Billionaire's Contract Engagement(26)

"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.