Page 22 of Heartless

Melany had already informed me about Madison’s daily visits to the spa. At least she hadn’t demanded that I pay for her massages.

“Are you spying on me, Wilson? Are you that scared of me? Is it because of your last assistant? Afraid I might turn your entire staff against you?”

“It’s your third day here and my staff already hates you, Madison.”

Katie cleared her throat. “Annie Foster and her fiancé are here, sir.”

I glanced behind my shoulder, then looked at Madison again. “Behave,” I warned.

“You should smile a little,” she said. “You look like you’re trying to hold in a fart.”

Katie giggled while I rubbed at my forehead. Madison noticed my irritation. “I told you that you would be the one with the headache.”

“I never argued about that.”

Annie reached us and hugged Madison, then introduced her to Roger. I already knew him, so we shook hands briefly. He was a screenwriter. A good-looking guy, but not what you would picture Hollywood's sweetheart with.

Madison stirred the conversation towards the event she was supposed to plan and I was supposed to endure. She was all professional.Not a trace from the woman that joked about stinky farts just moments earlier.

“Anything else decided besides the venue?” She asked the happy couple.

“And the wedding planner,” Annie pointed at Madison. “Not really. We have mostly disagreements.”

“That’s normal. Planning a wedding is a process. Take it one step at a time. Tell me about your biggest disagreement.”

“Flower arrangements. I want roses everywhere. Roger thinks roses are boring.”

Roger exhaled like he had been having that discussion a thousand times already. “We all know that roses are a symbol of love,” he said. “We are obviously in love if we are getting married. Aren’t roses a little anticlimactic?”

Writers.

“Roses aren’t just a symbol of love,” Madison offered. “They could mean a lot of things. Passion. Friendship. Purity. They are even associated with secrecy and confidentiality. Have you ever heard of the termsub rosa?”

“No,” Annie and Roger said at the same time.

“In ancient times, people used to hang roses from the ceilings, or carve them into ceilings as decorations. It was understood that everything said under the rose would remain confidential.”

Roger snorted. “Yeah, well, we are getting married in front of three hundred people, so I don’t think there will be anything confidential in our wedding tent.”

The number of guests made my head spin. Six hundred feet stomping on the grass. And that didn’t even include the staff that would have to make multiple trips back and forth. That would ruin the gardens, but the restaurant couldn’t fit three hundred people.

“Three hundred people is a lot,” I started.

“We will figure it out,” Madison cut me off with a wave of her hand like she was royalty and I was the peasant she ruled over.

“We can’t do this.” I shook my head at all of them. “It’s too much.”

“Of course we can.” Madison shot me a look, then tried to turn it into a joke. “He has the habit of underestimating me. It works to my benefit, though. I always end up surprising him.”

They all chuckled. And I? I was suffocating.

“Will you excuse us for a moment?” I asked, placed my hand on Madison’s lower back and gave her a push forward. Then I removed my hand from her and shoved it into my pocket. Because damn, it felt good touching her.

She walked ahead, but I could see her hesitating on where she was supposed to go.

“The Pink Diamond,” I instructed.

“You sure are dragging me down there a lot. Why don’t you just give it to me?” She muttered under her breath.

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