My eyes flash up to hers. “No.” I shake my head. “It’s not that.”
He had the chance to make a move on me last night, and if I’m being truthful, I probably would have kissed him back if he had kissed me, but he didn’t. And that’s how I know that’s not the reason.
I just have no clue what his motive is.
Maybe it’s a genuine one. Maybe he thinks I’m a really good writer.
I scoff at the very thought in my own mind.
“Well for whatever reason he is doing it,” Vicky says. “This is a huge opportunity for you and the magazine as a whole. It can only be a good thing, Tru. And maybe Jake recognises that. He’ll know what this will do for your career. Maybe he just wants to help you. He did say to me that he’s been considering doing a bio for a long while now, and with this tour it’s the right time. It was obviously just good fortune that you met back up with him, or it could be someone else getting to hop on that tour bus.”
Shit. I’m going to have to go on tour with them. Of course.
I’m so screwed.
This morning I was worried I was never going to see him again, and now I’m going to be spending a huge amount of time with him, following him around, watching him, learning all about him, while we tour around some pretty cool parts of the world.
Yes, I am so completely and utterly screwed.
“Call him,” Vicky urges one last time, placing my phone on my desk, tapping her nail on the screen before leaving me to it.
I stare at my phone and then with shaky fingers I pick it up and press redial on his number.
He answers on the first ring.
“Tru,” his voice comes deep and sexy down the line.
“Hi, Jake.”
Silence.
“So…” I say, not really knowing what to say.
“I’m taking it your boss beat me to it?” he states rather than asks.
“She did.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Will you do it – the bio?”
“Do I have a choice?”
There’s a really long pause. I can practically feel his tension radiating down the line.
“There’s always a choice, Tru.” He sounds a little pissed off.
“Sorry,” I recover. “That sounded a little shitty, it’s just a lot of information to process this early in the morning. Especially when I haven’t even had a chance to have a coffee yet.”
“You haven’t?”
“No, and I don’t function without coffee,” I say in a Spanish accent. I’m actually fluent in Spanish, something my mum insisted on, and it does comes in handy at times – well, mainly holiday’s in Spanish speaking countries. And my crap Spanish accent always used to make Jake laugh when we were kids, so I’m aiming for just that again.
He chuckles, deep and throaty down the line. It does incredible things to me. “I see you’re still an idiot.”
“I am, and it still takes one to know one.”
“That it does … so you’ll do it?”
I get the distinct feeling he’s not asking me. And really in what world would I ever say no.
“I’ll do it,” I smile.
I can practically feel his grin down the phone.
“Okay, so as your new boss – well one of them – I order you to go get some coffee as I can’t have you talking in that cute Spanish accent of yours all day. You’ll drive me nuts.”
I’ll drive him nuts?! In a good or bad way…
“I’m seeing you today?”
“Of course. Go get that coffee and I’ll call you back soon.”
He hangs up, and I sit staring at the phone in my hand, feeling a little dumbfounded.
And somehow a little played. I just haven’t figured out as to how yet.
I’m also feeling a little excited – okay a lot excited. I’m going on tour with The Mighty Storm … with Jake.
Shit. And double shit. I’m going to have to tell Will.
Well that thought quickly dilutes my good mood.
I don’t go and get a coffee straight away, I go to Vicky’s office.
“You called him?” She looks up at me hopefully.
“I called him.”
“And?
“And of course I’m doing it.”
“Oh thank god! You had me worried for a moment there. Oh, Trudy, you are my superstar!” She gets up from her desk and hugs me in a cloud of her perfume and perfectness. “I knew from the second you stepped into the interview for a job here that hiring you would be the best thing I would ever do.”
She holds me back by my shoulders, smiling her gorgeous smile at me. “You, my girl, are going to lift this magazine off the bottom shelf and put it in its rightful place in amongst those glossy’s on the middle shelf.”
“You really think this exclusive with Jake will do that?” I know it will lift sales but I don’t want her to pin all her hopes on this.
“I do.” She nods emphatically. “This boy is unattainable. Getting a concise straight answer out of him is bad enough, but a full blown insight into his life – hell, all those women out there who sit listening to his album, watching him on TV, dreaming of Jake Wethers in their beds will wet their panties over this.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“And they are also going to love the fact that you guys grew up together and have just reunited to do this story. Women will envy you and love you for bringing that man into their houses.”