Which was a disturbing realization.
“You thought you’d just disrespect my entire show and everything I’ve worked so hard to accomplish here?”
There were easily twenty people in the room with us, but not one made a sound. They were also all motionless, as if moving would draw his attention and his wrath. “I didn’t mean any disrespect to you, sir.”
He leaned forward, both of his hands clenched up like he was fixing to punch me next. “Then I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Unless you want to be blackballed from this industry for the rest of your life, you will never pull another stunt like you did tonight, where you acted angry and put out. You will act like Dante hangs the moon and as if you can’t wait to be his wife. Do you understand me, or do I need to use smaller words?”
I could feel the sweat beads forming at my hairline. “No, sir. I mean, yes, sir, I understand you and you don’t need to use smaller words. Sir.”
Then he slammed his hands down hard on a nearby table, making everyone jump in fear. “And no more logos! Didn’t anyone explain that to her? No shirts with logos on them!”
I fought back the urge to cross my arms across my chest, like I could hide what he’d already seen.
“Now get out.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. My heart pounded in my throat, and a silvery, metallic taste filled my mouth as I sprinted out the door and across the yard before anyone could catch up with me. I ran like a scalded haint.
The Monterran royals were my only clients. I’d been so busy with the engagement announcement and the show that I hadn’t had time to try and find anyone else. And no one else would ever even speak to me if I angered Matthew Burdette. How could I help a potential client if no talk show hosts would e-mail me back, or if no reporter would return my calls? I could never get anyone any publicity. I had no fallback plan if Burdette carried through on his threat to blackball me.
And if that happened, I would have to go home to Georgia, tail between my legs, proving everyone right. Like the bosses from my summer coffee-fetching internships, who immediately assumed I was nothing more than a dumb blonde and predicted that I wouldn’t be able to hack it in the real world, or my family, who thought I didn’t need a job.
I had worked so hard to prove myself. I couldn’t fail miserably. I reckoned I would do whatever I had to do to keep my company afloat.
Even pretending to be falling in love with Dante whenever a camera was pointed at us.
I headed straight for the kitchen and threw open the door of the stocked pantry. There was mostly quinoa, granola, and dried fruit, but I did manage to find a box of Keebler Mini Fudge Stripes in the one-hundred-calorie packs.
Ripping the box apart, I sat in the middle of the pantry and started hoovering up cookies as fast as I could get the packages open. I had always been a terrible stress eater, and I knew I’d be kicking myself tomorrow.
Or later today. After I got some sleep.
I didn’t feel tired anymore though. I was so wired. Like I was mainlining coffee.
My cheeks felt wet, and I realized that I was crying angrily. I wasn’t the type to run away from anything. My daddy used to say that in a fight between me and a grizzly bear, he’d put his money on me. And now I was cowering in a pantry. I hated that I’d been so weak in front of Matthew Burdette. But he held all the cards, and I had none. I never liked feeling powerless and out of control.
It was in this state that Dante found me. Sitting on a pantry floor, streaks of black mascara running down my face, surrounded by crumpled-up empty packages.
“Limone, what’s wrong? What happened?” He crouched down next to me, his expression of concern too much for me. It made me want to cry more.
Instead I sniffled, ordered myself to stop crying, and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I tried to calmly and dispassionately recap my run-in with Burdette. Dante sat down next to me and put his arm around me. It took all the willpower I possessed not to turn and cry on his very broad and very comforting shoulders.
“Do you want me to go and talk to him?”
“No!” I barked, startling him. “That’s the absolute last thing I want you to do. I’m a big girl and I don’t need you to protect me. I can do this on my own, even though nobody else thinks I can.”