me back to the table, and it must be my lucky day because it’s just Carter and Jeff. Luckily, Ryan and Sylvia get here right after, so there is no small talk.
“Saturday night. Spago. My PR team. This should be fun,” Carter says, and I look at him. All of him—the smirk is out, the fucking dimple is on point, and his eyes are ready. “Let the good times roll.”
Ryan looks at him and laughs. “I thought it would be good to touch base right before we started filming, so everyone is on the same page.”
“I think this is a great idea, so we know where everyone stands,” Jeff says. “I know that Carter and Erin spent the day working together yesterday.”
“Erin,” Ryan says to me, and I look over at him. “How do you feel it went?”
I start to think of my words, and then I look up at Carter. I think it’s the worst thing to do because he just stares at me. “It went well. At least, I think it went great. I checked his Instagram, and he gained followers after he posted the photoshoot video. Now, I have no idea about last night. I haven’t seen any pictures.”
“That’s because there aren’t any,” he says, and he is almost glaring at me. “I ordered Chinese and went to bed.”
“So you say,” Sylvia says, then looks at Ryan and then back to Carter. “The point of this meeting really is that you leave on Monday for Montana.”
“And?” he says, not sure of the question.
“And last time you went to the ‘country,’ you had an orgy,” Ryan says from beside me but stops talking when the waiter comes over to introduce himself and gives us the specials before walking away.
“Having friends over to enjoy the hot tub is not an orgy,” Carter says, shrugging.
“There were eight girls and one man,” Ryan says, and I shake my head and roll my eyes. “I believe the picture had a tagline of Johnson’s harem.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Jeff says, but his voice is anything but convincing.
“Not bad?” Sylvia says, grabbing her phone and placing it in the middle of the table. I casually look over at it and see it. Carter is in the middle of the bed, and the women are draped all over him. Every one of them is touching him while one is lying across his lap. You know that they are all naked.
“That was a long time ago,” Jeff says, and I refrain from saying anything. Instead, I pick up my water.
“If you guys are so scared of the temptation and possibilities in Montana, then why don’t you guys send Erin with me?” Carter says, and my head snaps to him.
“What?” I whisper, but Carter just continues talking.
“It’s obviously a big job to keep me on the straight and narrow, so having Erin there for two weeks will help. We can go over all the tricks, and she can be in charge of my social media while I’m there, so it will also create buzz for the movie if she does the pictures from on set. You have to admit it’s a brilliant plan.”
I look over at Ryan and Sylvia. “Surely, you aren’t entertaining this ridiculous idea?”
Sylvia looks at Ryan, and then Ryan turns to me. “That isn’t a bad idea. Actually, it would be like hitting two birds with one stone. We can get the word out about the movie, and we can show that he’s changed his ways and is serious about his professional life more than his partying ways.”
“What’s the matter?” Carter says, and I turn to look at him. “Afraid the distance would be too much with your boyfriend?” he says, and if I could kick him under the table with my heel, I would.
“Your boyfriend?” Sylvia says, shocked, looking at me. I turn to look at her, and both she and Ryan are looking at me.
Turning back and glaring at Carter, I say quietly, “It’s a new thing.”
“This is a great idea,” Jeff says, and I’m baffled that everyone is agreeing to this crazy-ass plan.
“Hold on a second,” I finally say loudly, and everyone looks at me. “This is crazy. I’m going to go to Montana with him and follow him around to make sure the lock remains engaged on his chastity belt?”
“Erin, it won’t be like that. We aren’t asking you to follow him around but to do marketing,” Sylvia says. “We will also give you control of the company’s social media