by Eve Langlais
The note the doctor left in his lab said he’d gotten in over his head with gambling and needed to “lay low”. He admitted taking enough money to live off for a while, but not exactly how much. Val was just starting to put a damage control plan in place while the hospital figured out exactly how much Dr. Godlowski had made off with.
As the line moved forward by one more car, Val rubbed her temples. A headache was coming on fast—probably caused by a combination of stress and lack of caffeine. There was no way to hide a situation like this; only mitigate the harm it did to the hospital’s reputation.
Finally, after waiting in line for over twenty minutes, she was handed her grande caramel macchiato. She shouldn’t have even left the grounds, but the cafeteria’s poor excuse for coffee wasn’t cutting it on a day like this. Even as aggravating as the line had been, at least she’d gotten away from everything for a little while. She’d been eating, sleeping and breathing this thing for almost forty-eight hours and it was nice to be somewhere where the Earth was spinning normally on its axis. Filled with trepidation, she drove back to the hospital. Clutching the cup like a lifeline, she strode to the entrance. Val hadn’t even made it past the security desk when the head guard called out to her. “After you drop off your stuff, Doug wants to see you in his office.”
“Thanks Mike,” Val called back as she breezed by. That the CEO wanted to see her wasn’t unexpected—they’d been together most of the time since this bombshell had dropped. Leaving her purse and coat in her office, she then grabbed her legal pad, cell phone and coffee, and high-tailed it to the elevator, pushing the button for the tenth floor where the CEO’s office was located. Doug’s secretary waved her into his office with a distracted hand as she held the phone between her shoulder and head and took notes on a pad in front of her. Val pulled open the heavy door and slipped into the room.
Doug was on the phone as well, and motioned her to take a seat. Sinking into the plush leather chair in front of his massive desk, Val took a cautious sip of liquid heaven. The sweet caramel blended with the creaminess of the whipped cream and the coffee itself to create nirvana in her mouth. Val could almost feel the caffeine spreading through her veins. Yes, she was an addict, but she figured it was better than being addicted to soda pop or something even worse.
Doug’s secretary rang through shortly after Doug’s phone call finished to say a visitor had arrived. The door opened and a man entered. Val gaped and nearly poured coffee down the front of her suit. The guy was a walking display of testosterone.
Doug stood and walked around the desk, holding out his hand. The man shook it and they exchanged a few words before Doug stepped back. “I’d say it’s good to see you again, and it is, but well…” He cleared his throat, but the man remained silent. “Anyway, glad you could make it on such short notice.” He turned to her. “Val, this is Nate O’Halloran. He’s an old friend who does PR work.”
Val stared at the man. “Nate O’Halloran? You mean the guy who made Ricky Chuu’s sex tape disappear last year? That Nate O’Halloran?”
What the hell is going on? She frowned. Were things worse than she’d thought? Why on earth would Doug call on someone like Nate, old friend or not? It was like ordering a missile to take out an ant hill. Nate was the big-time.
A ghost of a smile appeared on Nate’s lips, as if he was pulling thoughts straight from her head, and Val was pretty sure she heard a quiet chuckle. A little full of himself, isn’t he? I guess he can afford to be.
She didn’t have time to consider further, as Doug spoke again. “The very same. We know each other from way back and Nate has agreed to help us out with our current ‘situation’.”
Val had to hold back a gasp. Obviously Doug didn’t think she could handle this on her own and was bringing in a ringer. A very expensive ringer, if her guess was correct. Where was he getting the money for this? Nate was no “small bit of help”. He was big-time. Yes, this was a nasty, horrible situation, but hiring Nate was like using a firehose to put out a campfire. Maybe Dr. Godlowski wasn’t the only one stealing. Val swallowed thickly. She knew that was an unfair accusation. Still, she couldn’t hide the annoyance in her voice when she stated, “You didn’t mention Nate at all yesterday, during the meetings, or even this morning.”
Val had thought she was doing well at the job. She was well liked by the staff and had made a lot of connections in the national media, which was one of the weakest areas of their publicity plan when she’d taken the job at the hospital. Did Doug secretly think she wasn’t good enough—or not so secretly, since he’d brought Nate in—or that she couldn’t handle the pressure of recent events?
Doug had the grace to look chagrined. “Yes, well…let’s get down to brass tacks. Nate and I were discussing the best way to handle our problem while he drove up here, and he has some ideas different from those we batted around yesterday.”
Batted around? We met for fourteen hours and did a whole hell of a lot more than batting around suggestions! We had a plan—one I’ve already begun to implement.
Nate smiled, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Striding over to her on long, lean legs encased in a pair of undoubtedly custom-tailored dress pants in a dark charcoal color, he offered his hand. “You must be the director of public relations Doug spoke so highly of. Val, was it? A pleasure to meet you.”
Yeah, she’d just bet Doug had raved about her and how competent she was as he hired his old friend to replace her. She stood and straightened her suit jacket before extending her own hand. His closed around hers and Val jerked, as an electrical shock shot up her arm. He seemed to feel it too, though, as his eyes went dark with heat. Val cleared her throat, pulling away and flexing her hand.
Doug went on, apparently oblivious to the sudden change in atmosphere in the room. Surely the temperature had just risen about fifty degrees? A trickle of sweat worked its way down her back. “Let’s all have a seat. Nate, why don’t you explain your philosophy to Val?”
“It’s simple, really,” Nate answered, as he took the seat next to hers, his deep voice clear and confident. It was obvious Nate was supremely comfortable in his own skin.
As well he should be. He’s drop-dead gorgeous and obviously quite good at his job, given the scrapes he’s gotten his celebrity clients out of.
Val looked him up and down with as much subtlety as possible. A crisp white shirt stretched over a set of shoulders that looked as if they could hold up the entire world. His tie, a dark plum color, set off his suit beautifully. Looking up at his face, she noted a broadness which might not be considered handsome, unless you liked that kind of thing, which, judging by the surprising throbbing between her thighs, she did. Nate had thick black hair too, and if she didn’t know his last name was O’Halloran she would’ve thought he was of Hispanic descent. She wondered idly if his mom had given him his eye color and swarthy skin tone, as they didn’t look very Irish to her.
As she continued to stare, mute, his set of wide lips curled up into a smirk and she blinked. Busted. Totally busted. Mind in the game, girl. You’ve got a big problem, and if you’re going to prove your worth to Doug, drooling over Nate isn’t going to help. Besides, from what she knew of him, Nate was one of those playboys with a different woman on his arm every night. Pictures of him made the gossip rags almost as often as those of his clients. Better to admire him from afar and leave it at that.
Nate continued. “All press is good press—at least where an outfit such as your hospital is concerned. Despite your prominence in the cancer community, you’re not exactly a household name, like Memorial Sloan-Kettering or Johns Hopkins.”
All press is good press. Oldest marketing fallacy in the book, in her opinion.
Val made a vain effort to tamp down her aggravation, both at herself for her physical reaction to Nate and at him for just waltzing in and taking over. She’d spent the better part of the past year getting her doctors appearances on major network shows, quoted in major print outlets, and booked as guests on s
ome of the country’s highest-rated radio programs. CCC was well on its way to being as well-known as those other institutes. Things like this took time though, and she’d rather in the interim the hospital not be known for this particular escapade. The faster they could shift attention elsewhere the better.
Nate began to speak again and Val interrupted. “With all due respect, Mr. O’Halloran–”
“Nate.”
Val ground her teeth. “With all due respect, Nate, the hospital has come a long way in the past year, and if I was going to choose a method of getting our name out there more it wouldn’t be by capitalizing on a catastrophe like this.”
“Also with all due respect, Val.” Her temper ratcheted up another notch when he spoke slowly, as if he were talking to a four-year-old. “You can either act like it’s a calamity, or you can use the situation and turn it around to your advantage.”
Val scoffed. “To our advantage? How can it possibly be to the hospital’s advantage to have one of our most prominent researchers steal money and then disappear?”
Doug put up a placating hand. “Let’s everybody calm down and take a step back. We all want the same thing here.” Val bit back a snort, bowing her head to pick an imaginary bit of lint off her pencil skirt, as Doug continued. “I’ve already spoken to the National Institutes of Health about the theft. Much of what Dr. Godlowski made off with came from their funding. I also initiated an internal investigation and contacted the FBI. There are no leads yet, but they’ll keep us in the loop.”
Val’s eyes widened. “Did you get any sleep at all? We made those decisions late last night.”
Doug gave a humorless chuckle. “I don’t need much, luckily, and I started making phone calls at eight o’clock sharp. I’m sure it was a wonderful way for everyone to begin their week. Stay close to your office or bring your cell with you if you have to leave your area. And remember, for right now our reaction to inquiries is ‘no comment’ until we devise a plan.”
Argh! We have a freaking plan. Or at least we did until Mr. Gorgeous-But-Arrogant-as-Hell showed up.
The two men remained seated, so Val rose and left Doug’s office alone. It was surprising how much the action hurt. She’d worked hard to get where she was and the knowledge that, at the first sign of a crisis, he’d called in Nate burned her. But she wanted this job—she needed this job—so Val guessed she’d have to play nice-nice with the PR muscle. When she got to the elevator, she punched the button so hard her nail broke and she cursed silently. Val made a face. Easier said than done to get along with the likes of him.
Chapter Two
When Val got back to her desk her voicemail light was on. Sighing, she fell into her chair and plopped her legal pad down within easy reach. Staring at the phone, she bit her lip. Right now she’d rather have a root canal than call a million journalists back, only to give them no news. But already the news was leaking—it had been since a few hours after the doctor’s note was discovered—and there was no time like the present. The sooner she checked messages, the less time she would spend worrying about them. She picked up her pen, pressed the button for the speakerphone, then put in her voicemail password. The machine beeped and told her she had seven new messages.
The messages played and, after writing them down, Val decided she would only make one return phone call, hoping she could put off the others until she was given better instructions than “no comment”. Didn’t anyone outside of PR know that was a horrible way to handle things like this? “No comment” was how rumors and conjecture got thrown around. Come to think of it, she was surprised Nate, the PR guru, hadn’t insisted they say something else. Picking up the phone, she dialed the number on the pad in front of her.
When the call was picked up, she said, “Hey Fred, it’s Val.”
Fred Stansfield, the business reporter at the local newspaper, answered, “So what’s going on?”
Val countered with, “What have you heard?”
Fred chuckled. “Always trying to get the other guy to talk first, huh? That’s all right, I don’t mind. I heard your Dr. Godlowski made off with a boatload of cash. Any truth to that rumor?”
She didn’t bother to deny it. “It’s true, but the official word, while we try to figure out exactly what happened, is no comment.” When Fred groaned, she continued, “I know, I know. I’ll have more for you by tomorrow, I promise. I don’t suppose you’re willing to sweep this under the rug, at least for a day or two?”
“Are you kidding me? This is the biggest thing to happen to CCC since I’ve been working for the paper. You know we have to print the story, Val. And you know I’d rather print it with information coming straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“I know,” Val answered. “Listen, I’ll try to call you back later if I can.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Val hung up and reached into her top drawer for the bottle of ibuprofen she kept there. Shaking two into her hand, she downed them with a swig of coffee. A knock sounded and she looked up, as Nate stuck his head into her office.
“Can I come in?” Val sighed and nodded, then watched as Nate folded his long, toned body into one of her guest chairs. “Listen, I think we need to talk. It’s vital we present a united front on this stuff or Doug’s gonna freak out even worse than he is right now.”
Her eyes narrowed. What was he playing at? Why should he care? “Okay…”
“So anyway, I thought we should have a couple of actionable steps right off the bat.”
Rolling her eyes as his corporate buzz-speak, Val answered, “All right. Like what?”
“That whole ‘no comment’ thing. I’m guessing you know it’s a bad idea.” To her irritation, she responded to his little smile with one of her own. Do not get googly-eyed over the competition.
“Yes, and I already told Doug as much.”
“Maybe if he hears it from me it’ll sink in a little more.”
Val leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest and piercing Nate with her stare. The bastard didn’t even blink. “Obviously you have his ear and I don’t.”
“Like Doug said, we go way back. It makes sense he trusts me. Then our first recommendation will be to get rid of the ‘no comment’ stance.” He winked—actually winked—and Val’s breath caught, as she realized what a twinkle in someone’s eye really looked like. It made Nate even more attractive, and she bit down on the side of her cheek to distract herself. “See how easy it is to work together?”
A nervous laugh escaped her. “Yeah, easy.”
“Seriously. Can we also agree we need to act immediately? I don’t want rumors floating around when we could be addressing the facts.”
“Yes, I agree. The news has already spread. I don’t even know how so many people found out about it so quickly, but I’ve been getting calls since Saturday night, many of which I haven’t returned yet, since Doug hadn’t solidified a course of action. I’ve been working behind the scenes doing what I can in the interim.”
“Good, good. I would like to know who’s contacted you. Doug wants to see both of us again in a little while. Can you bring a list to the meeting? That way we can figure out who to get back to first and who can be put off.”
“Sure.”
“You’re suddenly very agreeable.”
I don’t have a choice. Val shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “We’re working together and it won’t help to be at odds with each other. And like Doug said, we’re all on the same side.” I need you to leave before I decide we really are and start to like you. A relationship with Nate would be a waste of her time and quite possibly cause permanent damage to her career if the affair came to light.
“Yes, we are.”
Her phone rang. It was Doug’s secretary, asking her to meet him and Nate in Doug’s office in an hour. Nate left to check into his hotel and, after making the list he’d requested, Val tried to work on some other projects and ignore her ringing phone, letting her calls go to voicemail since she had nothing to
say yet anyway. The clock crept toward the top of the hour and she was finally able to make her way to Doug’s office for the second time that day.
Nate and Doug were both already there. Val moved past Nate to the small table near the windows, setting down her pad and phone before seating herself. Doug and Nate also sat, with Doug at the head of the table and Nate directly across from her. It was less intimate than her office, but not much better for her sanity.
Right in my line of sight with his infuriating, suddenly reasonable, hot self. Awesome.
“First of all, Nate, you need to know the facts. This is such a mess—it could take down the entire hospital if we don’t handle the situation correctly.” Nate glanced at Val with a question in his eyes and Val shrugged. Doug was probably being over-dramatic, but better that than blasé, and if Nate was going to help he needed to take this stuff seriously too. “Our state and federal funding has been cut fifty-six percent in the past two years. We rely on grants and donations to keep our research department going, so something like this is a huge deal and potentially very damaging to the reputation of the hospital.”
“I understand that, and I’ll do everything I can to help you. Now, I spoke to Val briefly and we have a couple of items we want to start with. First, ‘no comment’ is not only ineffective, but oftentimes does more harm than good. If you aren’t trying to hide anything, why won’t you comment? Trust me. You don’t want the press to think you’re hiding something. They’ll come after you like a starving dog to a bone.” Doug nodded. Unreal. In a few sentences Nate had done what Val hadn’t been able to in the hours of meetings yesterday. She’d said the same thing to Doug, but he’d stubbornly stuck to the “no comment” policy. Val’s jaw clenched and Nate continued. “Secondly, we need to start addressing this immediately. It’s already gone more than half a business day with no one crafting the message.”