I poured my coffee as some of them exited the room. A few remained behind, watching the news on the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.
“Is it always this cold in the mornings around here?” I asked no one in particular.
A balding white man turned around and glanced at me. “Only when people believe they must watch what they say because the subject of their gossip just walked into the room.”
He stepped away from the TV and walked towards me. “Gary Larsen,” he said with an outstretched hand and a wide smile.
“Kole Smith,” I introduced, accepting, and shaking his hand.
“Yeah, we all know who you are.”
I sipped my coffee and nodded my head. “Mm, I tend to have that impact on people.”
“Don’t take it personally. If most of them were smart, they’d realize your presence here means good things. But people don’t tend to like change,” Gary said.
“No. They don’t. But they’d damned sure better get over it soon,” I advised as I headed for the door. There were so many things that I needed to review again before this morning’s meeting.
I heard Gary chuckle behind me as I stepped from the breakroom. Something told me that although he appeared to be on my side, I had better be careful what I said around him, too.
I disappeared back inside of my office, thinking about the full day’s schedule I had ahead of me. My stomach growled, reminding me of the missed breakfast. Although there were several people who my new role would have an impact on, there were only a couple of people assigned to my team. The other person was a marketing analyst assigned to assist me in this project. One of which was Latosha, or Tosha, as she preferred to be called.
I felt bad for not bringing them breakfast this morning, but the more I thought about it, the better off I was. Sometimes, things happened for a reason. I didn’t need Tosha misconstruing my offer of breakfast, and I didn’t want the rest of my team thinking I was trying to buy their loyalty. I didn’t need it.
CHAPTER 3 – SILVER
“Get your dirty gym shoes off the table, Ryan,” I said as I used my pen to poke the sole of his gym shoe clad feet.
“Hey, I’m not at your house. I don’t need to mind my manners,” he called back as he dropped his feet onto the floor. “Although I could return and show you how well behaved I can be.”
I scoffed. “Damned sure won’t get another invite,” I muttered as I slunk down in my seat.
“Sure, about that, babycakes?”
One time. I’d slept with Ryan one time, and he never let me forget it. And he reveled in sharing that bit of information with the rest of our co-workers. Not only was he not a good lay, but he couldn’t be trusted to save his life.
I rolled my eyes in disgust.
“She’d rather sleep with a pig than your nasty ass,” my co-worker, and work sister, Kesha stated, rolling her eyes as she observed her talons.
She had these long nails that she said were “coffin nails,” that always had these exotic colors and designs on them. But I called them talons. What could I say, though? She frequented my sister’s nail salon. So, if it benefited my family, I couldn’t complain.
“She wasn’t complaining when she was screaming my name,” Ryan retorted.
My top lip curled, and eyes narrowed as I sneered at his scathing remarks. He was such an ass wipe. I don’t know what I was thinking that night, but I’d learned a valuable lesson. No more drinking and sexing. It wasn’t my most intelligent decision.
“Ryan, are we talking about your pathetic ass love life again, and Silver’s one night of poor judgment after too many drinks at the Christmas party last year? Because if so, that story is old and dead, just like your polla, and you need to go and find another piece of ass. Because Miss Korea isn’t giving it up to you again. Thank God,” Maria Ortiz said as she stepped into the conference room.
“My dick isn’t old and dead, Maria. So, you can stop fantasizing about it,” Ryan said.
Maria laughed. “Please. I wouldn’t waste a dream on you.”
“Ryan, Silver was only screaming your name because she was begging your limp dick ass to get up off of her so she could go make herself have an orgasm,” Kesha said.
Kesha high-fived Maria, and the two laughed. I was grateful they were coming to my rescue, but...yeah, no thanks.
I turned my attention back to my laptop as the remaining team filed into the room one by one. When the marketing team director and my boss, Claire Swanson, stepped in, my attention jerked up towards where she stood in the front of the room. She was cool, but she had been under a lot of stress lately. I’d tried to do everything I could to help out because she was a good boss. But it hadn’t alleviated the strain she was under.
“Good morning, team,” she greeted everyone, holding a coffee cup aloft.
“Good morning,” we returned.
“As you all know, there has been a significant slump in sales for the radio station over the last six months. All our efforts have failed, and the board has decided we needed outside help in the form of a consultant. I will be reporting to him, as will Latosha and Silver.”
My mouth dropped open briefly before she narrowed her eyes in warning. I was notorious for emotional outbursts at the station. I closed my mouth, but my heart stammered with that thought. She had promised that I would remain under her supervision and not have to report to this new person.
She went on to explain the decision. “Tosha is his personal assistant, as well as balancing her duties as the receptionist to the team, at large. I will be working closely with him on revamping the marketing team, our budget planning, and our entire department at large. Silver will be stepping into the role of Project Lead. She will oversee all special projects that are being created in this new phase,” Claire explained.
My heart thudded in my chest, torn between excitement and nervousness. I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing, and I wondered if it came with a pay raise. I somehow doubted it since the radio station was already struggling.
“We’ll discuss the details of that further, in our one-on-one after this, Silver,” she said and turned her attention to the others.
That explained why I had received a last-minute meeting invitation this morning. I’d seen it on the way to the office and worried a bit because I hadn’t prepared for a meeting other than this one. I had hoped it wasn’t bad news, and it didn’t seem as if it was. We were all expecting budget cuts and with those came the possibility of staff cuts.
For the next several minutes, I drowned out Claire’s words, lost in my thoughts until she said, “Welcome, Mr. Smith.”
I looked up just in time to see someone stepping through the door. I was oblivious to the point when the door to the conference room opened. Shifting my gaze slightly, I did a double-take as the man from French Toast stepped into the room with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. Until his eyes landed on me.
His slow and easy smile quickly turned into a scowl as his eyes perused my face, and he turned away. Everyone in the room clapped until they noticed his change of demeanor. All eyes turned my way, and I wanted to slide down into the chair and disappear.
Instead, I sat up straight and showed him the respect he was due as the senior leader of our team.
Gone was the dark navy suit from earlier this morning. In its place was a charcoal grey suit with a white shirt. I briefly thought Mr. Smith might look very appealing if it weren’t for the scowl.
“Mr. Smith, I’d like for you to tell the team a little bit about who you are and what we can expect over the next few months,” Claire suggested.
The smile back in place, as he avoided eye contact with me, he said, “Well, first, I’d like to drop Mr. Smith. I prefer to be a bit more casual. Please feel free to call me Kole,” he said with a glance around the table.
“The facts...the facts are that I have a Master’s in accounting from Duke University. I have been on the ground floor of eight start-up companies to assist them in revitali
zing the company and helping them to run more efficiently. Some of those companies include Stark Technologies, Porter Property Group, Tactile Extreme, and Denham Software.”
I was already impressed without him going further because I knew that these were some of the premier companies in their industries. Denham was the second-largest software firm in the country, and Porter had recently gone global.
“This company is in dire straits, and to keep it from sinking; I have the responsibility to look at the business practices, specifically marketing, and turn things in a better direction. I plan to achieve that by first assessing what needs to be revised, what we can cut, and what we can enhance. Part of that process includes updating the business initiatives and goals, modifying existing programs to meet those goals, partnering with external vendors to position the media company to implement the business solution we devise on a regional scale and teaching you all how to balance the requests of your clients with the technical restraints of the company. But I cannot do that alone. It’s going to take a team to make this happen, and you are that team.”
His eyes landed on me briefly for the first time, before he turned his glance away and began to pace the front of the room.
“Each one of you in this room is vital to achieving these objectives. We must work towards those goals to maintain your job. The first thing companies think about when they’re sinking is cuts. Budget cuts usually mean staff cuts. I’m not looking to cut anyone’s job, and if you feel the same, that means you’ll work hand in hand with me, even when it’s not easy. But it will help accomplish these shared objectives. If anyone objects, you need to let me know now, and we can realign our priorities and have a different discussion.”
Mr. Smith paused again and glanced around the room slowly to gauge everyone’s response.
“Now, I won’t promise you anything. I would love to waltz in here and promise each of you that your job is safe, but truthfully, I can’t, and I won’t. I wouldn’t do it even if I could. What I will say is that you’d better be ready to work your asses off to keep your jobs. This plan is going to take ingenuity, logical reasoning, and our ability to work well together.”
He stopped pacing and stood in front of the chair reserved for him. He clamped one large hand on the back of it and surveyed everyone in the room. When his eyes landed on me, I felt as if the man could see through to my soul with that piercing dark gaze of his.
Mr. Smith licked his thick, full lips before he cleared his throat and resumed his speech. “Now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way let’s get social. I’ll tell you a few things about me, and I’d like to know at least one little known fact about each of you. Is that fair?”
There were some murmurs throughout the room, as everyone tried to assess the temperature to determine how they felt about this man.
“Cool. Like I said earlier, I don’t really like being called Mr. Smith, so please, call me Kole. I’m flexible; I love hearing the ideas of others and positioning my team to look good rather than the other way around. First thing’s first. I speak two different languages, aside from English, which includes Spanish and French. I also teach Taekwondo to women and kids ages ten through twelve in my spare time, and I practice MMA. Not as much as I once did, but hopefully I’ll pick it back up soon.”
My interest in him was once again piqued. As a lifelong learner, I’m always looking for opportunities to soak up knowledge from those willing to share. Mr. Smith, er...Kole turned his attention to Gary Larsen, the program director of radio broadcasting.
Gary launched into his spiel about his “little known facts,” which we all knew by now. We all knew he loved playing Sudoku in his spare time, solving crossword puzzles, and working on a science fiction novel, that he had been writing for six years now; long before I came to the radio station.
Kesha talked about her penchant for launching her music career one day, and a few other details most people didn’t know about her. Latosha shared with the team that she had been an exotic dancer in her former life to put herself through school. We all knew that, but she enjoyed sharing that anytime there was a man in the room. I’m still not certain what bonus points she hoped to garner from that tidbit. It didn’t seem ever to get her anywhere, at least not anywhere worth mentioning.
Ryan talked about how he had once been an extra in the movie, Ranam, none of the rest of us were familiar with.
“My long-term objective...is to settle down with Silver and start our family,” he said, leering at me.
I rolled my eyes and wanted to throw my pen at him, but violence wasn’t in my nature.
“Boy, you wish! Quit harassing that woman before you catch a charge!” Kesha scolded.
“Silver?” Kole’s deep baritone pulled my attention away from Ryan briefly. The confusion etched on his face as he looked at the rest of my team.
“Her,” Kesha said and pointed at me.
A brief nod of his head was all the acknowledgment Kole gave.
The rest of the team shared their stories, and it was down to me. I couldn’t think of anything interesting to share with Kole or the rest of the group. My life was an open book, and they knew mostly everything about me.
“Silver,” his deep, sexy voice pulled me from my musings.
Something about the way he said my name sounded a bit personal. It stirred something in my belly.
I cleared my throat and quit doodling on the notepad in front of me. I finally thought of something the others didn’t know.
“Um, well, I trained as a figure skater from elementary to high school. I competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I didn’t win, but the experience was still...”
The gasps around the room paired with the murmurings forced me to stop speaking briefly. Surprisingly, I even had Kole’s attention now, and he was no longer glancing away from me. Claire shushed everyone so that I could finish speaking.
“I design clothing in my spare time, and I still skate, but no longer competitively. In addition to English and my native language Korean, I also speak Portuguese and Spanish,” I said as my gaze settled upon Kole.
He gave a brief nod and then turned away. I knew he was impressed. I could see it in his eyes, but he refused to acknowledge me. Was he still upset about the incident with Bear this morning? I had to find a way to get around that if we were to work together. Especially since I now knew that I was assigned to work directly with him. I wonder if he knew that. I was certain it was no surprise to him and that he was aware of my new assignment.
Kole turned the meeting back to business and informed everyone that they would hear from Latosha as she scheduled private meetings with each of us. I turned my focus back to doodling a design once more, settled on the thought that I would not make a great impression on this man no matter how hard I tried.
CHAPTER 4 – KOLE
With my head bent over the spreadsheets laying on my desk, I was deep in a zone. These budget numbers were astronomically off, and I had no idea what had happened in the past, but I was about to get to the bottom of it.
The one thing I loved about my position was that it allowed me to research and problem-solve matters. That didn’t always bode well for those who were in positions of authority and not adhering to business ethics, but that was their problem. Not mine.
A quick knock on the door forced me to turn my attention away for a moment.
“Come in,” I called.
The door opened, and I almost wished I hadn’t offered the invitation first.
How in the hell had I lucked into this situation? The chick from the coffee shop with the crazy assed dog stood in my doorway. When I’d seen her in the conference room, I was caught off-guard for a moment. But not for long. I’m usually always on my A-game, so I put my game face on once I realized everyone was staring at me.
I know it was a bad trait to have, but I hated apologizing. Most of the time, I tried to avoid situations that would have me apologizing for anything.
“Can I help y
ou?” I asked, forcing myself not to be an asshole for just a minute. I needed to remain professional in the workplace and put this morning’s issues aside.
“Uh, yes, Mr. Smith?”
Strike two. I wanted us to be on better footing. But after the dog incident and now Silver insisted on calling me by my last name, I wasn’t sure we could find common ground.
“I asked everyone to call me, Kole.”
“Oh...um, Kole,”
“Yes, Miss Silver?”
“I...well, I’m your two o’clock appointment,” she said as she glanced around the room at everything but me.
You’ve got to be kidding me! Why? I pulled up my calendar in Outlook. I knew that my first round of appointments would start today, but I hadn’t had a chance to look at what Tosha had placed on my schedule.
I clicked on the title “Project Budget Analysis.” The link opened a new window, and I reviewed the list of invitees: Eun Wang.
I looked up at her and then at her name again. “This invitation says...” I paused before mispronouncing the name.
“Eun Wang,” she said, pronouncing it like “Yun.”
“Yes, Eun.”
“That’s my name, but it means ‘Silver,’ in English. That’s the name I prefer, Silver.”
“Okay, Eun.” I knew my attitude was supercilious, but I didn’t give a damn. After all, I’d told her that I wanted to be called Kole, but she insisted on Mr. Smith. Her wide-set, triangular brown eyes narrowed to the point they appeared closed as she scowled at me.
But almost as quickly as the scowl took over her face, she straightened it.
“So, you’re the project lead for this team?”
“As of today.”
Damn, again, there goes my shitty luck. “Who was it before today?”
“There wasn’t one. The creation of the new role was the result of the guidelines you set forth. Claire and Darren, her supervisor, decided I was the staff member with the most qualifications to fill that position.”
If it weren’t for shitty luck, I’d have none. I nodded my head and held my hand out towards the chair across from me.
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