I won’t let him get to me again. Will. Not. Let him. Affect me.
Lifting my chin, I forced myself to look at him eye-to-eye. “What do you want, Jack?”
Chapter Nine
The Groveling Olympics
Jack
It was a good question.
Unfortunately, the contents of my brain seemed to empty every time those intense brown eyes met mine.
What was it about this woman that affected me this way? It took me a few seconds of fumbling before I found the words I wanted to say.
“I’m sorry.”
Actually, Ididn’twant to say those words, but Hunter had told me I had no choice.
“You’ve gotta do it, man, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much the words burn your tongue coming out,” he’d said. “You gotta say it. Otherwise, she’s going to print that you’re a jackass, and you won’t even be able to sue for slander because it’ll be true.”
I’d let out a frustrated breath, hating the position my publisher had put me in—the position I’d put myself in, if I was being honest.
“She’ll never go for it. You didn’t see me in action. I really blew it. She hates my guts, and I don’t blame her.”
“Youwerean idiot—no doubt about it. But she’ll go for it,” he’d assured me. “Women love groveling.”
My whole body had tensed. “I’mnotgoing to grovel.”
“Fine, fine, whatever you want to call it then. Women love apologies.”
“What if she doesn’t love it? What if she tells me to get lost?”
“Then make it worth her while to stick around and do the interview.”
“How?” I’d asked.
“I don’t know—offer her something she wants.”
“How am I supposed to know what she wants?”
“I don’t know, what do all reporters want? Exclusive stuff, right? Offer her an exclusive excerpt of the book or something,” Hunter suggested.
“I never do excerpts before a new release.”
“You won’t be doing a releaseat allif you don’t find a way to mend fences with this woman. I’m telling you, brother, figure out what she wants… and give it to her.”
At the moment, it looked like Bonnie wanted nothing more than to slap me.
But she didn’t. She swallowed, tilted her head as she looked at the ground, then met my gaze again.
“Thank you for saying that. And I apologize for the things I said. I was out of line. I’m sorry the interview didn’t work out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my ride is probably waiting outside.”
She started trying to move past me, but I side-stepped in front of her. “He’s not. I… had Harrison send him away.”
Those incredible brown eyes went wide. “You didwhat? How am I supposed to get back to my hotel? Walk?”
“No, of course not. I’ll be happy to give you a ride back, but I’m hoping you’ll agree to stick around for a while first… and finish the interview.”
