August and Nicholas stared back at him with twin blank expressions on their faces.
Donovan leaned back in his chair. “What?”
“Isn’t the whole point of you ‘dating’ Jada to boost sales?” August asked, using two fingers for air quotes.
“Or are you doing that to get close to her?” Nicholas chimed in. “I mean I recognize a moment when I see one.”
“Moment?” August echoed.
“No, you don’t, asshole,” Donovan answered. “There was no moment.”
Nicholas snorted. “Maybe it’s been too long since you got laid if you don’t recognize a moment with a beautiful, smart, charming woman.”
Donovan craned his neck to make sure Jada hadn’t overheard, then glared at Nicholas. “One, shut up. Two, yes, the point of Jada and I pretending to date is to boost sales, but we can’t rely on that. Something new and salacious will happen tomorrow to divert people’s attention, and we’ll be yesterday’s news. We need something a little more substantial to keep the momentum going. I don’t know about y’all, but I like sales. That’s one thing the last few days have taught me. I can show you the reports.” He made a move to hand out his color-coded spreadsheets with their meticulous charts and figures.
“No, we’re good,” Nicholas quickly returned. August held up his hands in rejection. Donovan laughed and set the papers down. His partners counted on him to tell them what was what with their finances, but neither liked getting involved in the nitty-gritty world of numbers on a daily basis. Monthly was all about they had time for. Twice a month if they were feeling frisky.
August lifted a shoulder. “A sale?”
Nicholas nodded. “That always helps.”
Donovan made a face. “It does, but I was hoping we could come up with something that will have a bigger payoff, a longer payoff. We need to think bigger.”
Nicholas leaned back in his chair. “We need to post more on social media. We’re too sporadic there.”
Donovan sighed. He didn’t hate social media, but they were all too busy to devote a lot of time to it. Before Sugar Blitz opened, he’d asked Sloane if she’d be interested in the job, but she’d been steadfast in her refusal, saying she wanted to establish her career out of his shadow. As a result, they’d hired a firm to maintain their website and social media accounts, and they posted regularly, but he’d never seen the posts move the needle.
Someone cleared their throat behind him. Not someone. Jada. Donovan turned in his seat. “Yes, Jada?”
“I overheard y’all talking.”
She had? Everything? Nicholas snickered. Donovan was going to kill him. What would take the longest time and cause the most pain? He’d have to do some research. Good thing he loved research.
Jada sat in the only open seat at the table. Right next to Donovan. “You’ve gotten a bump thanks to our little scheme, but I think we both knew that it won’t be sustainable forever. We haven’t really done anything to feed the gossip beast, so to speak.”
Nicholas spoke. “Maybe you should.”
Donovan frowned. “Maybe we should what?”
“Feed the beast.”
“Which means what exactly?” If his friend suggested he and Jada have a full-on make-out session for the cameras, he was going to kick his ass today, right now.
“Go out on a date. Be seen. You spend all your time here. There are other places in San Diego, or so I hear.”
Donovan rolled his eyes. “You date enough for the both of us.”
Nicholas inclined his head. “I do, but everyone expects that from me and no one bats an eyelash. No one posts videos from my dates on Twitter. If you and Jada went on a date at a very public place, I guarantee you they will.”
Go out with Jada? On a date? Act couple-y? No way. He couldn’t. They couldn’t. It was a ridiculous idea. He turned to August, but his first best friend only shrugged. Effin’ great. That meant he didn’t think it was a terrible idea. Donovan shook his head. “No.”
“Well, how about a television appearance?” August asked.
“What?” Where had that come from? Had his friends been conspiring behind his back to come up with the most outlandish plan to torture him?
August gave a casual shrug, like he hadn’t dropped a huge bomb on the proceedings. “Well, one of us has to monitor the business email, and we—well, you and Jada—received a request today to appear on Good Day, San Diego.”