Free ARROGANT PLAYBOY by Winter Renshaw Page B

Thank
you,” she says, though she may as well be curtseying at this point. Apparently
Dane’s royalty, and I am the lowly jester.
    “Maureen has the conference
room set up.” My brother points at the door. We follow.
    “This must be new.” I point to
an oil painting of Dane that looks more like a caricature than a portrait.
“Commissioning art now, are we?”
    “You won’t find it as a line
item,” he states. “It was a gift.”
    “Not good enough to hang next
to your Renoir at Golden Oak?” I razz.
    He never used to be so goddamn
pretentious. Success does something to a man. It’s an unstoppable catalyst.  
    Odessa spreads her things out at
the end of the conference table, taking the chair on Dane’s right.
    “Oh, Dane.” Casual excitement
colors her tone. “Beckham and I are flying to Vermont next week. He’ll be
leading a town hall meeting with Charity Falls and answering questions for an
interview that’ll go in their Sunday paper. Front page.”
    Her body mirrors his.
Apparently I’m made of cellophane.
    “You didn’t tell me it was
going to be front page,” I interject. Not that it matters. It doesn’t.
    “This project is kind of a big
deal there.” She turns to me, sticking the end of a capped pen between her pink
lips before pointing it at me. “This interview is a huge deal. They’re going to try and use your words against you,
analyzing the town hall meeting to come up with pointed questions.”
    “No pressure.” Dane tenses his
jaw.
    “I can handle this.” I take a
seat on my brother’s left, but not before removing my jacket and draping it
over the back of my chair.
    “The last thing we need is
negative publicity,” Dane grips a pen between his thumb and forefinger,
twisting it back and forth. “We have several major deals in the works. Some
just waiting on signatures. It could all change if our image is slaughtered
because of Charity Falls.”
    “Exactly.” Odessa chimes in,
speaking with her hands. “This is the kind of story that goes viral. Today Show
picks it up, Facebook sticks it in their sidebar, Reddit gets ahold of it…”
    “You act like this is the
Keystone Pipeline.” I groan, burying my head in my hands. “They’re wind towers
for fuck’s sake.”
    “The fact that he doesn’t see
the significance of this is what concerns me,” Odessa turns to Dane, cutting me
out of the conversation once again.
    “Agreed.” Dane furrows his brow
as he mirrors her posture. They’re locked in some kind of silent conversation,
I’m sure. Communicating telepathically like they share a goddamned brain.
    The room is hot. I unbutton my
collar, as she tilts her head and smiles at him.
    “Don’t worry, Dane. I’ll feed
Beckham some handcrafted lines that’ll quell this little story before it picks
up any more steam.” Odessa places her hand over his, and he doesn’t flinch.
    I’m not sensing a sexual
attraction between them. But they click. Genuine, mutual respect filters back
and forth between them, taking shape in quiet smiles and easy nods.
    Just a couple of fucking pals.
    “Anyway.” I clear my throat,
rising to grab bottled water from the fridge in the back of the room. “Next
order of business?”
    Or first order, really.
    It’s not like Dane to allow
someone else to run the show. Shit, he barely allows me. I have to claw my way
up and prove that I’m not some haughty playboy without a care in the world. I
give a damn about this company. It’s my “baby” too. I’ve just mastered the art
of conducting myself without a giant stick up my ass.
    My brother drones on about a
couple of clients he’s been wooing on the West Coast, while I’ve been busy
romancing the Peterson Corporation. I assure him the Peterson contract is in
the bag, and we’re just waiting on the board to meet and take their final vote.
    “Oh, here.” Odessa perks up,
typing into her tablet. “We have the preliminaries for the test site if you
want to go over it now?”
    She whips