by Lynn Galli
“Sure thing,” she accepted the order easily. Unlike with several of the other chief officers and their AAs, clearly no tension existed between these two. “You remember I’m leaving early today, right? Just say the word and I’ll be glad to postpone the appointment if you need me.”
“Nice try, Kel. You’ve been putting off this root canal for months. The pain is killing you. Get in there and get it over with, okay?”
Kelly flicked her gaze at me then pinned an awe-inspired glance at her boss. “Thanks, Raven, I will.” Raven? No, no, no! The one person I could relate to in this company; the one person I was going to have to spend a ton of time with pouring over financials; the one person who seemed to treat me as anything other than a leper was having an affair with her administrative assistant? So not right, and if their employee manual was as good as it should be, she might have to be my first recommended termination.
Crap, Wednesdays blow.
Chapter 3
“W hat?” The black haired temptress asked with wide innocent eyes.
I shook my head of the thoughts and tried to focus on the meeting. Maybe Kelly had been talking about a different Raven. Not that I’ve ever met anyone with that name before, nor did I believe it was likely that, even if it was a common name, two would be working for this company. I realized I’d been staring and silent for longer than would be polite.
“Ah, that’s a nice name. The contact list only shows first initials. It goes well with your chosen last name.” A faint pink spotted the crest of her cheekbones. “Thank you.”
I wondered how long I could keep from saying something to her. How disappointing that she’d been this careless with her position. For a while there, I thought she might be a confidante; someone who could help me get her uncle to utilize my recommendations to their fullest advantage. Instead, I was trying to keep from being embarrassed for her.
“Is something bothering you?” she asked just as innocently.
Yes. How can you be so reckless when you seem so together? I wanted to shout in judgment. “Not at all.” My business training managed to beat my inner voice into submission.
“I’m Joslyn, by the way.”
She smiled and nodded her head. “Should we get to work, Joslyn?”
“Good idea, Raven.” Anything to keep from imagining an encounter between Kelly and Raven in a darkened supply room.
An hour later, she closed her binders and I shut down my computer. The meeting had been the most productive and informative of all the others combined. Just as I suspected it would be, but her lack of judgment with her subordinate still rankled my mind. Too bad. Not that I could blame Kelly. Raven was hot.
Whoa! Now, that’s a new one. I’d never thought of women that way, never imagined how soft their lips would feel, never contemplated how graceful their bodies were or how dexterous their fingers might be. For an hour, in between concentrating on the various financials, I couldn’t stop these thoughts from entering my head. Not about Kelly, who’d surprised me with the kiss, but about Raven, the beguiling creature beside me.
In an effort to get my focus back, I offered politely, “Thank you for your time, Raven.”
“You’re welcome, Joslyn. I know you’re going to be able to help us turn things around.”
“That’s my assignment.”
She grinned again as I brushed off her unnecessary gratitude. “Well, I’m at your service while you’re here.”
“You may live to regret that offer; I usually need to spend the most time in finance.” I stood to leave and extended my hand for a parting handshake. She gripped it with the perfect amount of pressure. Obviously, her business school had taught their students how to properly shake hands as mine had. I’d always thought it was a waste of class time until I went out into the corporate world and discovered just how many people lacked that simple skill. I drew back reluctantly and exited with a goodbye.
“Hey, thanks,” a soft voice called out from my left. I glanced over and saw Kelly standing by the file cabinets next to her desk. “For not saying anything about earlier.”
“It’s forgotten, a case of mistaken identity.” I brushed a hand through the air, not that I believed what I said.
“That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.”
“Well, as long as you can refrain from seizing others from the hallways, we’ll overlook this one time.”
“Thanks, Joslyn, and I’m sorry, again. Tell your boyfriend it was an honest mistake.” My mouth popped open at the mention of Chase. I wanted to protest the classification as my boyfriend, but that would bring something personal into my client’s workplace.
Very unprofessional. “Don’t worry about it.” I nodded brusquely before I left.
On to the meeting I’d been dreading for days. Robert’s sales department. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said he’d have fired me in another week if I’d really been working for him. A clash of personalities would be a polite description for how we functioned together.
“Hey, Jos,” Robert’s admin, Zina, called out cheerily.
She’d actually liked me, which meant that she hated her boss. After any blowup with Robert, she’d be the first person at my desk offering support or encouragement. I suspected that Robert had afforded her many opportunities to perfect her empathy with his staff.
The brilliant white of her teeth broke through her dark complexion with a bright smile. Even though I’d deceived her for two weeks while working in Robert’s department, she didn’t hold it against me. “How’s things, Zina?”
“Peachy. You ready for your meeting? Boss-man’s been griping about it all day.”
“Not sure you should be telling me that,” I kidded.
“Like you’re going to fire me for it.” She stood, towering over my five-four frame at close to six feet and walked me to the door. “Boss, Joslyn’s here.”
“Christ!” he growled before he looked up to see us both standing in the doorway. I turned my head away from Zina before we both broke into hysterics. This guy was such an idiot.
“Robert.” I acted as if I hadn’t heard his expletive.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one dreading this meeting.
“I don’t have much time for this.” He couldn’t meet my eyes. The straw blond shade to his hair looked darker today, almost as if he hadn’t washed it this morning. No doubt his way of flying in the face of this meeting by not caring enough to feign personal hygiene. Other than his unkempt hair, he was quite good looking. Usually, he wore the hair perfectly coiffed, a crisp line an inch above his collar, sideburns trimmed to look like he didn’t work on them, and fabricated five o’clock shadow that stayed with him always.
The women in his department lusted after him, which is why they let him treat them like dirt.
“We can schedule this for another day if it’s more convenient.” If my tone got any sweeter, I’d have to check for cavities.
“No, I just can’t give you the full hour you requested. You can get whatever you need from Zina.”
“Robert,” I started in a tone that bordered on condescending, not that he’d recognize it. “I asked for an hour, we scheduled an hour, we’re going to take an hour today, or we’ll take an hour some other day. I’ll already be working with Zina on everything else, but there are some things that only you know about your department, wouldn’t you agree?”
He looked momentarily stunned by my apparent compliment, which I would label more as manipulation.
“Uhh, yeah, I guess.”
“Great, let’s start with your budget.”
He shot out of his chair. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not taking a damn thing from my budget.”
“May we sit, please?” Why was it necessary to pull teeth during these meetings? As a member of the family, he should be invested in pulling this business back from the brink. Instead, his pride and wounded ego fought me every step of the way. “I merely want to review your budget, particularly your travel budget. Every department’s budget
is being examined.
“But mine’s the most important.” Spoken like a true sales schmuck.
“I’m sure everyone feels that way.”
“They can feel it all they want, but this company doesn’t exist without sales, and that’s my department.”
“Some might say that you wouldn’t have anything to sell without the products and services provided by everyone else in the company.”
“That’s bull.”
Here we go again, degrading ourselves with a schoolyard back and forth I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I argument. “That’s neither here nor there. I’m simply stating that everyone’s budget needs to be reviewed, and yours is the most expensive.”
“Obviously,” he shot back.
I let his tone slide right off my back. You couldn’t win by being defensive with guys like this. “Are you aware that more than half of your budgeted travel dollars are spent on lunches and dinners for your own staff, not on wooing buyers?”
“Hey, they need to eat, too.”
“Not on the company’s dime, they don’t. I’m going to recommend instituting a per diem allowance for travel expenses and a distance requirement.”
“Wait a minute, you can’t do that.” His protest didn’t come as a surprise as the worst offender of the bunch.
“It’s already written up.” I used a tone that let him know he could whine all he wanted to no avail. “How much of your travel budget is spent on your own staff?”
“Umm, I don’t think we have that kind of detail.”
“Can you give me a guestimate?”
“You said half already, so half,” he answered like I was an idiot.
“In dollars, Robert, any idea?” I knew he didn’t, but I didn’t like his attitude and felt like needling him. Call me petty, but I’d disliked working for this guy, and I didn’t see anything wrong with giving him a taste of how insignificant he’d made me and several others on his staff feel. “Zina?” I called out through the open doorway.
She popped her head inside and raised her eyebrows.
“What’s up?”
“How much does this department spend on its travel expenses each year?”
“$850,000,” she replied without hesitation.
“How much of that is consumed by the salespeople?”
“About 520 K.” Again, without any hesitation which told me his AA was more adept at running this department than he was, and I wanted him to know it.
“How much by the local reps? And of that, what percent would you say is spent on entertaining the client?”
“125 and we budget thirty percent for entertainment, but the local reps run closer to twenty.”
“Thank you, Zina.” She flashed a quick grin before returning to her desk. “That’s roughly 100 grand that can be shaved from the expenses for the local reps, and with per diem limits, your overall budget can easily be slashed by thirty-five percent.”
“Dad won’t go for that.”
“Mr. Paul will take my recommendations and speak with each department head about those he wants to implement. Since this one has already been approved by finance, I believe it will be instituted first.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, it’s already been approved by finance? Who the hell in finance would stab me in the back?”
“It’s not stabbing you in the back.” I suppressed a sigh.
“It’s good business sense. Why should everyone else have to bring or pay for their lunches and dinners, when you and your staff get to charge it to the company under the guise of a sales call?”
“We have to eat on the road,” he whined.
“Everyone who works here is away from their homes, and they don’t get their meals reimbursed. Your company is operating at a one point six million dollar loss. We have to cut costs significantly. This is one of the easier measures that doesn’t involve reduction in work force.”
“Dad and Raven will back me up on this. I don’t know who you spoke with over in finance about these figures, but it’s crap.”
“I met with Ms. Malvolio earlier, and she agreed with me. I’ll present this to Mr. Paul when I give my executive summary.”
“Goddammit!” he roared at me again. “I knew you were going to be trouble the second my dad recommended you for my department. You were totally worthless while you were here, and now you’re talking about slapping handcuffs on my staff because you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” I tried to assure him. “I have a difference of opinion about your management style, but you’ve had some success. With a few controls, your department could be more efficient and productive.”
“Whatever.” His expression closed off completely, a sign that he wouldn’t be listening to anything else I had to say, rendering this meeting over.
“We’re done.” I felt the tension in my shoulders ease as soon as I let us both off the hook. “I’ll get what I need from Zina. If you like, I can bullet point my recommendations for you prior to giving them to your father?”
“Yeah, do that!” he barked very much like his dad.
When I passed by Zina’s desk she looked up with an encouraging smile. “Let me guess, it didn’t go well?” I laughed at her assessment. “Not really. Thanks for playing along, though.”
“Sure, hey, heard you met with Raven earlier. How’d that go? Isn’t she great?”
I cocked my head at her fond tone. Didn’t take a genius to realize she respected Raven. “She was very helpful.” A wide smile broke up that dark chocolate skin tone again. “I knew you’d like her.” She leaned in to whisper,
“She’s nothing like the rest of her family.”
“Is that so?” I gave an innocent look like I didn’t know what she was talking about. Raven was definitely unique among the Pauls I’d met.
“Shut up, you saw it, too. She’ll be your best resource, Jos. If you need anything from me, just ask. Oh, and you’re taking my beautiful black self to lunch soon.”
“Am I?” I laughed.
“Hell yes. I was the only one nice to your sales challenged ass while you were here. I deserve a lunch.” This was why I liked her so much. She’d made me feel welcome while I was working in the department, and she still made me feel welcome when nearly everyone else wanted to shoot poisonous darts into my neck as I wandered the corridors.
“Hey, I brought in some clients, you’ll recall.”
“Yeah.” She eyed me suspiciously. “I’ve been wondering how you joined us pretending to be a salesperson yet managed to land the two largest clients we now have.”
“I have my ways.” Or former clients that would buy anything I told them to buy. I waved in parting. The clock on her desk told me that only a half hour remained on this rollercoaster of a Wednesday. At this point, I didn’t know if I should consider that a blessing or not.
Chapter 4
Holed up in my little conference room, I thought about putting in earplugs to block out the comments of people walking by the door. If they only knew I wouldn’t be recommending significant reductions in workforce, maybe then they’d like me. Although with many of the other changes I’d been planning, probably not.
“Heard things didn’t go so smoothly with Robert.” A confident voice sounded from the doorway. Raven leaned against the open door, her slender body sheathed in dark blue today. Her confidence had nothing to do with cockiness, more like complete and total comfort with herself.
“You must have a bad informant. The meeting went just as I expected.” As a general rule, I never let my clients know when people rattled me, and I certainly wasn’t going to insult her by belittling her cousin.
She laughed in soft rhythmic spurts. I wondered if that melodious tone was her knee slapping laugh then found myself hoping it wasn’t. It was a nice enough laugh, just completely controlled. “That’s the kindest way anyone’s ever told me that Robert is difficult.” I waved my hands defensively. “No, I wasn’t trying to imply…”
“I know you weren’t. I was just
giving you a hard time.
Don’t imagine many people try that with you.” She grinned with an eyebrow flutter. She looked even more beautiful today than she had yesterday. Listen to me: beautiful? I get kissed and, all of a sudden, I’m noticing how attractive women are?
“Can’t say as many do. And really, he was fine.”
“You’ll let me know if you need help with him? He’s used to taking orders from me.”
I could almost picture them as kids together with Raven bossing him around under threat of torture probably. That might explain his problem with women. “Family dynamics?”
“We all have them. So, how’s it going?” Dropping into a chair facing me, she waited for me to reply rather than steal a peek at the printouts scattered on the table.
“You can tell Archie that he’ll have my preliminary summary next week.”
The controlled laugh sounded again. “He wanted me to make sure you were getting all the info you needed.”
“I am, thanks.”
“There you are, Raven.” Kelly appeared in the doorway, nodded shyly at me and smiled at her boss.
“Oh, hey, you’re in. How’s the tooth? Rootless?” Raven grinned up at her.
“Don’t remind me. Sanctioned torture, that’s what a trip to the dentist is these days.”
“Poor thing,” Raven sympathized, raising a hand to stroke Kelly’s upper back. “It’s over now, but I thought you were taking today off, too?”
“I felt a lot better than I thought I would, and I knew you had that meeting with Mr. Paul later.”
“Thanks, Kel, you’re a dream.” Raven squeezed her shoulder, and I bit down on my tongue so I wouldn’t scream at how stupid she was being by carrying on with her subordinate.
“I’ll get started on everyone’s quarterly inserts, but I wanted to see if by some miracle I’d made it into the office before you. I should have known better,” she scoffed. “See you soon. Bye, Joslyn.”
I tipped my head as she left then caught a quizzical expression on Raven’s face. “I know Zina calls you Joslyn, but I thought everyone else was keeping it pretty formal with you.”