“Lanie, why are you so worried? He’s working. There’s nothing more to it. You have nothing to worry about. I promise.” He sounded sincere, but I just couldn’t take comfort in anything that came out of Dane’s mouth, and wasn’t sure I ever would. We only helped him because it was the business and livelihood. Our parents had worked so hard to build it to the multi-billion dollar company it was today; I intended on keeping it that way.
* * *
By two, I still hadn’t heard from Grant. I waited outside for Pierre to pick me up and take me to the conference center. Dane stood beside me even though he wasn’t going. I didn’t want anyone to see his nose. He was nervous and repeatedly threw reminders at me.
“Lanie, Don’t forget to tell them …”
“Dane,” I interrupted, “I know very well how to handle the press, so back off. You can watch it on the webcast. Everything will be fine as of tomorrow. I’ll take care of your mess and Grant will get the stupid contracts signed and it’ll all go back to normal.”
“Good luck.” He shook his head and walked away.
When I got to the conference center, I was so pissed off it made me all the more ready to knock the bad press right out of the ballpark. Right as I was walking in, my phone vibrated.
G: Hey, Babe. I am so sorry.(
G: You have every right to be mad at me.(
G: This client is relentless and HM.(
L: HM?(
G: High Maintenance.(
L: I see.(
G: She requires constant attention.(
L: That include working out at the gym?(
G: Apparently.(
L: So you can’t find a second to call me?(
G: I’m sorry. She was at my door first thing.(
L: Which side?(
G: Which side of what?(
L: Of your door?(
G: The outside!(
L: I have to go.(
G: Press conference?(
L: Yep.(
G: We’re watching.(
L: We?(
G: Yes, Lanie. We.(
L: I have to go now.(
G: Are you mad at me? I love you. I’m sorry.(
L: I love you too.
I closed my phone and went to the press conference. They were ruthless, but I was on it having answers for everything. They had nothing, and when I was done, they sat there staring. I think they were scared of me as they well should be. I’d been ready to kick some ass, and I had. I headed out with no final questions, completely comfortable that at least this part of the fiasco was over. Pierre drove me home. He was quiet and only gave me smiles in the mirror. I smiled back and could tell he knew better than to say anything to me. When we pulled up to the house, Samantha and Chelsie were standing outside with Dane. I got out of the car and they all came running.
“Lanie, you were amazing!” Samantha cooed.
“You shut them the hell up! It was fantastic. You should work for the president. I mean you’re that good.” Dane grabbed me in his arms and swung me around.
“You made me proud, Lanie. I must be rubbing off on you, you were a first class no-bullshit bitch!” Chelsie said in her proudest voice. I must have been good for Chelsie to say that.
My phone rang. “Hello?
“Lanie,” Grant said, “that was extremely impressive. You were great. And Bri is seriously impressed with you. She said she’d like to meet with you about her company’s PR.”
“Thanks. Tell her I said thank you. I’ll certainly do whatever I have to for the company.” I was cold. I should’ve been happy to hear from him.
“She wants to speak with you now.”
“You’re still with her?”
“Yes, Lanie, she’s right here.”
“Fine. Put her on the phone.” I saw Dane and Samantha’s eyes get wide. I was still in bitch mode.
“Lanie,” Samantha said, giving me a warning. I put my hand up and showed her my best ‘I’ll be very polite’ smile.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Lanie, this is Brianna Stone. I knew Grant was perfect for me, but …
Chapter 37
It’s Not a Date
“… I am now most extremely impressed with you, and your press conference today. It gave me the added confidence that your company is the one I want to sign with.”
She didn’t sound so bad. Maybe this was all in my head. She sounded all business. She did say Grant was ‘perfect for me’ and ‘the one’? I guess she just meant work.
“Thank you, Ms. Stone.”
“Call me Bri. I think this is going to be a very beneficial partnership for us all. And I really would like to meet with you in person to discuss how you can do some spin doctoring for my company. You were lethal! I loved it.”
“Thank you, Brianna … Bri. I would be more than happy to meet. Would you like me to fly out tonight?”
“Now that’s even more impressive. Willing to fly out immediately? Amazing. No, I don’t think that’s necessary. Grant has everything under perfect control here. He has invited me to visit you at your beloved cliff. Apparently there’s whale watching there soon. I’ve always wanted to see them. I think it was so sweet of him to invite me.”
“Yes. Very. Well, we’ll look forward to seeing you then.”
“Oh, you’ll see me before that. Didn’t Dane tell you? We have a web conference tomorrow at noon.”
“No, he hadn’t informed me yet.” I shot Dane the evil eye.
“Well, Grant and I have to go get his tux fitted, pick up my dress, and then we have to get ready for the ball tonight.”
“Oh? Well, let me let you and Grant go to it then.”
“Would you like to speak with him again?” she asked with a drippy sweet tone. It made my stomach turn.
“No, thank you. I’m sure I’ll be hearing from him later.” My voice was cool and business-like.
“Oh, I’ll let him know to try and squeeze in a call to you. We’ll be very busy for the rest of the night, but I’m sure he can find some time for you.” That made my stomach turn even more. Find time for me?
“Of course. It was a pleasure, Brianna. I’ll see you tomorrow, promptly at ten.” I gave her a taste of her own medicine.
“I like that. You’re sharp and punctual. You’re just what we need. And I thought Grant was all I needed. How wonderful. I’m very excited about this venture.” Who knew she’d like my commands?
“Yes. So am I. Good bye, and have a great evening.”
“Oh, I’m sure we will.” I could just picture her staring into Grant’s eyes when she said it.
I was fuming. I was also sure Grant was waiting for me to talk with him again. If he wanted, he could call me back but I didn’t expect him to. He seemed completely happy without any contact. And if that’s how he wanted it, I could play not available, too.
“Ladies. We are going to get shit-faced tonight. Let’s go raid all the liquor cabinets, shall we? Find our poison?” I blurted out.
“That’s my girl! Drink it out.” Chelsie put her arm around my shoulder and we headed towards Grant’s to raid his liquor. Might as well get tanked on his dime. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.
“Hey, Dane, want to get shit-faced with us tonight?” Chelsie glared at me. Samantha just froze in her spot.
“Umm, sure, if everyone else is cool with it.”
Samantha and Chelsie exchanged a glance and then nodded and shrugged.
“You’re in charge of dinner. We want something expensive and lavish to celebrate. How about sushi galore?” Samantha clapped her hands and Chelsie just smiled. My girls liked raw fish. So did I.
“Okay, whatever you guys want. I’ll get the whole catch of the day!” Dane bounced off.
Chelsie turned and looked at me and threw her hands up.
“What the fuck are you doing, Lanie? Don’t you remember what happened last time you got drunk with Dane?” Ouch. That stung.
“Yes, Chelsie, I do, painfully. But you’ll both be here and everything will be just fine
. And anyway, if Grant can go traipsing off with some woman for days and to a ball and not call me …”
“Lanie, you know it’s not like that,” Samantha said. Her eyes were sincere and I knew she was right, but I was still all feisty from the past few hours.
“I do? No, I don’t. All I know is my fiancé flew off to meet some businesswoman and I have not been his on his priority list at all. Two can play that game. I’m sure he won’t be pleased Dane is getting drunk with us. That’s if he even calls.”
“Lanie, watch out. What you’re doing … it’s dangerous. I’m not sure I like it. It’s not you.”
“And it’s not like Grant not to call me, and be out until two in the morning with some woman he just met.”
Chelsie shook her head and walked away. Samantha put her arm around me, and her head on my shoulder. I sighed deeply.
“I know, Honey. It’s not like him. But maybe he’s just that busy. You don’t know, so don’t do anything stupid.”
“I would never do anything to hurt Grant. I won’t do anything stupid. I just want him to feel a little jealous, too.”
“And you’re going to use Dane for that? Really? Not a good plan.” She was right. I suddenly regretted inviting him. Samantha must have felt my anxiety.
“Don’t worry, Honey. After we eat all his sushi, we’ll get Chelsie to throw him out on his ass. She’s been dying to beat the crap out of him.” I giggled because I knew it was the truth.
I headed over to Grant’s and felt terrible the second I walked through the door. I was so cold to him. I loved him. I didn’t want to hurt him. Being in his empty house just made me feel like a complete idiot. But he certainly wasn’t making an effort to call me on his own. He apparently needed her permission. Grant was perfect for her. Fit his tux. Get her dress. It was like they were going as a couple. Oh and the ‘we will’ part. Now I was pissed off again. I grabbed Grant’s best scotch. I hated scotch, but I was drinking it tonight. And I knew Chelsie and Samantha would like it, too.
“You must really be mad at Grant to be drinking that tonight.” Samantha pointed to the bottle.
“I need to.” I just bitch-faced her.
“Okay,” she whispered.
I got up and headed to the door. I let Samantha pass through so I could slam the door shut. I did, hard. Samantha just eyed me and shook her head.
“Feel better now?”
“Yes. Yes I do.” And I did. I felt a lot better.
We got back to my house and Chelsie was getting the dishes ready. I had a full set of sushi ware. Loved it.
“Can you guys excuse me? I have to go make a call.”
“Yes, you do. Now go do it.” Chelsie sounded pissed. I turned and went out on the terrace. I dialed Grant.
Hi, this is Grant Bennett. I’m not available. Leave me a message.
I felt a twinge of anger but it subsided as soon as I could no longer hear his voice.
“Hey, Grant. I thought maybe I’d catch you before you left. Guess not. Well, have fun tonight. Maybe I’ll hear from you later. Goodnight. Love you. Bye.”
My heart sank. Maybe he was mad at me now. Did I drive him right into another woman’s arms? I could feel my eyes starting to well with tears. I didn’t want things like this. This was terrible. My phone began to vibrate. My heart started to race to keep up.
“Hello?”
“Fuck, Lanie. I hate the way things are right now.” Damn, we were connected. “You sounded so down in that message. I was in the shower when you called. I spent the whole day playing drag along. I hate this and want to come home to you. I need you, Love.”
Now my heart was really going. I thought it would jump right out of my chest.
“Really? You need me? You want to come home? To me?”
“What? Of course, Lanie—why would you think any differently? Don’t you want me to come home?”
“Yes. It’s just you’ve been very preoccupied. You haven’t called me. Not anything. Not even a text.”
“Love, I haven’t had a minute to breathe. This woman is relentless. It’s non-stop with her.”
“But not even a text?”
“Lanie, please, Love. You have to understand.”
“No, you’re right. It’s just she made comments.”
“Everything to her is a possession. You should have seen her eyeing you up during the press conference. Where, might I add, you were fucking sexy as hell!”
“You thought I was sexy?”
“Hell, yes. You were all fired up. You were putting people in their places. It was amazing to watch. You were on fire and it was so hot. God, I want you so badly.”
It made my whole body feel better, hearing him talk to me like that.
“So, what time are you leaving tonight?
“The limo is picking us up at seven.”
“Picking us up?”
“Yes. Bri is staying at the hotel, too.”
“Who else is going with you?”
“Uh, it’s just us.”
“Just the two of you? Is this a date? Are you her escort?”
“Lanie, I wouldn’t say escorting her, and this is by no means a date.”
“Does she know that?”
“Lanie, she is quite aware we are engaged. I was literally gushing while you were ripping the media to shreds.”
“So, she hasn’t hit on you? At all?”
“Lanie, I’ll never lie to you. She made plenty of comments about how pretty I was to look at. How easy it was to work with me because I was so easy on the eyes. I understand what a lot of women go through now because I felt like a piece of meat instead of a professional equal.”
“She did? I’m going to rip her to shreds.”
“Lanie, it was harmless. She’s simply harmless. She’s way too worried I’d turn her down. I brushed off every one of her comments or hints.”
“You make sure she knows this isn’t a date.”
“I promise. Now, what are you doing tonight to celebrate?”
“Chelsie, Samantha, and I are drinking your scotch. And Dane is buying a lot of sushi.”
“You’re drinking my scotch? You must have been pretty pissed at me for not calling today.” Damn. He knew me too well.
“Yes. Sorry.”
“No, what’s mine is yours. Have at it. However, did I hear you say Dane? You’re drinking with Dane?” Now Grant sounded insecure.
“Don’t worry. Chelsie is all over this. She can’t wait to throw him out once we’re done eating.”
“Lanie, please. I don’t trust him.”
“It’s fine, Grant. I promise. He’s just staying for dinner. That’s it. And anyway, you’ll be off at the ball with your date.”
“It’s not a date.”
“I know. I just wanted you to practice saying it so you had it down to a tee when you have to say it to Bri later.”
“I have no intentions of letting her think otherwise. Now you go and have fun. I have to monkey suit up.”
“Grant. You’re hot as hell in a tux. I had a hard time keeping my hands off you at your prom.”
“Shame. I wish you had just reached out and touched. That’s the only thing I would have needed to make you mine back then. Just one sign.”
“Well, you don’t need to look for signs anymore. My love for you is written all over my face.”
“I want to kiss that face right now.”
“Babe, I miss you so badly. I miss you next to me at night. I dream of you constantly.”
“Me too. I miss your skin against mine, Lanie, the feel of you, the warmth of your body. Even the smell of you.”
“I smell?”
“You smell like vanilla and I want to eat you constantly.” I suddenly got an ache between my legs.
“Maybe that’s why we have a food fetish,” I giggled.
“Lanie, you drive me insane. I want to reach through the phone right now.”
“Grant, you make me so—stop. I don’t want you to be all hot when you go on your not-a-date.”
“Look, I’ll call you as soon as I get home if it’s not too late. But I have a feeling you three will be up all night anyway. Please, Lanie, watch Dane. Okay?”
“I promise. And you watch Bri. Okay?”
“Yes, Love. I promise. Talk with you later. I love you.”
The Cliff Page 31