I leaned back in my chair. “Yes! That’s exactly it. I was going to say asshole, but, yes, it’s definitely a cocky bastard vibe.”
“Careful, I was calling Graham an asshole when I met him, and he ended up sweeping me off my feet.”
It was me that laughed this time. “First, Anderson is completely out of my league. Second, I’m a nice person. And, third, I’m from Michigan.”
“One, what does that mean, out of your league? Second, every asshole needs a nice person to balance them out. Finally, you were from Michigan, now you’re inking a business deal that will have you relocating to the City. Nice try.”
“Time to change the subject,” I said as Soraya drained the second bottle of wine between our glasses. “How did they find out about a BDSM cruise? More importantly, how am I not going to tell Derrick about his sister?”
7
Anderson
“Good morning,” The sing-song greeting from my assistant, Martin, made me roll my eyes as I walked passed his desk into my office.
I slumped into my desk chair, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes. Thirty-five minutes didn’t seem like enough time to get myself together before I met with one Ms. Jurnee Messer. Martin sat in the seat across from my desk and waited for our morning meeting to go over my day.
“Did you survive me being away on my vacation?”
I scanned my email messages, ignoring him. The finalized contracts for all four major projects I’d been working on were flagged as filed in my digital cabinet by Martin.
“Nothing new?”
I picked up the morning coffee Martin readied in one of my favorite Yetis. “Thank you for this. And, yes. I survived your week of vacation with no disasters. I missed having a morning coffee on my desk.”
“Good to hear, Boss. If you don’t have anything immediate, I’ve blocked the small conference room in Graham’s wing for your meeting. She brought–”
I shot up in my chair, spilling the coffee in my hand. “Jurnee is here already?”
“Yes, she got here thirty minutes ago.” Martin grinned knowingly as he blotted the folders with a tissue from the Kleenex box that sat on the table. “She said she was nervous she’d be late depending on the subway train. She literally called it the subway train. I like her a lot. Did you know she’s a football fan? To be fair, she’s a college football fan. Michigan State, I think, is the school she went to. I don’t know it could be Michigan.”
“Martin!”
“Yeah?”
“Can we go over the day and stop raving about Jurnee Messer? Who, for the record, is a little too cheerful and can be argumentative.”
“Huh.”
“Do not give me ‘huh.’ She’s a potential new client, and I find her a little annoying.”
“No offense, Boss,” Martin chuckled. “You could use a little annoying in your life.”
I pulled up my schedule to find my day’s appointments replaced with Jurnee Messer and Latte Love. “Did the budget meeting get postponed?”
Grinning from ear to ear, Martin explained. “Sadie emailed me to clear your schedule and book a conference room for the Latte Love project.”
“Stop saying Latte Love,” I ran my fingers through my hair. “That’s a stupid name for a coffee shop.”
“I thought it’s going to be a chain of coffee–”
“Martin?”
We both froze. Jurnee was standing outside my office at Martin’s desk. “Shit, do you think she heard us?” I whispered. Why am I whispering?
“I’m not sure. Why are we whispering?” I glared at him. “Hey Jurnee, we’re in here.”
I sat back in my chair and straightened my tie. I could feel Martin watching me. Could I get away with punching the grin off my assistant’s face? Shit.
Jurnee walked in, wearing what looked like an olive-colored men’s shirt, paired with rust-colored slacks that showed her beige pointy high heels when she walked. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail displaying her long, elegant neck. Shit. Shit. I adjusted in my chair and ordered my cock down.
She stood in the doorway with a perky smile. When her eyes met mine, the smile on her face faded away. I didn’t like that she had that reaction from seeing me.
Before I could say anything, Martin spoke up. “Thanks again for bringing in the coffee and bagels. Anderson had another one of his crazy long weekends, so the coffee is a lifesaver. Isn’t it, Boss?”
Mental note… fire Martin later.
I set the coffee down I had just picked up. “Yes, thank you for bringing in bagels and coffee. Are you ready to get started?”
“Technically, Jurnee’s been ready to get started for…” Martin checked his watch. “An hour. Are you ready, Boss?”
Yep, he is so getting fired later.
“Anderson, take your time. I’ll wait in the conference room.” Her cheerfulness this morning was rubbing me the wrong way. Again, my cock flinched. “Martin, I wondered if you’d like the last bagel? I wanted to clean up before we started our meeting.”
“Last bagel?”
“Normally, I would never eat a second bagel.” He looked right at me and continued, “But today I will make an exception. Thank you.”
“See you in there, and, please, don’t hurry on my account.” Jurnee almost sang the words as she turned and walked out. “I’m leaving it on your desk.”
“Thanks again,” Martin said as he watched me.
“You’re fired.”
Martin threw his head back in laughter. “Careful, one might get the impression that you like our new partner, Jurnee Messer.”
“Shhhhh. Do you want her to hear you?” I got up and grabbed the folders Martin had prepared for my day with the coffee queen. “No legal pad?”
“There are several in the conference room. Along with a couple of your pens. Is there anything else I can get you? You know, besides a sexy partner to work with?”
“I swear to Christ you are so fired later.”
“Ha. I look forward to it, Boss.”
Grabbing the cup of coffee, I made my way to the small conference room. The Morgan Financial Holdings office took up the entire twenty-second floor of the building, and the small conference room was on the opposite side of the floor. Graham stepped out of one office and greeted me with his typical head nod.
“How’s it going with Jurnee?”
“So far, so good. We’re just starting for the day in the small conference room.”
We continued the walk, “She had dinner with Soraya last night.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, Soraya is all-in for Jurnee. Even more than before she spent time with her. Make sure you lock her down on this project. I do not want Jurnee running to my wife, saying she didn’t get the deal she wanted.”
“That shouldn’t be too difficult.”
He stopped, “Why is that?”
“When I told her you decided to partner with her, she was stunned. From what I understand, she came to New York for the experience because she didn’t think there was a chance in hell that you would be interested in her idea.”
I’ve worked for Graham Morgan for a few years, and I recognized when his wheels were turning. And they were definitely turning.
“Are you sure about that? That she didn’t think her idea was solid enough for a deal.”
“Graham, she was packing her presentation up when I returned to the conference room. She was shocked that you were interested. It was frustrating to get her to understand that the partnership is for a chain of coffee shops instead of just one.”
“Perhaps we can turn my wife’s new pet project into something bigger. Can you get Eric to come in?”
Tilting my head, I tried to see where he was going with this, “Eric?”
“Think about it. Jurnee’s idea is to place coffee shops into office buildings. Eric is moving from apartment buildings into office real estate, right?”
“He has been talking about for a while, but it’s a tough market,” I replied, gu
arded.
“What if we use the coffee shops as an in? We look for buildings we’d want to purchase, place a coffee shop and slowly use that as an in?”
“I’m starting to see where you’re going. I’ll get a hold of Eric and see what he thinks. Do you want to absorb his business in the process?”
He patted me on the shoulder, “Let’s not pretend that you aren’t the one backing that company. I don’t want to take over his company, but I do want in. Work with Jurnee. Lock her down, and I want those first few coffee shops’ opening dates within a year. Soraya said that Jurnee is only planning on being in the city for a few weeks–”
“What?”
Graham started to laugh at my outburst and started walking down the hallway. “Maybe Soraya isn’t insane after all.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Jurnee’s waiting for you. You better get in there.”
I stopped in the restroom to give myself a few minutes to wrap my head around what just transpired. Graham wants into the commercial real estate arm of Eric’s business. “Interesting.”
Opening the door of the conference room, Jurnee looked up from her phone and smile.
Shit.
8
Anderson
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I know that you dislike it when people are late.”
She started to glare at me for my reference to the first time we met, but caught herself.
Smiling, she replied, “I understand you had a ‘boys’ weekend, so I anticipated you being a little slow to start.”
The smirk on her face should have irritated me, but instead, I chuckled. “I’m guessing you and Martin had a chat over breakfast.”
“He’s very nice. He said he loves working for you.”
That caught me off guard. Martin had been a temp working for Alan, another executive at Morgan, when I started with the company. After the employee on leave returned, Alan suggested Martin assist me until I found someone permanently. I found him competent and liked that he was always at work before I came into the office. It wasn’t long before I offered him a permanent position.
“Does that surprise you?”
Pulling the documents out of one of the folders, I asked, “Does what surprise me?”
“That Martin likes working for you. You made a face when I said it.”
“I haven’t ever given it a thought. He’s here when I arrive in the morning, and he does his job. It’s a job.” I replied, thinking that was the end.
Jurnee crossed her arms, “Do you like your job?”
“Yes.” Her question made me look up at her. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
“So, you enjoy your job, but you don’t think about whether your assistant is happy in their job. Huh.”
“Okay, Jurnee. What does ‘huh’ mean?”
“Nothing. Shall we get started?”
“I think you should tell me what you meant by ‘huh’ and, then, we can get started.”
“It’s just interesting that you ensure that you like your job, but don’t worry about whether someone that works for you is happy.” She stared down at the legal pad that sat on the table in front of her.
“What were you doing at the restaurant the other day?”
The surprise on her face told me that I was entering a place she wasn’t prepared to talk about.
“We had a blind date.”
“I was not there on a blind date, Jurnee. I was there for a meeting that happened to be a no show.”
The color drained from her face as she started to rub her thumb over the nail of her first finger. When she noticed that I was watching, she intertwined her fingers and placed them softly on the legal pad.
“What are you trying to say?” Her question came out in almost a whisper.
“I’m not trying to say anything. I’m telling you I was not in that restaurant waiting to meet you. I don’t use a dating app. I don’t need to.”
“So, your two truths…”
“Oh, no. Both of the things I told you are absolutely my two truths. Well, more like absolute life rule. But truth works too.”
“Hold on. Why would you let me go on and on about myself and being on a date if you weren’t there to meet me?”
She had an excellent point, and I didn’t have a good answer. I went with a total guy response. “It was fun.”
“Wow. Okay, then. We should get started.” She insisted, but I caught something else in her eyes.
Shit. Was she going to cry? Shit.
“These are the preliminary terms.” I handed her a copy of the contract. “If you would take a few minutes to read them over, then we can go over the points one by one to see how far off we are. That’s when the real fun begins.”
She grabbed the stapled stack of documents. “What am I liable for if this idea falls apart?”
I leaned back and thought for a minute before I answered. “Clarify what you mean by falls apart.”
“For whatever reason, the deal breaks down. Am I financially responsible for repaying Morgan Financial Holdings?” She scanned the document.
“If I understand what you are asking, you are not financially responsible if the coffee shops don’t turn a profit, as Morgan Financial is entering the partnership as the financial investor. The only way you would be financially responsible to Morgan is if you were to negotiate with us and take our offer to another investor to sign a deal. According to the terms of the agreement, it prohibits you from starting a business in the coffee industry within the City and the surrounding burbs for a period of three years should the deal go south.”
Jurnee nodded and flipped to the last page. She picked up the pen and began signing the line with her name.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted.
She froze. Looking up at me, the confusion on her face was clear.
“You cannot sign a document without A) reading it carefully, and B) having your attorney read it as well.” I tried to grab the contract from her, but she placed both hands on the paper to keep me from taking it.
“I asked you if I had to pay any money back. What else is there to discuss?”
“Are you a child? This is a major partnership you are entering. Did you even look to see what your percentage of the profit will be? Do you even know how many stores the contract is for? What about the timetable? Did you look at the timetable we are proposing?” My frustration grew with each question I asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders and looked at me. “I trust you. I didn’t even expect Graham Morgan to be interested in my idea. I’m just happy to have the opportunity.”
I was speechless. Who was this person, and where did she come from? No one I had ever sat across the table from had ever said that they trusted me.
“This is business. There is no room for trust.” Are you naïve or just stupid? You don’t seem stupid. Trust in business. Come on.
She stood and softly asked, “Would you excuse me for a minute?”
“Yes. Of course.”
I watched her walk out of the room before I reached for the contract as her phone chimed.
718.344.5653 - Hey. Just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you, and I’m looking forward to meeting you in person tonight.
Who the hell is this?
718.344.5653 - I’m not a crazy stalker. I’m just excited to meet you in person. I’ve never been to the Russian Tea Room either, so this should be fun. See you at 7pm.
Why do I care who the hell this is?
I looked at the door and picked up her phone. Re-reading the text messages, I listened to see if she was coming down the hallway. I quickly typed out a response.
Jurnee - Thanks for the messages. Unfortunately, I have to cancel. Something has come up. I will contact you when things settle down. I can’t get any texts, so please don’t reply.
I paused when I heard Jurnee talking to someone outside the door.
Man, do not hit send.
Send.
What the
hell am I doing?
Too late now.
Deleting the text messages, I replaced the phone in the exact position it was in. Then, I grabbed the contract just as Jurnee opened the door.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I ripped the signature page off the contract and tore it into small pieces.
“Hey. What are you doing?” Hands on her hips, she continued. “I was in the process of signing that.”
I pushed back in my chair and stood. “No kidding. Protecting your interests, that’s what I’m doing.”
“You don’t have to protect me. I’m an adult.”
“Are you? Because you are being a child at the moment–” I said, raising my voice as I tossed the pieces of contract in the trash. What is wrong with me?! I can’t believe I touched her phone.
Graham threw the door open, “What the hell is going on in here? Anderson, do we have a problem?”
“He won’t let me sign the contract.” I glared at her as she smirked and sank back into her seat.
“Look, Graham,” I took my seat and spit out what I hoped would annoy her. “Ms. Messer–”
“Jurnee!” She snapped.
“Jurnee was trying to sign the contract without reading it or having an attorney review it.”
Graham sat down next to her and waited. There was an awkward silence that I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle. I may have just met this woman, but it was clear that silence bothered her.
“I don’t mean to be argumentative, but don’t you want me to sign the contract?” I rolled my eyes at her hushed tone.
Graham gestured for me to hand him the contract. “Look, Anderson’s right. You are entering into a financial deal with us, and you need to cover your ass. Would you like me to recommend an attorney in the City that might be interested in working with you on this?”
“Where I’m from a handshake seals the deal.”
“We, Anderson and I, work in a world where contracts are king. How about we make a deal? You agree to go over the contract with Anderson line by line. Ask him questions. After that, if you are still comfortable with the terms, we will have you sign the contract.”
Mister Manhattan: A Hero Club Novel Page 4