by Chanta Rand
Resisting Cupid
Chanta Rand
Kendra Michaels could care less about Valentine’s Day. In fact, she thinks it’s a sham of a holiday designed to make single women feel guilty about not having a man on February 14th. She feels her life is complete, working at her dream job at a travel agency. She’s independent, happy, and successful. Why on earth would she need a Valentine to spoil everything?
Mark Sullivan is Kendra’s boss. He’s been attracted to her for years, but never made a move because of her “no mixing business with pleasure” rule. With the agency in financial trouble, he has six weeks to come up with a Valentine’s Day strategy to increase sales and keep the agency from closing permanently. He immediately knows what he wants to do and who he wants to work closely with. His plan includes a trip to the Maldive Islands to show Kendra the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. The only question is will she open her eyes? Or will she be too busy resisting cupid?
Resisting Cupid
Chanta Rand
Copyright © 2014 Chanta Rand
All rights reserved
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I work hard to bring readers an enjoyable experience with a book free from errors. Despite meticulous layers of editing, mistakes do get made. If you find any errors in this book, please send them to me at [email protected]. I would be eternally grateful.
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Cover photo by http://www.Colorful-Covers.com
Chapter 1
Mark Sullivan was a master at keeping up appearances. For example, right now he was pretending to listen to the quarterly conference call that Alfonse Durand, the CEO of Escape Travel & Tours was conducting. But in reality, he was peering out the glass doors of the conference room on the fifth floor where the agency’s offices were located. A perfect set of caramel-colored legs had captured his attention.
His eyes hungrily followed the firm lines of a pair of slender calves. He grinned when the woman wearing the expensive, five-inch stilettos gave the printing machine a swift kick. He looked up in time to read the expletive that escaped from her full, glossy lips. He couldn’t hear her through the thick glass, but he knew exactly what Kendra Michaels was saying. She was known for her temper, her no-nonsense attitude, and her ability to secure lucrative contracts with vendors. With captivating hazel eyes and a body that could stop traffic, Kendra was the kind of woman who made a man look twice. In the three years he’d been V.P. of Operations, he’d fantasized about sampling those luscious lips, but he’d never made a move on her. He’d heard through the grapevine that she had a strict policy of avoiding office relationships. He had better sense than to get slapped.
He watched the curvaceous swell of her backside as she walked from the printer back to her office. Damn, the woman was fine coming and going.
“Isn’t zat right, Mark?” he heard the heavily French-accented voice of Alfonse ask.
“Um…yes,” Mark answered smoothly, returning his attention to the conference call. “I agree one-hundred percent.”
“Superb. I’m glad you volunteered to lead zee effort.”
“Come again?” Mark glanced at the PowerPoint presentation on the massive projector screen of the conference room hoping for a clue. His was the only seat of twelve chairs occupied around the oval conference table. “Uh, wait a minute.”
“You have a better plan to increase zee drop in sales?”
“Well, we can do what we always do…”
“Zat eez not good enough. Of zee other five agencies in zee chain, yours is zee only one performing poorly.”
“The winter is always a bad time for us. We don’t have the luxury of being in some of the other locations where it’s tropical year-round. Do you know we actually had snow for the past two years? Snow, in Texas!”
“While it is true Sao Paulo, Honolulu, and Jamaica benefit from their exotic locations, the Paris and Morocco branches are still enjoying high sales. Both of zees locations experience cold weather on a regular basis.”’
“We’ve had a rough year.”
“The fact is your office is zee only agency that has consistently lost money and subscriptions for zee past eight quarters. Something must be done immediately.”
Mark tugged at the knot of his designer tie. He hated being put in the hot seat. He knew the numbers for his agency were low. Clients hadn’t been calling in, staff had personal problems, and the economy was also partly to blame. Increasingly, consumers were using the internet instead of a personal travel agency to book travel. There were a variety of reasons for this prolonged slump. Sadly, the good old days of travel agents earning hefty commissions from airlines was gone. “I’ve been planning on ways to increase sales for months.”
“You seem to do well enough during the summer months, but lack of bookings during zee winter cuts into your profits. We are in need of a drastic draw to get clients in. This Valentine’s Day promo is zee perfect solution.”
Mark had been so preoccupied with salacious thoughts of Kendra’s anatomy, apparently he’d missed Alfonse’s grand scheme. “Exactly what would this promotion entail?”
“It’s called Cupid’s Chance. It worked for zee Denver office last year. They did a mass email promotion and ended up giving away a vacation package for a couple’s retreat. Who wouldn’t want a romantic get-away?”
Oddly enough, Mark hadn’t had a vacation in years. Business had kept him working twenty-four-seven. The last hiatus he had was a stay-cation. “How does this promotion work?”
It’s a contest where customers who book one of our vacation packages and pay a deposit have their names automatically entered to win fabulous prizes. It is very simple to do. All you need is about seven volunteers from your staff. You can get started today.”
Mark knew none of his employees would volunteer. They would have to be volun-told! Valentine’s Day was less than six weeks away, and some of his staff members were still trickling in from their Christmas vacations. How the hell were they going to regroup and mount a campaign so quickly? This would be like drawing blood from a turnip. As if reading his thoughts, Alfonse made a few suggestions of his own.
“You need to put your best people on this, Mark. Someone with a stellar record of vetting vendors.”
Kendra.
“Someone who can work quickly and get desired results.”
Kendra.
“Someone with compassion who can put the romance back into Escape Travel.”
Not Kendra.
“You have a lot to do and little time to do it. We want to start promoting zee contest next week and announce a winner a week before February fourteenth. That leaves five weeks to pull this all together.”
“No pressure.”
“Let’s get the hype out there and turn this agency around. I don’t think I need to tell you if that office can’t show a profit this year, we may have to close shop in Houston.”
Mark’s heart sank. Three years ago, Alfonse lured him to this agency with the promise of becoming Chief of Operations with a plush office in Paris, France. He’d left a boring career as a pharmaceutical sales rep to pursue an opportunity to become a C-Level executive. Now,
to be told that dream might come crashing down made him feel like a massive failure. He had to do something so his staff didn’t lose their jobs. From the customer service agents to the marketing team to the janitor, there were sixty-five people depending on him to make things right. He couldn’t let them down.
“Of course, there will always be a place for you here at our Paris office,” Alfonse assured him. “I can’t promise the same for the rest of the staff there.”
“I’ll make sure we succeed,” he vowed.
“Tres bien. I knew I could count on you. Have your proposal to me by zee close of business tomorrow.”
Mark hung up. His staff was not going to like this one bit. He had to handle it correctly, emphasizing the importance but not causing panic. He snapped his fingers. He had the perfect plan. “Vanshi!” he buzzed his secretary via the intercom button on his desk.”
“Yes, sir,” she buzzed back, her voice filtering across the line.
“I need a few sheets of colored paper. Red, if we have it.”
“Coming right up.”
Less than five minutes later, Vanshi sashayed into his office, her petite form moving with the graceful fluidity she’d retained from her days as a Vegas showgirl. She placed a thin stack of red paper on his desk. “Here ya go. Anything else?”
“What’d you do with those coffee beans Alfonse sent me from Ethiopia last month?”
“They’re stored in a cabinet in the break room. Did you want me to thrown them out?”
“No, I need you to brew me a big pot. I’m going to have to pull an all-nighter.”
“Jeez, on a Friday? It sucks to be you.”
He grinned. “Oh, I’ll have plenty of company.”
Her mouth dropped. “Uh-oh. What’s going on?”
“You’ll find out shortly. Let the staff know we’re having an emergency meeting in twenty minutes.”
Chapter 2
Kendra reclined in her office chair, her stocking feet propped on the edge of her desk. The black designer pumps she’d worn earlier were now abandoned in a corner of her office. The Jimmy Choos made her calves look gorgeous, but they were hell on her toes.
“Girl, only five more hours until we’re off to paradise,” she sang into her cell phone. “I just finished printing out the menu of services.”
Her best friend, Tatum, who was on the other end, squealed in Kendra’s ear. “I’m so ready for this. When I get on that plane tomorrow, I’m not giving these fools up here one further thought.”
Tatum was referring to her job as a call center manager at a cell phone company where she’d had more than her fair share of daily drama over the years. “Seriously, all of y’all need to go on Dr. Phil,” Kendra charged. “Nobody would believe the shit you put up with.”
“I’m trying to endure two more years. Then, I’ll be fully vested in my 401k. I’m not leaving here without some type of reward. Y’know, we can’t all be living large like you.”
Tatum was right. Kendra was working at her dream job. She negotiated contracts with vendors, sold travel packages to people, and got to stay at fabulous resorts for a living. Here, people called in with happy thoughts of planning their vacations and honeymoons. At Tatum’s job, people called in bitching all day long. That was enough to make anyone crazy. Thankfully, they were both getting a much needed spa weekend. Kendra had neglected her facials and massages during the summer months when Escape Travel &Tours was the busiest. There was simply no time. But now, during the agency’s slow months, it was the perfect time to catch up. She’d put off vacation until now. She enjoyed her job, but she needed her “me” time.
“There’s a cute little antique shop I want to visit that’s near the spa. Let’s–”
“Hold up, Tatum.” Kendra sat up straight and squinted at a new email that had just popped up in her inbox. “Girl, I gotta go. Mark has called an impromptu meeting.”
“Mark ‘Fine Ass’ Sullivan?”
Kendra giggled. “Stop calling him that.” Kendra had to admit, the man was fine. But looking at him as the perfect male specimen was a no-no. She kept it strictly business. She’d learned long time ago not to mix work with pleasure. She had a disastrous affair with a co-worker and when she broke it off (because she found out she wasn’t the only one in the office he was bumping and grinding with), he had the nerve to look at her sideways every day for a whole year until she was promoted to a new department. Never again.
“If I were you,” Tatum pushed, “I’d throw that no-perks-at-work rule in the trash and hook up with him.”
That was exactly why Kendra kept her distance from him. If there was anyone who had the power to make her second-guess her rule, it was Mark Sullivan. A dark-haired hunk with sun-kissed skin and eyes so blue they reminded her of an Indian summer sky, he didn’t walk; he strutted. With broad shoulders that tapered into an athletic narrow waist and powerful thighs, he was the very definition of masculine. Every time he flashed that white smile sheltered by his neatly groomed goatee, Kendra turned way and busied herself with something else. The man was too handsome for his own good.
“It would never work,” she told Tatum. “I’m an ENFJ and he’s an ISTJ.”
“Excuse me?”
“Remember our Myers-Briggs workshop I told you we attended last year? I’m an extrovert who’s very intuitive. He’s an introvert who relies more on logical thinking.”
“An introvert, huh? Well, they say it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”
“He’s not quiet. He’s introspective and observant. He doesn’t waste time with words. When he speaks, people listen because he has something of value to say.”
“I would listen too if I could stare at those luscious lips all day.”
Kendra shook her head. “Good thing you don’t work here, ‘cause you’d never get one thing done. Bye, friend. I’ll see you tonight.”
Mark wasn’t one to call bullshit meetings, so Kendra assumed it was something serious. She pushed her feet into her pumps, checked her appearance in her compact mirror, and applied a fresh coat of lipstick. Duty called.
“Right now, our agency is the least profitable of all the Escape Travel branches. It seems we are losing money during our off-season. Alfonse has charged us with coming up with a plan to reverse these dismal metrics.”
Kendra watched as Mark’s piercing blue eyes looked into the crowd of forty staff members assembled. Every eye was on him. He’d been a great leader so far. People trusted him. He was smart. Everyone knew that behind a strong man was an even stronger woman. Not for the first time in her career, Kendra wondered if Mark was involved with anyone special. She knew he wasn’t married, but a man with his looks must have plenty of women at his beck and call.
“Something that has worked for the Denver office is a Valentine’s Day promo called Cupid’s Chance. We could do something similar.” Everyone listened as Mark explained the highlights of the promotion. Kendra groaned inwardly. She didn’t believe in Valentine’s Day. It was for suckers. Retailers catered to guys who actually needed to be reminded to buy their sweetheart something. Humph! Talk about making consumers feel guilty. And men weren’t the only victims. Bombarded by jewelry commercials, women were brainwashed into believing they had to get engaged, married, or otherwise emotionally attached to any willing male to have their existence validated. A woman could be in therapy for years behind that kind of self-depreciation!
“So, I’ll need six to seven volunteers to work on the promotion.” Mark said.
Nobody spoke up.
Kendra was not volunteering. She had plans tomorrow, and they didn’t include late nights with Mark ‘Fine Ass’ Sullivan.
Mark nodded. “This is what I was afraid of, so I took the liberty of writing everyone’s name on a piece of paper. If there are no volunteers, I’ll draw names from a hat.”
Kendra avoided eye contact, choosing instead to inspect the chipped tips of her French manicure. Oh yeah. She was gonna love her spa day. These nails were in sore need of at
tention. She waited as Mark called the names of employees who suffered the misfortune of having their names drawn from a cardboard box. She was already inching toward the door of the conference room when the unthinkable happened. Mark read her name aloud. She’d never won at lotto. She never got picked for anything. It was inevitable; it had to happen one day.
I can’t believe this shit.
Mark offered the crowd a dazzling smile. “For those of you whose names were called, we’ll meet back up at five o’clock today. Let’s hash out some ideas. I’ll order dinner for us. Let’s see how far we get tonight. Then, report to my office at seven tomorrow morning. We’ll have a full day of planning.”
Kendra groaned. This was no good. She had plans, and they didn’t include work.
********
Mark stood at the oversized whiteboard on his office wall, dry eraser in hand, ready to map out his ideas for Cupid’s Chance. He worked best when he was up moving and thinking through his thoughts. A soft knock at his door stopped his creative flow. He looked up to see Kendra standing there. He got the same reaction as he always did when he saw her. A slow spiral of heat coiled through the pit of his stomach. He tried not to focus on the round curves of her hips encased in a black pencil skirt. Instead, he let his gaze glide past her black silk blouse to her perfectly made up face. Kendra was always on point. The woman could probably wear a trash bag and look good! Of course, it had to be black. That was her signature color.
“Got a minute?” she asked. “It’s about the Valentine’s promo.”
“Cupid’s Chance? You have some ideas? I knew it.” He placed the dry erase marker on his desk. “This is what I’m talking about. You’re already adding value to the team.”
“No, uh…not exactly.”
Mark watched her hazel eyes squint before regaining their almond shape. She had a habit of doing that when she was deep in thought or she had bad news to deliver. The faint scent of her vanilla musk perfume reached out to him as he stood waiting.