PartyStarter Read Free Page B

coordinating tie and pocket puff. He
sat back in his expensive leather desk chair, his elbows propped up on the
armrests and his fingers steepled together. His ever-present cigar stuck out of
the corner of his mouth. With the exception of the narrowing of his eyes, he
gave no outward sign of being surprised by her explosive entrance.
    “Mornin’, my little sweet pea,” he said in a voice as soft
as goose down.
    Julia shook her head at him. “Don’t you ‘sweet pea’ me,
Ricky. I want to know what he—” she pointed at Stone “—is doing here.”
    “Oh, now, Puss,” Stone interjected with a slow, sexy drawl
that she hadn’t picked up on Saturday night, “is that any way to greet an old
friend?”
    “Hold on there, Jack,” Ricky said, wagging an accusing
finger at him, “she deserves an explanation. You know that. Don’t be an ass.”
    Stone—Jack?—held up his hands in a gesture of supplication.
“Whatever you say, boss.”
    Ricky turned his attention back to Julia. “Honey, you’re
right, I haven’t been fair to you. I should have told you what I was planning
ahead of time, but I knew if I did that you would have been absolutely against
the idea. Have a seat, please, and hear me out.”
    Grudgingly, Julia moved to the second guest chair in Ricky’s
office, pulled it several inches away from Stone and sat, crossing her arms
firmly over her chest. Her heart pounded furiously against her rib cage.
    “Now,” Ricky began, “you know we have had great success with
the whole ‘party starter’ idea since we launched it two years ago. It might
have been slow at first, but now that it’s caught on and your reputation is
growing, I’m getting calls to book you eight to ten months in advance.”
    Julia nodded, a fleeting pang of pride blooming in her
chest. She knew about her growing success, and was damn proud of it.
    Ricky continued. “But along with those calls for bookings,
lately I’ve also started getting the odd call asking for a male party starter. It
seems a fair portion of the ladies also like you, but some want a bit more
testosterone at their parties. I found Jack through a mutual acquaintance and
thought I’d give him a try. It was wrong of me to spring him on you like that,
though, and I apologize.”
    “You bet your ass it was wrong, Ricky. Have you forgotten
all about Jeremy?” Julia spat out the last word as though it were poisonous.
    Sinclair raised his hands, palms up, in a gesture of
supplication.
    “Oh, hell, sweet pea. I’ll never forget about Jeremy as long
as I live.”
    “Neither will I, Ricky.” Julia paused, taking several deep
breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “If people want a male party starter
that’s fine, but I work alone, Ricky. You know that. These gigs are mine. No
way am I going to have a partner.”
    Stone cleared his throat. “So who’s Jeremy?”
    Julia shot him a glare decorated with razor blades. “None of
your business.”
    Ricky shuffled through a stack of manila file folders that
lay atop his desk, the action drawing Julia’s attention back to her manager. He
opened one folder and selected the top sheet of paper. He handed it to her.
“This is a selection of blog posts, comments, Tweets and electronic
what-have-you that Jordan compiled for me yesterday. The Internet is abuzz with
talk about you and your ‘mystery partner’, and the chemistry and heat between
you two.” Ricky gave a deep, rumbling chuckle that faded and died as Julia
aimed her frozen glare at him instead of at Stone. “Uh, people thought you were
going to go ahead and have sex on the dance floor.”
    Heat blossomed in her cheeks, the memory making it difficult
for her to hang on to her anger. If only Ricky knew… Julia focused her
attention on the page to avoid making eye contact with her agent. Quotation
after quotation gushed about her and about Stone, and about how they were an
amazing, incredibly sexy couple. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it.
    “So