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With a heavy sigh, he launched into it, sharing all about the weekend in August he wanted nothing to do with. He added how he’d emailed his lawyers today to see how he could get out of the contract altogether.
I couldn’t let him pass this up. “Look, I understand how you feel, but think about it before you write it off. You’ll besurrounded by press, cameras, and influencers. If you show up looking like the badass brewery owner you are, it’ll boost the brand visibility. Ride the wave, Keaton. Use the fame.”
“I don’twantto use the fame,” he bit out. “I just want to brew beer and run my business.”
“And you can,” I said calmly. “But it’d be bad to waste an opportunity like this. Reality TV alums boost their careers all the time—book deals, brand endorsements, product launches. This is how you stay relevant.”
“Do I look like a man who cares about being relevant?”
“You should,” I shot back. “If you want Holly Creek Hops to grow beyond this town, you need to think bigger. And this is big.”
He opened his mouth, ready to argue, when Richard returned.
“What’s all the commotion?”
“Keaton’s being stubborn,” I said sweetly.
Richard looked between us, amused. “Tell me.”
Keaton scowled. “She thinks I should go to Vegas to whore myself out for publicity.”
“Leverageyour exposure,” I corrected. “Huge difference.” I continued to fill Richard in on the situation since Keaton offered few details.
Richard chuckled and sat down. “Well, she’s not wrong. If you play your cards right in Vegas, figuratively, your growth will spike and the national distributors will notice. They’ll come begging on their knees to distribute your brews.”
Keaton shot him a betrayed look. But after a few beats, he dropped his shoulders. He got up and sauntered with hands on hips to the slide show on the wall showing off all my work.
“Fine. You want me to go that bad?” He turned on me, eyes suddenly gleaming as if holding a tempting challenge. “You’recoming with me, Sophie. You’ll be my plus one. My date to the wedding.”
I blinked. Then blinked again. I had to remind myself that he meant professionally, and not actually taking this fan girl on a date. “Uh… what? Why?”
“Because I’m not going alone, and I sure as hell am not going to be with Starla again,” he put it bluntly. “That’s been her, calling me nonstop, begging to be my date. Then she got Melanie, the producer, involved, so she called and begged me, too. It’s a giant mess I don’t want to be in the middle of.”
I launched out of my seat and faced off with him. “You wantmeto be your fake date?”
“Yeah. Here you are saying we need to leverage this to our advantage. Who better than the marketing expert herself?”
Richard laughed again, clearly enjoying this.
I narrowed my eyes. “Dating isn’t on the menu of my offerings when I consult with a client.”
“Consider it an emergency assignment.”
I stared at him, weighing the options.
On one hand, traveling with Keaton could be a nightmare—to my quivering loins and heart and fantasies of being his date.
On the other hand… it could be very,verygood for his business. And for my career. Being known as the brains behind his campaign to launch nationwide could take me to the next level. This was the opportunity I’d been waiting for.
But it all came wrapped in a sexy package named Keaton, and all the temptation it implied. More than a trip to Vegas, it would mean proximity to a man I considered dangerously attractive and held a crush for since his TV show aired. I would be pretending, starring in a role I might want too badly to believe was real.
Personally, it could prove too much. Professionally, this could be my shot.
I chewed my cheek a minute more weighing it out. “Fine,” I agreed at last. “I’ll go.”
“Good.”
We stared at each other.