"It was a sensible assumption," he defended before she could speak.
"Evan, Noah is my-"
They were interrupted when the three men Celia had gone to visit in the stands came through the door.
"Cece, love," the older man said when his gaze lighted on her. He smiled big and held out his arms. Celia went into his embrace and endured a painful-looking bear hug.
The other two men regarded Evan with what could only be considered as suspicion.
"Going to introduce us, Cece?" the bigger man asked.
"Of course," she said as she curled her arm around the older man's.
"Evan, I want you to meet my family. This is my father, Carl, and these two are my brothers, Adam and Dalton. Guys, this is Evan Reese. He owns Reese Enterprises. I brought him back to talk to Noah."
Evan could swear she said the last pointedly. He relaxed and shook the hands of each man and endured a painful grip from each. Typical measuring stick of a man. See if you could make the other wince. He squeezed back with as much force and endured grudging looks of respect from her family.
Interesting that they were all back in the players area and that they'd sat in different areas for the game, although Celia had said she'd gotten the tickets particularly for him.
"Very glad to meet you, sir," he directed at Celia's father.
"Are you the man responsible for my Cece working so many long hours?"
Evan lifted one eyebrow then glanced between Celia and her father. Celia closed her eyes in despair and shook her head helplessly at Evan. He remembered her saying that according to her father and brothers, her only requirement was to look pretty and let them support her. Apparently they weren't on board with her having a career.
"I'm afraid I am, sir. I wish I could say it was something I regret, but Celia is one of the brightest minds I've encountered. She's going to single handedly turn my advertising efforts around. I think in a year or two, Reese Enterprises won't simply be one of the leaders in athletic apparel, but the undisputed leader when it comes to sportswear.
Her two brothers eyed Celia with renewed interested while Celia stared at Evan, her eyes wide with shock. He could almost swear she looked a little teary. He smiled at her and reached for her hand. To his surprise she accepted without complaint and curled her fingers tight around his.
"If you're meeting Noah about business, we'll just scoot on out," her father said. "You going to make Sunday dinner this time or will you be busy again?"
"No, I'll make it," she said as she leaned up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Sorry about last weekend. Something came up."
Evan realized that he was what came up when he'd finessed Celia away for the weekend. While he was sorry she'd missed what was evidently an important family gathering, he couldn't summon any regret for the way their weekend in Catalina had come together.
"It was nice meeting you all," Evan said sincerely.
The other men nodded and shook his hand again before departing the room.
"Interesting family," he said when they'd gone.
Celia sighed. "I love them dearly, but they're pretty insufferable."
"It's obvious they love you a lot."
She smiled. "Yeah, and I love them to pieces, too. Warts and all."
A moment later, Noah Hart ambled into the room and once again gave Celia a bone-crushing hug. Then he turned to Evan and looked back at Celia.
"So, is this the man?"
"I'd say you're the man if you agree to front my new line of athletic wear," Evan said, taking charge of the meeting.
"Evan, I'd like to you to meet my brother. Noah Hart," Celia said as she stepped forward. "Noah, this is Evan Reese, owner of Reese Enterprises."
Evan eyed them skeptically. Her brother? Everything made a hell of lot more sense with that revelation. And what was with the different last name? To his knowledge, Celia hadn't married, or was this one more thing she'd kept him in the dark over?
His question must have been obvious even to Noah, because he grinned and slung an arm over Celia's shoulder.
"Cece had a different father-well, different mother, too. Kind of a long story but my father married Celia's mother when Cece was just a baby. We helped raise her, especially when her mom died when Cece was so young. Hence the reason her last name is Taylor."
Evan cleared his throat. Here he'd been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he was more concerned with finding out Celia's secrets than securing a deal with Noah Hart.
"I thought it might be best if you and Evan went to dinner and talked about the deal Evan is offering," Celia inserted.
"What about you?" Evan asked sharply. He hadn't counted on Celia leaving him and Noah. Hell, he hadn't even realized he'd be meeting Noah so soon. Suddenly his plans for a night of making love to Celia didn't seem so realistic.
"I have other plans," she said lightly. "Besides, I really have nothing to do with this part. You and Noah need to discuss the possibilities. I'd just be in the way."
Noah shrugged then looked at Evan. "You like barbeque?"
"Love it."
"Good. I know this great place just a few blocks from here. We can grab dinner and talk."
"I drove him here, Noah, so you'll need to give him a ride back to his place. That okay?" Celia asked. She turned to Evan. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Nine o'clock at the Maddox."
"I can have my driver meet me," Evan said. "It's not a problem." He glared at Celia as he said it. The woman was ditching him. What he'd thought was finally an effort to see him outside of a business setting had, in fact, just been a business meeting in disguise. He'd deal with her later, though. Right now he had a sports superstar to woo, and he'd be damned if he let his irritation with Celia interfere.
Sixteen
Celia paced the Maddox conference room. Her nerves were wound tight, and she'd meticulously gone over every little detail of her presentation. The televisions out front had mock-ups created by the media folks. An endless stream of Reese Enterprise promotion ran on the video monitors and the art department had framed several print-ad options and displayed them in the conference room.
With fifteen minutes to go time, the other members of her team had assembled. Tension was high but so was excitement. Ash had congratulated her on landing the biggest client for Maddox thus far, but he'd acted distracted and distant. Celia wondered if he was indeed having issues with the rumored girlfriend.
The others had all been quick to add their congratulations. No contract had been signed, but they all seemed convinced that after this morning, Reese Enterprises would be in the bag. She hoped they were right.
Noah had called last night after an extended dinner with Evan. Apparently after barbeque the two had gone for beers and spent the evening like old college buddies.
Evan had extended an extremely cushy offer, one that had surprised even a very jaded Noah. The two were meeting later with their respective lawyers to iron out the details, but Noah said he'd agreed.
"Okay, we've got five minutes," Celia said. "Let's take our places and get ready to knock his socks off."
They took their seats along the conference table. Brock smiled at Celia and gave her a thumbs-up before taking a seat next to Elle. Jason took the seat next to Ash, who frowned and reached into his pocket for his phone.
"Excuse me for a minute," he said as he rose from his seat. He crossed the room out of earshot to take a phone call.
The intercom buzzed and Shelby announced that Evan had arrived. "Shall I show him back?" she asked.
Celia took a deep breath, looked at her coworkers lining the conference table all ready to do their part, and said, "Show him back, Shelby."
As Celia ended the conversation, Ash returned to the table.
"Sorry, but I have to go," he announced. "And I'm not sure when I'll be back. Hopefully no more than a few days. I'll let you know when I have more details."
He turned and strode out of the room, leaving Celia and the others to stare after him in astonishment. Celia glanced over at Brock and raised an eyebrow. Brock shrugged and gestured for her to continue on. Whatever was up with Ash would have to wait. This meeting was too important to all of them.
Seconds after Ash's abrupt departure, Evan entered behind Shelby. Celia crossed the room and extended a hand to Evan. Instead of shaking it as she'd intended, he slid his fingers over her palm and held it far too long for her liking. She snatched it away and turned to introduce him down the row.
Her presentation went off without a hitch. Each part of her team executed their part flawlessly, and through it all, Brock sat back with a very satisfied expression on his face.
By the time she was done, she was as convinced as everyone else that Evan would sign with Maddox. He'd be a fool not to.