Page 34 of Grizz

“I live here,” I snap.

“Uh-huh.”

I look down at my watch.“We’re twenty minutes late.”

“Correction,” he says, deadpan.“Now we’rethirty-fiveminutes late, by the time we actually get there.”

Panic swells and I pull up my contacts list.I tap Kendra, who heads up the PR department for Bartiz.The phone rings once, twice, three times, then goes to her voicemail.I wait impatiently for the tone and leave a harried message.“Kendra… look, we’re running a bit late, but we’ll be there as soon as we can.Just hold tight.”

I disconnect the call.“Perfect,” I mutter under my breath.“Now they probably think we bailed.”

“Maybe they’ll start without us,” Grizz says, leaning against a streetlamp.

I glare at him.“Without us?You’re the reason they’re doing this.If you hadn’t been such a distraction, we’d be there already.”

He laughs under his breath.“So this is my fault?”

“Yes, it’s your fault.”I look up and down the street, praying for a cab.

“I wasn’t the one reading addresses like some tourist,” he points out.

I spin to face him.“You were the one playing ping-pong instead of being ready when you were supposed to be!”

He lifts both hands in mock surrender.“Touché.”

A cab rounds the corner, mercifully empty.I wave it down and fifteen minutes later, we finally pull up to Bartiz.It’s between a wine bar and an art gallery in Tribeca.A few team staffers stand by the entrance looking panicked.

Grizz pays zero attention to their frantic faces.He steps out, squints at the restaurant front, and says, “Nice place.You think they’ve got a ping-pong table in here?”

Chapter 11

Daisy

Theshootwrapsjustafter five p.m.Cameras power down, lights cool, and the production crew starts packing up cables.This is old hat for them.My headache, however, still feels brand new.

Grizz is off somewhere, while I’m calculating that it will only take me twenty minutes to reach my apartment here by foot and I’m ready to go now.

This afternoon turned to crap and I’m going to blame Grizz for part of it.If he wasn’t so late getting out of the practice facility because of his stupid ping-pong tournament, my mistake with the address wouldn’t have been as catastrophic.As it stands, Kendra has been visibly irritated and chilly throughout this entire ordeal and I just want to put it all behind me.

I should leave, but I need to do some schedule confirmation with Grizz as soon as he shows back up.I’m scrolling through my notes, double-checking next week’s agenda, when I hear heels clicking behind me.

“Daisy,” Kendra says, her tone sweet, the artificial type though, not sincere.

I turn, forcing a polite smile.“Kendra.Thank you again for accommodating us today.The footage looks great.”

She gives a small, brittle laugh.“Does it?I suppose it does, though it could’ve looked even better if you’d managed to get your client here on time.”

I bite back a sigh.“We had a mix-up with the address.Completely my fault.I’ve already emailed your team to apologize for the delay, and I tried to call you directly, but it went to voicemail.”

“Oh, I saw that,” she says, crossing her arms.“It’s just… unfortunate.Julian doesn’t like when things reflect poorly on the organization.He’s very particular about optics.”

“Of course,” I say carefully.“So am I.”

Her smile grows even less friendly.“And Julian really doesn’t appreciate when people he employs can’t execute simple tasks,” she adds, voice tightening.“Like getting a player to a shoot on time.I’m afraid I’m going to have to advise him of this failure.”

There it is, the knife wrapped in polite diction.

I straighten my shoulders, keeping my tone level.“Kendra… please.We ended up getting exactly what we needed and Grizz was fantastic.I don’t understand why you feel it necessary to bring Julian into this since it’s really a moot issue.”