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I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “You’re obsessed with me.”
“I am,” he said with a seriousness that hadn’t been in his voice just a few seconds earlier.
I unbuckled myself and sat forward, hand on the passenger seat in front of me. “You really like me, don’t you?”
“I think it’s a little deeper than that,” he confided, his voice serious.
My throat constricted. “For me too.”
It was the closest we’d come to saying I love you. The words were on the tip of my tongue. I definitely didn’t want to say them for the first time on the phone.
No, those words should be shared in person. They were precious. And I’d never said them to a partner. Ever.
For the first time ever, I wanted to. But in person. Not over the phone.
Beck cleared his throat. “Alice keeps asking me if we’re together.”
That warmed my heart. I loved that pineapple-pizza-loving kiddo. “And what do you tell her?”
He sighed. “I tell her I need to talk to you.”
This man.This bossy, annoying man who thinks he knows what’s best for me drew the line here because he knew it was important to me.
I pretended to scoff. “You don’t just make up an answer? I’m shocked, Beck Bennet.”
He hummed, like he could see through my bullshit. “And what, exactly, would you have me say?”
Playful banter. We fell back into our playful banter despite the heaviness in the air. A raw and real conversation that needed to be had.
I couldn’t do this now. Not over the phone.
So I hung up on him. Oops.
CHAPTER36
Beck
My new celebrity client,Tyler James, turned out to be a real asshole.
It happened. More often than I’d like to admit. Luckily, I knew how to handle it, and I taught my team the same thing. We were not there to be “yes” people. To jump and take care of all the wants and wishes of our clients.
No. We were there to protect. Not to be a glorified assistant.
We were there to protect our clients at all costs. That level of commitment demanded respect.
Tyler balked at the idea of Margot as part of his detail. And if he didn't get on board and show her some respect, then I would refuse to work with him. I had no capacity for bullshit.
I explained all of this very clearly up front with any new client, and sometimes it bears repeating. If it continued, I could preemptively end our contract and have them pay me out for breaching our agreement.
Usually that little threat cleared things up real nice. I took the integrity of my business seriously and nobody would want to work for me if they thought clients could get away with their bullshit.
“Beck, you have your next client here to see you,” my assistant announced.
“Send them in.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. It was going to be one of those days. I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee yet and shit was already hitting the fan.
I’d slept like shit after Luna snuck out of my bed in the middle of the night.
I watched her from my bedroom window as she went out the back door and crossed into her house using that connecting gate. The one she hated with a passion of a thousand suns and yet made her little early morning escape route extra easy and made me worry just a little less.