“Oh.”
Shit.
He laughed. “Yep. Now, where do you knowme?”
“You’re not the short one from that picture.”Sighing, I just shoved my wallet back in my pocket and shook my head. “I’mgoing home and putting up a new ad. This obviously isn’t going to work.”
Eddie was supposed to have been helping mefind someone open-minded but laid back…and not a sexy alpha. I was fairly certainI’d made that point clear.
Hadn’t I?
I should’ve made it extremely clear becausebeing attracted to the guy who’d be my personal assistant would be a bad ideaon many levels.
And knowing someone from my real life atthe kink get-together was not what I’d signed up for.
This had to be Austin’s fault…I just didn’tknow how yet.
The laughter almost stopped, but Tristandidn’t bother hiding his entertainment at the predicament. “I told you I wasthe one on the left. Come on. I think this is funny.”
I snorted but stopped leaving the kitchen.Turning, I leaned against a cabinet and folded my arms across my chest. “Ithought you were the slim, young guy with the glasses. You even said you wereshorter than most of the guys in your family.”
We’d emailed back and forth several timesbecause he’d been more interesting than the edits. I gestured vaguely towardhim. “This is not boring or short.”
He barked out a laugh. “My ex was small butnot boring. Just insane.”
Narrowing my eyes, I thought back to theemails. “Why did you send me a picture of you with your ex?”
Tristan shook his head, almost like I wascute. I should’ve been more annoying. “Because I’m not a narcissist who has athousand pictures of themselves on command?”
Okay, maybe that was reasonable.
“You were really supposed to be…shorter.”It probably wasn’t a good idea to tell him that he was supposed to have beenuglier too.
He snorted. “Sure, you wanted a personalassistant who was shorter.”
“Yes.” I nodded and straightened. “Thankyou for understanding that it won’t work.”
He barked out a laugh. “No. I think thathas to be illegal. I’ll sue.”
Really?
Tanner would figure out a way to get me outof it. Well, either him or Austin. Austin knew everyone. “I’ll get a lawyer?”
He grinned. “And tell them what? You’reembarrassed that someone you were interested in hiring is an alpha Dom andyou’re not sure if you can work with someone you’re attracted to? I wonder ifyou’d have to confess you had fantasies about being punished by your Dom admin?What if I promised to buy a ruler?”
Oh shit.
My mouth was open and I looked like afucking goldfish, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I…you…”
There was no way Tristan guessed thatrandomly. Sure, it was a common enough fantasy among submissive omegas, but theruler part? “I…”
His smile shifted and was suddenly morerelaxed. “You named your first erotica character the same thing as your firstmystery. You’ve got a handful of fans who’ve guessed, but it’s an undergroundthing. So see, I’m perfect. I know your secret and I have the skills to helpyou. And even better, I won’t have to read your backlist of erotica to catchup, so I can help you manage that side of things right away.”
I was still blinking at him, so he keptgoing.
Tristan seemed excited. “Your publisherhandles most of the mysteries. I’ve seen you complaining about them online, butyou only do minimal other advertising on those because with your core readergroup being so vast it doesn’t make sense timewise. It’s the sexier stuff thatyou need help managing, right?”
I found myself nodding stupidly.
