I want You Deeper

At first, Heath wasn’t sure why their entrance caused such a scene. Then he remembered there were cameras, which reminded him he was Mac Sutterfield, not Heath Hardcastle. He needed to get

in character, pronto.

The first step was to slow down. Walking quickly and with purpose was a bad idea when he was trying to look like the new guy around here. Sure, confidence was great, but someone who was just stepping into a job didn’t walk around like he was ready to take charge.

Vanessa’s eyes widened as he slowed down and turned to look at her. “What do you think?” he asked.

She looked absolutely stunning. It had been far easier to keep things moving at top speed so he didn’t find himself distracted by it. But somehow, right now, it came in handy to really take her in.

Let’s face it, it was what Mac Sutterfield would do. In fact, maybe Mac Sutterfield could get away with doing some things Heath Hardcastle never would, like chatting with a beautiful woman when he was supposed to be working.

“It’s…wow.”

Vanessa wasn’t looking at Heath or Mac. Her attention was fully focused on her surroundings, and he couldn’t blame her. All around them were booths and light-up signage and large-screen TVs competing with other large-screen TVs for attention.

It was a lot of noise. But that was what they were here to create for future events. Noise.

“Check this one out. This is one of ours.” He stopped and gestured toward a booth set up to look like a kitchen. It was a display of smart technology built into appliances. He knew this one all too well. They had been a top client for the past several years. Heath didn’t recognize the people standing there, staring right back at the two of them, so he felt safe they wouldn’t figure out his true identity.

“Did you provide the refrigerator and oven?” Vanessa asked, still gaping at the scene in front of her.

“No, that’s all theirs. We build the cabinetry and countertops to the specifications they provide. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Looks real from here, but if you get up close, you can see it’s fake. Come on.” He turned and headed toward the booth he’d had set up just for Hardcastle Exhibits. That was where his salespeople would be.

And that would be the true test of whether his disguise held up.

There was only one guy standing in the elaborate setup his company had arranged at the end of the first row of booths. Heath didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t recognize Heath. The Hardcastle Enterprise CEO’s face was plastered everywhere-not by choice. His marketing team seemed to love making him the face of the operation, insisting that it helped personalize the connection with any clients thinking about doing business with them.

“Are you Mac?” the guy asked.

“Sure am.”

Mac’s Southern accent surprised even Heath. He’d gone to college in

Georgia and, during that brief time, had picked up the ability to fake a Southern accent when he had to. The problem was, he hadn’t used it when he’d originally met with the managers at Hardcastle Enterprises. Instead, he’d spoken very little and just hoped they wouldn’t recognize him since he hardly spent any time in the office, anyway. Was he now obligated to speak in an accent every time this guy was around?

“Great!” the guy gushed. He was a bit antsy. “I need to run to the bathroom. Can you man the shop?”

Man the shop? Was that how they referred to things out in the field? He made a mental note to let this guy know they didn’t call this a shop and they tried to be sensitive when it came to gendering certain activities. In other words, “manning” was not a term they used.

All of a sudden, the guy stopped squirming. He was staring at something behind Heath’s shoulder. Heath turned and saw the camera guy had crept up behind him.

“Oh, yeah,” Heath said. “They sent a camera crew along to document what we’re doing. Did they mention that?”

The guy shook his head, eyes wide. “I-I’ve got to go.”

With that, the guy took off, speeding around Heath and nearly knocking the camera guy over. What was that all about?

“Guess he really needed that bathroom,” Vanessa commented. She’d snuck in behind him and had her hands, palms down, on the counter they’d set up to show how easy it was to create a space for interacting with prospects.

Heath shrugged. “Well, I guess I’m watching things for a while.”

He headed into the booth and looked around. There were big boxes stacked in the back that looked like they hadn’t even been opened. What had this guy been doing?

“What’s my role here?” Vanessa asked.

Heath turned to look at her. That was right. He hadn’t really talked this through with her. She and Josea had done a whole thing with her putting on this dress and spinning around in it. She was going with a very retro look today, with a bright red and white polka-dot dress. He had a feeling she would draw plenty of attention to their booth, as classy and beautiful as she looked.

She’d draw them over, and he’d win them with a sales pitch that would wow the cameras-and everyone who would later be watching what those cameras were capturing. He nodded. Yes, that was the plan. He just needed to communicate it with her.

But Vanessa didn’t wait for his answer. “I’m going to go draw people in. Text me if you need me.”

She pulled her phone out of one of the pockets he didn’t realize that dress had. She smiled, then turned and headed off down the row of booths.

One of the photographers chased after her, but the other stayed with him.

Where was she going?

Shrugging to himself, he headed over to the back of the booth, where boxes had been left in big stacks. Whoever set this booth up was supposed to have opened these, removed their contents, and shoved the empty boxes into the space that had been hollowed out within the fake cabinetry. Instead, they’d just left a mess.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Yes, he’d definitely have to talk to someone about this. He’d specifically created the itinerary for this, and his people were supposed to make sure it was handled.

Oh, wait. Maybe he was supposed to handle it.

Heath straightened and pulled out his phone. It was on there, somewhere, in an email he’d sent to his managers. But he wasn’t really in charge of the people who would be here, including his alter ego, Mac. That was up to someone under his marketing manager, whom he barely knew.

There it was. Pre-event. He was supposed to arrive and help Jeff set up. He assumed Jeff was the guy who’d just taken off for a restroom or whatever. No wonder the guy was in a panic. Mac had completely flaked out on his end of the deal.

Well. Time to get to work. He rolled up his sleeves, literally, and ripped the tape off the first box. He was digging into the stacks of paper when he suddenly had the feeling he was being watched.

The camera was directed at him.

Telling himself most of this footage would never be used, Heath got to work. Maybe the footage would be used, though. Everyone loved to see a billionaire hit rock bottom, and to some, this would be the very picture of “rock bottom.” But Heath had never shied away from hard work, even if it meant jumping in there and doing things himself. In fact, his control issues had him doing far too much, which may have been why he’d gotten in trouble in the first place. He’d tried to start his app on his own, using an overseas development firm, instead of pulling in a team to work on it with him.

Lesson learned…the hard way.

“You Mac Sutterfield?”

The question, which came from a man standing on the other side of the counter that divided his booth from the hallway, startled Heath from his thoughts. The camera swiveled to point at him, which made the man take a step back.

“Sorry,” Heath said, gesturing toward the camera guy. “It’s for a documentary my boss is doing. May I help you?”

“Vanessa sent me. I want to schedule a meeting with you.”

Heath straightened fully. “Vanessa.”

The guy pointed off to his left, looking a little confused. “Lady in a polka-dotted dress? She really knows her stuff. She said you have just the product display I’d need to show off my phone cases at Tulsa TechCon.”

Heath grabbed one of the flyers from the box he was unpacking and rushed to meet the guy. Twenty minutes later, they had a preliminary plan in place for Hardcastle Exhibits to help put together a booth for a conference three months away.