by Angelo, Judy
Roman gripped her upper arms and set her away from him. “I suggest you leave my office now,” he said, his voice a harsh growl, “or else I won’t be responsible for my actions.” Then, with a look of disgust he released her arms and turned back towards his desk.
Serena did not wait to see what he would do next. Smarting from the blow of his rejection she turned and marched to the door. When she went through it she pulled it shut none too gently. She was fuming. She was mortified. She was…she didn’t know what she was. She’d never been so humiliated in her life. So she disgusted him, did she? And yet he refused to release her from her bondage? Well, she would just see about that.
******
Roman dropped into his chair and let his breath out in a whoosh. He shook his head, hardly believing what had just happened. What the hell had he done? Serena Van Buren was an employee, for Christ’s sake. On the job for all of two days. The daughter of his associate, a girl entrusted to his care. And what did he do? He’d done a damned good job of playing the pervert, taking advantage of the girl right there in the middle of his office. Jesus, what was he thinking? He was so disgusted with himself he could not sit still. He got up and began to pace the room.
What had he gotten himself into, offering to mentor and train Serena Van Buren for six months? He could not even keep his hands off her. Damn! He was in big trouble.
CHAPTER SIX
It was almost a week since the incident in Roman’s office and Serena was finally getting over the shock of his kiss. Thank goodness he’d left for California the next day so she hadn’t had to face him again. After the incident she’d felt ashamed and somewhat bewildered. The man had practically thrown her out of his office. She couldn’t understand his reaction after what she thought had been a passionate, earth-shaking kiss. She’d spent days reliving every moment of that kiss and each time her heart would thump and her breath would catch in her throat. It had been absolutely magical.
Today, though, she would have to get her emotions under control. Roman was scheduled to be back in office this morning and, as much as she thought she was not ready to see him again, she knew the meeting was inevitable. How would she handle their first encounter after that kiss? Maybe for him the whole thing meant nothing but it had practically devastated her defenses. This was the first man she’d ever met who’d knocked her barriers down with just one blow.
The clock on her desk said nine thirty when there was a knock on her door and Theresa entered the room. “Mr. Steele needs you in his office. Make sure you take your notepad with you.” She was formal, as usual, but this time there was more of an edge to the woman’s voice.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing. Just get down to Mr. Steele’s office right away.” Without another word she turned and left the room.
Serena lifted her eyebrows, surprised at Theresa’s terseness, then she sank back into her chair. Her heartbeat had accelerated at the announcement and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm her nerves. “Well, here goes,” she murmured and grabbed her pen and pad.
When Serena entered the office Roman was sitting at his desk holding a bottle of what looked like shampoo and a small gold jar which she guessed contained face cream.
“Have a seat, Miss Van Buren.” His voice sounded pleasant enough but his stare was intense. She slid into the chair in front of him and kept her eyes downcast.
For a moment there was silence then Roman spoke in a low voice. “Serena, look at me.”
Surprised at his change of tone, she lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She was taken aback by what she saw there. He actually looked ashamed.
“Serena,” he said, “I owe you an apology.”
Serena held her breath and stared back at him, incredulous. Roman was apologizing to her? He’d seemed like the kind of man who would apologize to no-one. Now that she was seeing a new side of him it confused her all the more. Was he apologizing for the kiss or for kicking her out of his office?
“I behaved inappropriately and for that I’m sorry. I assure you, it will never happen again.”
It will never happen again. It will never happen again. The words reverberated in her head and for some reason her spirits sank. It will never happen again? Dear God, she wanted it to happen again. More than anything.
Swallowing her disappointment Serena looked back at Roman and gave him a small smile, accepting his apology with a quick nod.
“For the next few weeks you’ll be working closely with the marketing team,” he said, his voice professional and cool. “I’ll make sure you participate in meetings that are relevant to your development. What I want is that at the end of your time with Steele Industries you should have a good handle on project management, marketing, and promotions. For today, though, you’ll sit in on my meeting with the ad agency.”
He leaned forward and placed the bottle and the jar in front of her. “These are two products from the Enchanted line we’ll be launching next quarter. I want you to get involved in every aspect of the launch, starting with this meeting. The ad execs will be here in about ten minutes so I’ll give you a quick briefing to prepare you.”
Roman spoke quickly, filling her in on the consumer research that had been done and the reason why the company thought the line had great potential. Serena scribbled feverishly, trying to keep up with him, and was relieved when he finally told her it was time to head for the main conference room.
The agency executives arrived moments later and as soon as Roman introduced her to Martha Foxworth and Herman Moore the meeting began. Martha presented storyboards of television commercials with the first one depicting a woman shampooing then drying her hair and a man coming in and sliding his fingers sexily through her long brown tresses. On a second storyboard a woman applied Enchanted face cream to a wrinkled face followed by a close up shot of the crow’s feet by the side of her eyes. The next shot showed a close up of the same eye but this time the skin was smoother and softer. The tagline for this commercial was “Your face never looked so good”.
Last in her set Martha presented a print advertisement featuring the moisturizing face cream. The model was a beautiful dark haired woman, seeming to be in her late thirties, and she held a young child in a close embrace. The little girl had her hand on the woman’s cheek, as if stroking it, and the tagline for the product said, “I just love your baby face.”
After the initial presentation Martha reviewed each campaign in detail, giving Roman and Serena a chance to understand the reasoning behind each and soliciting their input. Serena was impressed by Roman’s knowledge and understanding of the advertising business and, for the most part, she kept silent, absorbing as much as she could. She did make some suggestions on the clothing worn by the models but she kept her comments to a bare minimum, leaving the meatier comments to her boss.
Roman expressed concern about how the message was relayed while Serena’s few comments were focused on the visual impact of the ads. Being the daughter of a wealthy man, she had lived for years in the public eye and knew how to make a good first impression. She was an expert in haute couture, make-up and styling.
Because of that she looked at the advertisements with discerning eyes and was able to find flaws where she knew the average woman might not. She felt a little guilty for involving herself too much but she knew she would feel even guiltier if she kept silent. After all, Roman had invited her into this meeting, not to be a statue but to participate. She knew she was here to learn but she also knew she had a lot to share, regardless of her lack of experience in business.
With that conviction she began to speak her mind. She made recommendations for the wardrobe for the models, and for the television commercial she even suggested changing the model all together. From what Roman had told her about the Enchanted line of products she knew it was targeted toward young, professional women. The model selected by the agency was in her late thirties. She reasoned that they needed to use a model to whom the target market would relate. Both Ma
rtha and Herman were looking at Serena with an air of surprise but Roman had a satisfied smile on his face.
“I guess we’ll have to go back to the drawing board,” Martha said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“We want this campaign to be perfect,” Serena said calmly, “so it doesn’t make sense for us to rush to put out something substandard.”
Martha sucked in her breath but said nothing. She began packing up her storyboards and papers and sat back down beside Herman.
“I guess this is a good time for me to take over,” the man said, pulling out two folders and sliding one to Roman and the other to Serena. “I had put together a budget for the campaign but seeing that we’re going to make changes, some of these figures will change as well. Still, I wanted to give you an idea of what the budget will look like.”
“No problem,” Roman said, nodding. “Let’s see what you have.”
Roman and Herman began to discuss the budget line by line. Serena tried to listen but felt totally distracted. There was something about that print ad campaign that was bothering her. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. She was itching to ask Martha to let her see it again but felt she’d be rubbing salt in the wound. The woman already probably hated her for making all those comments and changes to her campaign.
She became so distracted that she began to fiddle with her pen and more than once Roman glanced over at her. Finally he said, “Is something wrong, Serena?”
“Aah, yes,” Serena said, deciding to take the opening he’d given her. “I just want to see that print ad again.”
He raised his eyebrows but said nothing and turned to Martha. The woman shrugged and pulled out the ad then slid it over to Serena who studied it for a few seconds. “There’s just something about this tag line…I don’t know. I just love your baby face…can we change it?”
“Why would we want to do that?” Martha’s voice was sharp but she hurried to change her tone. “I mean, it’s just perfect for the print campaign. The little girl is stroking her mother’s face and telling her she loves her baby face.”
Serena shook her head slowly. “It sounds a bit corny to me. What about, caress your face with love?” She looked across at the woman as she spoke and saw to her surprise that Martha’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face.
“That’s perfect. I can build a whole campaign around that tagline.”
Serena looked at Roman and he, too, was smiling. He gave her a nod and an enigmatic smile. For some reason it made her think of his touch and a shiver ran down her spine.
For the rest of the meeting Serena remained silent but a warm glow suffused her body. She knew she was being silly but Roman was pleased with her and she was happy.
The meeting wrapped up shortly thereafter and Theresa came in to escort the visitors out. Serena picked up her notepad and pen and was heading out of the conference room when Roman spoke.
“Just a moment, Serena.”
She stopped in her tracks, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. She turned and saw that he was smiling at her. Goodness, he was so handsome when he smiled. She remained standing, her notepad clutched tightly in front of her, and waited.
“You did well today.” His voice was soft and as he took the four steps that brought him within inches of her she shuddered in reaction to his nearness. She struggled to keep her face calm, not wanting him to know the effect he was having on her.
“You’ve got an inborn talent that came out in the meeting today. You have an eye for beauty.” He smiled down at her then took her elbow and turned her toward the door. “You may go now but rest assured you’ll be in many more of these meetings from here on.”
Serena simply nodded, held her back straight and walked out. For the second time in a week he was showing her the door. She was glad for the praise but she would have preferred it if he’d swept her into his arms again and kissed her passionately like he’d done at their last meeting. Was she the only one who’d gotten drunk on that kiss? She bit her lip and kept on walking, her face as placid as Lake Ontario. She would never let him know how much she craved his touch.
******
That night Serena could not sleep. She’d climbed into bed at ten thirty then tossed and turned for hours with no sleep in sight. She’d had a wonderful day. No, a terrible day. She sighed in frustration. It had been a totally confusing day. First, she’d been defiant, preparing to challenge Roman next time she saw him. Then she’d tingled with the anticipation of seeing him again after their kiss. When he made the declaration that he’d never touch her again she felt deflated. When he praised her after the meeting she felt all gooey. Then he’d shown her the door. Back to depression.
What made it worse, despite her resolve to hate her job and do everything in her power to get fired she’d actually enjoyed the meeting with the ad agency. She’d learned so much in the space of just a couple of hours and, she had to admit, she was looking forward to learning even more. She groaned. That was going totally against her plan. What was she going to do now?
She looked at the clock. One thirty-five, which meant it would only be six thirty-five in the morning in Paris. She was sure that neither Jan nor Tammy would be up at this hour but she didn’t care. Right now she needed someone to talk to. She picked up the phone and dialed Jan’s cell number, praying that the roaming feature would work. It did. Jan answered the phone on the fifth ring.
“Hello.” Her voice sounded groggy and far away.
“Wake up, sleepy head,” Serena said, trying to sound cheerful. “What are you doing in bed at this hour? Do you know what time it is?”
There was a pause then Jan said dryly, “Of course I know what time it is. It’s an ungodly hour of the morning . You know I never get up this early. I’m on vacation, for heaven’s sake.” There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Serena sighed. “I know I shouldn’t have called you so early but I just need to talk. I’m all alone over here and I’m going crazy.”
“What’s going on, Serena? Are you alright?” Jan sounded fully awake now. Her voice was sharp with concern.
“I’m fine,” Serena said with another heavy sigh. “It’s just that you guys are over there having all the fun and I’m here working so hard. And to make things worse I have a devil of a boss who’s driving me mad.”
“What on earth do you mean? Didn’t we discuss the plan for your boss? You were going to go in there and show him that you’re a Van Buren. So what happened?”
Serena could not help smiling to herself. They had been so naïve. “Let’s just say, he’s not exactly the boss I expected.”
“Is he nice?”
“I wouldn’t describe him as…nice.” Serena bit her lip and wondered how much she should tell her friend. Then she continued, “He’s probably the most gorgeous man I’ve met in my entire life.”
“What? You never told me this.”
“How could I? You’re halfway across the world. You and Tammy abandoned me when I needed you most.”
“Come off it, Serena,” Jan said, sounding exasperated. “I’m not going to feel guilty about that. We had a plan and you backed out. Mind you, I know it wasn’t your fault but you certainly didn’t expect your father’s rules to apply to Tammy and me. Now let’s get back to the real issue here. Tell me about this hunk.”
“What’s going on?” Serena heard Tammy faintly in the background.
“Serena’s found a man and he’s handsome,” she heard Jan say.
“No, I haven’t,” she retorted. “The man is my boss, for goodness sake.”
“Really? She’s finally fallen for a guy?” It was Tammy’s voice again, closer this time.
“Yeah, and she’s going to tell me all about it,” Jan said excitedly.
“Will you guys stop that?” Serena yelled into the phone. They hadn’t even waited to hear her story but had jumped to all kinds of conclusions. Trust her crazy friends to be so…crazy.
“Okay, okay.” Jan laughed into the phone. “I’m
listening.”
“Thank you,” Serena said in a huff then she drew in a deep breath and began. “As I was saying, my boss is nothing like I expected. He’s over six feet tall and he has jet black hair and such startling dark eyes. And his skin is dark, like…I think he’s part Italian or something.”
“Sounds like a movie star,” Jan said, dreamily.
“Hey, I’m not hearing any of this,” Tammy whined in the background.
“Shh, I’ll tell you all about it when we’re done,” Jan hissed, quieting her. Then she said to Serena, “So have you gone out with him yet?”
“What do you think I am? I just met the man last week. Anyway, his name is Roman Steele and he’s the CEO of Steele Industries-”
“Roman Steele? I know him. I mean, I’ve seen him in the papers before. You’re right, he’s a real hunk. You’re so lucky…”
“No, I’m not. He acts like he doesn’t even notice me.” There was a sudden hitch in her voice and Serena sat up and cleared her throat.
“It sounds like there’s something going on, something you’re not telling me.”
“No, there’s nothing,” she said quickly, “It’s just that…he’s…” Serena bit her lip as a sudden tear stung her eye. She didn’t know how to go on, she didn’t know what to say.
“Serena,” Jan said in a schoolmarm voice, “be careful what you’re doing over there. Sounds like you’ve gotten yourself into something deep. But whatever you do, don’t fall for him.”
Too late. Serena put her left index finger to her lips and began to nibble at the nail. It had only been a week since she`d met the man but that advice had come way too late to save her heart.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was after five o’clock but Roman had no plans to leave the office any time soon. He’d been working on a report for the past three hours and, looking down at the papers in front of him, he realized that he didn’t have very much to show for all that time. He’d been distracted all afternoon and, as important as this report was, for the life of him he just could not put his mind to it.