by Sienna Ciles
I nodded but anger had me in its grips. I couldn't think straight right now. “I'll deal with this, don't worry,” I muttered. “But right now, I need a breath of fresh air.”
“Wise decision. Cool off before you tackle a problem,” she commented. “I can see that you're somewhat... perturbed right now.”
“Perturbed, yeah.”
“We'll talk later,” she said, turning on her heels and walking briskly out of my office.
I got up soon after she left and strode out of the office, my thoughts a tangle of anger and frustration. I turned the corner and only just managed to avoid colliding with Mandy as she stepped out of her office.
I was in a rare mood, and even though the blame for the near collision was mutual, I was cold and unreasonable toward her, and eventually just stormed off. I couldn't help it; the anger about the lies printed in the article had me in its grasp, and I guess because of the lingering, conflicting awkwardness and attraction I felt about Mandy, I kinda took it out on her.
I did feel bad about it when I cooled off but I guess I was too proud to find her and apologize to her.
Nonetheless, I did have to speak to her about an upcoming marketing campaign. In light of what the shareholders were feeling now due to the rumors that had been spread, the campaign had become even more important. If this succeeded, profits would shoot up and then, surely, shareholder confidence would be restored and bolstered.
However, I didn't want to talk to her face to face, so I just called her office phone and explained the importance of the campaign. Her tone on the phone was cool, understandably, but she assured me that she would be able to make a success of it. I could only pray she would. My fate was partially in her hands now, although, of course, I didn't let her know that. Still, her success would be my success. I not only wanted her to succeed now, I badly needed it.
* * * * *
“Get a load of this,” Mildred said with a satisfied grin as she tossed me the latest issue of the Financial Times.
I picked it up and smiled as I read the article she had highlighted. Shareholder confidence had been restored, despite the pack of lies that had been printed about me and the company the week before, and now things had been turned around 180 degrees.
“This,” said Mildred, “is in no small part due to the hard work and brilliance of the new marketing director. The campaign she designed – in record time too, I might add – had business shooting the roof the last couple of days.”
I nodded; I had to acknowledge that Mandy's expert marketing strategy had helped massively. “She has done an amazing job.”
“Perhaps you should tell her that – in person.”
Again, I had to agree with her. I had been pretty good at avoiding contact with Mandy over the past week but continuing to do so was proving to be difficult. We talked mainly via email but once or twice I had bumped into her in the hallway or the cafeteria, and each time that feeling of intense, fiery attraction had ripped through my whole system, filling my blood with its burning flames.
“All right. I'll call her into the office now and tell her what an excellent job she's been doing.”
Mildred nodded, smiling sagely. “Good.”
She walked out, and I drew in a deep breath and called Mandy's office phone.
“Hi, Kain.” Her tone was cool and flat; this was how we talked to each other now, just like a pair of damned robots or something.
“Could you come to my office for a second?”
She paused for a few moments. “Um, all right,” she eventually replied, her tone hesitant and uncertain. “I'll come now.”
I really hoped this wasn't going to be too uncomfortable. Well, I would find out soon enough.
After a minute or so there was a knock at the door.
“Come on in,” I said.
Mandy walked in, looking stunning in a black business suit that showed off her gorgeous curves. The sight of her almost took my breath away, and I really had to focus hard on not staring.
“Hi.” She paused halfway between the door and my desk, unsure of what to do next.
“Take a seat,” I said.
“All right.”
She walked over and took a seat across from me.
“Your marketing campaign was brilliant,” I said. “And I want to congratulate you personally on a job very well done. As you might be aware, we've had some issues recently, with bad publicity and rumor-mongering in the press. The success we've had with this new campaign of yours, it's managed to turn all of that around. So, thank you.”
She nodded, and then looked me right in the eyes. The fire of attraction ripped through my blood as she did this. “That's the longest you've spoken to me since I started here, Kain.”
I looked away, as I didn't really have any way to respond to that. “Yeah,” I eventually said.
“Are you going to keep on punishing me like this? Are you going to keep up this petty schoolyard crap, avoiding me and giving me the cold shoulder all the time?”
Now an altogether different fire was warming my blood – the heat of anger.
“That's not fair,” I snapped. “It's not as if you've exactly been friendly.”
“Only because you started it. Every time I see you, you look away or turn around and walk in the opposite direction. And, quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it.”
“And you think you're innocent? You give me that cold stare the instant you lay your eyes on me, and you clam up and turn away whenever I'm in your presence.”
We both stared at each other in cold silence for a few moments. A strange mix of conflicting emotions was gushing through my blood. On the one hand there was anger but on the other, intense attraction and arousal.
“Look,” I said eventually, doing my best to swallow the anger and stuff it deep down inside me. “Can we just stop fighting? Can we just try to be civil toward one another?”
“I can, if you make the effort to as well, Kain. Don't try to pin all of this on me.”
I wanted to lash out at this snide little jab at me but instead I forced myself to keep my cool.
“I'm prepared to make the effort. Starting now. Thank you, Mandy, for your hard work. I really appreciate it. You're a true asset to this company, and I'm glad we hired you.”
For the first time in a very long time, I saw her smile. And it was a genuine one, too; there was nothing fake or plastic about it.
“Thank you, Kain,” she said. “I really do appreciate that. Let's do our best to try to keep the peace between us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more work to do on that upcoming campaign. The deadline is looming, and I can't afford to waste any time.”
I nodded. “That's all I wanted to say to you. That, and good luck with the new campaign. I hope it's as successful as this last one was.”
“It will be,” she said as she stood up. “Trust me.”
She turned and walked out, and my eyes were locked on her gorgeous body until she disappeared from view.
* * * * *
Things had just been getting better and better—business-wise anyway. I had been handling my responsibilities well and had managed to get a grip on most things and it had only taken about a month. This wasn't to say that I wasn't under a lot of stress. I definitely was. But the pressure I had felt in those first days of taking over as CEO was finally starting to ease off a little.
A lot of the success the company was enjoying was because of Mandy's brilliance as marketing manager. I hadn't seen her much, although not from consciously trying to avoid her, like I had done when she first started. I had been out of the office a lot over the past few weeks, meeting people and going on business trips to secure new contracts and such, and I just hadn't been around really.
That didn't mean that she hadn't been on my mind, though. No, quite the opposite. It felt as if the attraction I felt toward her was just getting stronger and stronger.
I had actually gone out one night to a few bars, looking to take a woman home with me. I figured that that mig
ht help me get my mind off Mandy.
That had been a failure, though. I hadn't picked up a single girl – not because I had been unsuccessful but because as soon as I had started trying to flirt with anyone, thoughts of Mandy had just come into my head, and that pretty much made me lose interest in whatever girl I was talking to.
I wasn't sure what to do about this. I mean, should I go on as I was, and just hope and pray that my brain would eventually stop thinking about her? Should I talk to her about these feelings I had for her, about the fact that I just couldn't get her out of my head?
While I was sitting at my desk thinking about all this stuff, my phone rang. It was Mildred.
“Someone's here to see you, Kain.”
“Who is it?” I asked.
“You'll see in a minute.”
“All right...”
Shortly after this, there was a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I said.
The door opened and my dad walked in, beaming a great, wide smile at me.
“Well,” he said, “you're looking mighty comfy in my old office!”
I stood up and smiled, walking over to give him a hug. “It's a great office,” I said. “I've got some big shoes to fill but I'm doing my best.”
He chuckled. “And your best seems to be more than adequate, son. I've been keeping a close eye on things, and profits are really rising. You're doing a fantastic job, and surpassing all of my expectations.”
“Thanks, Dad. I can't take all the credit though. A lot of the success has been driven by Mandy's marketing campaigns.”
He nodded. “Yes, I've been following her campaigns closely. What an asset to this company she's proved to be, eh?”
“Indeed.”
He walked around his office for a few minutes, examining everything. I had kept a few things the same but had changed a lot of it. He had spent many years in this office, and seeing it all different like this was probably a bit strange for him.
“There's something I want to talk to you about,” he said suddenly, changing the topic.
“Yeah, of course. What is it?”
“When are you going to settle down, Kain?”
I sighed. He had been bugging me about this for years now. “I told you, Dad, when I find the right girl.”
“It'll do wonders for your public image if you settle down and get married and have a kid or two. A lot of the shareholder scare a month ago was because of how you're perceived, you know. They think you're this arrogant playboy who only cares about chasing tail and spending cash. And while we've pretty much recovered from that, your image is still a bit of a sore point. By settling down with a girl, by getting married and becoming a family man, you could totally erase those fears. You need to do this, Kain. For me, for the company... and for yourself, of course.”
“Dad, I can't just go out and find some girl and get married. It's not that simple.”
“You know what,” he said. “Sometimes it is. You've been messing around with these airhead models and actresses and other bimbos for far too long now. You need to stop this and get serious. Do you hear me, son? You're the CEO now. You're the man in charge. And it's time to start acting like a man, not a spoiled boy. It's time to start acting like a real man in all areas of your life.”
Chapter 11
Mandy
Wow, I couldn't help but be amazed at how fast my first month of the job had gone by. Seriously, it had just flown past. I guess being so busy had a lot to do with it. Since starting here, I had been swamped with work, and I’d had to fix a lot of my predecessor's mistakes and oversights as well.
It had been a good thing, and a bad thing. Bad because I had not been getting enough sleep and hadn't really been able to see my friends or go out much or anything, and because I was feeling pretty run down now after a month of intense work. Good because the work itself was immensely satisfying, and because I was doing so well. I really felt myself growing as a person, learning new things, and achieving success. It was great. For this reason alone, I had no regrets about taking it.
There was another thing though, and that was the situation with Kain. He and I hadn't really seen much of each other during this first month. He seemed to have been in the office very infrequently, and I heard that he went on several business trips across the country.
And, I was kind of ashamed to say, when I heard about that I had a few unpleasant thoughts about him hooking up with all sorts of girls while he was traveling through these distant cities. It was ridiculous, of course, and embarrassing to feel this sense of jealousy for a man who wasn't my boyfriend, and who I didn't even want to be my boyfriend.
Well, that's what my brain was saying anyway. My heart seemed to have an altogether different opinion. Yeah, my stupid heart. I just couldn't get her under control. Every time I thought that I had finally forced the thoughts of him out of my head, he would just pop right back in there. Come on, heart, what are you trying to do to me?
The phone on my desk rang, snapping me out of these thoughts.
“Hi, Mandy.”
“Hi, Mildred.”
“Kain says that he needs the blueprint for the next marketing campaign by the end of today. It's urgent. He apologizes for pushing the deadline forward but we've just gotten word that a competitor, who is hot on our heels, is trying to go for the same marketing line. If we don't get the campaign out before them, it's going to look like we're copying them. That, obviously, won't be good.”
I sighed. This would mean that I would have to be here until very late. Possibly well after midnight, to be honest.
“I can do that,” I said. I hoped that she didn't hear how tired I sounded.
“Thank you. He says that because you'll likely be working so late, you can take tomorrow off to rest.”
That was a relief at least.
“Thanks, Mildred. I'll get myself a pot of coffee and get right on it. Don't worry, I'll have it done even if it takes me all night.”
“Thank you.”
I put the phone down and sighed. The stress really was building up to an almost unbearable level but this was also where I was able to thrive. I could do stress. I could take it on. I just wished that Kain would have had the courtesy to call me himself instead of getting Mildred to do it. It felt like he was still playing the avoidance game, even though we had mutually agreed to stop that kind of stuff.
I got my phone out of my bag and gave Ellen a call. We had been planning to go out for a drink or two this evening but now I would have to cancel that.
“Hey, girl,” she said as she answered, sounding excited. “What time are we gonna be heading out for drinks tonight?”
I now felt bad about having to burst this particular bubble. “Uh, about those drinks Ellen...”
I could almost see her face crumpling with disappointment. “You have to work late again,” she said sadly. “Ah.”
“Yeah. I'm so sorry.”
“It's okay, I mean, you have this great job, and your career is really taking off.”
“But I hardly ever get to see you anymore, and that's not okay. We've been best friends for so many years, and I really, really do value this friendship. I promise that we're gonna be able to hang out soon.”
“It's been almost three weeks since I last saw you, you know.”
Ugh, I was just feeling worse and worse about this.
“I know, Ellen, and I'm really sorry that it's been so long. Things have just been so crazy this month with work, it's been impossible to get any time away. All I've been doing is working, sleeping, working, sleeping.”
I heard her sigh on the other end of the line. “I just miss my best friend,” she said sadly.
“And I miss mine. Look, I've got tomorrow off. Maybe we can do something, if you can get the afternoon off work.”
“Hell, I'll just call in sick if it means I get to spend some time with you!”
At least now she sounded a lot happier.
“All right, great! Well, I promise I'll see y
ou tomorrow. I've been told that I don't need to come in, and after the long night of work I'm going to have to put in tonight, well, I'll probably be too physically and mentally exhausted to come in anyway, so rest assured, Ellen, you'll see me tomorrow, come hell or high water.”
“Ha-ha, there's an expression I haven't heard in a long time. Another one of your dad's favorites?”
I chuckled. “That's it, another one of his favorites. I'll see you tomorrow.”
“See you then, Mandy, and good luck for the coming night. I hope you don't burn yourself out totally. Make sure you stay hydrated and eat enough, okay?”
“I'll do that. Bye, Ellen.”
“Bye.”
I sighed after I put my phone away. This job really was taking its toll. It was a great job, there was no doubt about it but the stress and pressure really seemed to be building up. Still, there was nothing much I could do but put my head down and get on with it. The deadline was looming, and every minute that passed without me working was a minute wasted. It was time for some strong coffee and then a few good hours of solid work.
* * * * *
My eyelids were growing heavy, and it was all I could do to stay awake. I had about five more minutes to go, and then I would finally be done. Everyone else had gone home, and I was in the office alone, except for the security guard downstairs. It was quite eerie, and more than a little creepy to be here by myself. Still, I had to get this finished, and I assumed that Kain was waiting up late at home for me to finish and email the stuff to him. He was the one who had insisted that I get this done tonight, after all.
I yawned, stretched my arms out, and then rested my hands on the keyboard again, about to start typing. Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. I almost screamed from fright, and I jumped up from my chair, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open. My heart was thumping a rapid pulse, and I was now definitely wide awake.
“Who there?” I managed to stammer, reaching for the phone in case I needed to call security.