Scandalizing the CEO Read Free

record label and the retail store. I mean Tiffany Malone would be a natural at Everest Records. I can see the spread already.
    “We can have each of you in there in a smaller perspective—Henry is definitely on the cutting edge of fashion…and Geoff is very traditional.”
    “And I’m all business,” Steven said.
    Ainsley looked at him. At this man who’d dismissed her because she’d been frumpy and overweight and he’d made an offhand comment that had devastated her…“Maybe we could do a makeover with you at one of our sister magazines.”
    He quirked one eyebrow at her. “I’m not a makeover kind of guy. If we agreed to this, then it’d be an exclusive for you.”
    Ainsley thought about it. She’d have to talk to her team, but there had to be some way to make this happen. “I’m not sure we can fit you into our schedule. I mean, if I had Malcolm in the article, too…then that would be a coup.”
    “It would be. But I can’t promise that Malcolm would do it.”
    “Not close to him?”
    “He’s dying, Ainsley,” Steven said.
    She felt a pang. He hadn’t shown any emotion at all. She wondered if that meant that he was scared of losing his father and didn’t want anyone to know.
    “I’m so very sorry.”
    He nodded. “Back to business here. You finish your shoot with Jon and then do feature articles on all of us from the fashion angle involving our mums—which issue?”
    “I have to get back to the office and double-check my schedule, but I think it will be in the fall.”
    “Very well,” he said. “It’s a deal.”
    “Great,” she said, turning to walk away.
    “Do you have time for dinner to discuss the details? You could let Davis and Jon finish their shoot.”
    Ainsley didn’t want to have a dinner with him. She’d had a crush on him ever since she’d done that interview five years ago. Not a stalk-him-like-a-crazy-woman-and-lie-in-his-bushes crush, but a kind of obsession that involved reading every article published on him. Would it be a good idea to go to dinner with him? Their relationship would have to stay professional, she reminded herself.
    But he’d changed her life. When she’d realized that to a man like Steven she’d been completely invisible, it was shattering. Not just because of her size, but because she hadn’t kept control of the interview. He’d unnerved the woman she’d been five years earlier and spurred her change. And now she wanted nothing more to do with him…well, that wasn’t true. She’d love to exact a measure of revenge after the way he’d dissed her.
    And she had no plans for tonight other than heading back to the office, working on page proofs and approving every detail of the magazine she’d fought so hard to become the editor-in-chief of. She could squeeze out a few hours for Steven.
    “Agreed,” she said.
    “Should we shake hands and have a contract drawn up?” he asked. “What?”
    “For our dinner. You make it sound like an all-day meeting you’re dreading. I think that dinner with me will be enjoyable.”
    He was confident and she remembered his charm only too well. “Do you think so? Can you guarantee it?”
    “Indeed I can.”
    Her BlackBerry buzzed crazily with text messages and e-mail notifications. She glanced down at the screen. At least three fires demanded her attention. “When and where for dinner?”
    She motioned for Davis’s assistant to come over.
    “Nine. I’ll pick you up.”
    “That’s not necessary. I’d rather drive myself.”
    “I’m not sure where I can get a reservation with this late notice. Give me your address,” he said.
    She realized that Steven was used to getting his way, which was interesting because she was, too. She thought about digging her heels in on this issue, but time was money and they’d lost enough today waiting for someone to clean up this mess.
    “Fine. You can pick me up at my office,” she said, and then rattled off the address.
    “See you then,” he said and turned to