A Heart to Trust

by A. L. Brooks

  Derek looked down at her—he was perhaps five inches taller—and gave her an enigmatic smile.

  Standing next to Derek were two people Jenny didn’t recognize.

  Derek pulled his gaze away from Chrissy. “This is Renee, from our events team, and Vance from legal. Guys, these are the production assistants.”

  He didn’t bother giving Jenny’s and her colleagues’ names.

  It had happened before with many other managers, but it annoyed the crap out of Jenny that her own manager would do it. Adrienne would never have done that. Jenny played nice and shook hands.

  Vance barely looked at her, or any of them, but Renee seemed to make a special point of making eye contact with them all.

  Derek glanced at his watch, then ushered everyone to follow him into the old but hugely impressive hotel.

  They moved through beautiful, wooden revolving doors into a marble-floored lobby where they were met by a young woman who introduced herself as Marisa.

  After Derek strode off toward the hotel’s corporate offices with Vance and Renee, clearly knowing exactly where he needed to be, Marisa turned to Jenny, Olivia, Chrissy, and Maxwell. Marisa was Latina, perhaps five or six years older than Jenny, with straight, dark-brown hair and big, expressive brown eyes. Her smile was warm and genuine, and Jenny let out a quiet sigh of relief. She’d had more than enough of jerks this morning already.

  “Okay, follow me,” Marisa said.

  “Isn’t this something?” Chrissy clutched at Jenny’s arm. “I’ve never been anywhere so fancy in my life!”

  “I know!” Jenny gazed around as they walked through the ground floor of the hotel. “I’m not going to touch anything. I’d only break it.”

  Chrissy laughed.

  The Hudson Room was every bit as impressive as Jenny had imagined. She stood in the center of the cavernous space and whistled softly. She knew it was nearly twenty thousand square feet in size and could seat almost two thousand people for a full dinner. Above her head, a stunning modern light installation filled a huge portion of the ceiling. It currently displayed a blue sky dotted with white, puffy clouds.

  “It contains three hundred and sixteen LED ceiling tiles connected to an AV system able to broadcast images that coordinate with whatever event is being held,” Maxwell said matter-of-factly.

  Jenny stared at him, then noticed everyone else in the room doing the same.

  “I… That’s true.” Marisa gaped at him. “How did you know that?”

  “Research.” Maxwell shrugged and wandered away.

  Marisa caught Jenny’s eye. “How…?”

  “Maxwell just knows stuff.” Jenny offered a wry smile.

  Marisa watched Maxwell walk a circuit of the huge room, admiration written all over her face. “And, yes, he’s right. The ceiling installation can display whatever you want. I asked the tech manager to turn it on for you so you had an idea of what it will do. Normally we’d only use it on an event night.”

  “Makes sense.” Jenny gazed upward again. “It’s amazing.”

  Olivia jotted in her notebook.

  Of course, Jenny thought with a snort. Then she begrudgingly realized perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea, and whipped out her cell phone to make her own observations.

  “What are you doing?” Chrissy asked from beside her.

  “Oh, just noting a few things, like where all the exits are, stuff like that. I’ll take some photos too. Might be useful.”

  “Oh, why didn’t I think of that? I was in a bit of a rush this morning, so I don’t have anything with me. Can you share yours with me later?”

  “Of course.” Jenny tilted her head. “You look kinda frazzled. Are you okay?”

  Chrissy blushed and leaned closer. “I had a date last night. Didn’t get home until way too late.”

  “Cool.” Jenny grinned. “Good for you.”

  “Okay, so you probably know all this already but seeing it will make it clearer.” Marisa waved them all over to where she stood in the center of the room. “The stage will be there.” She pointed to the end of the room. “As you can see, that has an entry-exit on either side. They each lead to the suites being used for dressing rooms, meeting spaces, et cetera. The runway will be built out from the center of the stage, ending about here.” She walked toward where the stage would be and stopped about thirty feet from it. “The tables will be placed around the room according to the plan I’m sure you’ve all seen, and the bar at the opposite end, here.” She pointed to the relevant spot.

  Jenny typed furiously on her phone and glanced up to see if she was the only one trying to write all this stuff down.

  Beside her and with her teeth worrying at her bottom lip, Olivia scribbled in her notebook at lightning speed.

  All of what Marisa said was new information, and Jenny wondered why she was only hearing about it now. Did anyone else know all this? Or had Derek kept them all in the dark?

  Marisa walked toward the stage area and over to one of the doors. She opened it and motioned for them all to walk through. A wide hallway ran the length of the space, with multiple doors leading off it.

  “I’m guessing this is an area you’ll be very familiar with by the end of the event,” Marisa said. “All your celebrities will be back here, plus a good part of the production and broadcast team, I’ve been told.”

  “You know a lot more than we do.” Olivia’s tone held a strong hint of annoyance.

  “For real?” Marisa’s eyes went wide. “Well, I guess it’s still early days, so…” She looked embarrassed.

  Jenny fumed. Why had Olivia been so snappy? It wasn’t Marisa’s job to share that kind of info, it was Derek’s. If Olivia was going to be pissed at anyone, it should be him.

  Olivia took one step closer to Marisa. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t angry at you. It seems we haven’t been given all the information we need, but that’s hardly your fault.”

  “I understand. I’m sorry you feel a little left out.” Marisa gave her a rueful smile.

  Jenny’s mouth fell open.

  Olivia had actually apologized. Was the world ending?

  Olivia exhaled. She’d had no right to express herself so rudely to Marisa. Thankfully, she’d accepted Olivia’s apology with grace. Bloody Derek, treating us like slaves who don’t need to know any details of the event and its setup. What was his problem?

  She followed Marisa and the others back to the main room. It was a beautiful space, and she could imagine how spectacular it would look on the night of the event. She’d taken a few photos on her phone, and now snapped a few more of the stage and runway area for reference. It was hard to visualize, but she’d figure it out.

  “How wide will the runway be?” Jenny asked Marisa.

  “About eight feet.” Marisa walked over to join Jenny, who stood roughly in the center of the imaginary runway. “It’ll be used by your fashion show segment, and also by the two main music acts, Napoli and Cosmina.”

  Olivia had seen in the latest update for the production the two big singing acts had agreed to appear. She wasn’t a fan of either the boy band, Napoli, or Cosmina, the woman who’d topped the Billboard R&B chart for sixteen weeks this year, but she knew they were big names and only added to the appeal of the event.

  Jenny walked toward where the stage would be. “So, the stage ends about here, yes?”

  Marisa followed her and directed her back into the room about six feet. “More like here.”

  “Okay.” Jenny tapped a few keys on her phone.

  Olivia had to admit, Jenny had impressed her this morning. She remembered what Broderick had admonished her for: not taking her colleagues seriously and giving them a chance before writing them off. She watched as Jenny paced out the length of the runway then made more notes after looking at where she was in the room. She seemed to be measuring how far everything was from the doors th
at led backstage.

  Oh, wait… Yes, of course! If anything happened on the stage or runway and a PA needed to get there in a hurry, it would be good to know how far a person, hunched over and running between tables, would need to travel.

  Good. Very good, Jenny.

  Jenny slipped her phone into her back pocket, then threw Chrissy and Maxwell, who stood together nearby, a cheeky grin. “Check this out,” she called, then placed one hand on her hip, turned extravagantly, and strutted back down the ‘runway’ toward the stage.

  Marisa, Chrissy, and Maxwell laughed.

  Olivia stood transfixed.

  Jenny’s hips swayed seductively as she walked, and her ass, encased in tight jeans, moved in ways that had Olivia’s blood heating rapidly in her veins. Jenny turned and thrust out her chest, raising her head to gaze out into the room. She looked first one way, then the other, a sultry pout on her lips and her gray eyes dark and…sexy.

  Olivia’s gaze raked over Jenny, taking in the pouting lips that looked more inviting than Olivia wanted to admit. Jenny’s hair, under the glow of the lights above, looked soft and worth running her hands through. Olivia’s exploring gaze dropped lower to breasts that weren’t too big or too small, then to the slim waist, and to the legs that looked so good hugged by the denim. She swallowed.

  Jenny was gorgeous. How had she not seen this before?

  Things were happening to Olivia. Nice things that made her skin tingle and her nipples tighten at the thought of running her hands over the body beneath Jenny’s clothes. Things she hadn’t allowed to happen for, what was it now? Oh yes: two years, five months. Not since she and Ali had split so spectacularly—and painfully. Those things weren’t supposed to happen now, not since she and Broderick had made their deal. Not at all. Certainly not with a colleague. And definitely not with Jenny, of all people. She had pink hair, for God’s sake. Olivia had never looked twice at anyone like Jenny. She wasn’t her type. At all. And yet Olivia still couldn’t pull her gaze away, still found her mouth going dry as Jenny performed one more strut for her laughing audience, still found her gaze drawn inexorably to Jenny’s ass.

  Stop! Look away!

  She managed it, eventually. Then she stepped back, needing to get away and find somewhere to compose herself, because she knew without a doubt her unexpected desire was written all over her face.

  “I’m just going to the bathroom.” Her voice was a croak, and she fled the room before anyone could respond.

  What’s up with her? Jenny stared after the retreating Olivia.

  “Hey, Jenny.” Maxwell appeared at her side, once again startling her with his stealth.

  This time, she managed to only jump a little. “Hey.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. Why?”

  “You have that look on your face again.”

  Jenny dragged her gaze away from the fleeing Olivia, knowing her face was pink but not knowing why. So she’d been staring after Olivia and those legs again. So what?

  “She’s very organized, isn’t she?” Maxwell said. There was admiration in his tone.

  “You astound me, man.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes! It’s clear you think Olivia’s pretty cool, and I think that’s amazing of you given what she did.” Jenny looked up at him.

  “What did she do?”

  “You know! That whole thing with the broadcast truck permits.”

  Maxwell frowned so deeply his forehead looked like the Grand Canyon. “What thing? There wasn’t any problem with the permits. Was there?”

  “Come on, don’t play games. Olivia set you up to take the fall when she booked the permits for the wrong day. I can’t believe you’re willing to forget all that.”

  He held up a hand. “There was no issue with the permits. I booked them, not her. If there was a problem, Derek didn’t say anything about it to me.”

  “He didn’t haul you into his office and tear you a new one over it?” Jenny’s mind spun. How had Chrissy got her info so wrong?

  “No, he didn’t. And the only time Olivia and I spoke about it, she complimented me on handling it so quickly.”

  “She did?” None of this added up. Unless Chrissy had lied to her about the whole thing. But that was ridiculous—why would she lie?

  He nodded, then frowned again. “I don’t know what the problem is between you two, but I… Well, I don’t want to get dragged into it, okay?”

  Jenny’s face burned. “Yeah, okay. Look, I’m sorry. I obviously misunderstood something I was told. It won’t happen again.”

  “Okay, cool.” He took a step back. “So, I came over to ask you to take a look at the space where the broadcast trucks will park on the night.”

  “Sure. Lead on.” Jenny followed him toward the back of the stage, her mind churning.

  Chapter 13

  September arrived with wet, humid weather that left everyone in a foul mood.

  Olivia, used to the vagaries of the British weather, took it better than others.

  “I feel like I swam to work,” Jenny complained one morning, staring at her wet feet. She’d worn Tevas to work with capri pants; water dripped off the sandals and the capri pants were soaked to the knees.

  Those same pants did nothing to help Olivia forget how great Jenny’s legs—and ass—were. It was becoming annoying. More than annoying. Ever since that day at the Excelsior, Olivia had found her gaze wandering to observe Jenny far too many times each day. She’d actually been thankful she’d spent all of the previous week out of the office over at the Chelsea Television Studios, working with a team filming a new cookery show. It hadn’t been riveting work—Olivia’s main role was to run around picking up trash and discarded pieces of vegetables—but the free food on offer at the end of the day was good. And it had kept her away from Jenny and the baffling distraction she had become.

  “Everything okay?” Jenny frowned at Olivia.

  Oh great, I’m doing it again. Olivia wrenched her gaze away and focused on her screen. “Fine.” Her tone was brusque, her embarrassment at being caught staring at Jenny’s legs making her response ruder than she might have wished.

  “Whatever,” Jenny muttered, just loud enough for Olivia to hear.

  “Sorry.” Olivia felt Jenny’s gaze but forced herself not to look at her. Just stay focused on your screen.

  She’d tried to rationalize it, of course. Two years—over two years—without sex hadn’t been easy. It was the one aspect of the fake marriage she hadn’t thought through. Knowing how much his new career meant to Broderick, and how much looking the part—straight, a “man’s man” with a beautiful wife on his arm—meant in the racing world, she’d sworn she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that for him. And that meant no risk of being seen out at, for example, one of the lesbian bars in the city.

  Having had her heart broken by Ali not long before the nastiness with Sally had certainly helped in the first year in New York. Ali had stayed in London when Olivia got the job in Bristol, and they’d known living in different cities would mean they’d have to work hard at keeping their relationship alive. But Ali’s definition of working hard was to find herself someone else to sleep with during the week when she and Olivia had promised to be exclusive. It had left Olivia reeling in pain. Sally’s betrayal on top of that had nearly broken her completely.

  After arriving in New York, getting involved with someone again was the furthest thing from her mind. But now, in this second of the two-year deal she and Broderick had made, she felt a little…lonely. And horny. So it was obvious someone, anyone, with a body like Jenny’s would garner Olivia’s attention. But why did it have to be Jenny, of all people?

  Olivia resumed her work building the list of food intolerances as well as likes and dislikes that the sportsmen starring in the Excelsior event professed, hoping that mundane task would distract her. Deal
ing with each of their managers, or their personal assistants, actually hadn’t been as bad as she’d dreaded. Most of them had already prepared sheets with all the details, so it had been easy to amalgamate them into one document. She scowled as she worked. I single-handedly managed an entire eight-week run of The Wizard of Oz at Bath Theatre, and here I am typing up a list that tells me this major NFL player won’t eat bananas and that tennis player doesn’t like too much foam on his cappuccino. God give me strength.

  Olivia scowled again. She spent so much of her time frowning or scowling, Jenny was surprised she didn’t have lines permanently etched in her face. But Olivia’s skin was flawless. Beautiful. The apology she’d thrown Jenny’s way right after she’d snapped at her had been surprising, to say the least.

  Jenny had stared at her, willing Olivia to meet her gaze. She wanted to…what? Start a conversation, share a joke about something? Yeah, right. But whatever Jenny wanted, Olivia had resolutely remained looking at her screen, her fingers flying over her keyboard.

  Olivia had been an absolute mystery to Jenny these past two or three weeks. One moment she stared at Jenny with a strange, indecipherable look on her face, the next she treated Jenny as if she’d been put on this planet solely to make Olivia’s life difficult. One minute she complained about something Jenny had formatted with the wrong font in one of the shared spreadsheets, the next she praised her for the clarity of her summary of the building regulations to be aware of the night of the Catwalk event. These two very different sides to Olivia screwed with Jenny’s head in a big way.

  Thank God for Chrissy, was all Jenny could think. She and Chrissy had become good friends, spending whatever lunch breaks they could together. They’d shared a little personal stuff, but Jenny had made sure to gloss over the details of her family life. She liked Chrissy but, apart from Adrienne, she’d never shared her whole story with another work colleague and didn’t intend to start now.

  As if conjured by Jenny’s thoughts, Chrissy bounced over. She’d been in an early meeting with Derek and appeared with a big smile on her face. “Hey!” She perched on the edge of Jenny’s desk. “Coffee?”