“Are you going to call her?” I ask.
“I haven’t decided yet. Addie won’t like it. I’ll probably lose my job.”
“She hasn’t fired you yet.”
“No, but we had a shoot today. For the pet boutique where I got Sasha’s gift basket. She needed me.”
“She’ll always need you.”
“I’m not sure of that. Besides, the only reason Susanne wants me to do a post about the lip stain is because of you.”
“So?”
“How can you be so nonchalant? I’m a nobody. No one gives a crap what kind of lip stain I wear except for the fact that apparently I’m your girlfriend now.”
“So?” I say again.
She lifts her eyebrows, shaking her head slightly. “What don’t you get about this?”
At the moment, what I get is that Addie reacted like an immature brat—which she is—and took it out on Skye, which pisses me off to no end. But instead of saying this, I put on my business hat.
“Here’s what I get,” I say. “This is an opportunity for you. Would you have this opportunity if not for me? Maybe not, but it’s still an opportunity that has presented itself. Take it, Skye. You’re a fool if you don’t.”
“A fool? How dare you—”
I gesture for her to stop. She does.
“Don’t get all excited. Anyone, including me, is a fool not to take advantage of what’s thrown in his lap. Do you think I haven’t taken every opportunity that’s come my way? I won’t leave you in suspense. I have, and some of them came along simply because I was in the right place at the right time. They had nothing to do with me.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re a self-made man, Braden.”
“For the most part, that’s true. But do you truly think I never had any help along the way? That opportunities fell into my lap simply because I’m me?”
She doesn’t know the half of it. File one thing in particular under that heading of “things I don’t talk about.”
“I’ve read all about you,” she says.
“The media never tells the whole story.” They can’t, because I don’t talk about the whole story, and I make sure no one else does, either.
She smiles. “Will you, then, Braden? Will you tell me the whole story?”
My lips twitch. Yeah, I should have seen that one coming. This is a woman who sees me coming from every direction. Damn.
“You are a challenge, Skye.”
“You’ve said that many times,” she says. “Has it escaped your notice that you’re also a challenge?”
“I never said I wasn’t.”
“What will we do, then?”
I swallow a bite of food. “I’ve never backed down from a challenge.”
“Neither have I.”
“Then you’ll do the post for Susanne Cosmetics.”
She freezes, her forkful of food stopped midway between her plate and her mouth. She walked right into that one, which was wholly my intention.
“You don’t play fair,” she says.
“Sure I do. I’m just more experienced than you are.”
“Posting about lip stain isn’t exactly a challenge.”
“Of course it is. It’s something new. It’s something you’re not sure you’re up for, but it fell in your lap. You can take your own pictures, Skye. Get credit for them. This is what you want.”
“I want to take photos of things that move people. No one’s going to be moved by me wearing Susanne lip stain.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s makeup, Braden. Who cares?”
“Your followers.”
“The mobs who follow influencers aren’t concerned about anything real.”
“Do you know all of them?”
“Of course not, but—”
“Don’t you see, Skye? You have the chance to grow a platform. To reach people. Once you reach them, you can introduce them to the kind of photos that will move them.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Her mouth drops open.
Yup, got her.
Social media wields a lot of power these days. Skye should know. Social media pays her salary.
“But,” I continue, “never take the first offer. I don’t care how high it is, counteroffer something higher.”
“What if they tell me to go jump in the lake?”
“Then they tell you to go jump in the lake.”
“But then—”
“Skye, show them you know what you’re worth. They’re not getting just Braden Black’s girlfriend with you. They’re getting an ace photographer, someone who can make their product look amazing. They know that, and if they don’t, they will soon.”
“Wait a minute,” she says. “You didn’t…”
I know what she’s asking. She doesn’t have to say the words. It’s not the first time someone thinks I made a phone call. I don’t know anyone at Susanne Cosmetics. I had no idea Skye wears their makeup or that Addison does posts for them.
“Of course not. I had nothing to do with them calling you. It may surprise you to know that I don’t have time to call cosmetics companies and ask them to hire my girlfriend.”
She nods.
“Never be afraid to turn down the first offer. You’re new at this, so they know they can lowball you.”
“You really are brilliant.”
“I’m no more brilliant than the next guy,” I counter. “I just know what my strengths are, and I know what they’re worth.”
True story there.
“Braden…”
“Yeah?”
“Addison thinks you’re behind all this, that you’re trying to make me into an influencer and destroy her in the process.”
Not a surprise. Addison Ames is such a narcissist that she thinks the whole world revolves around her. It wouldn’t ever occur to her that I don’t have any extra minutes in the day to give her a second thought. And when I do have an extra minute? She’s about one billionth on the list of things I’d choose to think about.