Show Me What You Got Read online

  A frown furrowed his brow. “Who has a schedule at a party?”

  “I do,” I snapped, then dragged in yet another deep breath. Obviously, I was going to need to take control here. “As the manager of the event and the person who planned this party, I need to deliver on the promises I made to the client. One of those is a full set played by an eleven-piece brass band. Now are you going to get them or should I?”

  His head cocked, and he looked at me like I was crazy for a long minute, but then he gave me a relaxed shrug. “Chill, mate. I’ve got it.”

  I ground my teeth and fought to maintain my calm. Just keep breathing, Heidi. It’s almost over.

  Tommy sauntered away from me at a pace that suggested he didn’t have a care in the world, never mind a schedule to keep to. But at least he was moving now. That had to count for something.

  Lifting my trusty tablet computer, I opened one of my to-do lists for the event and began to check over the items when someone grabbed my elbow. “This party is such a huge hit. We did a bang-up job here. I’m so proud of us.”

  I’d stiffened when I first felt someone’s hands on me, but I relaxed when I realised it was Bonnie. I turned my head to smile at my assistant and best friend. “Let’s wait until the party is over to start saying stuff like that. We have a few hours to go yet. We need to make sure that we stay on course.”

  Her dark green eyes sparkled with amusement as she pointed a finger at me. “Have you had a drink yet? You need to relax. It’s all—”

  “Heidi?” a panicked voice said from behind me. “We have a problem.”

  I groaned and raised an eyebrow at Bonnie, but the corners of my lips twitched into a small smile. “You just had to go and say that, didn’t you?”

  When I pivoted to face the person who had spoken, my stomach dropped when I realised it was the kitchen manager. “What’s the problem?”

  “It’s the cakes. They’re not here yet. Dessert has to be served in less than half an hour and the cakes are the biggest part of the centrepiece.”

  Shit.

  Bonnie muttered a string of curses beside me, her entire demeanour shifting to match the panic flaring in the kitchen manager’s eyes. “Well, fuck me dead. What are we going to do now?”

  “We’re going to calm down.” I still hadn’t quite managed to stop smiling, despite the situation we were now facing. “And we’re going to call down to the bakery to find out what the holdup is.”

  “Right.” She nodded, her chestnut curls bouncing around her shoulders. “Right. Of course we are.”

  Bonnie was one of those classically beautiful women who turned heads in every room she walked into. I wasn’t short at five-eight, but she stood a good inch or two higher than I did. Built like a supermodel, she was thin but still managed to rock some curves.

  With her shiny, loose chestnut curls and bright, round eyes the colour of cut emeralds, she was stunning. Even now, there were people all over the room staring at her, but she didn’t seem to notice as she dug her phone out of her handbag.

  If she wasn’t also the nicest person I’d ever met, I’d probably have hated her just because of how perfect she was. But she was the nicest person I’d ever met, so now I loved her to bits instead.

  In the six years since I’d moved here, Bonnie had been a godsend. She’d been my rock, my tour guide, my translator, and my very best friend since about five seconds after my feet hit Australian soil for the first time.

  She was the one who had taught me the meaning of all the weird words and colloquialisms they used down here. She was also the one who had showed me how to slow life down, although she still had to remind me to do it often enough, and she was the one who had taken it upon herself to navigate my way to becoming an Aussie. It was largely because of her guidance that I’d fallen in love with the country, the city, the people, the food, and even the profanities.

  All in all, she had become more like a sister to me than an assistant or even a friend. “Don’t worry, I’ll give them a call. You’re right. We should have a drink once the band comes on. Let me sort this out and then I’ll come find you.”

  Shaking her head, she stayed firmly by my side. “We’ll get a drink together once we know where the cakes are.”

  We didn’t have time to argue, so I picked up my phone and called the baker I had hired. “Jessie, where are you guys?”

  “On the side of the road.” She let out an exasperated breath. “My bloody truck got a flat and this was my spare, so I’m stuck. I’ve called Cass to come get me, but she’s not here yet.”

  “I’ll send someone to you right now,” I said. “Just send me your location and someone will be there in no time.”

  “Okay, thanks, Heidi. I’m sending it now. Just hang on. Sorry about this.” A second later, I received the message with her location.

  “No worries,” I replied. “Just get here as fast as you can, yeah?”

  “Will do.” She hung up after that.

  I showed the message to the kitchen manager. “Send someone to go pick her up. I’ll forward this to you.”

  Nodding before he hastily made his way back to the kitchen, I saw him bark an order before the door swung closed behind him. As if that had been their cue to start up again, the band kicked off their next set at the exact same time.

  Breathing out a quiet sigh of relief that we had managed to handle every hiccup that had come along so far, I stopped abruptly when I noticed none other than John Parker making his way towards us. He was our client for this event and had been a hard taskmaster to please in the planning phase.

  “I’ll be back,” Bonnie said, leaning closer to my ear to be heard over the music. “That dude scares me.”

  I felt more than saw her disappearing from her position behind me just as John stopped in front of me. “Heidi, how are you doing this evening?”

  I shook his hand and offered him a polite smile. “Everything is on track, so I’m good. Are you enjoying your party?”

  “Very much so.” He gave me a tight-lipped grin, but coming from him, it was the same as seeing someone beaming at me. “In fact, I have a proposition for you.”

  My gut tightened. Being a professional party planner was my dream job, but unwelcome advances came with the territory. I was no Bonnie, but it wasn’t immodest to think that I was no slouch either. I was simply pretty as opposed to being beautiful, like the girl next door instead of the woman who graced the front page of a magazine.

  But I didn’t want to make any assumptions about what his proposition was. Or more accurately, any more assumptions. Maybe I was just irritable because it was hot as fuck and things kept trying to go wrong on me.

  Tilting my head to the side, I folded my arms but kept the polite smile fixed to my lips. “Oh?”

  “I want you to come work for me,” he said.

  Oh, that. Thank God. Instantly feeling guilty that I’d lumped him into a category with the stereotypes I ran into so often, I let my hands drop back to my sides. Yep. I was definitely blaming the heat. This time of year really ought to be cold.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I enjoy my job and working different events for different companies. I do appreciate it, though.”

  He inclined his head respectfully, giving his shoulders a small shrug. “I thought you might say that, but I had to take the chance anyway. While we’re on that, I should tell you that I gave your card to a friend of mine earlier.”

  “Thank you,” I said, but I was distracted when I saw Jessie sneaking into the kitchen with one of the cakes. Giving my attention back to him as I watched her disappearing into the kitchen, I smiled for real this time. “It’s always a massive honour when one of our clients recommends our services to their friends. We’ll take good care of whatever event they might end up hiring us for. I guarantee it.”

  “I know you will.” He nodded and held out his hand once more. “I should be going. Thank you for everything. You will definitely be hearing from me again.”

  I said my goodbye
s to him, finally heading outside to see if I could find where Bonnie had gone off to. I found her on the balcony with her head bent closely to another girl’s. When she spotted me, she quickly excused herself and walked to my side with her eyes wide.

  “Did you hear that Archer Lee is supposedly here?”

  A frown tugged at my eyebrows as I wracked my brain and tried to figure out who she was talking about. I’d never much been one for celebrity news and gossip, but Bonnie had educated me on the most prominent figures to know about in Australia. Whoever this Archer person was, I couldn’t recall their name having been on that list.

  “Who’s that?”

  She rolled her eyes on a chuckle, shaking her head at me as she took my arm and steered me to the bar outside. “You’re hopeless. Have I told you that recently?”

  “Yes,” I answered without hesitation because we had this same conversation most of the times any person’s name came up. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I have no clue who that is.”

  “He’s the guy in the business world.” She emphasised the words with her eyes growing even wider. “Everyone knows who he is. Well, everyone who pays any attention at all. He’s in the society pages all the time. He’s rich as balls and he’s single.”

  “I didn’t know balls were rich,” I quipped, prompting another giggle from her. “But seriously, you should be focused on the event, not cracking onto someone.”

  “I’m not cracking onto him. I haven’t even seen him.” She winked. “But if I do, you can rest assured that I will take a crack at him.”

  “You’re not here for the D, Bon,” I said, but I had to laugh at the conviction in her tone. “I’m sure that if you were and if you were to make a run at him, he most definitely wouldn’t maintain his status as single for very much longer.”

  “Thank you.” Bonnie was the only person I knew who had a smile that was smug but still looked sweet. “You’re right. Could you imagine that? Snagging someone who’s rich, supposedly all alpha and hot? It would be like a dream come true.”

  “Your dream, maybe. If I ever settle down, it’ll have to be with someone who’s at least a little nice too. Rich, alpha, and hot might be nice to wake up to for a day or two, but eventually you’re going to need more substance than that.”

  She shrugged, eyes shining with humour in the ambient light of the city and the fairy lights strung overhead. “Maybe, but during the nights before that morning or two, he’d be praying for a break if I ever got my hands on him.”

  I laughed, but then I spotted Jessie coming towards us and got up, tugging at Bonnie’s arm for her to do the same. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to keep up, but we’ve got to get back to work for now. Leave your dirty fantasies about a total stranger for later.”

  “Spoilsport,” she muttered, but she followed me to meet Jessie halfway and got right to work alongside us. Whoever this Archer guy was, he obviously wasn’t enough to hold her attention for very long.

  Although, the rich, hot, substance-less ones never did for anyone who wasn’t a gold digger, did they? Because that was one universal truth: the rich, hot people couldn’t possibly have decent personalities as well. No one got quite that lucky, not in my experience anyway.

  Chapter 3

  Archer

  “Absolute bloody fuckwits,” I muttered as I looked over the reports I had received from some of the rookies at the firm. We were supposed to be unleashing them on the unsuspecting public soon, but that seemed like a terrible idea to me.

  I made a mental note to have a chat with my CFO about it but then made another to call maintenance up to have a lock installed on my door when I heard the knob turn. Glowering at the door, I waited to see who had a pair big enough to interrupt me without even knocking.

  When it was Hugo who came in, I grinned. “Oh, look. Maintenance is already here. Do you think you could get me a lock? People keep bothering me today.”

  A smirk tipped the corners of his lips as he lifted his middle finger and pointed it at me, scratching the space between his eyebrows. “Very funny. Get your own lock, you wanker. I’m on my break.”

  Hugo was the only person in this city that I considered my friend and, therefore, the only person who I let get away with speaking to me like that. Or barging into my office for that matter.

  Sandy-brown hair usually hung down to his shoulders, but he had it pulled back into a bun at the nape of his neck. There was almost always humour in his denim-blue eyes, and more often than not, his broad shoulders were shaking with laughter.

  He flopped his tall body onto the leather couch in the seating area off to one side of my corner office, putting his feet up on my coffee table. Smoothing out my jacket, I stood up from behind my desk and walked to the mini-fridge concealed in a panel on the wall, and I tossed him a grin.

  “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I was wanking and that’s why I need the bloody lock?”

  Hugo pulled a face and gave an exaggerated shudder, but then the familiar, easy-going grin was back on his lips. “Yeah, right. Like Australia’s Most Eligible Bachelor needs to do that. Don’t you just need to walk into a reception, smile at a woman, and invite her back to your office when you’re in the mood?”

  The emphasis he added to the stupid bloody title was thick with sarcasm. Hugo knew better than anyone else how much I detested having been named on the ridiculous list for so many years running.

  “I could,” I shot back without hesitation, “but I’d still need a lock and maintenance is refusing to install one for me.”

  “Poor you,” he lamented, his tone light and teasing. “Do you have something to be embarrassed about if someone were to walk in on you, then?”

  “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” I reached into the fridge and came back with two glass bottles of sparkling water, handing one over before taking a seat on the couch across from his. “What do you want for lunch? I’m thinking Chinese.”

  “Chang’s or Hubert’s?” he asked solemnly.

  “Hubert’s,” I replied just to mess with him, then rolled my eyes as a grin curved up on my lips. “Chang’s obviously.”

  His head fell back on a chuckle before he gave me his order. “I’ll have the robata grilled lamb filet with fermented chili and snow peas.”

  Neither of us needed to check the menu to know what we wanted to order. I got my phone out of my pocket and dialled the number I had saved for the restaurant nearby, asking them to deliver Hugo’s lunch and getting myself the soy-braised crispy pork belly with chili caramel.

  “You got any plans for next Saturday?” he asked once I put my phone down on the glass-topped table between us. “There’s a match at the stadium and I’ve got tickets. I thought you and I could take Millie to watch the game.”

  “Rugby in December?” A frown furrowed my brow.

  He shrugged, the corners of his mouth pressing in as he lifted his hands. “It’s only the last weekend in November actually, so it’s not unheard of. It’s a Barbarians November tour match. Should be fun.”

  I dipped my head from side to side. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true. The Barbarians, huh? That should be interesting.”

  “It always is,” he said, a competitive gleam entering his eyes. Hugo was a diehard rugby fan who would watch any game and give whoever he was supporting his all. I enjoyed watching the occasional match, but I didn’t really live the sport like he did.

  Although on the other hand, the atmosphere at the stadium was always electric and it was about time I did something fun with Millie. Considering Hugo would be there too, there was no doubt in my mind that she’d have a great time.

  “Okay, sure. We’re in. Thanks for giving up those tickets for us.” Barbarians games were generally a big deal and I knew the tickets wouldn’t have come cheap. “Can I pay you back?”

  “No way,” he scoffed, waving me off with one big hand. “Consider it an early Christmas present for you two.”

  “Thanks.” I got up when I heard a knock
at the door. I accepted the takeaway delivery bags from my assistant and carried the food over to the table. “Lunch is served. Consider it an early Christmas present for you.”

  Snorting back a laugh, he shook his head at me as he sat up on the couch. I pulled out the first container, saw it was Hugo’s order, and handed it over before extracting my own meal.

  We ate in comfortable silence for a little while before Hugo’s spine straightened and his eyes met mine. “By the way, how was that party you had to go to on Friday night? You missed out at poker night. I cleaned up, but it was good fun all round.”

  “You would say that,” I teased. I didn’t join Hugo for his monthly poker night often, but I knew that he was good. So good that he always ended up having the best time because he made his entertainment money for the month that way while all the other guys went home with nothing but losses most nights. “The party was better than I expected actually.”

  He swallowed the bite he had taken and washed it down with some water, his chopsticks dangling from his fingers. “Yeah? I thought you said those kinds of events were always a bore.”

  “They usually are, but this one was surprisingly well organised. I wouldn’t say I had the time of my life, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the others I’ve been to.”

  “A well-organised party means a well-stocked bar.” He offered me a wink, amusement flickering through his gaze. “But I’m sure you didn’t take full advantage of that.”

  “It’s not like I can get pissed at a client’s party,” I said, shovelling another bite of my food into my mouth and chewing while I mulled over sharing the idea I’d come up with over the weekend. “I think we should do something like that for the employees this year. Our year-end functions have been totally lacklustre the last few years in comparison. I think it’s time to do something that will help us start the New Year with a bang and provide a proper incentive to our people to give it their all for another year.”

  He lifted his eyebrows, but the idea clearly excited him. “That’s a really good idea. I think everyone will love it. After all, we do all the work while you and the other bigwigs just sit in your fancy offices with your feet up.”