His mother was definitely going to take a thousand photos of Max on their wedding day.
“My mom called,” Ethan told him as he rounded the desk and leaned over Max’s chair to kiss him. “Would you mind sending the tech back to their place and making sure he doesn’t leave until he’s confirmed that they know how to work everything?”
“I don’t mind at all,” Max said against Ethan’s lips. He patted Ethan’s hip. “Have a seat.”
“On your lap?”
The look Max gave him from beneath his dark lashes made Ethan shiver. “Maybe later,” Ethan said breezily before taking a seat in one of the chairs on the other side of the huge desk.
“You will be meeting with your client in an hour,” Max told him. He rested his forearms on the rests of his chair and watched Ethan with interest, as if gauging his reaction. “He and his agent requested you.”
“Okay, sounds good. Is it someone I’d be familiar with?” Ethan and the agents did their best to keep up with who was who in pop culture so they’d be aware of potential clients and their social circles.
“Possibly. You’ve heard of the show called Choose Me?”
Ethan grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes. Veronica was talking about it the other day, as a matter of fact. It’s that show where a woman goes on dates with a couple of dozen men and the cameras follow them through the dating process until she settles on a final guy. Then they live together for a month to see if they can commit to marriage.”
Max was obviously trying to hide his amusement over his reaction. “I take it that’s not to your tastes?”
“Are you kidding me? The whole thing is fake and everyone’s on the show only because they’re hoping to pick up acting or promo gigs afterwards. It’s just an excuse for self-promotion, not for finding love. I’m not a fan of dating for ratings.”
“I agree. However, I’m going to count on you to set aside your personal aversion because your client was a recent competitor on the show.” Max’s eyes sparkled. “You might be able to guess who it is.”
Having not seen the show, only heard the outcome of the latest season, Ethan scraped through his memory. “One of the so-called winners? Tammy and Erik—no Erin, was his name?”
“He was actually the runner-up, though the two of them seem to be hitting it off if the media rumors are to be believed.”
“I don’t know what you’re—oh.” Ethan stared at Max in shock. “You’re talking about the first guy she picked. Loren. The one who turned her down in the finale.”
“Mmm, and why did he turn her down?” Max was thoroughly enjoying this slow tease of information.
Ethan dug deeper, trying to remember the last thing Veronica had said before quickly changing the subject when he had entered the breakroom. He searched Max’s face uncertainly.
“Did he—did he turn her down because he became involved with one of the other contestants?”
Max smirked and roused his computer from sleep. He pulled up two photographs on the monitor of smiling, attractive men around their age with blindingly white, Hollywood teeth.
“Loren Demeter,” he said, pointing to the man with a square jaw and sandy brown hair. He then pointed at the darker-haired man in the second photo. “Theodore Smith. Mr. Smith is your client. Mr. Demeter turned down Ms. Hexum’s offer to be her ‘Chosen One’ because he claimed he’d fallen in love with Smith during the filming process.”
“Talk about dramatic. Do you think it was done for ratings?”
“I couldn’t say. I will say that Mr. Smith and Mr. Demeter are allegedly dating, so interpret that as you will. Mr. Smith is in Las Vegas for a handful of promotional events. He’s recently become the spokesperson for SexUrBody Water.”
“What a product name,” Ethan said with a laugh. “Do you think it’s related? Like he picked up the endorsement because he caused the controversy on Choose Me?”
“I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Since that bombshell, he’s been a popular topic of conversation on pop culture sites. What’s less of an assumption is that despite Mr. Smith’s newfound appeal to companies with a product to push, he’s picked up a fair share of non-fans.”
“Like who?”
“Fans of the show who badly wanted Mr. Demeter to end up with Ms. Hexum. Some of the most passionate—and apparently deluded—fans blame Smith for causing the breakup.”
“They think he lured Loren to the Dark Side. Oh, great.”
“Precisely. There is a high potential for confrontation,” Max warned him. “These events that Mr. Smith and you will be attending will be public and highly publicized. He will be physically accessible to many people while he is doing signings and meet and greets.”
Ethan had worked with plenty of clients working such events. They could be incredibly stressful if the security at the venues wouldn’t work with Ethan to accommodate his concerns. At one event he’d gone so far as to threaten to pull his client out of the event if they didn’t accede to his demands. It wasn’t a bluff, either. He had a job to do.
“It won’t be a problem,” he said with confidence. “I’ll coordinate with the venues as usual and I’ll bring Mr. Smith in line.”
“I trust that you will. Thank you, Ethan.”
“Have you met this guy?”
Max shook his head. “His agent arranged the contract.”
“Do you know if he’s legitimately gay, not just, you know, playing it for his fifteen minutes of fame?”
“I don’t know.” Max arched a dark eyebrow. “Does it matter?”
“Not really, but I’m curious. Do you think he chose us—me specifically—to perpetuate that illusion? If it is one, I mean.”
Max’s smile told Ethan that he had, indeed, considered the possibility and wasn’t thrilled by it.
“So, we’re letting this guy use us,” Ethan prompted.
“We take advantage of our clients’ celebrity for the exposure it will bring us.”
“Yes, but we’re not pretending to be something we’re not.”
“You’re making a bold assumption that he’s deceiving the public,” Max reminded him.
“Well, let’s be real. How many times has it come out that contestants in any of these reality shows aren’t who they say they are? They have long-term boyfriends or girlfriends back home; they say they’re a professional magician and it turns out they work at 7-Eleven. Producers want them to act a certain way because it brings in viewers. That could have happened here.”
“That’s true.”
“I’m just looking out for us. I bet he paid a lot for this contract, right? He didn’t balk at whatever you quoted him?”
“You have a very suspicious mind,” Max murmured, the glint in his eye both teasing and piercing, as though Ethan’s thought process turned him on.
It was the kind of look that made Ethan want to squirm and think about reasons he might begin begging. Max smirked as if reading his mind. He dropped his gaze to his desk, where he sorted papers that Ethan doubted needed sorting. It was like denying Ethan a sip of water when he was parched.