Stripped Bare (Stripped #1)(11)
“Thanks, Emily.” I returned the smile and swept past her desk. Then I knocked on Michelle’s door before pushing it open. “Michelle?”
Her chestnut-brown hair elegantly bounced around her shoulders as she turned away from the window to look at me. There was a distinct and unusual sadness lingering in her dark-brown gaze, and my heart clenched. Her presence was such that, if she felt a certain way, the air changed to reflect it. And the air definitely felt sad today.
“Mia.” She smiled her usual stunning smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Shut the door and take a seat, doll.”
Wordlessly, I closed the door behind me and swept my skirt beneath my thighs as I sat down. The black leather chairs were great until they stuck to your thighs.
I finally spoke when, after a couple of minutes, she hadn’t said anything. “Is everything okay?”
She sighed heavily, removed her dark-red glasses, and pinched the bridge of her nose. “We found out this morning that Jamie’s mom was in a car crash late last night on her way home from work. She...didn’t make it.”
Oh no. That poor boy.
“Thankfully,” she continued, “he’s staying with us this weekend. Alan and Jamie are already driving up to Fresno. I am, of course, going to follow them, but I needed to straighten things out here.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reached across the table and lightly squeezed her fingers. “I know you were good friends with her.”
“In recent years, yes. Jamie, bless his sweet heart, wanted it, so we did it. I’m not sure the news has sunk in for any of us yet.”
No kidding. As much of a pain as my mom is, I couldn’t imagine losing her at fifteen.
“Anyway.” Michelle replaced her glasses and straightened. “I’m going to be out of town for the week, and you can understand this poses a problem for the business, because I was due to fly to Vegas tomorrow to meet with the owner of Rykman and Cruz Enterprises.”
I nodded. That was a big. Ass. Contract.
“I want you to go in my place.”
I blinked harshly. Did she just—what?
“You...want me to go to Vegas and take over this contract?”
“Yes. It’s not one I can reschedule or put off, and I need someone who knows what they’re doing. You’ve been taking on more bars and clubs recently, and very damn well too.” She grabbed a red box file from beside her and slid it to me. “Rykman and Cruz Enterprises own several joints in and around the Strip, but their strip clubs are the most profitable, and Mr. Rykman and his business partner, Mr. Cruz, want to maximize on them.”
“They need help to market strip clubs. In Vegas.” What the hell kinda business were they running? Those things sold themselves, Vegas or not.
“Not necessarily. They want something unique and outside the box. They want to start with the men’s club, Rock Solid.”
I froze. My tongue flicked out against my lips, and I felt the slight blush that rose on my cheeks. “I, uh... That’s where Allie’s bachelorette party was.”
Michelle smiled again, and this time, it touched her eyes. “Really? So you’re familiar?”
A little too familiar. But I wasn’t going to tell my boss that. “Yes, and now, I’m really confused. They were packed all night. Why do they need more marketing?”
“Darling, I have no idea. All I know is that, if a good job is done with Rock Solid, they’re going to take us on for their other businesses. This contract is huge. Are you up to it?”
No. What if I saw the stripper again? In fact, it was almost guaranteed I’d see him again. But this was an important job. It couldn’t slip by the wayside. And if I did it well...
“Sure, I can do it. Will I have to stay in Vegas?”
Michelle nodded. “I have an apartment rented for the next three weeks. I wanted to be completely sure I could be there for as long as they needed. I’ll call the owner today and have it transferred to your name, but the payment will stay on the company account.”
“Three weeks?” I paused. But that was over the wedding. “Allie gets married in two.”
“Come back,” she says dismissively. “I’ll let them know when I call them to inform them of the change in situation, but you may even be done before she gets married. Don’t worry, doll. You won’t miss her wedding.”
That was a relief. Yet again, I was reminded how lucky I was to have a relatively flexible job. Even if that job was taking me to a place that made me blush on thought.
“Okay, sure. I’ll do it. What about my other clients?”
“Emily will contact all upcoming clients and either reschedule or reassign them to someone else. Ongoing ones you can communicate online and work with. Does that sound feasible?”
I looked to the ceiling for a moment and pulled my current work to mind. If I got to it as soon as I got home, I could finish up the Barker project. Then I’d only have the Santiago one, and that was mostly rebranding the restaurant. That could easily be done online, as it didn’t really require much of my physical presence.
“I can do that,” I confirmed, a small smile on my face.
“Perfect!” Michelle clapped her hands together in front of her, and I knew instantly I’d just taken a huge weight off her shoulders. “This file has all the basic information you need about the clubs. You could easily read it on the plane tomorrow. I’ll have Emily call the airline now, and then she’ll e-mail you your tickets, the apartment info, and car rental information.” The smile that stretched across her face was genuine again, even if it was hiding the sadness that lingered beneath. “Thank you, Mia. You’ve just made a difficult situation much easier.”