Star Struck(30)
The conference room filled up and he sat back as Trevon went over a slide presentation. His mind was partially on Hailey so he had very few comments during the course of the meeting. After the meeting, he lingered behind and so did Caroline.
“You okay? You didn’t ask your normal million and one questions,” Caroline said.
“Just a lot on my mind.”
“If you need to talk, I’m an earshot away.”
He was momentarily taken aback by Caroline’s gesture. Not that she wasn’t an attractive woman; that she was. He had never once thought of her, well correction; rarely thought of her in a sexual manner. He knew when a woman was making a pass at him and Caroline’s gestures, softly touching his hand and rubbing his shoulder indicated that she was more than just concerned.
“I’ll be fine. Go take care of what you need to.”
“You sure? What I have to do can wait.”
“Positive.” Once she was out of view, he let out the sigh he had been holding in.
All he needed was his trusted secretary of three years to come on to him. He had to be delusional. His feelings for Hailey was clouding his judgment. Caroline was only being her usual helpful self. He shook off the feeling he had and went back to his office.
Caroline had a can of soda and glass of ice waiting for him on his desk. He smiled. She was always taking care of him and Trevon. He shrugged off his earlier thoughts.
***
“That’s a wrap,” John said, in her earpiece.
Hailey thanked her guests, said her good-byes to the audience and before being cornered by other fans, she snuck to the back of the stage. “Do you ever get tired of this?” Brenda asked, as they walked to her office.
“No. I love it.” She went to her mini refrigerator and took out two bottled waters. She handed one to Brenda. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
“The celebrity treatment, the freebies; who wouldn’t want to live your life?”
“It comes with its perks but it also comes with a price.”
“Let me guess—one word—paparazzi,” Brenda said.
“And don’t forget the occasional crazy fan.”
“Well those are the ones that keep money in my pocket.”
“Let’s hope this guy they are questioning confesses so I can put this whole mess behind me.”
“That’s the call I’ve been waiting on.” Brenda clicked on her cell phone.
Hailey retrieved her cell phone out of her desk to see if anyone had called. She had a few missed calls from Trevon. In the past, she would be happy to hear from him, but now seeing that he called, only made her chest tighten. She was about to return his call when Garrett burst through the door.
“Have you ever heard of knocking?”
“Brenda knew I was coming through.”
She looked at Brenda for confirmation. “Hey. I’m not going up against the boss man.”
“It figures.” Hailey pretended to be upset but wasn’t.
“We have good news and bad news,” Garrett said, as he sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk.
“Give me the good news first.”
“Brenda, you do the honors.”
“The guy admitted to hacking into your fan site. He claims he loves you and only wanted to share the video of you he took when you were on the beach a few weeks ago with other fans of yours.”
Hailey’s skin crawled. “Uggh. That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Since I’m the boss man, I’ll give you the bad news.”
Hailey watched Garrett as he spoke. Her eyes were focused on his lips. They reminded her of LL Cool J’s lips. She recalled how they felt when she kissed him. Soft. Tasty. Mesmerizing, are all the words that described them.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Can you repeat that?”
Garrett repeated that the man denied being behind any letters. After further investigating, they were unable to prove that he was, so whoever was behind the letters was still out there. That didn’t make Hailey feel better, but at least her website hacker had been caught.
“What’ll happen to him for hacking into the site?”
“It’s a misdemeanor; so he’ll probably get a slap on the wrist and a few weeks of community service,” Brenda stated.
Garrett added, “We’ll still keep a close eye on him just in case he tries something else.”
Jackie entered her office. “Okay, nobody’s knocking today,” Hailey said.
“The phones have been ringing off the hook. They want a statement from you about the computer hacker,” Janice said.
“Tell them, to see this week’s issue of People. In fact, get me the reporter from People on the line now, so I can give her a statement.”