Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,198

besties had pitted themselves against each other.

“But I have more journalism experience,” Bethany said.

“Writing restaurant reviews for a local Orange County free magazine?” Alexa said. “Please. Kait, honestly, I know I’d be great for this if you’d just…”

“And so will I, I’ll be better—”

“Girls,” Kait said, holding up a hand. “Easy on the sales pitch. I’m not making any rash decisions here.”

“Look at these pictures,” said Renee, “and all the women he’s been with.” She took two, and held them up. “There are eight here, and more on the Internet that I didn’t pull. He clearly has a type. Out of all of us, there is one person who seems like his exact type. It’s her.”

The room was quiet, and when I looked up I realized Bethany had been speaking to me. I even pointed to myself and said, “Who—me?”

I felt my pulse beginning to pound increasingly faster.

“She’s right,” Kait said, really examining the photos. She picked up a photo of Leo riding bicycles with a brunette in Manhattan. “Looks just like her.” Her eyes widened. “The bone structure, the lips, the eyes…”

“I don’t believe this,” said Alexa.

I saw only a passing resemblance to the beauty in the photo, and that was mostly due to the long dark hair. And she probably wore extensions anyway.

Suddenly, all eyes were on me. And I laughed. A stupid, sputtering laugh.

“Well, I,” I began. “I mean, of course I’m up for whatever you want,” I said to Kait. “But I’m sure you want someone with more experience. Either of you guys would be better than me,” I said to Alexa and Bethany, who looked at me with narrowed eyes.

Kait fixed her sharp eyes on me and said, “When I hired you, you told me you were a hard worker who was willing to do whatever was best for the magazine.”

“I know but...”

“And we’ll be there for you,” Kait said. “I’ll be there for you. I’ll be your direct editor on this story and will help you through it.”

“Kait, you can’t be serious,” said Bethany. “She just got here. From Maine. And you’re going to trust her with this? No disrespect but that’s crazy.”

Bethany was right—it was crazy. Yeah, the writing and investigative part of it frightened me, but in a good sense. It’d be a challenge but I wasn’t afraid of a challenge. After all, I’d packed up my life and moved all the way out here knowing exactly zero people. What worried me the most was Leo Armstrong. The intimidation of this guy came right off the glossy photos scattered across the table. I could handle the writing—but could I handle the subject?

They wanted me to date this big celebrity, and dating was far from my strong suit…

“No, Renee is right,” Kait said. “Sophie looks the part. She’s a good writer or I wouldn’t have hired her. And I think her innocence will lend itself well to the subject. He’d never guess a sweet little New England girl is out to get him.” The look in Kait’s eyes made it clear that she was living for the day she busted Leo Armstrong. It made me squirm in my seat. That and the fact that—was this really happening? Was she going to make me do this job?

“She’ll need a makeover, in the very least,” Alexa said.

“Not to mention wardrobe,” Bethany said, looking me down.

“Good thing we have entire sections of this floor dedicated to fashion and beauty,” Kait said. “With the right makeup and hair and clothes, we can make Sophie look like Leo’s dream girl.” And then, after thinking some more, she looked at me and said, “Congratulations, Sophie. You just received your first assignment.”

“Lucky girl,” said Renee.

“Unbelievable,” muttered Bethany.

In my head I knew they were both right. I was lucky, and it was completely unbelievable. It was also totally out of my league.

Chapter 2

By the next day, Kait had gathered up even more photos of Leo Armstrong and his ex-girlfriends and had them posted all over her wall. She called me into her office, and when I stood in the doorway, she was staring at them with Alexa and Bethany sitting in the chairs in front of Kait’s desk.

“They’re right,” she said, without turning to look at me. “You are most definitely his type.”

“Look, Kait, I’ve been thinking,” I began. I’d spent the whole sleepless night thinking and not much else. This was crazy. I couldn’t do this assignment. I’d blow my so-called cover in the first three minutes. I felt nauseous