Love, Inc

by Lily Zante

  Greta leaned over the desk studying Lexi’s response. “What is it Lexi? You’re usually so much more confident. Don’t worry about the actual product range or how the products are used. We just need you to present the data on the charts.”

  Wayne walked in just then. “Greta’s right, Lexi.” The mere sound of his voice sent shockwaves through her body. “It’s perfect to have you doing the presentation with us. For one thing, it would make our company look a bit bigger than if it was just the two of us. I can’t put George up there, this is not the sort of role he feels comfortable in.”

  He was wearing a pair of jeans and a plaid, checked shirt wide open with a white t-shirt underneath. Lexi did not dare to look at him too long.

  “You look the part,” added Greta. “Just wear those high-heels you wore the first day. We’ll be half way there,” she chuckled.

  Lexi didn’t have to think too hard about it.

  This was such a perfect opportunity for her. In previous working assignments she usually only helped behind the scenes. Being a temp meant that she was never really a decision maker or a leader. But here, with Wayne and Greta needing her help, she felt useful and wanted. She felt a part of something. They were a team and they were asking her to be a part of it. She had never felt that way before wherever she had worked. And being able to stand up in a professional manner and deliver a part of the presentation, it was something she knew she could do very, very well. She would not let them down.

  A flame of excitement flashed through Lexi’s eyes, “I’ll do it. Yes, for sure. Why not?” She stood up because for some reason Wayne put out his hand towards her in a handshake gesture and it was difficult shaking his hand sitting down. He shook her hand firmly and for the longest minute, she felt his soft, warm skin against hers.

  “Thank you Lexi,” he murmured in his softest voice. He really was very grateful to her for showing such team spirit. The thought of working so closely with this intriguing and intelligent woman was something he found himself looking forward to very much.

  Chapter Eight

  The next day Lexi prepared for the presentation. She was a little self-conscious at first mainly because she didn’t want to come across as incompetent. It confused her, because up until now, when she had been told that she was going to do this presentation with Wayne, she never would have thought of herself as incompetent at anything. She felt fluttery and jittery inside.

  They had gone into the meeting room, which Lexi didn’t even know existed until now. It was a large room behind Wayne’s office and accessible from a hallway on the right before the entrance to the warehouse. Inside was a large, dark, oval wooden table, with eight chairs all around. It had a flip board and a projection screen set up. This was where the presentation would take place.

  The slides were all finished and the graphs and data were beautifully presented. They worked through their pitch in the morning, had a quick bite for lunch then rehearsed their pitch twice in the afternoon.

  Things were going well and their presentation was coming along very well.

  Wayne was passionate about his business and having him lead in the beginning and then close at the end was an effective way to start and finish the presentation. He made a very charismatic and inspirational figure and when he spoke, his knowledge, passion and experience came through clearly. Even for someone as young as he was, at thirty two, he held his own and knew he had as much to offer, if not more, than the other two competitors he was in battle with. With Greta at his side going over the accounts, sales figures and projections, this added a nice balance of experience and maturity. And then Lexi, who would be professionally turned out that day, did her part and came across as a bright and clever young woman. This was exactly the image that Wayne knew she would project and Lexi delivered. He glanced at Greta happily before noticing that Lexi didn’t look too happy.

  “What is it?” Wayne asked anxiously. He studied her face. She’s not even caked in make up.

  She was just as he liked his women, naturally beautiful. She had the most beautiful big brown eyes and perfect full lips.

  “I forgot,” said Lexi in annoyance, “to put the logo on the slides.” She kept her eyes on the projection screen. Sure enough, the slides looked very slick. But they would look even better with the logo. WB Enterprises had done the minimal in the way of branding but they did have a clean red and blue logo and Lexi felt that it would be better to use it than to leave it off. Even if it meant another couple of hours work.

  “That’s alright, don’t be so hard on yourself,” said Wayne. He couldn’t understand why she would get so upset over something so little.

  “Go ahead and change it, if you want. I guess anything that makes us look professional is a plus for us. I should spend more time and effort on the marketing side,” he explained, a little apologetically.

  “He just doesn’t get the time to do all of these important tasks,” said Greta, raising her eyebrows at Wayne. “And he never seems to take my advice about delegating either,” she continued. She wholeheartedly agreed. Lexi had done a great job with the slides indeed.

  Without thinking about what she was saying Lexi replied, “It’s easy enough to forget about the marketing and leave it to the end. I do that all the time.” Then she realised what she had said. She hadn’t told her family or friends about her lingerie business and she wasn’t about to tell her boss now.

  “Spoken like a true entrepreneur, Lexi,” Wayne looked at her expectantly, knowing there was something else just on the tip of her tongue. But she remained silent and instead said, “I’ll get the logos done right away.”

  The practice for the presentation was over and Lexi walked back to her office.

  Wayne knew he had been right about her from the moment he first saw her. Well, almost, excluding their initial introduction when he mistook her for a snooty airhead. How wrong he had been. She had stayed late at work on her first day and quickly proven him wrong. And all subsequent reports he had had from Greta had been glowing. She was even, with Greta’s help, going above and beyond the normal duties required of her. She was helping to overhaul his office systems as best as she could without spending any money. He knew she wasn’t just a worker bee. If his years in business had shown him one thing, it was that there were two types of people in a company. Those who clocked in and out, worked for a wage and then went home. And the others, the pioneers and people with ideas; the entrepreneurs, who had a vision and created things. He and Lexi belonged to this second group.

  He had been thinking about making her a permanent part of his company and giving her more responsibility. She was way too good for her current role. Cindy, the woman that Lexi had replaced temporarily, had been here for the past five years and she had done the bare minimum of what was required of her. Lexi had been here barely a month and yet she had made such a massive difference already. And here she was helping out with his presentation. He would have a meeting with Lexi later on, once all of this was over and ask her if she might be interested in joining his company on a more permanent basis.

  But for now, he had a phone call to make. He looked up the number for TeamHQ and asked for a woman called Karn.

  Chapter Nine

  Back at her desk, Lexi got on with the task of amending each of the slides to incorporate the blue and red WB Enterprises logo. While she was at it, she was also going to retouch the slides, emphasizing the dark blue background and putting in an effect which made it look more corporate. She showed it to Greta who loved it. “I won’t be able to stay late tonight Lexi. Will you be alright?” Greta was getting ready to put on her jacket.

  “I’ll be fine Greta. I don’t think I’ll be so late tonight either. I have to do a quick retouch of all the slides and I think we are ready.”

  She watched as Greta grabbed her handbag and smiled as she left, leaving the door to their office wide open.

  Lexi worked quickly
. She liked it when tasks were set and it was only a matter of going through them, one by one. There were eighteen slides and she wanted each one to look just perfect. So she took her time. It was a simple enough task, just laborious. Without realizing it, three hours later, Lexi was still there.

  Wayne knocked at the door, even though it was open. “I didn’t think you’d be working late tonight Lexi.” He looked at his watch. It was nearly eight o’clock. “Do you have much more to do?” he asked, walking in and standing in front of her.

  Lexi looked up. “No, no. I wanted to add the logo and I thought I’d touch up the slides while I was at it. Come and have a look.”

  He walked over to stand by her side. Then he leaned over, so that his face was a mere few inches away from hers. They stared at the monitor screen together. She could smell a faint tinge of his aftershave. It was cool, crisp and refreshing. She felt the blood rushing through her body, warming parts of her that sent a tingling sensation everywhere. She wanted more of this, more of Wayne, more of just the two of them. She held her breath, not daring herself to breathe out.

  “Wonderful, Lexi,” he said slowly, in that low and inviting voice of his. For a small moment, time suddenly stopped.

  “Hey Wayne,” Terri flounced in. Almost immediately Wayne straightened himself up and looked at her with a calm expression on his face.

  Terri looked at Wayne first and then at Lexi who managed to keep a straight face. Had something just happened here, wondered Terri? It all looked innocent enough. But looking at Wayne and Lexi’s faces, Terri wasn’t so sure. She froze, not sure how to continue. She hesitated before she said, “Hey, Wayne. I was just wondering if you wanted to catch a bite to eat?” Her voice had lost its cheerful edge. Even though her lips managed a smile, Lexi could see the hurt in Terri’s eyes. It made her feel bad about her feelings about Wayne. She didn’t want to come between the two of them, whatever it was that they had. Mismatched or not.

  Wayne had put his hands into his pockets and stood tall. He was calm as he answered her. “No Terri. I don’t.” He spoke slowly and there was a coldness to his voice that Lexi had never heard before.

  “I don’t know if you know this but we have got a huge presentation in a couple of days.” He sounded sarcastic and unfeeling. Lexi could sense that he felt somewhat irritated by Terri. And she suddenly felt sorry for the poor woman. It would be hurtful to be in her shoes right now. Lexi warmed towards her slightly.

  Crestfallen, Terri stepped back. “Alright, you both look busy anyway. I’ll leave you to it. Goodnight.” Again, she gave a half-hearted smile.

  “Bye Terri,” whispered Lexi, almost apologetically. Terri left, leaving just the two of them alone again with an awkward silence.

  Wayne started to walk off.

  “I’ll order take out. Is pizza alright with you?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder as though nothing had happened. Lexi paused. She wasn’t sure whether she should leave now and finish this off tomorrow. He took her silence for no.

  “Maybe Chinese?” he ventured.

  She found herself replying, “Chinese is good.” The words fell out of her mouth. Her mind might have been telling her to leave but her heart wasn’t listening.

  She carried on saving the slides to the server where everyone could access them and was almost done with zipping them into a file to email to both Greta and Wayne. By the time she had done this, the take out had been delivered.

  “Come on over,” Wayne shouted out to her as he walked past her door, delicately balancing the bags of food on his arms and pushing through the door to his office. She breathed a sigh of relief that her slides were done and followed Wayne into his office.

  She helped move the piles of paperwork away to one side as he set the food down.

  “You really ought to get this cleared up, you know. It’s a complete and utter mess.”

  She moved the piles of paper to the side, unable to stop herself from putting them into neat and tidy piles.

  “I know. Of course, you’re right. I just…never…seem to find the time.” He watched with amusement as she systematically gathered up the various pens and tidily stacked them into the desk tidy.

  “Happy now?” he asked her graciously when she had finished.

  “Now I am. That mess was making my head hurt.” Lexi sat down and surveyed the food as he took it out of the bags and spread it all around the now clear table top.

  Wonderful aromas of soy sauce and greasy chicken oozed out of the containers and into the room, making Lexi suddenly very conscious of how hungry she was. Wayne bade her to go first. She groaned inwardly, wondering why she had agreed to have Chinese food. Eating this was going to be messy and she was aware how self conscious she always got eating in front of people that she had romantic notions about.

  Shoveling down his noodles and chicken with great gusto he obviously had none of the issues that Lexi did. “Aren’t you hungry?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. He was starving.

  She shook her head. “Greta and I had a big lunch today,” she lied. They had barely had time for a bite since they had been busy working on finishing the presentation. Tomorrow being Friday, it was the last working day before the big presentation on Monday.

  “She speaks very highly of you,” said Wayne, wiping his lips with a napkin before helping himself to round two of the same.

  Lexi’s eyes lit up as she thought of Greta, “I love working with Greta. She’s a wonderful, bright and pleasant lady.”

  Most of the time in the offices she ended up working in, she was surrounded by secretaries and PAs dressed beautifully but with not much else going on inside their heads. Their conversations usually revolved around their boyfriends, their vacations, their clothes and their socializing. She had been too wrapped up in her lingerie business to have much time for anything really, much like Wayne.

  Working alongside Greta, someone with business experience and who wanted to get the job done and done well, had been like a breath of fresh air for Lexi. It was also a part of the reason why she had not wanted to leave this contract. Although it was a small part. Admittedly, the other, bigger reason that kept her here was hungrily wolfing noodles in front of her right now.

  “I have to admit Lexi,” began Wayne, not sounding like his usual self, the easy timbre of his voice now giving way to a more serious and unsure tone.

  “Its been a great experience having you here.” She saw him watching her searchingly, as if trying to reach inside her mind and figure out what she was thinking. She bit into her prawn toast and immediately regretted doing so. Now she would have breadcrumbs and bits of prawn stuck all over her teeth. She tried to swallow delicately and hoped that her mouth and teeth were clean and breadcrumb free.

  She paused to swallow again, “I’ve enjoyed working here.”

  Wayne watched her carefully. It was a delight to have her all to himself, just the two of them, in his office, eating take out and talking without any interruptions.

  “Didn’t start off so well though did it?” he asked. There was amusement in his eyes.

  Lexi rolled her eyes, trying to remember back to that first day. They had been such opposites and she shuddered as she remembered how she had felt when she had first set eyes on the building and on Wayne. She grinned at him impishly, “I did wonder what I had let myself in for.”

  “I could see it wasn’t your usual contract. I was surprised they sent you here at all.”

  Wayne smiled then looked up with the chopsticks still in his hands. “But I’m glad they sent you here Lexi. You’ve really made an impact on me…..I mean,” he got a grain of rice stuck in his throat because he spent the next minute or so coughing away. Lexi got him some water from the water cooler.

  He took the cup from her and drank thirstily. “Thank you,” he said gratefully. Then he carried on, “What I mean is, you’ve made a huge impact and really h
elped the business.”

  Trying to keep her demeanor as professional as possible, Lexi leant forward and said, almost as if she was reciting from a business text book, “Streamlining parts of your business just means you get more time to do other things. When everything runs smoothly, there is less room for error.”

  He stopped eating for a moment, as if he was absorbing what she had said. “Do you read business books in your spare time,” he asked cheerfully. He wanted to bring the conversation around to getting her thoughts on whether she might like to stay on in a permanent capacity. But she seemed more insistent on talking about the business and processes. Still, he wasn’t complaining. He liked her company and could happily sit here for hours.

  For her part, as much as Lexi wanted to speak more freely, she felt quite guilty for her part in Terri’s hurt. Not that she had actually done anything. But she knew what it felt like to have someone take your boyfriend, after all, it had happened to her in college and according to her friends she still hadn’t recovered from that first major love and hurt of her life.

  Although she hadn’t thought about that first love for ages now. No, she didn’t want anything to happen between her and Wayne. She would have to keep the conversation strictly on a professional basis.

  Wayne carried on talking, completely oblivious to the quantum leaps going on inside Lexi’s head.

  “It’s not just the operations and business side, you’re great with the people. You’re quick at grasping concepts. You’re obviously bright and intelligent.” But now he could see that she was starting to look uncomfortable.

  Lexi shuffled in her seat. “Thanks,” she said simply. “You’ve got a great business here, I see that. You’re passionate and committed, I see that too. And I really hope the meeting goes well for us on Monday, I mean, for you. I mean, for us.” She blinked in confusion, realizing that she was sounding silly. She didn’t want him to think that she regarded herself as part of his company.