Follow Me Darkly (Follow Me #1) - Helen Hardt Page 0,61
utensils out of cupboards and drawers. I’m surprised he knows where everything is. He dishes out a plate of food and hands it to me.
“Thanks,” I murmur. I sit on one of the barstools at the granite island and wince slightly.
“Sore?” he asks, a twinkle in his eye.
“No. Just a little tender.” I take a bite of the spicy curry.
Again, silence descends.
“Something interesting happened at work today,” I finally say.
“Oh? What’s that?”
I give him the short version of the call from Eugenie at Susanne Cosmetics.
“Are you going to call her?” he asks.
“I haven’t decided yet. Addie won’t like it. I’ll probably lose my job.”
“She hasn’t fired you yet.”
“No, but we had a shoot today. For the pet boutique where I got Sasha’s gift basket. She needed me.”
“She’ll always need you.”
“I’m not sure of that. Besides, the only reason Susanne wants me to do a post about the lip stain is because of you.”
“So?”
“How can you be so nonchalant? I’m a nobody. No one gives a crap what kind of lip stain I wear except for the fact that apparently I’m your girlfriend now.”
“So?” he says again.
I lift my eyebrows, shaking my head slightly. “What don’t you get about this?”
“Here’s what I get,” he says. “This is an opportunity for you. Would you have this opportunity if not for me? Maybe not, but it’s still an opportunity that has presented itself. Take it, Skye. You’re a fool if you don’t.”
“A fool? How dare you—”
He gestures for me to stop.
I do.
“Don’t get all excited. Anyone, including me, is a fool not to take advantage of what’s thrown in his lap. Do you think I haven’t taken every opportunity that’s come my way? I won’t leave you in suspense. I have, and some of them came along simply because I was in the right place at the right time. They had nothing to do with me.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re a self-made man, Braden.”
“For the most part, that’s true. But do you truly think I never had any help along the way? That opportunities fell into my lap simply because I’m me?”
“I’ve read all about you.”
“The media never tells the whole story.”
I pounce at his opening and smile. “Will you, then, Braden? Will you tell me the whole story?”
His lips twitch.
Yeah, I got him. He’s trying not to smile.
“You are a challenge, Skye.”
“You’ve said that many times,” I say. “Has it escaped your notice that you’re also a challenge?”
“I never said I wasn’t.”
“What will we do, then?”
He swallows a bite of food. “I’ve never backed down from a challenge.”
“Neither have I.”
“Then you’ll do the post for Susanne Cosmetics.”
I freeze, my forkful of food stopped midway between my plate and my mouth. How did we get back to that? Already I know the answer.
“You don’t play fair,” I say.
“Sure I do. I’m just more experienced than you are.”
I can’t fault his observation. “Posting about lip stain isn’t exactly a challenge.”
“Of course it is. It’s something new. It’s something you’re not sure you’re up for, but it fell in your lap. You can take your own pictures, Skye. Get credit for them. This is what you want.”
“I want to take photos of things that move people. No one’s going to be moved by me wearing Susanne lip stain.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it’s makeup, Braden. Who cares?”
“Your followers.”
“The mobs who follow influencers aren’t concerned about anything real.”
“Do you know all of them?”
“Of course not, but—”
“Don’t you see, Skye? You have the chance to grow a platform. To reach people. Once you reach them, you can introduce them to the kind of photos that will move them.”
Chapter Forty-One
My mouth drops open.
No wonder Braden has come so far.
He’s fucking brilliant.
“But,” he continues, “never take the first offer. I don’t care how high it is, counteroffer something higher.”
“What if they tell me to go jump in the lake?”
“Then they tell you to go jump in the lake.”
“But then—”
“Skye, show them you know what you’re worth. They’re not getting just Braden Black’s girlfriend with you. They’re getting an ace photographer, someone who can make their product look amazing. They know that, and if they don’t, they will soon.”
“Wait a minute,” I say, my mind working overtime. “You didn’t…”
“Of course not. I had nothing to do with them calling you. It may surprise you to know that I don’t have time to call cosmetics companies and ask them to hire my girlfriend.”
I nod. It sounds really ridiculous when he says it.
“Never be afraid to turn down the first offer. You’re new