Love Match Read online

  There was no waiting this time. Steven bolted from the audition room moments after she stepped out of the elevator. Either they had cameras trained on the lobby or, more likely, the receptionist hit the intercom the moment Maya was in sight.

  “Maya, thank you so much for coming.” He shook her hand, then kept holding it as he guided her through the lobby. His frantic manner didn’t help calm Maya’s nerves any as he walked her past a half-dozen guys of various sizes and shapes toward the audition room. The one thing the guys had in common was that they were all hot. Incredibly hot.

  “I’m happy to be here,” she said. As if she had a choice. Jordan made the situation clear. They could still go with someone else.

  Steven escorted her into the room where the same executives sat in the same spots they had when she’d been there a week earlier. It was like they had assigned seating.

  “Maya, thank you so much for coming back in,” the executive in the middle said. “Sorry to make you go through this process again, but we need to be sure the chemistry is right before we commit. This is going to be a major campaign.”

  “No, I totally understand,” Maya said. She especially understood that she wasn’t a lock for the campaign. These new guys may have been coming in to test with her, but she was going to have to impress her critics all over again.

  “Let’s get started,” the chief executive said.

  “Sounds good,” Maya agreed with a big smile to show them she was ready for anything.

  Steven brought in the first guy. Maya didn’t want to make assumptions, but she guessed he played basketball because of his size. Maya was pretty tall herself, but this guy dwarfed her by at least a foot. Before he even reached her, she knew it wasn’t going to work, but she kept her smile on and gave it her best attempt.

  She was about to introduce herself when Steven started giving direction. “Can you just wrap an arm around her, real quick?”

  “Sure.” The guy did what he was told. Maya’s head only came up to his chest.

  Steven didn’t even raise his camera. He looked over a shoulder. The executive in the middle seat gave a slight shake of his head. And the guy was excused before Maya had the chance to say hello.

  The next guy was more Maya’s height and she did have a chance to introduce herself as they took some pictures together. His name was Jasper, and he had exactly the kind of smolder Steven asked for. Unfortunately, every time he smoldered in Maya’s direction, she broke out in giggles.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said for the fifth time. What he was doing looked great, but it just felt so fake. To Maya, there was nothing behind his eyes, but she didn’t hear any of the executives make that comment like they had with Travis.

  “Okay, thanks,” Steven said, and the guys rotated again.

  Maya quickly went through the half-dozen guys feeling less and less confident with each one. It was not going well at all.

  The last guy, Grayson, was so good that Maya felt like she was losing the job with each new pose. She came off like a complete amateur next to him, which she was. They’d said they wanted amateurs for the shoot, but this guy knew his way around a camera. He looked familiar, too. Maybe she’d seen him around school.

  “It’s okay, Maya,” Grayson whispered into her ear as he held her from behind. “Just relax your body. Let me hold you up. I promise I’ll keep you in a position that maximizes your look.”

  Maya tried to relax and let him take control, but she didn’t understand how this amateur knew what kind of control to take. Or how to “maximize her look.” She couldn’t imagine many of her classmates using that phrase.

  Suddenly Maya realized why Grayson looked so familiar. As they shifted poses to a face-to-face embrace, Maya struck up a whispered conversation. “Grayson, are you the Tactics guy?”

  Grayson’s smile brightened. “You recognized me, huh? I got a lot of work out of that campaign. Get stopped on the street a lot, too.”

  “It’s good work,” Maya said as she struggled to find a comfortable pose. Grayson wasn’t an athlete. He was the guy in the Tactics body spray ads. He was practically famous for that ad campaign.

  They’d paired Maya with professionals. No wonder she felt like even more of an amateur than she had before.

  Steven put down his camera. “Okay, Grayson. Thanks! We’re done.” He looked down at his cell phone, then whispered something to the executives.

  Maya said good-bye to Grayson and hung around to see what they wanted next from her. It wasn’t much.

  “Thank you as well, Maya,” the head executive said as Steven hurried out of the room. She wondered if he was running after Grayson to tell him he’d booked the job.

  “Happy to do it,” Maya said. She wasn’t sure if she’d already said that back when they started. She’d been posing for over an hour and her mind was filled with awkward body positions and inappropriate laughter. She had managed to screw this audition up without any help from Nicole King.

  “We’ll let your agent know once we’ve decided on the direction we plan to take,” he said.

  Maya felt like she should say something more. Maybe offer to take modeling classes if there was such a thing. But she didn’t want to look like she was begging.

  The lobby was empty, except for the receptionist. It sounded like she was on a personal call. She was talking about her plans for the weekend and the model she’d just made a date with. Maya wondered if she meant Grayson.

  The woman looked up at Maya questioningly, though she didn’t stop talking on the phone.

  Maya mouthed: “Is Steven around? I wanted to thank him.”

  The receptionist jerked her head to the right, which Maya took as the general direction his desk was in. Growing up the daughter of a gardener, Maya knew that thanking the “little people” was the best way to be remembered by the bigwigs.

  Steven was easy to find. He had a small outer office with a big glass window at the edge of a cubicle farm. Maya was about to enter when she saw a dark-haired girl in his guest chair. Nicole.

  Maya hid behind a giant potted fern by the door as she listened in.

  “They should be wrapping up in a minute,” he said. “I’m sure Mr. Williams would love to meet you.”

  “Thanks,” Nicole said. “I’m so sorry to just show up like this, but I heard a rumor that you were looking for someone and, well, Esteban and I do have a history. He designed the dress I wore to prom last year.”

  “Actually, I did know that,” Steven said. “Saw the pictures in US Weekly. The only reason we didn’t request you in the first place was they were looking for someone less famous. An unknown. But I think that might be changing.”

  “Well, if you want a nobody, you should definitely go with Maya Hart,” Nicole said. “But if you’re looking for someone who comes with a little something extra, well …” She let the words trail off to allow him to fill in the blanks.

  Maya wanted to fill in some blanks as well.

  “I’ll go see what’s keeping them,” he said.

  Maya dropped back farther behind the fern as Steven passed her. She considered slipping out quietly, but she wanted Nicole to know that she was onto her this time. “Hello, Nicole.”

  “Maya! So nice to see you.” If Nicole was surprised that she’d been caught, she didn’t show it.

  “Trying to take another job from me?”

  “Oh, Maya,” she said, “I don’t take things. People just give them to me when they see what I have to offer.”

  Maya noticed that Nicole was holding her arm. “How’s the wrist?”

  Nicole smiled with clenched teeth. “Fine.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Maya said. “Guess I’ll see you back at school.”

  “Yes,” Nicole said. “You will.”

  Maya wasn’t sure what she’d accomplished with that little exchange, but it felt good to confirm that she knew something Nicole didn’t want her to know. Not that it mattered. Maya wasn’t going to do anything about it. And even if she did, it wouldn�
�t affect the ad campaign. Nicole could do those poses in her sleep, whether her wrist was injured or not.

  Maya had done all that she could about the campaign. Now she just had to wait for Jordan to call.

  Assuming that Jordan was still on her side.

  Chapter 13

  Maya read the agreement Jordan had sent over. It was probably the twentieth time she’d read the document and she still couldn’t decide what to do about it. She’d gone over the agreement with Travis. She’d asked one of her coaches to look at it. She even sent a copy to her dad, even though he was just as lost as she was when it came to the legalese. Whoever Maya signed with would have major control over her career and her life. She so wasn’t ready for this kind of decision.

  It was getting late, but Maya couldn’t go to bed without knowing if she had class in the morning or a photo shoot. After the first audition, Jordan called with the news by the time she’d gotten back to her dorm. But this time, nothing. Jordan hadn’t returned any of her calls. It was not good a sign.

  Suddenly, Maya’s cell phone hovered in front of her eyes.

  “Call her,” Cleo said, shaking the phone.

  Maya pushed it away. “I’ve called her. Multiple times.”

  Cleo pushed the phone back. “Call her again. You said yourself this is a trial period. She’s stopped trying. You don’t have to look at that contract anymore. She picked Nicole over you. What more is there to think about?”

  “You’re right.” Maya took the phone from Cleo and tapped Jordan’s name. If she didn’t answer, Maya would leave a message thanking the agent for her time, but telling her she was taking her business someplace else. She started rehearsing the voice mail in her head as the phone rang.

  “Sorry I’ve been out of touch lately, but I’ve been working my magic to keep you on the campaign.”

  Maya’s eyes went wide, along with Cleo’s. Jordan’s voice was loud enough that her side of the conversation filled the small dorm room even without speakerphone.

  “I still have the job?” Maya asked. The short speech she’d prepared for Jordan’s voice mail went right out of her head.

  “You’ve still got the job,” Jordan confirmed. “It was touch and go there for a bit. They considered going the professional model route—”

  “You mean the Nicole King route,” Cleo added.

  “What was that?” Jordan asked. Apparently Cleo’s voice carried as well.

  Maya shot Cleo a warning glare. “Nothing.”

  “Maya? Is there something I should know?”

  Maya sighed. “I saw Nicole at the agency. I know you sent her.”

  “Sent Nicole?” Jordan said. “Maya, I did not send Nicole anywhere. If she was there, she did that on her own. Which is something she does quite often. I’m sorry if you got caught up in it, but it’s nothing to concern yourself with.”

  The words were apologetic, but Jordan’s voice was quite matter-of-fact, as if this kind of thing happened and Maya should just get over it. After all, as Jordan had said, this is business, not high school.

  Maya was still suspicious. “How did she even find out about it?”

  Jordan laughed. “Maya, everybody knows about it. You can’t keep a secret in this industry. None of that matters, because you’re back in the campaign. We found a perfect replacement for Travis with a fresh face and equally recognizable name.”

  Maya knew exactly where this conversation was going.

  Jordan confirmed her suspicions with one little word: “Jake.”

  The shade of the large umbrella failed to keep Maya cool. It was an unseasonably warm day, which for Florida meant extremely hot and humid. Maya would have been fine if she were just wearing Esteban’s purple-and-gray short-sleeve bodysuit and matching canvas shorts. The fabrics were light and breathable. But the photo shoot was outdoors and everyone was afraid that someone might sneak a picture of the clothes and leak it to the press. Maya and Jake had to wear long overcoats to cover up while they waited for the production to finish prepping.

  Even though the NFL stadium that provided their setting was on complete lockdown, it didn’t mean anything to the hyper-security-conscious ad agency. Thankfully Steven had sent over some fans to keep Maya from sweating off her professionally applied makeup.

  Jake had his own umbrella of shade less than ten feet away, but it might as well have been a million miles. He’d barely looked at her since he arrived. So much for Renee’s crazy suggestion that he only agreed to shoot the ad because he wanted to be closer to Maya.

  “We’ll be ready in five,” Steven told her. It was the sixth time he’d given her a five-minute warning. She didn’t bother taking off the coat as she had the first two times. She’d just have to put it back on again with the next delay.

  “No!” the photographer, Charles Zin, yelled. “The sun is in the wrong position. This is not going to work at all!”

  Maya peeked out from under the umbrella. She didn’t know what position he wanted the sun to be in. It shined down on the field with maximum efficiency. There was hardly a shadow for the rest of the crew to hide in to keep cool. The photographer had complained about the sun in the sky, the coloring of the Astroturf beneath their feet, and everything in between.

  Maya’s phone buzzed in the pocket of her overcoat. Travis had sent her a message: Break a leg! Preferably Jake’s.

  Maya wrote back: lol! u 2!

  It was nice to know she was on his mind even though he had a bunch of other things to think about. Not only was his appearance on The Hype scheduled for the same day as the shoot, but it was at the same time, too. He went on in a half hour. Maya wasn’t even sure she’d be shooting by then. There was no way she’d be able to catch it. But that’s what DVRs were for.

  Maya spent the next few minutes texting with Travis before he had to go to set. By the time she was done, she got another five-minute warning from Steven.

  “You keep saying that,” Maya said lightly.

  “This time I actually believe it,” he replied. “Esteban has arrived.”

  Maya didn’t know how she’d missed him. The famous clothing designer had come onto the field in a pink-and-white zebra-striped suit and an entourage of people dressed entirely in black. They sat under a red sequined tent the photographer had spent the first half hour of the day screaming about because of the light reflection. The production assistant had moved the tent back to the fifty yard line, but now Esteban’s people were having a fit about being so far from the action in the end zone. These next five minutes were probably going to take a while, no matter what Steven said.

  Everyone on the crew tended to Esteban and the photographer, leaving Maya and Jake all alone on the side of the field. It finally got to the point of beyond awkward that they were sitting right next to each other without speaking. Maya figured it was time to be the bigger person. She got up from her folding chair and slipped under Jake’s umbrella.

  “Travis is about to go on,” she said.

  “I know,” Jake said without looking at her.

  At this point, Maya had had enough. “Okay, seriously, Jake? What is this about?”

  He finally looked at her, genuinely confused. “What is what about? You said you didn’t want be together anymore. I’m giving you your space.”

  “Space is one thing,” she said. “Totally ignoring me is another.”

  Jake stood. “You may have noticed that I’m not good at doing things halfway. I’m either all in or all out. You didn’t want me in, so I’m out. Obviously, some people don’t have that problem.”

  “This isn’t about Travis,” she said.

  “I never said it was. I was talking about you.”

  “We’re ready to go,” Steven jumped in. “Better move fast before the next major cataclysm occurs, like someone finds out there’s no sushi on the snack table.”

  Jake threw off his overcoat and took the field, leaving Maya behind. How she’d get through this shoot with someone who obviously hated her was a mystery.

&nb
sp; Three wardrobe changes in, the shoot was just as awkward as it had been when they started. The shots in the end zone were good as long as Maya and Jake didn’t have to look at each other. The ones in the bleachers quickly became single poses since Zin, the photographer, claimed he was getting nothing from his subjects when they were together.

  The crew had moved onto the press box for the final setup of the day. On the bright side, the press box was shaded and air-conditioned. Unfortunately, this part of the plan called for the most intimate poses of the shoot. If the earlier scenes were any indication, this would not go well.

  Maya wore the signature design for the line. Esteban had created a dress that would look good on the court and, with a few minor alterations, out on the town. It was the most comfortable outfit Maya had ever been in. She couldn’t imagine an occasion where she would ever go from the court to a club in the same clothing, but sometimes fashion was more about form than function. This was one of those times.

  “I get to take this home with me, right?” Maya joked to Steven.

  “No,” he replied, stern-faced. “If that dress gets out, you’d be killed, I’d be fired, and Esteban would probably need to be institutionalized.”

  Maya shrunk back. “I was kidding.”

  Steven remained straight-faced. “I wasn’t.”

  Something behind Maya distracted Steven. He was no longer looking at her. She turned to see what he was gawking at and her own jaw dropped.

  Jake wore a brown linen sport jacket over a white, skin-tight tank top made from some kind of material that shimmered without too much shine. His pants hugged the muscles of his legs, but still gave him room to move. It was sporty, yet casually professional at the same time. Maya could see him on the sidelines or in the boardroom. Jake looked so mature in the outfit that she could easily imagine him taking over the Academy one day, even though she knew it would never happen.

  Zin pulled Maya and Jake together. “We’ve sold the sport, now it’s time to sell the passion. You two, up on the desk.”

  “What?” Maya asked.