Influence

Chapter 1

Tam Martin studied Goldie Finch's fourteen karat lips as they opened and closed, spread and parted. Her shiny lipstick was the signature piece of Goldie's soon-to-be announced endorsement with Wanton Cosmetics.

"It's my name and my look, so why not? The company's willing to give me total control. Like, if I say I want twenty variations of metallic lipstick and eighteen of them should be gold, they'll do it. They'd have to revamp completely if they went with another influencer. We're still negotiating, though," Goldie told her. Tam hadn't asked for this explanation. All she cared about was that to secure her endorsement, she needed to hire Tam, and Tam needed to be hired.

"I'm a creator, not a details person. That's why I have Paul. For the legal stuff." Paul, Tam remembered from Goldie's videos, or EpiGolds, as she called them, was both her manager and stepfather. He lived with Goldie's mom in the apartment next to hers.

"And now I have you, because I already know you're going to take this job."

"Seriously?" Tam cleared her throat. "Yes, obviously yes. Holy shit!"

Goldie formed her lips into an upside-down shimmering arch. "You're exactly what my assistant should be."

"What's that?"

"Pretty, but not flashy. Resourceful." She coiled a strand of Tam's hair around her finger. "Desperate, but good at hiding it. Maybe something else. We'll see."

Tam blinked. "I'm not..."

"Desperate?" She let go of Tam's hair. "Course not. Everyone in LA is, except for you. You—you're special."

Tam was special. An Afterschool Special. A cautionary tale. She was desperate and hid it well, only she couldn't hide it from Goldie. "When do I start?"

"As soon as you walked in the room. So... twenty minutes ago?" She extended her hand and pulled Tam up from the couch. "Come meet my stepbrother. You'll be working with him."

#

Despite the show Goldie made about how much she needed Tam to secure her cosmetics deal, contract negotiations were nearing completion by the time Tam came on board. Not that she lacked for work. Aside from networking with Wanton Cosmetics representatives, there were schedules to keep, endless coffee runs, EpiGolds to help produce. Goldie's stepbrother, Jasper, did most of the editing, with Goldie getting final approval. On Tam's first day of work, her new boss had a lunch date. She deposited Tam in a spare bedroom, which she referred to as her production center. There, Jasper sat staring at a panel of screens.

"Meet my new assistant, Tam. Teach her everything you know."

She left, shutting Tam in the room with Jasper, who spun around to scrutinize her as though she was a line of code. "I read your application. Not surprised Goldie picked you."

"I have degrees in communications and marketing."

"And an internship with Colby Barnes in New York last June."

"That's right."

"You think that's why Goldie hired you? Because of an impressive resume?"

Desperate, but good at hiding it. "Yes."

He stood up, stepped in her direction. Jasper appeared occasionally in Goldie's videos, which helped Tam prepare for what she assumed would be an onslaught of sarcastic wit. She hadn't realized, however, how tall he'd be. Or how he'd smell like the forest her father had taken her to as a child. This unexpected sensuality juxtaposed with the sterility of the room made her sway.

"Goldie might come off as shallow," he said, "but she's not stupid."

"I never thought she was stupid."