Page 12 of Handsome Devil
Sex Tape
Sex Tape
I shook my head. “What the hell am I looking at?”
And why the hell was I looking at my high school nightmare, also known as the most popular guy in my senior class, also known as a guy I hadn’t seen since high school graduation, also known as an individual I never cared to see again?
Also known as a man who’d been plastered across my social media feeds for the last seventy-two hours, as the star of a sex tape scandal?
Also known as… the man my boss was meeting with this afternoon? Because he worked at the agency that nowowned my agency??
Brain… not… computing.
Suri clicked on the first news story, which opened to a reputable news site. At the top of the article, there he was: Dane Davenport, in a bespoke suit, looking every inch the handsome devil he was in high school—just improved exponentially over a decade or so of fine tuning as a man.
“This is Dane Davenport. His family owns—”
“Valhalla Media Group,” I said automatically. “I know.” Anyone in business in Canada, or even a semi-intelligent citizen who happened to watch the news or occasionally pick up a newspaper, knew who Dane Davenport was.
Even if they didn’t spend an excruciating year in high school with him.
“Right. And apparently…” Suri gave me a cringey look. “Valhalla owns us.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “Wait. What?”
I blinked at the screen in front of me. Was I having a stroke or something? Parts of my body felt weirdly numb and I was getting tunnel vision. All I could see was his pale-green tie. His pale-green eyes. And that condescending non-smile of his… like he was sending it right through the screen and down my spinal column.
I fucking shivered. Violently.
Was the A/C on in here or something?
“Valhalla Media GroupownsSuperior Talent,” Suri informed me. “Along with, you know, a million other companies. I just discovered this like three minutes ago when Janelle gave me his name. I take it you didn’t know this?”
“No. I did not know this.”
“So, this is who Janelle is sitting down with. In like a few hours. I don’t think Janelle even understands who she’s meeting with. He’sSenior VPof Valhalla, Devi. This man is powerful. His people told Janelle he’s in town for the women-in-media gala on the weekend, and he wanted to meet Janelle and ‘shake hands.’ And as you might’ve gleaned from those web hits, he was recently embroiled in a sex tape scandal. Like three days ago.”
“Yeah,” I said numbly. “I know.”
“That was all I had time to Google,” Suri said. “I don’t even know how this scandal factors in here or if it does, butyikes. I thought you should know.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” This was still not computing.
I knew who Dane Davenport was. I knew where he worked. I knew about the sex tape scandal.
When I saw the headlines a few days ago, all I thought was,Yeah, that’s fucking fitting.Like, big surprise.
And that was about it.
I did not know he had any connection to me whatsoever, let alone that heownedmy agency.
But somehow my body was kicking into emergency generator mode while the rest of me blanked out. I started jotting notes on a pad of paper without even knowing what I was writing down. “Did Janelle say exactly what he wanted to talk about?”
“No. She seemed totally caught off guard.”
Great. The only thing worse than Janelle in a business meeting was Janelle caught off guard in a business meeting. Which was a pretty common situation since she was oddly clueless about running a business, even though she’d been running one, technically, for the last six months.
I blinked at Suri. “Jesus.” Finally, a semi-reaction slipped out of my brain as the situation started really sinking in. Janelle, in conversation with Dane Davenport. Two of the most difficult personalities and biggest egos I’d ever had the non-pleasure of meeting, sitting down for a chat about my beloved agency. “This is a fucking disaster…”
