Page 137 of Blood Stone

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kate leaned across the boardroom table. “Excuse me. I’m just a producer/director of multi-million dollar budget movies that gross billions of dollars world-wide each year.”

Every head along each side of the table turned to look at her. They were some of the most beautiful people in Los Angeles. Publicity people were all stunning to look at. Tanned, smiling and immaculately groomed.

The boardroom framed them perfectly. The table was polished steel and mirrors, reflecting their beauty back at them. The walls were glass and the carpet was light grey. The windows ran from floor to ceiling and across the entire length of the elongated boardroom, giving a staggering view of the downtown L.A. area. Kate could even see a thin blue line of Pacific ocean from here, too.

It was impressive and it should by god be impressive, because she was paying these people a staggering amount per hour to solve her problems. They had better pay attention to her when she spoke.

She tapped the immaculate table top. “I don’t speak boardroom,” she lied. “So lemme just back-up for a moment and re-interpret for myself and anyone else who didn’t catch that ball as it zipped on by just then. I’m paying you guys over a thousand dollars an hour, collectively, to come up with a way to deal with this current PR mess I am facing thanks to the paparazzi parked outside my house, my studio and as far as I know, my personal entry to hell, just to get shots of my so called sinful sex life, instead of the movie I’m making…”

Mary-Ann, who was the company’s personal representative on Kate’s set, cleared her throat and re-crossed her legs. She had chosen a seat a politically neutral halfway between Kate and the company’s directors at the other end.

“Your best call on what to do about it – if I didn’t miss that ball, because it was going pretty fast between all you PR pretties down there – your very best idea…” Kate held her temples with her fingers. “Your best call is todo nothing?”

One of the directors stood up. “Kate. May I call you Kate?” The woman was very short and somewhat overweight. In fact, Kate would have a hard time calling her pretty at all, although she had lovely eyes. A soft grey, and they had laugh lines at the corners. The woman walked up the length of the table.

“Sure. Everyone calls me Kate,” Kate told her.

The woman pulled out the chair next to Kate and sat in it. “You probably missed my name the first go round. I’m Suzette.”

“You’re the director of…?”

“Issues Management.” Suzette smiled and her eyes crinkled with good cheer. Her whole face lit up. “I specialize in pulling people like you out of the sort of crap you just landed in.”

Kate pursed her lips. “But you’re suggesting doing nothing,” she said flatly.

Suzette looked down along the table. “Could we clear the room, please? Mary-Ann, stay. Everyone else, go find something useful to do. Thank you for your input, everyone. Julie, shut the door, thank you.”

Everyone got up, and filed out of the room. Mary-Ann moved around to the chair on Kate’s right, on the other side of the table from Suzette, her back to the window.

The glass door shut with a soft muffling sound. The room was empty and suddenly much bigger.

Suzette smiled at Kate again. “Doing nothing is a bad descriptor. I’ll be kicking the ass of the analyst who used it in front of you. Although the general principal is a sound one.” She put her hands flat on the table. “I happen to know you like plain speaking, Kate. So do I. Let me speak plainly.”

Kate sat back. “Fire away.”

“Fact is, you’re sleeping with two men at the same time. Maybe not in the same bed at the same minute, but you’re conducting concurrent affairs and the press have the pictures to prove it. There is no amount of covering up that will cover that up and no publicity firm in the world would attempt it if they’ve got the sense of a cat.”

Kate cleared her throat. “Go on. I do hope you’ve got more than that.”

Suzette smiled. “They’re both really hot men.”

Mary-Ann laughed, then covered her mouth with her hand.

Kate tilted her head, to look at Suzette with a raised brow.

“I mean it, Kate. I don’t know much about Adrian Xerus, but he heats up any page his image is on. That brooding look of his is just deadly. Add in the ink, the earring, and those muscles and every woman in the world already hates your guts.”

Kate glanced at Mary-Ann. She was grinning.

“Stop that,” Kate said.

“I’m sorry, but she’s right,” Mary-Ann said. She looked at Suzette. “And you should see him in the flesh. He’s tall and that brooding look is for real. He has a way of tilting his chin down and looking from under his brow. Makes you all gooey.”

Suzette raised her brow in silent query at Mary-Anne.

Mary-Anne shut up.