It had all started out well when Simon had first called.

“The pictures looked fantastic, Anna! And I congratulate myself on a great job with the statement.”

Simon had put out a very coy statement about how Anna wouldn’t comment about her personal life but she was very happy, et cetera, et cetera. It had done exactly what they’d wanted it to do.

“Congratulations on a great job with the statement, Simon,” she said.

“I know, I know, thank you. He’s coming this weekend, yes? Like we planned?”

“He’s coming this weekend, yes. Florence is getting him a ticket to arrive on Friday night.”

Simon hummed in approval.

“Great, perfect, wonderful. And he has no clue this is all for show?”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh no. He has every clue. I told him.”

There was a long, ominous silence on the other end of the line.

“What do you mean, ‘he has every clue’? What do you mean, you told him? Have you lost your mind?”

She should have expected him to react this way.

“I haven’t lost my mind, I swear. I promise, it’s fine. He gets it. He’s savvy, he’s amused by the whole thing, he was playing for the cameras when we were at the bar as much as I was.” That was technically true, but only because she had the feeling that neither of them was performing—they were as intent on each other at the bar as those pictures looked. “Plus, this makes it easier. This way, I can make sure he does everything I want him to do, instead of just hoping he does.”

Simon’s voice got louder.

“Sure, you can make sure he does everything you want him to, until he spills his guts to the world for a fat check, or until he sells pictures of you to a tabloid, or until he blackmails you that he’ll do one of those things unless you keep giving him money.”

She should have known Simon would assume Ben would be an asshole. That was his job, after all.

“Ben won’t do that. I know, that’s what everyone thinks when they get caught up with someone like that. But he’s proven himself in a few ways already, otherwise I wouldn’t have even considered this. I’m not a babe in the woods here.”

Ben knew so much about her after Palm Springs, and he’d kept his mouth shut. She wasn’t worried that he’d change that now. Simon might think she was a fool for this, but she trusted Ben.

“Well, you’re acting like it,” Simon said. He sighed. “I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but it’s my job to protect you, both as your manager and as your friend. You’ve had a tough time in the past year or so, and I don’t want some hot grifter to come into your life and fuck up all of the hard work you’ve been doing lately, that’s all.”

Anna figured that the only way for him to relax about this was to meet Ben. Therefore, the trip to the airport.

“I still can’t believe . . .” he said, as they waited in the car.

“Simon. Give it a rest. He knows. It’s done, it’s been done. It’ll be fine.”

He grunted. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

A few seconds later, her phone buzzed.

Just landed—I’ll be outside in a few minutes

 

She texted him back.

The driver is waiting for you at baggage claim. See you in the car

 

In a little while, the driver opened the back door with a flourish, and Ben slid into the car.

“Good evening.” He smiled that slow, sexy smile at her, and she was suddenly very resentful that Simon was here in the limo with them. Ben sat next to her and leaned in for a kiss.

“Good evening, Ben,” Simon said.

Ben stopped and turned to the other side of the car.

“Simon.” He didn’t visibly react, but Anna felt like a jerk for not warning Ben that Simon would be with her. She should have told him.

“Nice to meet you again,” Ben said to Simon. “What a welcome mat this is.”

Simon nodded briskly.

“Yes, right. Welcome to Los Angeles, et cetera.” He checked that the opaque glass barrier between them and the driver was up and the intercom was off. Then he turned back to Ben. “I’m here because I want to be crystal clear that you understand all of this. As Anna may—or may not—have informed you, my original plan was slightly different. This is very important for Anna’s career, and I want to make sure you understand the landscape, and your role here.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed slightly, but the pleasant expression on his face didn’t change.

“Yes, Anna let me know that you thought the better way to go about this would be to trick me into it. I’m glad she disagreed.” He sat back against the plush limo seat, somehow getting farther away from Anna in the process. “To be . . . clear, Simon—just because I have a pretty face doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I know the drill. Anna and I are friends. I’m not going to embarrass her. She’s told me exactly what she needs from me.”

Simon sat forward, but Ben relaxed against his seat. He didn’t look at Anna. She wished he would. She wished Simon would, too. She’d thought he just wanted to meet Ben for real this time, to reassure himself about him. She didn’t think he’d start grilling him as soon as he got in the car.

“Guys, we don’t have to—”

Simon ignored her.

“You know that as soon as the premiere is over, she’s done with you, right?” Simon looked right at Ben. “If you try to do anything in an attempt to capitalize on this, I’m telling you now, it will not go well for you. Anna’s had enough to deal with in the past few years—I don’t want this—you—to make things harder on her than they need to be.”

“Simon. That’s enough,” Anna said. “Ben’s not the enemy here. He and I talked about all of this at length. Everything will be fine.”

Ben didn’t look at her but kept that same light, friendly, angry smile on his face.

“You heard her, Simon. Everything will be fine. I appreciate that Anna is your client, but I sure as hell don’t work for you, so do me a favor and don’t talk to me like I’m the help.”

Anna tried to diffuse this again.

“Ben, he just wanted to—”

“This is very high stakes.” Simon looked straight at Ben. “If you fuck any of this up, it’ll be Anna who will pay the price. And this—all of this—is highly confidential.” He pulled a sheaf of papers out of his bag. “Speaking of, here’s an NDA that we’d like you to sign.”