The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(75)

“I’m working on the problem,” Jake said as she sank back to her seat.

Problem? She wasn’t the problem here. “I am not his sub. I’m not anyone’s sub.”

Ian’s eyes rolled. “And you didn’t take my advice. Ms. Brooks, when Jacob called me in the middle of the night, waking me from a well-deserved sleep to tell me that you had tricked us all, I mentioned to him that perhaps he should take a step back and look at the problem from a place of intellect and not emotion.”

“He told me to stop thinking with my dick,” Jake admitted.

“And what did you do?” Ian asked.

“Oh, my dick is very stupid, boss. Practically moronic. But that’s between the three of us.”

Ian’s head shook. “If only that were true. Now, your deeply inappropriate and messy relationship aside, can we get to the reason I called you in? It certainly wasn’t to pass you a bill and send you on your way. Though I will take a check if you feel obligated.”

“Ian!” Adam practically shouted.

Ian shrugged, a lazy movement he managed to make predatory. “Well, I didn’t get this office by working pro bono.”

“I’ll take care of it, Ian. I’ll make sure you have a check.” Lara took a deep breath and stared back out the window.

Brian gaped her direction. “You’re kidding me. You are not writing a f*cking half-million dollar check so your client can f*ck her bodyguards.” He flushed and turned to Serena. “I’m sorry, Serena. I’m apparently not up on today’s professional standards. This isn’t the way my authors work. I really am sorry for what Lara did, but I can’t handle this. No one seems to understand my reputation is at stake, too.”

He stalked out of the room.

Lara shook her head, her eyes on the door her husband had just slammed. “Please forgive him. He isn’t handling this well. And I’m serious about paying for the case. This is my fault, not Serena’s. And you’ll need to stay on the case, obviously.”

Ian sighed. “Can’t I make a joke? Seriously, you kill a few people and get a reputation and suddenly no one thinks you’re funny anymore. Stop being a martyr, Lara. You f*cked up royally. It doesn’t mean I’m going to bankrupt you, and besides, it’s not like Adam and Jake have hated their duties. They’ve likely had enough fringe benefits that they won’t mind not getting their bonus.”

Serena felt herself flush.

“Ian, watch it,” Jake said.

“Now I’m the bad guy because I point out the obvious. Keep the relationship to yourselves. Lara, talk.”

Lara nodded her head, taking a minute to compose herself. She finally brought her eyes to meet Serena’s before she obviously decided it was way easier to talk to Ian. “She’s absolutely my most talented client. I say that from a place of love and respect, and not just because I stand to make a lot of money off her.”

“But you do,” Jake said. He hadn’t left his place by her side, but Adam had started to pace.

Lara nodded. “Yes. Yes, I do. You have to understand that Serena’s books are wonderful, but they’re also only reaching a niche audience.”

“I’m writing ménage, Lara. You knew that when you took me on. It’s not exactly mainstream and neither is BDSM romance. If you wanted someone who writes sweet, you should have passed on me.” What the hell had Lara been thinking? She’d managed to scare the holy crap out of Serena, and she’d done it for money.

“You write gorgeous love stories. They just needed some publicity.” She took a long breath. “So I decided to be your stalker.”

Adam turned on her. “You terrified her. You could have killed her with last night’s stunt. Do you know what she’s been going through?”

Ian held up a hand. “She’s not done, Adam. This gets so much worse.”

A little thrill of fear went through Serena. She’d lost the men she was getting close to and her agent all in an hour. She still might lose her friends. What could be worse?

“I only sent the e-mails. I swear to you, Serena, I just sent the e-mails. I was planning more. I had a whole plan mapped out on my computer. I was going to send you the e-mails for a couple of weeks and then I was going to up the ante so to speak. I was going to have my stalker persona take out ads in local papers begging you not to get Alexa together with Duke and Caden. I even found a skywriter who would put it up over downtown. Imagine it. Writer gets stalked by her characters. The press would have loved it. It’s inventive. It’s guerilla marketing and I thought it would be best if you didn’t realize it was a publicity stunt. You would have reacted naturally.”

“Yes, she reacted very naturally to nearly being killed.” Jake’s voice was like ice.

“I didn’t have anything to do with trashing your car or the snake. I talked about the characters, Serena. My stalker idea was about loving your work. I wouldn’t say anything bad about you. The first time you got a message that didn’t come from me, I called in Ian. I started this, but someone has picked up on it. God, Serena, I’m so sorry.”

She started crying again.

What the hell was she doing? Lara had always been a maverick with her own crazy ideas. It was one of the reasons they had clicked. It was one of the reasons she’d been willing to take a chance on a writer like Serena. Lara had been the only agent who would even read her work. She’d been a steady hand, guiding Serena through everything. Hadn’t she earned a little leeway?