“I ended it,” he interrupted, maneuvering the cartons out of the bag.
“What? Why?” I asked, not expecting the conversation to take a turn like this.
“It wasn’t serious. Now which do you want?” He held the cartons out as he avoided my gaze.
“Geez, I’m sorry. I think I seriously do have like a foot-in-mouth disease of some sort. I’ll take the Carbonara.”
He handed me the carton and smiled. “You don’t have foot-in-mouth. I’ve seen what that looks like firsthand. Mason has it and you’re not even close. Besides, that’s kind of a legit question, under the circumstances.”
Circumstances? What circumstances?
“Thanks for the other night, by the way. I think the whiskey had gotten to me and—”
He held up his hand to stop me. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I had an amazing time hanging out. And as hard as you work,” he looked around the office, “I can understand why you need to let loose sometimes. I heard you got the infamous email and riled my sister and Gabby up some. Brandy was in full-blown panic mode when you said you had a boyfriend. Nice work.”
“I feel kind of bad about that but not enough to stop yet. And I Googled him,” I confessed before piling in a bite of the delicious pasta.
Ayden’s brow arched. “And?”
“He looks better than I remembered, and I think he’s working at a ski resort.”
“Would you even admit if you were looking forward to seeing him again?” Ayden asked.
It was like he could read my mind, and it was disarming to say the least. I hadn’t expected that question so I stayed focused on spinning my pasta longer than normal as I contemplated my options. I wasn’t fond of being overly girly when it came to sharing feelings. I wasn’t the greatest about opening up. And I wasn’t sure how crazy I’d sound if I said yes. But there was something etching Ayden’s voice that made me want to tell him, made me feel it was okay to tell him…like I should tell him.
I brought my gaze to his and nodded. “Yeah. I’m actually hoping I get to at least talk to him.”
“Good. Then that makes this whole thing worth it.” His voice sounded distant, and he broke his gaze away from mine.
But something was different. Something had changed.
Cindy had gotten an assortment of pastries and placed them on the conference room table. It was hard to look at her the same way now that I knew about her and Rob. I never in a million years would’ve thought she’d fall for him. He was definitely a leech. I held in a chuckle and continued fastening the boards along the far wall. The team loved my ideas, which was a relief because with so little turnaround time it would be hard to start over or make many adjustments. I glanced through the glass walls that overlooked cubicle life. I decided to keep the blinds open so that the bustle and energy of the office beyond would be felt inside the conference room during the meeting.
I took a step back and looked at everything now that it was laid out and ready for the client. Tori helped spiffy up the artwork and create a more cohesive finish to everything last night. I really hoped there would be another Tori wherever I landed. She was a great co-worker and friend, but she never liked to be in the limelight. She only wanted to deal with her artwork, not the clients.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. I had about ten minutes before the client would be here. That would be just enough time to gather my thoughts and my notes. I walked to my office and sat down at my desk, glancing at the incoming emails and trying to calm my nerves. Even though I enjoyed presenting to clients, my blood always got pumping right beforehand. It was a nervous excitement.
Tori popped into my office wearing a huge lopsided grin. “I’m definitely sitting in on this one with you.”
I laughed and pushed myself back from the desk. “And why’s that? I thought you hated these stuffy client meetings?”
“I normally do, but wow!”
“Wow, what?” I pressed, grabbing my folder.
“Just you wait.”
I walked toward her and shook my head, noticing a wave of women popping their heads over the cubicles to get a glimpse of whoever it was sitting in the conference room.
Seriously?
I rolled my eyes at Hannah, who was in the closest cubicle and had the perfect vantage point, and she just laughed.
“Come on. How often do we ever get eye candy in this office?” she whispered.
“Obviously, not often enough,” I laughed, walking by Hannah as she sat back down in her cubicle.
As the conference room came into view, I felt Tori right on my heels and heard her whisper, “I can’t wait to watch you try to stay composed during this meeting.”
I stopped and spun around, and Tori almost ran right into me. “You know you’re always more than welcome to sit in on these meetings, but you’re making me more nervous. Knock it off.”
“Sorry,” she squeaked. But she wasn’t.
When I turned back around, I looked through the glass into the conference room to find Rob and his father, Ted, examining the storyboards. On the calendar invite, only Rob replied as attending, but it would figure that his dad would show up to this one too. My gaze fell to the back of the man who was sitting at the table. His dark suit stretched nicely across his broad shoulders, and it looked as if he was engaging in discussions with Rob and Ted already, his head bobbing every so often. His blonde hair was slightly shaggy and that’s when my breath caught.
“What?” Tori asked.
“Nothing,” I replied, marching into the conference room.
“Wonderful work,” Ted said, turning to me. “Mr. Rhodes hasn’t even heard your pitch and already loves the graphics and concept.”
My heart skipped a beat as I felt Ayden’s eyes on me, Mr. Rhodes.
“Thank you, sir. Tori did the artwork and really helped pull the preliminaries together,” I said, not turning to face Ayden.
How did I not figure this out? And I had divulged so much to him about Rob’s behavior. Mortified didn’t even begin to cover the emotions that began pulsing through me.
“Why don’t we begin?” Rob motioned toward me and I nodded. His face conveyed everything from the weekend before, and I knew the only reason I still had a job was the potential client sitting at this table.
Tori took a seat across from Ayden and flashed me a grin, putting me at ease, and pulling me out of the spiral I was about to go into. She was dreamily gazing toward Ayden, who didn’t seem to notice in the slightest. The reason I knew that was because his eyes never left me.
As I placed my folder on the table, I glanced at Rob and Ted who took a seat at each end of the table.
Ted eyed me and began, “We’ll have Mr. Rhodes introduce himself and his brand to you, Lily, and then we’ll—”
“Judging by what Lily has put together so far, I think she is more than capable of handling today’s meeting,” Ayden’s voice cut through Ted’s, and my stomach dropped to my toes and then shot right back up again. Wow!
Tori looked nervously at Ted, Rob, and Ayden before her gaze landed on me.
No one spoke to Ted like that, client or not. Instead of waiting for a response from Ted, I began speaking.
“I’m aware of Mr. Rhodes’ brand. The Better brand holds the largest share of natural and organic energy drinks in the category, and he’s beginning to take share from the regular energy drinks, which is unheard of. Every line he has introduced has become more successful than the previous. Beat, Enhance, Recover, Restore, and Superior all have antioxidant properties in addition to providing a long-lasting energy boost. The brand thrives on community, and his marketing strategies so far have included targeting college campuses and gaining social media momentum. My guess is that Mr. Rhodes would like to expand past the typical age range of these types of products as his new line is launched. As we all know, the eighteen to twenty-four year olds own this category. If we can branch out and capture the twenty-four plus year olds, there’ll be no stopping the Better brand. And I think
this campaign will do that flawlessly. I incorporated all of the elements that were given to me, and I think this new launch has endless possibilities. This new line will be a logical next step to expand into the untapped age group.”
My eyes landed on Ayden’s, and a wicked grin was plastered on his lips.
“Well, I can see you know a lot about Better brands. Now, let’s see what our firm can do to help move Better brands forward,” Rob spoke, punctuating each syllable. “But I do find it curious how you know so much about Better.”
Because I helped build Ayden’s brand while I was in college.
“My expertise is in the beverage segment. It wouldn’t behoove me to be ignorant of such movers and shakers in the industry, now would it?”
Rob’s eyes narrowed on mine. “Interesting that you have such passion reserved for this brand.”
I caught Ayden’s eyes focused on Rob as he spoke and realized it looked as if he wanted to kill the guy. He didn’t miss Rob’s implications either.
Ignoring Rob, I went on to discuss the campaign, going over the vision for the launch, running through the boards and answering any of Ayden’s questions while Ted and Rob stayed mostly quiet.
“Really fresh ideas,” Ayden replied, bringing the nodding duo out of hibernation.
“Our firm will be able to handle all of the details you’ll need,” Rob began. “And I’ll personally oversee the entire project.”
Ayden leaned back in his chair and his brow arched. It almost looked like he was holding back a laugh. “I don’t see how that will work in this instance. But I thank you for the offer. The person who had the vision should be the one executing this launch.”
I had to hide my smile, but Tori didn’t even bother. She was beaming as she watched the scene unfold.
“We can accommodate that request,” Ted began, eyeing me coolly. “About the timeline?”
“The launch party is on the 23rd,” Ayden said.
“Of what?” Rob asked.
“December.”
The day I get my bonus money. Thank you, Ayden!
“That’s ridiculous. The 23rd isn’t even two weeks away. I’ve never seen a successful launch in this short of time.”
“All of my launches are built to look like an impulse idea and most of the time they are. If I spent months on the launch, the vigor and buzz would be gone by the time the product hit the shelves. Social media bores easily. If you can’t pull it off, I can surely find someone else who can,” Ayden replied.
The difficulty of keeping my smile hidden was growing by the second. I had handled all of Ayden’s launches over the last couple of years. I had it down like nobody’s business, which he knew.
“We’ll get right on it,” Rob assured him.
“Wonderful to hear,” Ayden stood up and buttoned the middle button of his jacket before reaching over to shake Rob’s hand.
“Lily, I recognize this is a short turnaround time and right before the holidays so if you need anything reach out to me directly. I’m sure Ted will send you my contact information.”
I nodded and felt the familiar electricity run between us as he came over to shake my hand.
But there was a distance between us, one that hadn’t really existed before.
“Nice work,” he replied.
“Thank you, Mr. Rhodes.”
And I watched him turn around and exit the room with Ted and Rob right behind.
“What was that all about?” Tori gushed. “I thought Mr. Rhodes was going to crush those two with his thumb. That was incredible.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
She nodded and helped me take down all of the boards.
“Now if I could run across a guy like that, I’d make an exception to my ‘no dating corporate guys’ rule,” Tori muttered.
Funny. I never thought of Ayden as a corporate guy, but I guess he was.
“I’m really impressed with how little time you gave that guy. I don’t think I would’ve been able to keep my eyes off him,” she continued.
I started laughing as I pulled the last board off the wall. “I don’t think you did keep your eyes off of him.”
“Was it that obvious?” She grinned, following me out of the conference room.
“Only if someone spotted the puddle of drool in front of you.”
She smacked me playfully and followed me to my office.
“So how can I help? What do we need to get this show started?” she asked.
“I’ve got a list of contacts that’ll work perfectly for this launch. I’ll start reaching out to the papers and local magazines. The only issue will be ensuring that I can find a space that’s not already taken up by office holiday parties. I’d say the most important thing is to get the artwork to the printers ASAP. Take what we have and doll it up a bit and send me over the proofs. I think if we can get the final artwork to the printer by Friday, at the latest, we’ll be set.”
“Perfect.” Tori gave me a slight nod and headed out of my office, closing the door behind her, right before my phone buzzed.
It was a message from Ayden.
Surprise!
I replied quickly, hoping that the distance I sensed earlier was all in my head.
Surprise indeed. Thank you for that. The 23rd? Genius! I can’t believe I didn’t figure out the client was you…
A knock on my door interrupted my exchange so I hit the send button and looked up. It was Rob. He stepped into my office and closed the door, glaring at me as he walked to the chair in front of my desk. He’d obviously done the math. The look of disdain was written all over Rob’s expression with the realization that the very project that was bringing the firm lots of money was also the reason I’d be getting mine.
“I’m sure my father and I can count on you to see this campaign through. If you need anything, let us know. I see you put in for vacation after the holidays. Unfortunately, I can’t approve it.”
I could tell there was no unfortunately about it. He was delighted to break the news to me. But it really didn’t matter because on December 24th, I’d be giving my notice and loving every second of it.
“I understand. It was short notice,” I replied.
“My father was quite impressed with your knowledge of Better and seems to be reconsidering your employment here.”
Yeah, right.
My stomach was literally churning this morning’s latte and lemon pound cake, but I had to tolerate the games. I needed to get to December 23rd. I’d had some reckless moments in my life, but this wasn’t going to be one of them.
“That’s wonderful news,” I replied, looking into Rob’s vacant eyes.
“Great. I’ll let you get back to work. Again, if there’s anything you need, let me know.” He tapped my desk and turned around, exiting quickly. I knew there was something more going on in Rob’s mind. I only hoped I wouldn’t be around to see what it was.
“You guys made the trip,” I squealed, as I opened my door to see Brandy and Gabby standing in front of me. They were both holding an assortment of shopping bags, and I knew what they’d been up to while I was at the office.
I think they were feeling guilty about what they had up their sleeves but not guilty enough to confess or call it off. I got out of the way as they piled into the entry.
“Who’s running the bakery, if you’re down here tearing up the stores?” I teased.
It was almost impossible to convince Gabby to take a day off. In fact, I wasn’t sure how Brandy had convinced her to take an entire week off for our Utah trip. They must have thought I was in a dating crisis.
“Girls’ weekend,” they both sang together.
“When it comes to my Lily, I’d close up shop if I had to,” Gabby laughed.
I raised a brow and watched as they made their way into the family room. I had a few candles lit on the coffee table, and the flokati rug I’d ordered had finally arrived and was placed in the center of the room, complimenting the linen color of the couches nicely. The built-in sh
elves on each side of the fireplace overflowed with books. Even though I had copies of most on my e-reader now, I couldn’t bear to part with the paperbacks.
Gabby fell into a chair and Brandy sat on a couch, flipping the television on.
“I love the new chair,” Gabby said, crossing her legs and pulling a blanket onto her lap. “It feels like home.”
“Okay, what are you two up to?” I sat on the couch next to Brandy and grabbed one of the cream pillows to hold. “You’re never this nice.”
“I’m offended,” Brandy said, snatching the pillow from my lap. “This rug is so soft. I love it.” She had flung off her shoes, and her feet were buried deep in the shag.
“Can you believe how good she looks?” Gabby asked Brandy. “It’s like she’s glowing. This new guy must be good for her, whoever he is.”
“You went over the top with that one. You’re never this nice,” I laughed. “Plus, it’s Friday night and the fact that you two want to stay in makes me suspicious. And nervous.”
“We’re all attached so why would we go out and try to meet guys,” Gabby said.
“On that note, tell us all about your new guy.” Brandy switched the topic.
I had somewhat planned for this so I had my list at the ready.
“He’s absolutely amazing. Tall, tan, muscular, loyal, completely hot but adorable…is employed full-time.”
As I listed Ayden’s qualities, I almost started laughing.
“Sounds like a winner already,” Brandy teased. “Employed full-time, huh?”
“You’d be surprised. Around here that is a big deal,” I laughed. “He’s absolutely gorgeous, and he snowboards so that should be perfect for our little getaway.”
Brandy and Gabby traded nervous glances and Brandy let out a sigh.
Were they cracking already?
“First, we aren’t kidding about how good you look. There’s something about you that’s really refreshing to see,” Gabby said.
“But we do have something to confess,” Brandy continued.
Beyond Reason (Beyond Love Series #3) Page 4
