I want You Deeper

Vanessa’s day was going perfectly.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

And then she saw her roommate.

Yes, her roommate would eventually find out that Vanessa was

shooting a reality show with Heath Hardcastle. But Vanessa hadn’t mentioned what she was doing to either of her roommates at this point, even though she and Brooke were friends. Brooke had been out of town since just before Vanessa left, so she hadn’t felt the need to even say she’d gotten a new gig.

But there Brooke was, stationed at a very elaborate booth near the main doors to the convention hall. TravTech had somehow managed prime placement, which probably shouldn’t be a surprise. Justin Travers was the golden boy of Silicon Valley right now.

And Heath Hardcastle’s archenemy, apparently.

Vanessa backed up and headed toward the door to the far right-the one that would take her back to the safety of Heath’s booth. But she’d forgotten all about the cameras. The guy stayed where she’d just been standing, zooming in on something. She assumed it was Brooke at her booth.

Somehow, the cameraman managed to catch up with Vanessa just in time for her to arrive back at Heath’s side. Heath was standing at the table in the center of the booth, eating a sandwich wrapped in tinfoil.

“No clients?” Heath asked, looking behind her as she entered.

Really? He was putting expectations on her after all she’d brought him that morning. She chose not to directly address that. “Where did you get food?”

He pointed to a paper sack next to him. “They brought us two. This is lunch.”

Eyes wide, Vanessa pulled her phone out of her dress pocket to check the time. That was the best thing about this retro-style big-skirted dress. Plenty of room to store things in the pockets without worrying about them showing in the skintight type of dress she’d worn yesterday.

“We just eat here, standing up?” she asked.

“There’s a green room somewhere around here.” He took another big bite of his sandwich, chewed, and swallowed before continuing. “You can

go if you want, but someone has to stay here.”

“Nope. If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me.”

She felt his eyes on her as she pulled the sandwich from the bag and unwrapped the foil around it. Turkey and veggies. Safe choice, she figured, although there were probably some vegetarian options for those who had signed up before the last minute, as they no doubt had.

“I didn’t say thank you.”

Heath’s words pulled her attention from her sandwich to his face. He was staring at her. Off to the left, she saw the camera guy move into place. It would be nice to have just one conversation without cameras capturing it.

Only after the thought traveled through her head did Vanessa realize how absurd it was. This was, after all, why she was here.

“You’re welcome.”

Their gazes held for a long moment, and she felt a little flutter in her stomach. It wasn’t even something she could control. Her body just naturally reacted to his stare. This was definitely going too far.

“I saw TravTech’s booth,” she blurted, eager to cut through whatever was going on here. “They’re positioned by the main entrance.”

Heath’s jaw twitched as he wadded up his sandwich wrapper and tossed it into the paper sack. “Yeah, I’m sure they were given their choice of locations.”

It seemed odd that Heath treated TravTech like a competitor when they weren’t even in the same industry. Heath seemed to blame Brooke’s boyfriend for all his troubles. But from what he’d told her, Justin wasn’t to blame for this. Nobody was to blame, really, aside from the developers who’d ripped him off and put both their reputations at risk.

Either way, this was about fixing all that. Reputation fixed, problem solved. What was the big deal?

“So…maybe you should just go for it.” Vanessa punctuated that statement by popping a potato chip into her mouth. As she chomped, she waited patiently for his answer. Patiently because he was just staring at her, not speaking.

“Go for what?” he finally asked.

“Go talk to Justin Travers, assuming he’s here. If not, I’m sure he’ll take a meeting with you. Hash it out. Make it clear you meant no harm, even though I’m pretty sure he knows that already. You guys could work together to clear up your reputation. Problem solved.”

Vanessa tried to make it sound like what she was saying was no big deal, but she couldn’t help but feel as though she’d just dropped a giant truth bomb on him. She didn’t know him well enough to determine if that would make him mad or upset or whatever.

Instead of responding, though, Heath looked at the camera that was somewhere above her left shoulder. That made the footage unusable, but they could edit that out. She wasn’t worried about that as much as the fact that he seemed to be sending a message by deliberately directing his gaze that way. He didn’t want what she’d just said to air on TV. That was the message she received, anyway.

“Justin isn’t here.” Heath walked toward the back corner and slid his trash into a wastebasket that had been discreetly tucked behind a Hardcastle

Exhibits display. “I already checked.”

He’d checked to make sure Justin wasn’t at the trade show. Interesting. He really had homed in on the guy. Vanessa decided to table the issue for now.

“About Derek Hughes,” she said. “I have some ideas.”

She hadn’t had much time to work on it, but while talking to Derek, she’d gone through the photos of his yachts on his website. She was no pro in this field, but Heath was. He could take a look at the pictures and come up with something.

“All the photos on the site are of the outside of yachts, but the inside is what it’s all about.” Vanessa stepped over to stand next to him so he could see her phone screen. She immediately realized her mistake, but she couldn’t correct it. Not without being obvious. So, she stood next to him, trying to ignore this strange magnetic pull that seemed to exist between them. It was as though every cell in her body was being drawn toward him.

“The inside?” he asked.

Was it his imagination, or did his voice sound a bit shaky? Like he was having a hard time being this close to her, too.

No, that had to be her imagination.

She used his question as a chance to step back and look at him. “Think of what people really want to see on a yacht. Has nothing to do with the outside. You’ve seen one big boat, you’ve seen them all. It’s the jacuzzi on the deck and the big-screen TV in the living area and the amazing dining area with a view of the ocean.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s the point of a yacht. A view of the ocean.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “I know that. My point is that if you want to really convince people to buy a yacht, you need to set up a display that shows how amazing it is.”

Heath stared at her, eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure you understand the market for yacht buyers. They don’t really go to trade shows like this one.”

“Derek’s display will be at the national boat show.”

“Even so. Billionaires don’t go to yacht shows.”

Okay, now he was making a pretty solid point. Derek had mentioned he was attending a boat show, and that he’d had a booth there. She’d talked him into really amping up his booth game. But when she really thought about it, it didn’t make much sense that Derek’s company would be trying to drum up business at some regular boat show.

“It’ll be a bunch of looky-loos, won’t it?” Vanessa asked, feeling a little sick.

“Yes, and I’m sure Derek knows that, deep down. But he loves the boost something like that gives. His booth will be the star of the show, and he’ll pay a fortune for it, but it won’t translate to buyers. It will be a bunch of people dreaming of what they’d buy if only they somehow stumbled upon a ridiculous amount of money. It’s an ego stroke. I’m not in the business of stroking egos.”

Vanessa narrowed her eyes at him. Was he negating the work she’d done that morning? And, if so, was she fine with it?

Yes, she was. Because, like him, she wasn’t in the business of stroking egos. If Derek Hughes was going to invest money into a booth for some trade show, she wanted that to translate to earnings for him, not fame. She needed to sell something useful, not sell for the sake of selling.

“So, what can we do for Derek Hughes?” Vanessa asked, feeling a little sick to her stomach.

“Derek knows, as much as we do, that this boat show he’s doing is just for networking. Maybe meeting some suppliers and other vendors. Making connections in the industry. It has very little to do with consumers. So, the goal is to set up a booth that will win over suppliers, not be flooded with people looking for a fifty-thousand-dollar fishing boat.”

Vanessa nodded. All of this made perfect sense. And the camera was capturing every second. “So, what I need to do is consider the market when

I’m pitching booth setups. Got it. I’ll send some more clients your way.”

She spun on one ballet flat to wander off in search of someone who looked like they might need Heath’s services. Vanessa was determined, no matter what, to send so many potential clients over, Heath wouldn’t know what had hit him.

It only occurred to her after she walked away that she was supposed to be doing this for the cameras, not Heath.