All That He Loves (Volume 2 The Billionaires Seduction) (6 page)

“It it’s Miranda? Knowing what I know now?”

“Of course.”

“I let her hang in the wind.”

“And you know every talk show in America is going to want you on. Oprah, Ellen, Letterman, Leno, they’re all going to want you. Every magazine, every news program, every talk show host in America.”

“$100 million in free advertising,” Connor said bitterly.

“Which I’m pretty sure I can turn into $200 million. Complete media saturation, with hundreds of millions of eyeballs glued to their TV sets, just waiting to see what you’ll say. And you can say anything you want. What do you do?” he asked, then stressed, “If Lily were out of the picture.”

Connor sighed. “I go on the offensive. I go on every show I can over 24 hours. I tout the entire package. I tell everyone that my parents and ex are trying to blackmail me.”

“And you frame it as you saving the world, versus old, evil assholes trying to keep everyone else down for a buck.”

“But Lily – ” Connor protested.

“Lily is ready to make the sacrifice to make this work… and for all the right reasons,” Sebastian said, not looking at me as he said it. I was grateful for that. “Now suck it up and show as much
cojones
as she is.”

I giggled.

Connor, Sebastian, and Johnny all looked over at me.

I cleared my throat. “Um… you know… me having
cojones…
plus, ‘
cojones’
sounded funny coming out of Sebastian’s mouth.”

“There’s a really dirty joke in there somewhere – ” Johnny started.

“STOP,” Sebastian shouted, holding up his hand like one of the Supremes.

Connor was standing close to me. I took his hand and looked up at him.

“Sebastian’s right,” I said. “They just handed you a golden opportunity, and they’re going to screw you if you don’t take it. You
have
to do this.”

Connor stared down at me, his face conflicted.

“I would totally give this up for you,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said. “That’s why I don’t want you to.”

He was quiet for a few more seconds.

“I’ll protect you as much as I can,” he promised.

I smiled. “I know.”

Then he was quiet for almost ten more seconds.

Finally he turned to Sebastian. “Alright… what do I do?”

“
You
don’t do anything,” Sebastian said, happy as a clam as he pulled out his cell. “I handle it from here.”

I had never seen a real-live version of the Tasmanian Devil – you know, the brown, whirling cyclone from the Bugs Bunny cartoons? – until I saw Sebastian go into action. He paced back and forth in the suite, one phone glued to his ear while he paged through his contact list on the other. Apparently he knew just about every television news and talk show producer in New York and LA.

“John, you are the first person I’m calling about this.”

“Ingrid, you are the first person I’m calling about this.”

“Aliya, you are the first person I’m calling about this. What, John texted you? Fuck John. John’s a liar.”

“I’m in Vegas. Do I know what time it is in New York? Yes, of course I do – it’s time to shut the fuck up and listen carefully.

“Neil, there’s a massive sex scandal that’s going to break tonight, and you’re going to want the star player on the show tomorrow. There’s a billionaire with his pants down, blackmail’s involved, and there will be lots and lots of pictures of boobies, which I know is right up your alley.”

“What? I don’t care if you already have the guests booked, you’re going to rue the day if you pass this up. My next call is to Leno’s show. Who? I don’t care if it’s the President of the United States, you bump him, because
Leno’s
sure as hell going to.”

“Mia, my next call is to Letterman’s show. I don’t care if it’s the President of the United States – ”

“Raoul, my next call is to Fallon’s show – ”

“Parvati, my next call is to Kimmel’s show – ”

“DeShawn, my next call is to Conan’s show – ”

“Carson Daly? For God’s sake, Abdul, I have standards.”

“Of
course
I want him on with Ellen – it’s
Ellen
.”

“Well, if Oprah hadn’t quit her show and started her own network, I would have given you my right arm. As it is, you only get the right pinky. Alright, I’ll throw in the ring finger. Ohhh, don’t push it, mister, or I’ll give you the middle finger, too.”

“Yes, I don’t care if Roger Ailes thinks Connor’s a young George Soros, he’s a billionaire, and we all know how much Fox sucks up to the rich. Plus, you’re going to be talking about the scandal anyway, I really don’t think you want Wolf Blitzer eating your lunch. Hell, put him on Shep Smith’s show, I
like
Shep. Yes, I’m pretty sure he’d like me, too. Hannity?! FUCK Hannity.”

“Tell Wolf there’s already a rumor that Shep Smith over at Fox is looking for the interview. If he doesn’t want Shep eating his lunch, I need your word,
now.
”

“I’m calling Brian Williams’s people next.”

“I’m calling Diane Sawyers’s people next.”

“I’m calling Katie Kouric’s people next.”

“What? An exclusive? Well… I can’t promise you
that…
but if the head of your network finds out you had this chance and blew it, you’ll be sucking up to me for a job in 48 hours. And I don’t mean the CBS show.”

“Darling,
trust
me. Tomorrow you can either have a bite of the biggest sex scandal in the last ten years… or you can look like a little bitch who got caught with his pants down. Your choice.”

“Book the appearance or start prepping your résumé. No, that’s not a threat, it’s a well-intentioned piece of advice.”

“When have I
ever
lied to you?… Well, about anything
important?
… Oh please, that was six months ago, that doesn’t count.”

“Jim? I’m calling in that favor you owe me.”

“Vanita? I’m calling in that favor you owe me.”

“Xiang? I’m calling in that favor you owe me. What favor? The favor you owe me for calling you about this.”

While Sebastian worked, we ate. Johnny demanded it – and I was actually starved. I hadn’t had anything since my lunch out, and the emotional toll of the day had drained me. I was looking for some comfort food. So we got room service to deliver steaks, amazing vegetables, and an assortment of desserts. Connor, Johnny, and I ate, while Sebastian picked off his plate as he paced and barked into his phones.

After an exhausting hour – exhausting for us just to watch; Sebastian, however, looked flushed and energized – the Master of the Hard Sell put down his phones for a minute to brief Connor.

“Alright, we’re screwed as far as New York goes. If we got on the Gulfstream in an hour, we’d still have a five-hour flight back home, plus we’d lose three hours due to time zones, so it’s going to have to be LA. I figure we head back to New York tomorrow night and do clean-up with Letterman and the View on Thursday. I have you on Good Morning America first thing – they’re going to patch you in by satellite, you’ve got to be ready by 4:30 A.M. Then the same for Fox and Friends – don’t give me that look, I tried to get Shep Smith. Then we’ll do some New York affiliates, and then we’ll start with the early morning LA news and radio shows. I’ve got you on Ellen, I’m waiting to see if Oprah will patch you in via live feed. Conan said yes, I’m still waiting to see if Kimmel and Leno will bite.”

“You’re talking about booking me on competing shows in the same time slots,” Connor said, exasperated.

“Market saturation, darling. It’s all taped earlier in the day, anyway – we’ll just run you from one studio over to the next. I’ve got you doing spots on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and I’m waiting to hear from the networks. Plus, I’ve got you a couple of sit-downs with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, plus you’ll be doing interviews with all of the major Nevada outlets.”

“What about ‘Sesame Street’ or ‘Blue’s Clues’?” I joked. “You’re ignoring the entire ‘under four years old’ demographic.”

“It’s a sex scandal, Lily,” Sebastian sniped. “They just finishing breastfeeding, they don’t need to see yours, too.”

“HEY!” I yelled, but laughed at the same time.

Connor checked his watch. “It’s 8:00. What do we do about Miranda?”

“The longer you can stall her, the better.”

“How?”

“Call her up and tell her you want to discuss terms. In person.”

My cheek twitched.

I didn’t care for the ‘in person’ part.

Not that I didn’t trust Connor. But I still didn’t know exactly what kind of hold she still had on him, and how deep it ran…

Connor shook his head. “She’ll know what we’re doing.”

“She might
guess
what we’re doing. But who cares, as long as it works. Just go in there and do what you do best: negotiate her brains out.” Sebastian looked over at me. “That wasn’t a euphemism.”

“GOOD,” I snapped.

“How long do you need?” Connor asked.

“As long as you can get me.”

“And we leave when?”

“I’ll have the Gulfstream on standby so we can fly out the second she catches on.”

My mind raced to figure out how I could prevent Connor and Miranda from being in a room alone together. “What if she came
here
to talk?”

Connor burst out laughing. “There’s no way that’s happening. They’ll demand I come to their turf.”

“Well, you’re definitely not going to do
that,
” Sebastian scoffed.

I frowned. “Why not? Not that I
want
you to, but – ”

“Whoever controls the home turf controls the psychological advantage,” Connor explained.

“But… aren’t you doing
fake
negotiations?”

“Yeah, but she’ll immediately know it’s fake if I just roll over.” Connor turned to Sebastian. “We’ll do it on neutral ground. A bar or upscale nightclub – Blush or something at the Wynn should do. See if you can reserve one of them, tell them I’ll triple the normal till from 9PM onward.”

Sebastian sighed dramatically. “I
guess
I can add it to my already overwhelming – ”

“Never mind.”

“NO, no, no, I’ve got it,” Sebastian said crossly. It was as though not
only
was he being overburdened, but Connor was taking away all the fun of playing the martyr. Then he got a dreamy look on his face. “Oh, I wish I could be there to see her expression when she finds out…”

“That might not be a bad idea. Get a room in the same hotel, as close to the bar as you can. I want you close by if things go south.”

“You think she’ll buy it?” I asked incredulously.

“Not for long, no,” Connor said. “But maybe for a couple of hours.”

“Then why are you even doing it?”

“Because the news getting out at 11PM is preferable to 8PM. And if she decides to wait until tomorrow morning, that’s even better. It won’t even make the newspapers.”

“We should have as many people as possible there,” Johnny suggested. “They’ll have four, plus the bodyguards.”

“True.” Connor looked at me. “Are you okay coming with us?”

Am I okay making sure Grace Kelly with the Lauren Bacall voice doesn’t try to use her bombshell looks on you while I’m not there?

“Yes,” I said empathically.

“It might be good to have Sebastian there, too,” Johnny pointed out. “Four against four.”

“Four against eight,” Connor contradicted him.

“Better than three against eight.”

“He’s got too much work to do,” Connor said. “But he can be the cavalry if we need it.”

“Like a big, gay, atom bomb,” I smirked.

“I heard that,” Sebastian called from across the room. “But if you need a fourth person, I’ve got an idea.”

All of us were dressed to the nines – me in my red Prada dress, Connor and Johnny in their very best. Javier walked behind Connor and me, shoulder-to-shoulder with Johnny. His Armani suit was exquisite, and an expensive pair of sunglasses masked his puppy dog eyes. His goatee and ponytail paired with the suit actually made him look pretty badass.

But apparently he didn’t feel that way.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said pitifully.

“A wise man told me once to fake it till you make it,” I said.

Connor smiled but didn’t say anything.

“But I’m not an actor,” Javier whispered. “I just cut their hair.”

“Don’t say anything, and never smile or laugh,” Johnny advised him. “Just look like you’re pissed off the entire time. Go on, show me.”

Javier scowled.

With the sunglasses and the frown, he looked
really
badass.

“Not bad,” Johnny said. “You’re ready for your close-up.”

“Mr. DeMille,” Javier added playfully.

“Yeahhhh… don’t say that.”

“I won’t,” Javier promised, then settled back into perpetual grumpiness.

“Lily,” Connor whispered.

“Yes?”

“I plan to say some things tonight that are going to be… unpleasant to hear. And I know they’re going to say some awful stuff as well. I just want you to know that anything I say, I’m saying to make them mad. To put them off balance. I just need you to remember that.”

I looked over at him and winced. “What… kind of things?”

“Miranda and I have a past. You know that.”

I winced more. “…and?”

“It might come up. Actually, I’ll be bringing it up as a weapon, whenever I can.”

I sighed… and then leaned my head against his arm. “Do whatever you have to do.”

He smiled, put his finger under my chin, tilted my head up, and kissed me lightly on the lips.

All future unpleasantries were forgiven.

We entered the restaurant at exactly 8:59. Connor had had to go through some back-and-forth with Miranda over the phone – she rejected every single one of his suggestions – until they agreed on a compromise. Sebastian had secured an entire private room for VIPs, and now we were in business.

The restaurant was an interesting fusion of dark, masculine wood and modern, sleek design. Old Vegas meets the New Vegas. As soon as we entered the foyer, the maître d’ gave us a look of recognition, nodded once, and said, “Right this way.”