ONE
"You can't be serious," Lyla Mason said, staring across the desk at her boss.
Dean Kincaid pushed the file at her. "You're the best cleaner we've got, Lyla. Callum Reed is the biggest account we've managed to land, and we need the best."
Reluctantly, Lyla opened the file and was immediately treated to a picture of an impressively erect penis, attached to a tweet from @i<3randyboys that read "Guess who sexted me a pic of his junk!!! #CallumReed #MMAbadboy."
"Jesus," she muttered, slapping the file shut. "This guy could break us, you know."
Kincaid & Masters were very much new kids on the block in the cutthroat field of public relations in Las Vegas, and while they had been building a solid reputation as a firm that got results, one nightmare client could bring it all crashing down.
"Then you had better make sure he doesn't."
"But...," she said, trying one last time to back out.
"He could make us, too, Lyla. If we can show the world that we can turn Callum Reed into a good household name, clients will be lined up down the street to get on our list. I know you're up to the challenge. Daniel and I agree that a success here could net you a partnership. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Lyla frowned. Dangling a partnership in front of her now, after she'd been promised one and denied at her last firm, was tantamount to emotional blackmail. Kincaid & Masters had come to her rescue after she'd been fired from working at Jackson & Jackson and no one else in town would hire her.
As horrible as it had been, getting fired was the best thing to come out of that job. She'd let herself get talked into sleeping with the boss—both of them—but the sex had never been good. It had been all about pleasing the father and son, and not about filling any of her needs.
New in town and lonely, she had fallen for the classic "my wife's a frigid bitch and I'm leaving her" line from Jackson Junior, and before she knew it Junior was sharing her with Senior. They'd used her guilt and remorse to keep her in line, along with the fear of losing her job. Having their wives find out had just been the catalyst to get her out of a crappy situation. They'd fired her for "non-performance" to save a scandal, although everyone in town knew there was more to the story than that.
She had come away from the whole experience determined not to get screwed over again.
Looking at Dean now, he nodded as if to say he knew what she was thinking. He knew she'd never find another job anywhere in the business if she lost her job here, or quit over not being willing to take on a client. He had her over a barrel and they both knew it.
"What if I fuck it up?" she asked, licking her suddenly dry lips.
" Don't fuck it up," Dean said with a deceptively pleasant smile. "I would take failing with Reed to mean that you're really just not cut out for this profession."
Ouch . Well, at least she knew the score. At Jackson & Jackson, they'd strung her along, blithely making promises while they shoved their dicks in her ass. She'd been totally taken in by Junior's charm, and then Senior's bullying and bullshit.
She lifted the folder off Kincaid's desk and he smiled in victory.
"Do your best," he admonished, before returning his attention to his monitor.
Lyla checked her watch, seeing that she had just enough time to catch the usual bus home, if she hurried. She had the long ride home to think about her predicament.
She'd take a better look at the file when she got home, and Google Reed to see what she'd just been stuck with. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she'd been led to believe.
Yeah, right .
***
Adam Rhodes heard his neighbor's door open and close, and he glanced at the clock on the wall and smiled. Lyla was as reliable as clockwork. Every night, almost without fail, he could lift one earpiece out and turn down the volume of whatever game he was playing to hear her walk in her door.
He used to hate the paper-thin walls of his studio apartment, but all that had
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