Page 24 of Past and Present

“Will you tell me what the bad news is?”

Lance clenched his fists and Marissa frowned. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop asking.”

Lance turned to face her. “It’s not you. We lost the meeting with Griffin for the exact reasons you were worried about.”

“The damn tabloids?”

Lance nodded.

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

Marissa laid her head on his shoulder. “I guess this means we can travel together on Friday.”

Lance kissed the top of her head. “It does. I just hate that this happened. You worked hard to get him even interested in a meeting with us, and I feel like I ruined it because I didn’t share your concerns over the gossip columns.”

Marissa sat up and cupped his cheek. “Don’t beat yourself up. There wasn’t anything we could have done to stop this. It’s like you said, they’ll always make up stories about us.”

“I know. I just hate it. I’m liking your idea of an island vacation more and more.”

“I should call Daph. I haven’t talked to her since she called you. Should I tell her we’re getting married while we’re in Phoenix?”

Lance groaned. “I get it now.”

Marissa furrowed her brow. “Get what now?”

“Jill said she overheard me telling someone they would be the first to know when you and I broke up. She misheard me while I was on the patio talking to your sister.”

Marissa sucked in a breath. “And later that night I saw her talking to Angie Bryce from Society Now. Her publication is too mainstream to float rumors, so I bet Angie floated the rumor to a sister blog to get the buzz started.”

Lance lifted both eyebrows. “How the hell do you know all of this?”

Marissa laughed. “You know my mother is addicted to tabloids. The woman was convinced I would wind up in them by dating you. She got to know the Chicago gossip scene very well, and I just picked it up from talking to her.”

“And why was anyone from Society Now at our party, anyway?”

Marissa shrugged. “I’m sure someone from my launch team thought it would be a good idea. People from Forbes and the Wall Street Journal were there so why not a society pages journalist too?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m glad you understand it all.”

Marissa felt a vibration against her leg, and Lance leaned away from her to pull his phone out of his pocket.

“Moss,” he said when he held it to his ear.

“Oh hey, Hunter. What’s up?”

Marissa snuggled closer to him, enjoying the way his chest rumbled when he spoke.

“We can fly in early if we need to. Thanks for the heads up. I haven’t even been paying attention to the weather.”

He paused again to listen to Hunter, and Marissa slid a hand up his chest and loosened his tie. Lance gripped her wrist when she went for his top button and lowered her hand to the zipper on his pants.

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Marissa glanced at the driver and Lance held the phone between his ear and shoulder while he leaned forward and pressed a button to raise the privacy panel.

When he was leaned back against his seat again, he pointed at his zipper.

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