Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Don’t get me wrong, I can be bad too, but only when people need me to be.”
He glanced me over like he was taking in the truth of my words.
“But anyway, you were saying? You’d be braggy to Hacksmore and then…”
He shook his head. “Oh, yes. Then I’d be getting a signed contract for us to get this going. I say we’re looking at a couple of weeks, maybe a month while we’re coming up with the larger picture. Then we’ll be calling you out for shoots, and you’ll start making the rounds and appearances at some parties to be caught by the paps, of course.”
“And I have a year of this?”
He nodded. “Then, if it all goes well, you’d be up for a contract renewal, which you could take or leave at that point.”
“A lot to consider…”
“Take your time. You gotta do what’s best for you and your family.”
Yes, I did. My family would always come before any sort of financial arrangement.
But Dax had given me a lot to consider. Although, as I sat there with him, I found myself considering it more seriously than I figured I would…in part, at least, because I didn’t think Dax was the kind of sleazy business guy who would try to screw me or my family over. He didn’t seem to realize it, but he really was a good guy.
“Okay, come on,” I said, taking a deep breath. “How about I drive you back to the hotel?”
“I can just Uber. No need for you to go all that way.”
“It’s fifteen minutes. I made you stay here in Fever Falls for a few nights. It’s the least I can do.”
7
Dax
Funny what a dinner could change.
Now that I knew he was considering the deal, a part of me wanted to chase him away from it. Not that I would have—if he signed that dotted line, it was on him—but even after our conversation, I knew perfectly well it was one thing to hear about the consequences of fame and fortune, yet another to experience it, to see exactly how it could destroy a person. My business was knowing what people liked, and they would eat Jace Kruse alive. He was everything depicted in that photo and so much more.
As he drove me back to the hotel, we chatted about superfluous topics that had come up during dinner. He gave me the dirt on Keegan, making sure to bring up a few embarrassing stories from their childhood.
We reached the hotel, and he pulled into the porte cochere. He stopped not too far from the valet, and I took a breath. “So what are you thinking right now?” I asked.
He waited a beat, pressing his thumb against his cheek. “That maybe we could discuss this more in your room.”
His gaze drifted down my body, and I figured he was talking about more than the deal, but that wasn’t a problem for me. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
He headed around to the parking deck, found a spot, and then I guided him into the lobby and up to my room.
“Holy fucking shit!” he said as he entered. “You got the fucking penthouse for a one-night visit? Damn, if I’d known you were paying premium for this, I wouldn’t have made you stay as long as I did.”
“It’s fine. I have hotel points with Marriott.”
“Well, it’s impressive,” he said as he went into the living area. He walked around, checking out the space, calling back to me when he got to the bathroom, “Damn, that’s a big shower!”
“If you accept this deal, you’ll be seeing some really big showers.”
Jace walked back in as I relaxed on the sofa, and plopped down beside me.
“So you know I was asking you if you wanted to talk about the campaign,” I added. “Not to…”
“Yeah. I was talking about that too. Why else would I come up to your room?” Jace smiled, so much mischievousness on that innocent face of his. Yet there was something not innocent at all about it too. “But since you brought it up, do you have that happen a lot…mixing business and pleasure? Or do you have rules about that kind of stuff?”
“Eh, not too many rules in my industry,” I replied. “In fact, most of the guys I know tend to mix it up to the point where you can’t really see where pleasure ends and business begins.”
“But you’re a pretty powerful guy, from the way you talk. How do you know if someone’s sleeping with you because they want to or if they’re just using you?”
“I don’t mess with anyone I think is using me. No point when I can fuck whoever I want.”
“So cocky. I respect that.”
“I don’t imagine you struggle in that department.”
“Nah. I’m good there too.”
I found my gaze continually moving down to his crotch, and he seemed to notice, so I decided to put my attention back on the whole reason I was there. “So…what are you thinking so far?”