A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

“I will try,” she said as she leaned up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Sorry about last weekend. Something came up. And to be honest, I wasn’t really sure about seeing dad”

Julian realized that he was what came up when he’d finessed Nina away for the weekend. While he was sorry she’d missed what was evidently an important family gathering, he couldn’t summon any regret for the way their weekend in the island had come together.

“You don’t have to be worried about anything. Trust me” Cole replied. “Dad wants to see you. He misses you. You should pick his calls and go see him. Give him a chance”

Nina nodded. “I will… As soon as I have the time” she replied.

“It was nice meeting you both,” Julian said sincerely.

The other men nodded and shook his hand again before departing the room.

“Interesting family you have, Red,” he said when they’d gone.

Nina sighed. “I love them dearly, but they’re pretty insufferable.”

“It’s obvious they love you a lot,” he said.

She smiled. “Yeah, and I love them to pieces, too. Warts and all.”

A moment later, Tony Parker ambled into the room and once again gave Nina a bone-crushing hug. Then he turned to Julian and looked back at Nina.

“So, is this the man?” he asked.

“I’d say you’re the man if you agree to front my new line of athletic wear,” Julian said, taking charge of the meeting.

“Julian, I’d like you to meet my friend, who’s actually like a brother to me, Tony Parker. I met him through Cole” Nina said as she stepped forward. “Tony, this is Julian Martin, owner of Mart Enterprises.”

Julian eyed them skeptically at first. Her friend? Everything made a hell of lot more sense with that revelation. To be honest he was beginning to think a lot of things about Nina and Tony Parker. This certainly cleared a lot of things for him.

Julian cleared his throat. Here he’d been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he was more concerned with finding out Nina’s secrets than securing a deal with Tony Parker.

He shook hands with Tony. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said.

“A pleasure to meet you too” Tony replied.

“I thought it might be best if you and Julian went to dinner and talked about the deal Julian is offering,” Nina inserted.

“What about you?” Julian asked sharply. He hadn’t counted on Nina leaving him and Tony. Hell, he hadn’t even realized he’d be meeting Tony so soon. Suddenly his plans for a night of making love to Nina didn’t seem so realistic.

“I have other plans,” she said lightly. “Besides, I really have nothing to do with this part. You and Tony need to discuss the possibilities. I’d just be in the way.”

Tony shrugged then looked at Julian. “You like barbeque?”he asked.

“Love it.” Julian replied.

“Good. I know this great place just a few blocks from here. We can grab dinner and talk.”

“I drove him here, Tony, so you’ll need to give him a ride back to his place. That okay?” Nina asked. She turned to Julian. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Nine o’clock at the Standard Gate.”

“I can have my driver meet me,” Julian said. “It’s not a problem.” He glared at Nina as he said it. The woman was ditching him. What he’d thought was finally an effort to see him outside of a business setting had, in fact, just been a business meeting in disguise. He’d deal with her later, though. Right now he had a sports superstar to woo, and he’d be damned if he let his irritation with Nina interfere.

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Nina paced the Standard Gate conference room. Her nerves were wound tight, and she’d meticulously gone over every little detail of her presentation. The televisions out front had mock-ups created by the media folks. An endless stream of Mart Enterprises promotion ran on the video monitors and the art department had framed several print-ad options and displayed them in the conference room.

With fifteen minutes to go time, the other members of her team had assembled.

Tension was high but so was excitement. Trevor Williams had congratulated her on landing the biggest client for Standard Gate thus far, but he’d acted distracted and distant. Nina wondered if he was indeed having issues with the rumored girlfriend..

The others had all been quick to add their congratulations. No contract had been signed, but they all seemed convinced that after this morning, Mart Enterprises would be in the bag. She hoped they were right.

Tony had called last night after an extended dinner with Julian. Apparently after the barbeque the two had gone for beers and spent the evening like old college buddies.

Julian had extended an extremely cushy offer, one that had surprised even a very jaded Tony. The two were meeting later with their respective lawyers to iron out the details, but Tony said he’d agreed.

“Okay, we’ve got five minutes,” Nina said. “Let’s take our places and get ready to knock his socks off.”

They took their seats along the conference table. Evan smiled at Nina and gave her a thumbs-up before taking a seat next to Camille. Mason took the seat next to Trevor, who frowned and reached into his pocket for his phone.

“Excuse me for a minute,” he said as he rose from his seat. He crossed the room out of earshot to take a phone call.

The intercom buzzed and Rebecca announced that Julian had arrived. “Shall I show him back?” she asked.

Nina took a deep breath, looked at her coworkers lining the conference table all ready to do their part, and said, “Show him back, Rebecca.”Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

As Nina ended the conversation, Trevor returned to the table.

“Sorry, but I have to go,” he announced. “And I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

Hopefully no more than a few days. I’ll let you know when I have more details.”

He turned and strode out of the room, leaving Nina and the others to stare after him in astonishment. Nina glanced over at Evan Banks and raised an eyebrow. Evan shrugged and gestured for her to continue on. Whatever was up with Trevor would have to wait. This meeting was too important to all of them.