In The Heat of Los Angeles

I woke up to the sun shining obnoxiously in my room. How did I fall asleep with my curtains open? I never fall asleep with my curtains open. I pulled the blanket over my head. It was probably Kammi being her normal obnoxious self in the morning. Hmm…my sheets smell weird. Like cologne, perfume, sweat and sex. Why did my bed smell like sex? I opened my eyes under the covers and realized that the sheets were white, mine were gray. My head popped up and I probably looked like a prairie dog at a zoo or the gopher in Caddyshack. I looked around and didn’t recognize my surroundings. That’s when I realized I was also naked. I heard the sound of a shower shut off.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Oh. Shit. I pulled the blanket back over my head and hid. I could hear his laugh start to fill the room. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know.” I peaked just my eyes above the blankets. “I was really drunk last night.”

“We both were.”

“I am not usually like that.”

“Drunk?”

“Well no, I’m not usually drunk. I drink on occasion but that’s not what I mean. I’m not normally the type that goes home with a guy the first time she meets him.”

“I’m not normally the type that brings a woman home the first time he meets her. But for some reason you, I just couldn’t resist.” I could feel my face turning red so I climbed back under the covers. I felt Harry try to pull the blankets back but I held on for dear life. “You know this is my bed you can’t control my covers.”

“I don’t have any clothes on.”

“You didn’t last night either. I have seen you naked, love.” I finally stopped resisting and he pulled the blanket off of my face before sitting down on the bed. I sat up, clutching the sheet to cover me up the best I could. “I don’t regret last night. Do you?”

“I mean you’re a client. Fuck, you’re not even a client. You’re a potential client. The biggest potential client I will sign all year and I messed it up by having sex with you.”

“You didn’t mess it up. I’m not going to walk away from something that could potentially benefit my career because I shagged a girl. And it was great sex, so that doesn’t give me a negative opinion of you.”

“It really was great sex.” I paused for a moment. “Fuck. Shit. I’m not supposed to be doing this.”

“Stop freaking out.” He brushed some hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. “It’s okay. I promise.” He leaned forward kissing me. He was an incredible kisser. I relaxed a bit as he deepened the kiss. I pulled back in that moment, arms slightly flailing.

“We can’t do this again.” The flailing of course made the sheets fall. I then, again, realized I was naked and quickly pulled the sheet back up around me. He started to laugh at me again. “Stop laughing at me, asshole.”

“Stop being funny then.” Dammit there was that word. Fun-knee. Asshole. “No one knows that we had sex last night. It won’t make a difference if we have a repeat appearance this morning.” I glanced at his towel, it had shifted slightly. I caught a glimpse of tattoos on his thigh. He leaned forward to kiss me again, he was obviously trying to weaken me. The second my hands were in his wet hair he knew he had successfully weakened me. I felt the bed shift as he moved and laid me down. I heard the towel drop before I felt his still slightly damp skin on top of me. His lips moved down to my neck and that’s when I heard it. Me…moaning.

“We are crazy aren’t we? This is a terrible idea.” I could barely speak. The feeling of his lips moving down to my collarbone had me in a trance where I could only speak in a whisper.

“It’s not a terrible idea. We will be fine. No one has to know.”

“You’re right, no one has to know.” My hands found his hair and pulled on it slightly. I leaned up enough that I could capture his lips in a kiss. He started to move, blindly feeling around on the nightstand for a condom. He wasn’t finding it. We finally broke the kiss and I looked to the nightstand to grab a condom. That’s when I realized there wasn’t just one empty wrapper from last night. There were three. The sex had been amazing. I grabbed a condom and tore it open with my teeth.

“You are almost too much.” His voice was suddenly at a lower register than normal. God that was hot. He grabbed the condom from my hands and in a few swift motions had put it on and then I could feel him slowly entering me. Fuck this felt good. I knew it was wrong to sleep with a potential client. Sure, Kammi and Nick had been dating and he’d been an SME client since he was six, but he wasn’t HER client. He was mine. Harry would be mine and this was likely going to blow the chance to actually sign him. Was it worth a night, and morning, of incredible sex and more orgasms than I’d had in the last two years to not sign one of the biggest artists out there? Probably not, but I’d have to deal with that because right now my brain was only focused on the incredible sex and the fact that he just bit my nipple.

“Fuck. Do that again.” He lightly bit my nipple again as his hand tweaked the other. His hips moving back and forth in expert form. I moaned loudly.

“You are so sexy right now.”

“I’m sure my makeup is smeared all over my face and my bedhead is usually pretty gorgeous.” I smirked at him causing him to stop his motions for a bit.

“The bedhead has a bit of sex mixed in to it, it is gorgeous because I know that is my doing.” He slammed his hips against me hard and I screamed. I screamed? I had never been a screamer before. The occasional moan or swearing under my breath but never screaming. This was new and maybe I was okay with that. The fact that the scream caused him to do it again, this time faster was a sign that someone liked the vocal response. I couldn’t scream this time thought because his lips were on mine again. My finger nails dug into the skin on his shoulder blades. If you ask me right now if possibly losing the biggest client I’d ever have the chance to sign was worth it, I’d answer yes. But until last night I was a sex starved woman. It had been months. Before I knew it he was laying next to me trying to catch his breath. He pulled me in to him, I felt him kiss the top of my head. “You are amazing, love.”

“Likewise.” The way he was calling me love, I wasn’t sure if I could take it. Add that to the list of words his accent makes sound like perfection. I heard the buzz of a cell phone before the music of the ringtone started to fill the room. Work, work! Eliza! Of course it was a text from Eliza. She found it hilarious when I took the time to create her a text alert with a few seconds from the Hamilton soundtrack so it had her name in it. I finally found my phone under Harry’s bed after the text alert had repeated itself a few times.

Where are you?

How the hell do I answer this? ‘Umm, naked in bed next to a popstar. Be there in a few?’ Absolutely not. I needed this to not follow me around. I didn’t want to earn a reputation for sleeping with clients.

Had an early appointment. I’ll be at the office in a bit.

“I need to get to my condo so I can get ready for work.” I started to look through my contacts to call Sam, my driver from last night. He’d remember how to get here and I wouldn’t have two of our drivers judging us.

“I can drive you,” he said. “I need to run a few errands this morning.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call Sam. He’s not really on the clock yet but he’ll come get me.” He took my phone from my hand holding it far enough away from me that I couldn’t reach it.

“No, I will take you home.”

“Fine. Where are my clothes?” I started to look around the room. My bra had somehow ended up thrown against the glass wall. My dress in a chair in the corner. I quickly hurried over there and put on my bra and then my dress. “Where the fuck are my panties?” I’d practically crawled around the room looking for them when I noticed Harry holding them up in bed. “Can I have them?”

“Come get them.” I walked over to his side of the bed and before I knew it he’d pulled me back on to the bed. “Do you have somewhere to be right now?” He started to kiss me again.

“Work. Most people have an office to be in during the day Mr. Popstar.”

“You’re in charge. You can be late.”

“I can be. But I’m usually at work by 7:00 and it’s…” I looked at the clock. “9:30! Fuck.”

“You’re fine.” He kissed me again.

“I need to go to work.” I stood from the bed and started to slide my panties on under my dress. “Get dressed dude.” At this rate it would be almost noon before I was showing up to the office. That was a really bad move. He finally got out of bed walking to his closet and throwing on a pair of tight ripped jeans and a white t-shirt. He walked in to the bedroom as I was pulling on my boots and throwing my hair in a messy top knot.

“Those boots. Still torture.”

“I’ll remember not to wear them around you again.”

“Oh don’t be that mean.” We quickly made our way through his house and to his garage. We climbed into a black Range Rover. The classic white Mercedes caught my eye as well as an Audi A6. At least he had good taste in cars. We were quiet in the car except the radio and Harry softly singing along with the Fleetwood Mac song that was playing until my phone interrupted us again. Work work! Eliza!

Are you on your way? Jimmy is starting to ask where you are because you have some meeting coming in today or something.
I’m on my way in now. I’ll be there in a few.

“Scratch the idea of taking me home. I’ve got Eliza telling that I need to come in to the office right now. My Pops is evidently freaking out that I’m not there.”

“Okay, I’ll take you there. So you should call me when your day is over and we can go to dinner tonight?”

“Like on a date?”

“I mean that is what they are often referred to as.”

“I can’t date you. You’re a potential client.”

“Nick is a client. Kammi dates him.”

“Nick is also a client of mine and her father’s. She has only ever had to handle his shit if she’s spending some time with him on a set or a tour. You would be mine.”

“I’d like that very much.”

“Fuckin’ stop,” I said through laughter. “You’re cute. The sex was great…it was better than great. I’m just going to be an idiot and admit that was probably the best sex I’ve ever had. But we can’t do that again.”

“You said that this morning and we had sex again.”

“It was a mistake.”

“No, it wasn’t and you know it. You’re glowing.”

“You’re an asshole. It can’t happen again. It was so unprofessional. I’m supposed to be giving off this appearance that I will be capable of taking over SME when my Pops decides he’s done. Sleeping with you doesn’t do that.”

“It doesn’t make me think you’re any less capable of taking over though.” I started to hit my head on the window. “Just dinner. I promise I won’t even suggest sex.”

“Showing up to the office as late as I am I will probably just be working until tomorrow morning. I can’t do dinner.” We went back to being relatively quiet until he pulled up to the office. I went to get out of the car and he grabbed my hand stopping me.

“At least call me later.”

“Fine.” Before I knew it he was kissing me again.

“Just in case you decide to forget that you enjoyed this.”

“You’re an asshole.” I laughed and got out of the car and hurried through the front door of the office.

“Good morning, Miss Scar….cello.” I looked to see Suzy looking at me. She was giving me a funny look.

“Good morning, Suzy,” I said as I hurried to the elevators. I knew that everyone had stared at me as I walked through the first floor of our office. I got off on our floor and started to my office.

“James is looking for you,” Eliza said.

“Okay, tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I hurried in to my office and went straight to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like shit or like I’d just gotten fucked, which was true. I was in last night’s clothes. I felt like an idiot. I threw my clothes in to the hamper and my boots on the floor before jumping in the shower. I heard a door open.

“So I hear you just walk of shamed yourself through the entire building.” Of course it was Kammi.

“Fuck off. I feel like enough of an idiot I don't need you adding to it.”

“I’m not picking on you. I want to know what happened. You were both getting pretty cozy last night when we were out.”

“I was drunk. I made possibly the biggest mistake of my life.” That was when I slid down the white tile in my shower to the floor and started to cry. “I can’t believe I was that stupid. Why did I sleep with him?”

“You slept with him? I figured you just went back to his house and passed out.”

“You slept with who?” Ty asked.

“Harry you idiot,” Eliza said. They were all three in here listening to me cry in the shower.

“No we got back to his house and he kissed me. Jesus christ he’s a good kisser. And before I knew it he’d thrown me over his shoulder, carried me in to his bedroom and fucked my brains out. Three times.”

“Three times?” they all said shocked.

“Well four if you count this morning.”

“You slept with him again this morning?” Kammi asked.

“I did. I’m such an idiot. But oh my god was it good. Like the best sex I’ve ever had in my life good. Like I should just become celibate because I’m never going to feel like that again in my lifetime.”

“ABORT! ABORT!” Ty started yelling.

“Good to know you think I’m that great.” What was he doing in the bathroom? Why had no one mentioned he was in the bathroom.

“What the fuck are you doing here Harry?” I asked. I stood up off of the floor of the shower and finished showering quickly.

“Well, I dropped you off and realized that your father had asked me to come up here to meet with him today and thought I might as well just come up here now. Plus you forgot your purse in my car.”

“But you just walked into my office and my bathroom.”

“No one was at the desk so I thought you might be in your office, when I couldn’t find anyone but heard voices behind the door I came in. Didn’t quite realize it was a bathroom the size of my entire master bedroom.”

“We are going to leave you two alone,” Kammi said. I heard a door shut.

“Will you get me a towel?” I asked sheepishly as I cracked the door of the shower open the tiniest bit. I’d gotten in the shower without realizing I’d not brought a towel or robe with me. He handed me the towel that was resting on my vanity. He smiled at me.

“Don’t be embarrassed. You know how I felt about last night. Good to know you felt the same.” I stepped out of the shower with the towel firmly wrapped around me, my wet hair dripping down my back.

“It still can’t happen again. It’s completely unprofessional. And what are you meeting with my father about?”

“To sign the paperwork to get things started. You’re officially my new representation.” Fuck. This just got a whole lot worse than it was five minutes ago. I leaned back against the shower door.

“Well in that case you should probably leave my sanctuary as it’s inappropriate for you to see me in a towel if I work for you.”

“Just get dressed so we can go over there together. You’re going to need to get over the fact that we’ve seen each other naked.”

“You are the absolute worst.”

“Didn’t you just say that I was the best you’d ever had in your life?”

“Asshole.” I walked over to my closet and pulled a pair of panties on under my towel. I found another towel and quickly twisted my hair into it so it could partially dry. I found a pair of black leggings and pulled them on quickly before finding my black bra and a tank top. I hurried through my makeup and scrunched my hair before pulling a loose fitting white t-shirt on and some flip flops. Shit, Pops would know that I had basically thrown myself together. This was my ‘no meeting day’ look. Today I had a huge meeting. I grabbed a black boyfriend blazer and looked at myself in the mirror.

“You look great.”

“Thanks,” I replied as I put my glasses on. My eyes were too tired for contacts today considering I was hungover and I’d slept in my contacts. “Let’s go meet with my Pops.”

Harry followed me out of my bathroom and stood in my office waiting for me as I hurried to my desk and grabbed the folder with everything from yesterday’s meeting and my iPad Pro off of my desk. My eyes searched around for my Apple Pencil finally finding it. I hadn’t had anything to drink or eat yet this morning and was starting to get hungry. I quickly hurried over to the bar area of my office and opened the refrigerator. There was enough stuff in here that if I wanted to make a smoothie I could but Harry was standing and waiting.

“Do you want something to drink?” I asked. He walked over to where I was standing and I felt his hand on my back as he leaned forward to look in the refrigerator. He grabbed a Sugar Free Red Bull and I reached for one right next to it. We were both obviously tired and hadn’t slept much the night before. I started towards the door when Harry hurried in front of me, blocking me from getting out of the room.

“Look at me for a minute,” he said. I glanced up at his eyes. Without having heels on he towered over me. I was 5’3 without heels and my flip flops kept me as close to my actual height as possible. He stood at least 9-10” taller than me, his boots giving him a bump in height. “I don’t take you any less seriously this morning as I did yesterday when I walked in this office. I’ve met with at least 10 companies that want to represent me. I’d made my decision when I walked out of here yesterday, you are who I want in my corner. You’re unbelievably smart and incredibly talented. Your witty sense of humor makes me know that when the hours get long I will at least enjoy your company. And I know that you will truly be honest with me about my work. Sleeping with you doesn’t change that. Please believe me.”

“I believe you,” I said. I softened for a moment. He didn’t want me to second guess myself or my abilities, it was almost sweet. “I know that it wasn’t my ability in bed but my ability at my job that has convinced you to work with us. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel any less bad about what I did last night.” He pushed some of my hair out of my face.

“Don’t feel bad about it.” He smiled and took a deep breath. “I know what you’re thinking. And I get it. If I were in your shoes I’d be worried too. But please don’t. I genuinely think you’re a pretty incredible woman and like being around you. And I fully trust your ability at your job and know that you are the key to my next phase of my career being as successful as possible. I won’t allow anything to prevent my career from being what it can. And I know that with as determined as you are to be taken seriously in your career that you will put that same passion into my career. Just please know that my feelings about that also don’t make me any less attracted to you.”

“We can’t let anything happen again. While it might not effect your career to sleep with me it could do irreparable damage to mine.”

“I won’t let that happen,” he said. This time there wasn’t hair on my face to move, but I felt him cup my cheek and rub his thumb across my face. Before I knew it he had bent down and kissed me lightly. “Let me take you out to dinner tonight.”

“I will be stuck here all night working. I’m about to sign the curly haired one from One Direction as a client. Means I’ve got some extra work today to prep for the roll out.” He smiled at me in a way that was almost soft and sweet.

“I guess I have to be okay with you picking my career over my taste in restaurants.”

“You do have to do that. Now let’s go meet with my Pops.” He moved out of my way and opened one of the doors for me. I walked out and Eliza and Ty both stared at me.

“Oh stop you two. Don’t you have work to do?” I asked laughing.

“We do,” Ty said.

“But we were worried about you,” Eliza added.

“She’s fine. We are going to go meet with James now,” Harry said as we walked across the lobby area of the executive level.

“Is he ready for us?” I asked Chloe.

“Go ahead and go in.” I opened the door to my father’s office and walked in. His office would be accurately described as swanky. It fit almost perfectly in with the rest of our office except it was black furniture instead of the white that appeared throughout the building. The midcentury modern furniture was his style. If you visited our New York office you’d see that it had a completely different feel. New York was more classic. The style of each office fitting with the aesthetic that the head of that office preferred.

“Hey Pops,” I said as we walked over to where he was sitting on one of his couches by the windows in his office. Paperwork strewn across the coffee table. Cameron was sitting in one of the chairs that was closest to where Dad was.

“Good morning, you two.” Cameron was really as cheerful as his daughter all of the time.

“Good morning,” Harry responded.

“I didn't expect you here so early in the day,” Pops interjected. I saw that the paperwork was the contract we had for Harry along with a few other things.

“I thought it was best to do this early in the day. Make sure that Everlee wasn’t working until the wee hours of the morning. She seems like the type who takes her job incredibly seriously and puts it above all else.”

“She is. It’s genetic and also explains why I have been married four times.” Harry laughed in response as he sat down beside me on the couch opposite my father.

“So Harry tells me that he’s made his decision already,” I said.

“That's good to hear.” Pops sat up straighter as he spoke.

“I look forward to working with your team and getting to have Everlee’s talents in my life.” The sideways glance he just shot me was not about the talents my father assumed they were about.

“You won’t regret it.” Oh Pops, you might regret that response someday though.

“I am sure I won’t.” The contracts were brought out and signed which required Kammi to be in the room. She had a look on her face when she sat down in the remaining chair. I knew that lunch would be interesting to say the least.

“Now that we have the contracts signed I wanted to let you know that I have some ideas on film auditions.” My father really was going to pull out all of the stops with Harry.

“As long as I’m not singing and dancing I think I’ll be excited to hear them.”

“I know that you want to be taken completely seriously as an actor and I want to make sure that happens. I know of some projects that are getting cast right now and thought you’d like to read the scripts. And I can get meetings set up with the directors for them next week if you’ll be in Los Angeles or New York.”

“I can make myself be wherever I need to if there are directors willing to meet with me.” I watched as Harry moved through the stack of scripts. It was names like Speilberg, Scorsese and Nolan. Each of these projects would be huge.

“Most of them are looking to cast some of the smaller roles. I think the plan of attack should be get you in a quality film where you play a supporting role so that we can show your talent off. Then the leading roles of quality will come. I heard that the girls were ribbing Nick about his Camp Rock days last night.”

“They were.” Harry laughed.

“Well, that was a perfect role for he and his brothers at that time. But the roles Nick is getting now are of substance. He’s a great example of what we can do to help you transition from a boy band to a solo artist.”

“He is also willing to sit down and talk to you about that transition,” Kammi said. “We talked about it on the drive home last night. He has been in your shoes and it wasn’t that long ago. His music is drastically different and more mature than what the Jonas Brothers created. His acting roles are much more diverse and serious, he’s getting to do what he wants. I mean look at Kingdom, for example. He plays an extreme fighter who is gay.”

“Needless to say she was more comfortable with her boyfriend making out with dudes than girls.”

“That’s not true,” Kammi said. “I’d prefer to not watch my boyfriend make out with anyone but it’s part of his job and I’m proud of what he does. But it was the furthest thing from the Jonas Brothers he could imagine. He wanted people to see his range. His music is a reflection of who he is, not who he is as part of his family unit. Everlee has done a brilliant job allowing him to explore whatever he wants professionally.”

“She’s right,” Cameron said. “When Nick decided to change the course of his career a few years ago we decided that it was time for me to step back as the primary person who took care of his career. Everlee has impressed me immensely with what she does with Nick’s career.”

“Thank you.”

“That was a big reason why I made the decision I did. She has proof of her ability to transition someone from the type of career I’ve had up to this point and into the type of career I’d like to have. I would really enjoy talking to Nick in a little more depth about how she’s helped. That way I know what to expect.”

“How about we all do dinner tonight?” Kammi suggested.

“That sounds wonderful.” Goddammit. Now I have to have dinner with him. “I’d love to have you all over to my house rather than eat out. It’s supposed to be nice weather tonight, we can cook on the barbecue.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll call Nick as soon as we are done. He drove me in to work this morning so I can just ride with E to your house.”

“I’ll get you directions,” Harry said. Nice cover. We don’t need Pops knowing that I don’t need directions to his house because I know where it is. The remainder of the meeting was great and we all headed out of the office and without even saying a word Harry followed me back to mine. “Now you are going to have to show up to dinner tonight at my house.”

“You really are the worst.”

“You have a funny way of saying I’m the best.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You might want to bring a change of clothes so that you don’t walk through the office in the same outfit again tomorrow morning.”

“Oh fuck off.” I laughed as I headed back to my desk and sat down. I hadn’t even looked at my email since Sunday night. The interview all day yesterday had kept me from looking at it and then there was everything from last night and this morning. I opened the email application on my iMac and watched the tally on my emails rise. 455 new emails. I started slamming my head on my desk.

“Don’t injure yourself.” His voice was behind me. I felt his hands on my shoulders. As he started to knead the knots out I moaned.

“You do seem to enjoy the work my hands do.”

“Yeah, if you could move down a little on the left.” I mumbled in to my arms on the table. “I don’t even want to deal with my day today.”

“Play hookey. Come home with me. It’s warm enough that we can get in the pool for a bit. Have an orgasm or three.” I just started shaking my head.

“I have to work. I didn’t work much yesterday and I’ve missed my entire morning.” It was 1:00 when the meeting was over. “Do you not see how many unread emails I have?”

“455? You do have a lot to do. Sounds like a shit day. Good thing you’ve got someone making dinner for you tonight.”

“Yeah, about that. Super funny thing you did there.”

“I thought it was a brilliant idea. You can come back to mine tonight and not have to worry about someone thinking you’ve snuck out. You know you want to sleep in my bed again.”

“You do have an incredibly comfortable bed. It was like sleeping on a cloud. And the view from your bedroom is insane.”

“It is nice, isn’t it? Wait until you see the rest of the house. I think you’ll love it and never want to leave.”

“I want you to leave right now.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. I need to read through the billion and a half emails I have to read. I have a staff meeting at 3:00 with my agents and have to get a press release written about how I just signed the hot one from One Direction.”

“You called me the curly haired one this morning.”

“No use in hiding that I think you’re hot. I think you may have figured that out a time or two in the last 24 hours.”

“It was eight,” he replied. “I counted.”

“Your ego is suffocating me right now.” I finally lifted my head off of the desk and spun in my chair to look at him. He moved to lean against the back portion of my desk which as usual had shit strewn across it. It usually drove Eliza nuts and she snuck in here on Friday afternoons to clean it. Last Friday we’d all been in a hurry to get out of here. “Aren’t you going to leave?”

“You should eat something.”

“I will, when you leave.”

“We could eat lunch together.”

“I’m sure all three of my roommates are currently listening through Eliza’s phone to try to listen in on us. I should at least put them out of their misery.”

“You should do that. Tell them a little bit more about how great you think I am.” I went to kick him and he grabbed my foot pulling my chair closer to him.

“Why don’t you leave and get prepared for the dinner guests you have tonight? Your bed needs made since you’ll have to give a tour.”

“I do need to run to the market too. I’m thinking steak and lobster. I guess I’ll leave you.” He dropped my foot and grabbed my hand pulling me up to my feet and in to him. “But like I said, bring a change of clothes.”

“You’re really a confident motherfucker.”

“Of course I am. Eight times, love. Eight times.” He bent down and kissed me. I didn’t protest this time. I was stressed. Didn’t studies show that something like this released endorphins and relieved stress. “Why don’t you come over straight from work? 6:00?”

“Sounds great. I’ll bring some wine.”

“And a change of clothes.”

“We’ll see.” He kissed me again as the door from the bathroom opened.

“I’m starving can we get lunch?” Kammi asked. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“Yes, you did,” I said. “He was just leaving.”

“6:00.” He smiled as he stood from his seated position on my back desk.

“6:00," I confirmed.

“Have a nice afternoon, Kam,” he said when he headed out of the office. He opened the door and looked to Eliza. “You can go interrogate her now.” I sat in my desk chair shaking my head and laughing. I couldn’t have a different reaction. He was so confident that it was a turn on. He was also a phenomenal kisser. The door shut and I looked at Kammi.

“So he evidently didn’t understand that it was a one-time thing?”

“Evidently he didn’t. He is a confident asshole.”

“You must’ve given him a reason to be.”

“I might’ve.” I just laughed. I didn’t know what other reaction to have. “So lunch?”

“Let’s just order up here. That way you don’t have to face the entire office after your walk of shame through here at like 10:30.”

“That’s a good plan.” The door opened and Eliza walked in with Ty following her. “We are ordering lunch so I can hide in here considering the entire office witnessed me walk in wearing last night’s clothing.” Everyone started laughing. “I want greasy food because hello hangover but I should be smart, I want my super giant salad order.”

“Sounds good,” Eliza said as she started typing away on her phone. All she ever had to do was text message the kitchen and within a few minutes the orders were delivered upstairs.

“Do I want a steak?” Kammi asked. Our chefs made killer steak.

“Supposedly dinner is surf and turf. So I’d say no. I’m also fully ready to call to order pizza. We don’t know if he can cook or not.”

“I’m sure he can or he wouldn’t suggest it.”

“Dinner? Surf and Turf? Am I invited?” Ty asked.

“Client entertaining this evening.”

“Harry invited us over for dinner with Nick so the boys could chat about how Everlee got Nick to where he is. And he’s probably thinking that if he can wine and dine her that he might get laid again.” At that moment my phone buzzed on the table.

Don’t bother packing pajamas. I prefer you naked.

“Oh he is definitely thinking that.” Today was going to be a shitty day. How was I going to be able to focus on work? My mind was constantly wandering to last night. Flashes of the two of us in bed together. His lips on my neck. His fingers in my hair. I was never going to survive. This was a day I was just anxious and ready to have over. All of our lunch was ordered and we sat down in the bar area of my office. I turned the TV on to the Cubs game and grabbed some water.

“So what exactly happened last night?” Eliza asked.

“Well, dinner went really well. But he started like grazing my leg under the table before dinner he had his hand just full on resting on my thigh.”

“That I did not catch,” Kammi said.

“I didn't figure you did or you would’ve required a trip to the ladies’ room when we got to the bar. He just started full on flirting as soon as we weren’t within range of Pops.”

“She clearly lost the capability to contain the running commentary on life that she has in her head. She openly told him his accent was sexy while Nick and I were sitting across the table from them.”

“It is sexy,” Ty added.

“Thank you. It is sexy. Oh my god you should’ve heard it this morning. Sweet baby jesus, his voice goes to another level of sexy when he’s aroused.” I leaned down in my chair and moaned. “This morning with the sound of being tired mixed in, I nearly came just from his voice.”

“Girl,” Eliza said shoving a bite of salad in her mouth. “You deserve that. It’s been a while.”

“A long while,” Kammi said. “Aren’t you worried about using him as your rebound? The man is too hot to be a rebound.”

“No, I’m not worried about it. I don’t really believe in the rebound thing.”

“The rebound effect is real,” Eliza said. “What about when I was seeing Brandon? I wasn’t over Zach yet. Totally ruined everything. The first time I questioned something Brandon did I freaked out and ruined everything.”

“Girl doesn’t need to worry about the rebound effect on a relationship. She needs to worry about the fact that she’s out of practice.” Ty was brutal.

“Okay, let’s not worry about me rebounding or being sexually out of practice. I don’t think any of you need to be concerned about that.”

“If she’d let him I’m pretty sure he would’ve fucked her on her desk,” Kammi said. “I walked in on them kissing.”

“Everlee Mae!” Eliza yelled. “You this morning said that you made a mistake.

“I did. I made another one. I let him kiss me. But he’s an exquisite kisser. It’s hard to say no to that.”

“It is hard to say no to that. And I mean, he’s hot as fuck,” Ty said.

“Yeah, you can back the fuck up off that.” I was laughing but it wasn’t unusual for Ty to try hitting on the guys Eliza and I flirted with to see if maybe they were interested in him.

“So after all of this he is having all of you over for dinner? And he’s making surf and turf?” Eliza asked.

“Evidently. Though I don’t know many 22 year-old men who can properly cook surf and turf. Will you make sure that I have a bottle or two of wine I can take with?” I looked at Eliza clearly directing the question to her.

“Yes, do you want red or white?”

“One of each please. So how am I going to make it through staff meeting with my team today? I’m pretty sure they all will know that I came in the office in my outfit from yesterday. I look like a fucking idiot for it.”

“You’ll be fine. You’re their boss and they have no idea that you slept with Harry. They just know that you came to work in the same clothes,” Kammi said. “And if any of them say shit to you, remember, you can fire them.” She was right, I was their boss. If they felt like I was doing something wrong they had issues of their own. Me feeling like I did something wrong, now that was an entirely different story. I had to deal with my issues on my own. Last night I made perhaps one of the most unprofessional moves in my career, but three of the most important people in my life, and my career, were sitting across the table from me and none of them were saying a thing about me making a mistake.

After lunch I started preparing for my staff meeting, I was excited to announce to them that we had just signed Harry. It was a huge move for our company, especially when you consider some of the relationships he had. It also showed the power of our department and my reputation. My reputation. Yup, the thing I’d worked so hard to build and was risking by sleeping with a client. I still couldn’t believe what I had done. I just needed to hold my shit together and write the release before the meeting so that Eliza could send it out as soon as I was done. It had been a while since I had done them, often the responsibility fell on Eliza, a junior agent or an intern, but this one was mine to write. Okay Press Release, I’m going to make you my bitch.

SCARCELLO MACKIN ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SINGER HARRY STYLES
Contact: Everlee Scarcello, President Music Division, Scarcello Mackin Entertainment
everlee@scarcellmackinent.com
(310) 555-1150

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2016
Los Angeles, CA - Leading entertainment and sports agency, Scarcello Mackin Entertainment (SME) has signed British singer/songwriter, Harry Styles. The talent agency is known for it’s elite roster of actors, directors, athletes, and musicians.

Harry Styles, is most known for his work with One Direction. Having risen to fame on X-Factor the band finished in third place and went on to have four No. 1 albums and one No. 2 album. One Direction is currently on hiatus allowing Styles time to pursue other career aspirations. Styles has publicly expressed a desire to venture in to acting in addition to singing and songwriting. He already has a catalogue of songs he has written that have been performed by artists like Ariana Grande, Meaghan Trainor, and Michael Buble. Styles has also starred in a documentary focused on the rise of One Direction, This Is Us.

Styles will be represented by SME’s Music Division with President Everlee Scarcello serving as primary agent.

SME is a world renowned talent agency with a heavy focus in music, sports, and film and television. Founded in 1990 by James Scarcello and Cameron Mackin, who still operate as COO and CEO respectively, has spent nearly the last three decades representing some of the top talent in every aspect of entertainment. SME prides itself on being able to represent their clients in every aspect of their career and has recently expanded to include both a literary division and a theatre division. SME prides itself on being a family business with original founders Scarcello and Mackin still at the helm along with their daughters, Everlee Scarcello acting as President of their Music Division and Kameron Mackin as the President of their Sports Division. SME is headquartered in the Arts District of Los Angeles and has offices in New York, Chicago, and London.

Not to bad, Everlee Mae, not too bad. I’ll of course have to send it to Eliza to have her fix it. I don’t even remember what we include as our company information at the bottom of our releases anymore. For the first year that Kammi and I had been promoted it mentioned our recent promotions. I didn’t know if we were still included but I assumed we were and if we weren’t I better have a few words with our PR Director as to why we aren’t in it. I thought it was fair to warn Harry that at 5:00 the release would be sent out. I was hoping that by sending it at the end of the day it would save me from getting stuck here answering phone calls, I would spend all day tomorrow doing that.

Message with Harry
Be prepared. I just wrote the release announcing you signing with SME. You’re going to get press requests.
I don’t want to do interviews.
I won’t let you do them. But you’ll get them. You’re also bound to have photographers on the street shouting at you. So just be on the look out.
I will. Thanks for the warning. So when do I get to start requesting meetings on your calendar.
Do you need one?
Yeah, I need your opinion on a few things. How about we meet in 26 minutes at my place?
Funny funny. I’ve got to head to staff meeting today and break it to them that I’ve officially kicked all of their asses because I signed the biggest thing out there.
My bed smells like you.
Does it now?
Yup. I’m not usually one to lay in bed in the middle of the day and I may have done so for about the last ten minutes.
You’re supposed to be preparing for dinner. You have guests coming in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Are you ready? I mean you promise steak and lobster and I’m holding you to that.
Oh I’m ready. Got some fresh lobster and filet mignon. Making garlic mashed potatoes. Asparagus. And a surprise for dessert.
YUM! You’re making me hungry and I just got done eating the world’s most giant salad.
Well I’m prepared to feed you delicious food when you get here. Do you and Kammi prefer lobster or lobster mac and cheese?
That is legit the hardest question you’ve posed me with yet. Pause for a moment.

“What?” Kammi answered when I called her.

“Do we want straight up lobster or lobster mac with dinner? He’s legit making us like gourmet dinner.”

“Oh my god. That’s a decision I don’t want to make. Fuck.” I started to laugh. “Straight up. But tell him he’s required to make me lobster mac, well I mean if he pulls this dinner off.”

“I’ll let him know our decision.”

“What is he on the other line?”

“No. I’m texting him. You’re going to have to protect me tonight. I’m sort of terrified that I’ll make another bad mistake around him.

“I’ll do my best.” We ended the call and I quickly returned to the text.

We pick you save lobster mac for another occasion. But we are going to force you to make it for us.
I can do that for you. Good luck with your meeting. See you tonight.

I headed down to the conference room our Music Division used for most of our larger meetings. Everyone had gathered for the meeting and I saw Eliza sitting in the corner with her iPad ready to take notes for us. I put my stuff down and took a deep breath. Yes, I felt like they were all staring at me and judging me for the whole walk of shame thing this morning. Maybe I was just imagining the looks I was getting. Either way, my news was about to kick their ass and show them that not only is my name on the door and am I their boss but I’m also great at my job. Everlee Mae, you can do this.

“Good afternoon team. I hope everyone is doing well today. We’ve got a lot to go through and I’d love to hear what prospects each of you have, if any, and what projects are on the horizon. We do have a bit of a time crunch today, which I’ll explain. Alright Jake, why don't you start.” The team went around with current projects first and then possible prospects, of which no one had anything huge. This group was going to feel like a bunch of slackers when I was done with them. “Alright well, here is the big announcement. I’m sure many of you saw Harry Styles wandering through the building over the last two days. As of about 11:00 this morning he is SME’s newest artist.” The room started to clap.

“Here’s a copy of the press release for everyone,” Eliza said standing from her spot in the corner to pass the release out to the room.

“The release is being sent at end of day today so everyone be prepared to be fielding questions. We won’t be scheduling any press at this time. Eliza will be sending everyone a copy of the release digitally as well as a set of statements from myself, James and Cameron. I’ll be working directly with Harry so send me any questions you have.” The team seemed rather impressed by my news. The rest of the meeting went great and Eliza and I headed back up to our floor.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said in the elevator.

“Thanks,” I replied slightly blushing.

“You really are amazing and you deserve to be happy. Not just in your career.”

“What would I do without you?” I rested my head on her shoulder.

“Be late to everything.” We both started to laugh. I was quickly in the bathroom to start curling my hair to get ready for tonight. I opened the door to Kammi's office and yelled into her.

“Come get ready with me!” A few minutes later she appeared inside and started to touch up her hair and makeup.

“What do I wear tonight?”

“Either what you have on or a maxi. That cute black one you bought is clean. I think you have that adorable silk kimono you can put on with it. But I like what you have on, you’re cute but casual.”

“I look like I got ready in 20 minutes this morning because I got ready in 20 minutes this morning.”

“Well, it’s a good look. Maybe do the black leather jacket and not the blazer.” She walked over to my closet I liked her idea. We finished getting ready and headed to the parking garage.

Dearest, Everlee Mae, get your shit together. Make your mind operate properly. You are walking in to the fucking lion’s den tonight and can’t fail. You can’t sleep with him again. You made a mistake by packing clothes for tomorrow, but I mean, just in case…right? This is terrible. I can’t fail at this.

Notes