“I think you like her,” Blanca says then looks at Annie. “Carm’s a real estate agent.”
“Broker,” he corrects.
She smiles sweetly as if she’s humoring him. “Sorry. Broker.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen the billboards.”
I can tell that Annie’s trying not to laugh.
Carm smacks the table. “Yes! And what did you think? Did it make you want to buy or sell with me?”
Annie laughs and the tension of us not really having been on a date dissipates. Carm’s my favorite brother today.
“Not really. It made me want to get laid though,” she said.
I stare blankly at her then cover my heart and fall back into the chair.
“I’m just speaking the truth.” She places her hand on my thigh and leans forward, her tits pressing against my arm. “It means that some brilliant advertising guy came up with the campaign.”
I slide my hand to the back of her neck. Those bedroom eyes she’s giving me unglue any reserve I have about kissing her in front of everyone. I pull her mouth to mine, but she turns and my lips land on her cheek at the last second.
“Oh, so sweet,” Ma coos from behind us.
That straightens me out pretty quickly. Dom almost spits out his beer.
“Back to the redheaded she-devil.” Carm pulls the conversation back his way.
“Yeah, back to my point,” Blanca says. “That woman doesn’t have to be half naked to get clients, so Carm’s jealous of her, but we all know he’s just pissed because she’s giving his usual flirty advances the cold shoulder. Of course she’s public enemy number one.” Blanca puts her hand on her brother’s arm and rubs. “It’s okay, there’re other fish in the sea.” She says it as though she’s talking to a baby, and the entire table laughs.
Annie looks at Blanca as if she’s in love with her and not me. “Hate sex is probably pretty good.”
“Annie?” my ma calls from the kitchen. “Can you help me in here?”
Blanca moves to stand and shoo Annie down, but Ma must give her a look because she sits back down. “You’re being called, lucky lady.”
Annie leaves, and I hate that I miss her. It’s ridiculous. She’s literally fifteen feet from me.
Blanca sets her gaze on me. “I think it’s bachelor game over for someone.”
Carm and Dom lean in.
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Please, you’re canceling Sunday dinners for her. I called it the first time I saw them together.” Dom puts his hands up as if it’s no contest who the winner is.
Carm tilts his head. “The problem is, will he admit it?”
“You guys are a bunch of dipshits.” I head to the kitchen to grab a beer and throw away my empty one.
Mom is teaching Annie how to roll a meatball.
“She’s really good with her hands, Ma,” I say with a wink.
Annie’s eyes narrow and Ma shakes her head, understanding the sexual innuendo.
Who’s teaching her that crap?
Watching Annie in my world is an eye-opener, because I always thought I’d never want to introduce anyone to my family. But with Annie, it’s the opposite. I kind of like her everywhere in my world.
“How does your mom have the energy for that?” Annie lies down on the opposite side of the couch from me. “I mean, prepping, cooking, cleaning. She must sleep for three days straight afterward.”
“She likes to take care of us,” I say.
Annie bolts up to her knees and stares at me.
“What?”
She points at me. “You boys need to help her.”
I put up my hands. “Her and Blanca do it. I’m not messing with tradition.”
“You’re going to help her next Sunday.”
I grab her finger and pull her down to me. “Only if you come. Wanna see my childhood home?”
She stares into my eyes and places her hand on my cheek. “Are you sure about that, bachelor boy?”
“Completely.” I pull her in for a kiss.
The kiss grows out of control, and soon she’s straddling me and grinding along my growing bulge. I’m never going to get enough of this woman.
When my hands slide up her stomach, she jumps off me. “Condom campaign.”
I groan. She’s kidding me, right? She wonders why we haven’t been on a date. We’re both workaholics.
“Tomorrow,” I say.
But I don’t need to hear the word no to figure out she’s not going to relent.
“Okay, give me your ad.” I lean back on my sofa, relaxed, and full from my ma’s food.
“Hold on.” She scrambles off the couch and down the hall, running back seconds later with her sketchpad. “So.” She gets comfortable on the couch next to me, her legs crossed and back straight. “I’m thinking we start with a couple. We show their wedding rings as they’re in their bedroom, trying to be quiet. Maybe the camera shoots to a baby whimpering in a crib—with a Coddle diaper on, of course. The parents stop when they hear the baby on the monitor. The baby quiets and they start going at it again until the wife puts her hand on the husband’s chest to stop him and says, ‘Condom.’
“The husband is really nonchalant, like, ‘Oh, it’s okay,’ but the wife insists. The ad fades, but we show they grabbed a condom and right after they’re finished, they’re panting on their backs and the baby cries. Maybe the couple rock, paper, scissors to see who goes to the baby and the dad loses.” She flashes me a smile as if I’m the dad. “Then the next day, the dad comes home, unpacking groceries with an economy-sized box of condoms, and the wife laughs. I’m not sure of the wording, but maybe we could go along the same lines as the tampon one… ‘Let us protect you until you’re ready.’” Her hands run in a straight line in front of her as if the words are appearing there. “That’s not a good line, but I’m sure we can think of one.”
I sit there. It’s not a bad ad. I see the appeal to parents, but they aren’t the ones buying condoms. Single guys are. Single girls are. “It’s good, but I think we should look at the demographics of who buys condoms.”
Her shoulders round into themselves. She’s going to take this personally instead of as creative criticism. I’ve been doing this for years, and although I think she’s wicked talented, my experience trumps everything else.
“I think our campaign should be directed toward single men,” I say.
She gawks. “What about single women?”
I run my hand through my hair. This is going to end with me on the couch and her in my bed. Or her at her house and me at mine. It’s going to end with me not getting laid tonight.
“Single women don’t buy condoms.”
“That’s not true.” She’s getting heated. Her cheeks are flushing and she’s fidgeting.
“Listen, I have the info at the office. Let’s table this until tomorrow. We’ll meet with Billy—”
She stands. “Your mind is made up.”
“No, it isn’t. I told you I like your idea, but let’s be real for a moment. A married couple with a small baby is not buying a bulk box of condoms. Single men—straight men, gay men—are.”
She throws her hands in the air. “What about single women? The gay women… er… I mean. Ugh. You know what I mean.”
I grab her hands and guide her to sit down. “Don’t lose your cool over this. We’re sparring, throwing ideas out there. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m simply saying we need to look at the facts so that our ad gets them the most business.”
She nods, but I bet if I placed my hand over her heart, it’d be beating faster than when we fuck. She’s new to this. I remember kicking and hitting things when I was a newbie and they didn’t like my ideas. You take it personally and have a hard time seeing the other side.
“Why don’t you straddle me again and we can have the night I was hoping for?” I pat my leg.
“Ugh.” She stands.
“Remember earlier when you said a hate fuck could be fun? I’m down to g
ive it a try.”
She spins on her heel and heads down the hall. “You’re just like Mr. Jacobson.”
Yeah, I can’t let that fly. I follow her, and I’m about to enter the room when she slams my bedroom door in my face. I open it right back up and find her packing her overnight bag like I expected.
“Don’t you dare compare me to him.”
She rolls her eyes. “You want to gear the ad toward men and won’t even listen to my reasoning.”
“Because men buy condoms. When is the last time you bought condoms?”
“I have three in my purse.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Okay, bad example.”
She puts her hands on her hips and hammers me with a pissed-off expression.
“Come on. I don’t want to argue about this. If this is going to work, we need to keep work at work and home at home.” I step forward, hoping the brush in her hand doesn’t nail me in the eye.
Her shoulders slump. “I’m just trying to give Mr. Jacobson a reason to actually hire your assistant so I can be a full-fledged junior ad exec.”
I bring her to my chest, hugging her because I worry as much as she does that she might never get that man’s respect. I don’t want her to move to Texas, but at this point in her life, it might be the best option for her. But as selfish as it is, I can’t find it in me to voice my concerns for her future at work. I… well, I can’t see living without her at this point. It has to work out for her at Jacobson and Earl. I vow to do everything in my power to make sure it does.
“We good?” I kiss the top of her head.
“Billy gets the tie-breaker vote,” she mumbles.
My girl’s a fighter and will never throw in the white towel. I would never expect her to. But I worry our work relationship is going to ruin whatever we’re building outside of Jacobson and Earl.
Chapter 34
Annie
* * *
Well, mostly because Billy put his hands over his ears and kept repeating, “Mom and Dad, stop fighting,” the decision was made to give Blair and her father three ads to choose from. It’s not unheard of, and both Enzo and I felt strongly about our ideas, so we threw in a third, so it won’t seem like a “he says, she says” deal.
Weeks after being promoted, I’m still bringing Enzo his coffee, although I fear I’m doing it more because I’m his girlfriend than his assistant. He’s taken the initiative and learned a lot over the past few weeks , but I’m still stationed in the open floor plan, working in an assistant cubicle, and there hasn’t been one interview to replace me. It’s not hard to see where the priorities land around here.
Enzo walks in with a dry cleaning bag, and through the plastic, I see my blue blouse and the black dress I dropped off last week. He hangs it up outside his bathroom door when I follow him into his office.
“Did you pick up my dry cleaning?” I ask.
He smiles like “yeah, I’m the best boyfriend ever, see how the tables have turned?” “I was getting my own.”
Today of all days I needed this, and I want to wrap my arms around his stomach and kiss him senseless.
“Copies for the presentation?” I ask, searching his desk for last minute to-dos for our pitch today.
“Done. Jake helped me out.”
I look at him as if he just saved my cat from a tree. Except I don’t have a cat, but he can still be the hot firefighter climbing the ladder in this fantasy.
“I’m pretty good at this boyfriend thing.” He smiles, but it doesn’t completely reach his eyes, which seems odd. Lately, other than arguing about the condom ad, we’ve been sitting on a big happy cloud in blue skies with the sun streaming down on us.
Billy walks in without knocking. “Here’s the tape.” He places the flash drive on Enzo’s desk.
“Thanks, Billy.”
I run over to snag it. “I can’t wait to see it after the final touches.”
Enzo grabs it before I can and holds it above his head as if they’re about to play a game of keep away.
“Wait until the pitch. It’s more fun,” Enzo says.
Since we’re still supposed to be professional, I’m not about to sprinkle him with kisses. I’m already nervous about seeing Blair after turning down another offer a few weeks ago. I thought she’d strip the account away, but I have a feeling her father is keeping them with Jacobson and Earl.
“Well, I’m going to make sure catering will be delivered on time.” I spin on my heels and walk out of the room, nervous and excited for what the afternoon holds.
I knock on Enzo’s door. He’s on the phone but waves me in. We’ve barely talked today, and I haven’t received one flirtatious email from him. Something feels off, but I can’t put my finger on it.
What could it possibly be? He picked up my dry cleaning and he made copies himself. Would a man do that if he was going to break up with you?
He hangs up his call.
“Are you ready? They’ll be here in five,” I say.
He stands and grabs his suit jacket.
“Should we go to the bathroom for a pep talk?” I joke, trying to ease this weird tension between us today.
He smiles. I’m totally making more of this than there is. We’re good. We’re fine. Maybe the pressure of us disagreeing about this ad is making things awkward.
“Let’s go.” He holds open the door, and I walk through and down the hall to the conference room. Right before I step into the room, he murmurs, “What did I say about that skirt?”
“I do like to tease you,” I say, flipping on the lights.
Enzo places the brochures on the table and sets up the flash drive to play on the big screen. The fruit-and-nut tray is already on the table, so I unwrap it and grab waters out of the fridge.
Mr. Jacobson arrives before the Petersons. He eyes me, and I smile though I really want to ask him when I’ll actually get the perks of a junior ad executive, like maybe a more private cubicle and not having to answer Enzo’s calls.
“Looks great,” he says, digging for a handful of nuts. “You two have really been working well together.”
I smile again.
“Yeah, we make a good team,” Enzo says, his head buried in his computer.
Mr. Jacobson leans against the ledge by the window. He’s studying me, and a cold shiver skitters up my spine.
“Annie, the Petersons are here,” Elise announces from the conference room speaker.
“I’ll be back.”
I leave, wishing I could run down the hall because I can feel Mr. Jacobson’s eyes on me. He’s not checking out my ass or anything, but if feels as if he’s assessing me with two question marks in his eyes.
When I reach the lobby, I spot our guests. “Blair. Mr. Peterson.”
Blair tucks her phone into her purse, and Mr. Peterson knocks his fist on the reception desk as a goodbye to Elise.
Sliding her arm through mine, Blair leans in close. “Any more thoughts about my offer?”
“You’re relentless.” I laugh because I need this interaction to be lighthearted.
“I always know what I want, and I’m not sure I can stand another meeting with Mr. Jacobson. My dad said he won’t bring ads in-house unless it’s someone we know is talented. Which means until I secure you, we’re here.” A disgusted expression crosses her face.
“Well, as long as I’m here, you’re in good hands.” I pat her arm.
We’re at the conference room in no time. Enzo’s ready with an outstretched hand, but his tighter-than-normal smile says how much he might not care for Blair, what with her consistent desire to snag me away. Billy walks in, says his hellos, and we all sit around the table.
We decided ahead of time that Enzo would make the pitch since he’s the senior ad exec, so Billy and I sit at the far end of the table, next to Mr. Jacobson.
“Thanks for coming today,” Enzo says. “This will be our fourth product campaign, and I truly believe it’s a no-brainer. In the ad packet, there’s a lot of data about who your cons
umer is when it comes to condoms. I don’t think it’s a surprise that it’s men. Single men.” His gaze shoots to mine briefly.
My stomach drops, and I feel nauseated with apprehension.
Blair puts on her reading glasses. She and her dad open the pages and read them over, nodding.
“Let’s show you what we came up with, then we’ll discuss after.” Enzo steps to the side and clicks on his computer.
Billy slides his chair over and turns off the lights since he’s closest.
The ad plays. Enzo’s ad comes on the screen first, the one showing guys in different scenarios. A heterosexual male dancing in a club. Two homosexual males on a date. A heterosexual male walking a woman to her door. The slogan, Play Safe, lands in big letters on the screen.
I’m not saying it’s a crappy ad. It’s a good ad. There’s no refuting Enzo’s talent and I understand his thinking about targeting single males. But Coddle is a family company.
Enzo hits end on the video and the screen goes black.
Billy looks at me but rolls his chair over to turn on the lights.
“I do think something like this is the way to go. It speaks to your target audience,” Enzo says.
Blair rests the arm of her glasses at her lips, swiveling her chair toward me then back toward Enzo. “Do you have anything else?”
Enzo shoves his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. “We’re confident in this approach.”
She nods.
Her dad smiles. “Men do make up the majority of our purchases.”
I seethe. That’s the only ad he’s showing? I look at Billy, but his blank expression says he had no idea Enzo was going to go rogue on us either.
Enzo purposely isn’t letting his gaze land on me.
That son of a bitch.
Well, not really. I’ve met his mom and she’s really nice. But still. Asshole.
“Yeah, I think it works. Great job, guys.” Blair slides out her chair. “Can we talk about some of the other products while we’re here?”
Forbidden Desires Page 36
