My mother was frantic, upset about the wedding being in limbo and how she was going to tell my father. His tired, failing heart is set on walking me down the aisle in six months and giving me away to the only man he’s ever deemed worthy.
“Tell me you’re not fucking engaged.” Beckham’s heavy words match the storm brewing in his eyes.
“I’m not engaged.”
“You wear a diamond engagement ring for fun?”
“No.” I laugh, only because his accusation is comical. I’ve known girls who do that, and I am absolutely nothing like them. I tap my notebook with the tip of my pen. “Back to the website…”
His steady palm lifts. “No. Not until you tell me why you’re wearing an engagement ring.”
“My personal life has absolutely nothing to do with this consultancy, and to be frank, it’s none of your business.”
“Were you engaged when you slept with me last Thursday?” He has that wild glint in his eyes, the one I first noticed the second I flipped him off on his pretentious private elevator.
I can only hope he’s not about to do anything crazy.
“Nope.” I pull out a word cloud I made last Friday consisting of a bunch of energy conservation buzzwords I harvested from various Internet articles. “We need to incorporate these words into the write-ups on your new website. Some of these could even be interactive headings and–”
“Odessa.” His mouth forms a straight line as he sits up, cocking a disappointing look at me. “Don’t ignore my question.”
“Your question was ignored because it’s not relevant to what we’re doing here.” I clear my throat. “Which is polishing your brand so we can focus on your first PR issue, which your brother filled me in on this morning.”
“You’ve already spoken to Dane this morning?”
“He emailed me over the weekend. Why didn’t you mention the issue with Charity Falls last week when we first sat down?”
“I figured we’d get to it.”
“Charity Falls hates your corporation and your plans to build a wind farm that obstructs their picturesque little community. That is a huge issue to fix, Beckham.” I sigh, grateful to take his focus off my ring for a moment.
“Bet their tunes will change when their little energy bills are slashed in half.”
“But they don’t see it that way,” I say. “To them it’s an eyesore.”
“It’s not my fault they’re stuck in the past. Wind farms are popping up all over the country, improving lives. Creating jobs and saving the environment is more important to me than whether or not the entire one-thousand-and-seven inhabitants of Charity Falls hates me.”
“Please tell me that statement of yours isn’t on record anywhere.” I lift my brows.
“You think I’m that big of an idiot?”
“I think you’re missing a filter. And a sensitivity chip.” I may as well ad insult to injury.
“Now I’m tactless?”
“Sometimes.” I lean back in the guest chair. “This is why you have me for the next three weeks. You’ll work closely with me. Pay close attention to how I handle this situation because this won’t be the last time you have to convince some little chocolate-box town to welcome your energy initiatives with open arms.”
“So what now?”
“I’ll see if they have a newspaper. We can set up an interview. Maybe we can plan a town hall meeting?”
“If I have to go to Vermont, you’re coming with me.”
“If it’s in the next three weeks, then yes.” I brush my hair over my shoulder and lean in. “My goal is to ensure that even without me sock-puppeting you, you’ll be able to carefully select the right combination of words to ensure you don’t come across as a pompous windbag.”
“You’d be hard pressed to find someone who remotely considers me a pompous windbag, Odessa.”
“Really?” My nose wrinkles.
“Present company excluded. Obviously.”
I snicker. Three more weeks. No. Two weeks and four business days.
“You still need to tell me why you’re wearing that ring.” His eyes linger on my glittering rock.
I twist it until the glimmering rock is inside my fist and then clench my hand.
“I don’t sleep with taken women. You told me you were single at the bar.” His expression narrows.
“I am single.” I draw in a sharp breath. “I was engaged. He told me a couple weeks ago he needed some space. The engagement is called off. He moved out. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I was not engaged when I went home with you.”