the woman said, her New York gaze assessing him anew. “Hmmm. Interesting.”
Mike didn’t dare ask this what exactly she found interesting lest he fall into some other invisible verbal trap.
“So, to impress her, you’re going to wander around during her event and annoy guests with stupid questions so you can capture them on film?”
“Well, not exactly—”
“Because, as a heads up, 95% of the people who will becoming wouldn’t know Aurora Townsend if they passed her on the street. They’ll just be here because it will be one of the ‘it’ things to do that night and they want to appear on the social page or a fashion blog.”
“Well, if I do my job right very few people will take notice of me. I’m thinking of using seven cameras for the occasion, most of which would be overhead and out of sight of all the guests. I would be able to control them by remote and then take a handheld through the crowd during busy pushes and capture candid chatter and reactions.”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed. “Seven?”
Mike nodded. “I think that should be enough.”
She chewed her bottom lip lightly. “With monitor feeds for each one?”
“Yeah.”
She watched him for another beat, then stuck out her hand. “I’m Chloe, by the way. And I guess I should do my job and help you find Fredrik.”
Mike took her hand. Man, the woman had a grip. “Thanks, Chloe.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Talking a big game and delivering a good game are two different things. I minored in film in college. I just want to see what you can pull off in the name of impressing Rori.”
Mike made the mental note to call Rori “Aurora” in professional circles. “You have a great space here, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to pull off something marketable.”
Chloe smirked at him over her shoulder as she started away and didn’t offer an answer. Mike had no idea what she was thinking, but he was pretty sure that he had just set something in motion.
One minute after Chloe disappeared a man Mike recognized from Rori’s pictures on Facebook appeared.
“Well, here you are in the flesh,” he gushed, holding out his hand. “I’m Fredrik.”
Mike shook his hand. “Mike. Thanks for having me.”
“Of course. Did Chloe show you around?”
He sent her a smile. “We didn’t get that far. She found me showing myself around.”
“Oh, we can’t have that,” Fredrik said. “Let me show you the space. Personal tour.”
“That’d be great. Thank you.”
Chapter 47
When Rori finally tracked Mike down he was literally in the rafters with Fredrik holding a ladder for him.
“Ah, so you did make it here,” she said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
Mike’s face popped into view above her. “Hi, there. Yep. I got here. Fredrik was just letting check out anchor points.”
“Oh. Sounds fun.”
Fredrik wiggled his eyebrows and kept his voice soft when he added, “He’s gone up and down this ladder six times already.”
Rori rolled her eyes. “Well, let me know when you want to break for dinner. My treat.”
“Oh, Fredrik invited us both to his place,” Mike said.
“He did?” Rori said, sending Fredrik a narrow look.
Fredrik didn’t even try to apologize. “The food will be fabulous, won’t it, Rori? You’ve been to our soirees.”
“Yes,” she said, her smile plastic. “Excellent food.”
“Great,” Mike beamed. “I’ll just keep poking around for camera spots until then.”
“Great,” Rori echoed, hoping she sounded sincere. “I’ll finish up with some stuff upstairs.”
“Perfect,” Fredrik said and sent her a little wave. “I’ll make sure he finds your place and gets showered.”
Yeah. She just bet he would. The man was very lucky they were in public and in front of witnesses, because Rori was one breath away from strangling Fredrik as she stormed away.
Chapter 48
Nothing was going according to plan. Before Fredrik had beat her to the punch Rori had planned on taking Mike to dinner, getting a little alcohol in their systems, and taking him home. Instead they spent the evening in a room full of gay men. And when they’d gone back to her place it had been past midnight and Mike had focused on unpacking.
Mike had been in New York over eight hours and she hadn’t even gotten a hug.
The next morning he had been out the door before she even woke up. As it was, the smell of freshly brewed coffee woke her about ten minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off. When she got up there was half a pot of fresh coffee and