked. “What?”
Hating this, he decided to explain. To tell the truth. “You obviously realize my brother and I don’t get along, but Sheena has somehow deceived him into thinking I’m pursuing her. He threatened me and said I better stay away from her.” He clenched a fist, feeling raw and vulnerable himself. “At the auction, I knew I couldn’t let her buy me. Things with my brother, let’s just say they’re more than tense, and Sheena buying me would have made it worse.”
A flash of concern washed over her face. “I haven’t read anywhere that Anthony and Sheena are dating?”
He shrugged. “The woman is toxic.”
Her eyebrows went up and she shook her head. “Yeah she is. Did a pretty number on Roman and Sam.”
“Exactly.” He agreed.
She kneaded the side of her right eye. “I guess everyone has family problems, don’t we?”
Finding it a bit comforting to share this with her, he wondered even more about her father and the fact her mother was about to lose her home. What other family problems did this woman have?
For a couple of moments, their eyes locked, and he saw a fire flare up then cool in front of him. She turned away from him. “I don’t want to take your offer, but the fact is my momma needs that house, and it will be my fault if she loses it.”
He thought it was interesting she thought it was her fault. What had she done, gambled away the family fortune? “Well, the house isn’t tied to a date,” he said, sounding a bit stilted, but actually meaning it. “It was—”
She whirled back to face him. “A gesture, Kincaid?” She spit out, disbelief in her eyes. “Nothing is free.”
They both stared at each other, stuck in a stalemate.
“Then I guess you’ll do the date.” He challenged after a bit, feeling like he wanted to win the play today.
Cocking an eyebrow, she nodded. “That’s what I’m here to discuss, I have a couple of conditions.”
The win didn’t feel as good as he thought it would, but he would still count it. “O-kay.”
“First, I’m planning the date. We do it my way. You don’t get to look over the date beforehand. You don’t get to give suggestions. You don’t get a say, Mr. Kincaid. We go out, start at breakfast and we’re done at midnight.”
“Fine,” he said. It didn’t seem like a problem to him.
She gave him a skeptical look. “You don’t have anything you want to nix?”
He shrugged. “Sweetheart, haven’t you heard? I live in Olympus, there’s nothing you can throw at me that I won’t be able to handle.”
“Fine.” She grunted back. “And, second,” she said, breaking eye contact with him and pulling out an envelope and a pen from her pocket.
He was intrigued.
She pursed her lips. “We don’t see each other socially after the date. You don’t text, call, or have any involvement with each other’s lives in any social way.”
“Fine.” He agreed quickly, thinking how the press would eat up this date with the beautiful redhead.
“Last,” she said, her voice severe, but she hesitated.
“Yesss…”
“You don’t fall in love with me.” She said defiantly.
For a second he had to process what she’d just said, then he had to stop himself from bursting into laughter. Did she think he would fall in love with her? He was pretty sure he could control himself, thank you very much. It all felt so unreal to him that she would be here demanding he NOT fall in love with her after one date. He put on a humble expression and winked at her. “I’ll do my best.”
Her features smoothed out. “I had my attorney write up an agreement. Please sign on the line that you get no say in the date, you will have no contact with me after the date, and you will not fall in love with me.”
This girl was crazy. Pure crazy. He and X and Ace always joked some women had crazy behind the eyes. This was clearly that woman. "Fine.” He took the pen she held out and grabbed the paper. Putting it on his leg, he signed it. “Sounds good.”
Appearing satisfied, she took the paper back and then held his gaze. “I’ll be at your home this Saturday at eight a.m. sharp. I’ll have a camera guy and a photographer. You’ll be driving.”
Unable to stop himself, a wide grin washed over his face.
“What?” She looked suspicious.
A light laugh came out of him, but he covered his mouth.
“What?” She demanded, looking like a middle school aid busting the kids for running in the halls.
“There’s only one problem.” He said in a serious voice.
The center of her brow creased, and her lips turned down. “What?”
He couldn’t stop the laugh that forced its’ way out. “What if I’m already head over heels in love with you?”
An annoyed glare fixed itself onto her face.
He busted into more laughter.
“He’s a funny man.” She turned and descended the steps quickly.
He wished he could stop his laughter, but he couldn’t, he called after her. “Wait, don’t leave me Juliet!”
Sticking the bird up at him, she didn’t even turn around.
This made him laugh even harder and like her even more. “See you Saturday!” He called out, and he realized…this was the first time he’d looked forward to a date in a long, long time.
Chapter 7
Felicity sat in her car in front of Kade’s semi mansion a week later, her heart racing. The man had laughed at her. Actually laughed when she’d suggested he could fall in love with her. She burned with humiliation and shame. All week, as she’d researched him, she’d grown more and more embarrassed she’d actually put that in a contract for Kade Kincaid. What had she been thinking? She was an idiot.
Maybe it was part shame and part pride, but she’d used all of her research on the man to strategically make this a horrible date for him.
At least she had that for today…he would be on camera, putting on a show for the media and having to fake it. Today, Zeus would get a dose of mortality.
She couldn’t wait. There was a camera guy and a photographer in the car behind her.
Getting out of her car, she strode toward the mansion. She didn’t even get to the door before he opened it. She had texted him yesterday and told him to wear workout gear in the morning. Living up to his Greek name, he looked godlike in a red Under Armour t-shirt, white gym shorts, and black tennis shoes. Silver sunglasses were perched on his nose, and a wide grin spread across his face. “Hey.”
Frank, the photographer, was following her. She’d told him to capture the day for the public and to make it good. Jim, the camera guy, was behind her, recording everything.