I clenched my fists in my lap and gritted my teeth. Of all of the men seated before me, I hated Maxwell the most. He was pompous, arrogant, and thought he knew more about business than any of the rest of us, despite being born into his money. He’d never had to work a day in his life for it, and now here he was telling me I needed to ‘clean up my act.’
“What exactly does that mean?” I asked once I had mentally counted to ten to assure I wouldn’t tell him exactly what I thought of him.
“It means you’re going to stop showing up on the covers of these tabloids like a reality TV star,” Mr. Mason replied. “You need to look like a capable and stable CEO and whooping it up at the bar with your employees and fighting in public is not the way to go about that. You need to act like a damn grownup,” he chided.
“And how exactly do you suggest I do that?” I asked through clenched teeth. I could see that Maxwell and Mason were enjoying my discomfort and it made me want to break something.
“I’m sure we can come up with something that will satisfy us,” Mason said, looking around the table.
From the look that he and Maxwell shared, I had a feeling they already had an idea and just needed to run it past the rest of the board for final approval. It really burned my ass to know that I had built my company from the ground up with my own two hands, but I was still hog-tied by a bunch of impotent old men with nothing better to do than yell at the youngsters to get off their lawn.
I stifled a laugh at the imagery.
“I’m sorry Mr. Brantley, was something funny?” Parsons asked, his thick grey eyebrow arched in question.
Clearing my throat and sitting up to my full height, I shook my head. “No sir, nothing at all.”
“Good, then we will look to reconvene this meeting early next week and discuss our expectations,” Maxwell concluded.
“Meeting adjourned then,” I remarked as I slapped my hand on the table. “Have a good day, Gentlemen.”
They filed out of my office one by one, and I took a moment to rub my eyes with my thumb and index finger before following them out. They often left me with a headache, but today was worse than normal. Things were going to change, I would make sure of that, but I could only hope that it was enough to satisfy them.
All I could do was wait for Monday morning to hear what they had to say, and decide if I could play ball with what they brought me. But shit, I also knew I didn’t have much choice.
I headed out into the hall and was pleasantly surprised to be stopped by Liz.
“Hey,” she said cheerfully. “I was waiting for you to get out of the meeting so we could discuss some ideas I have. I thought we could take the brand in another direction, change a few things around, and really open some new doors for the company.”
“That sounds great,” I said. She looked past me into the office, and I knew she wanted me to sit down and discuss her plan with her. But, after having the meeting with the investors, I didn’t feel I could concentrate on that right now.
“Why don’t you and David come over for dinner tonight? I want to talk about your idea, but I was just heading out to run a few errands, sound good?” I asked.
Her face lit up. “Yes. I’ll tell him as soon as I see him, but I have a feeling he’s going to be happy to join.”
“I thought so,” I said with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Already looking forward to it,” Liz said over her shoulder as she turned to head back to her own workspace. Once again, I decided to stand and enjoy the view of her ass as she walked away from me. It was at least one thing I could do that would make my day a little better.
Then, with a sigh, I turned to head out of the building. I knew there were a few stops I needed to make, but I mostly just wanted to get out of the office for a while. I didn’t have any more meetings for the rest of the day, and any other tasks could be put aside for tomorrow.
I had to think. The tabloids loved to follow me around and snap photos of practically everything I did, and I wasn’t happy about it. But it came with the territory, and there really wasn’t anything I could do about it.
The trick would be to figure out what I could do – or stop doing – that would get them off my back as much as possible. Or, at the very least, make myself a less desired target for their gossip. The investors wanted me to appear more upstanding, so I was going to do whatever I could to at least give them that impression.
I sat in the driver’s seat of my BMW and took a deep breath. I had no idea what the investors would come up with, but I was pretty sure I was going to hate it. Thankfully it was Friday, and I had a couple of days off to clear my head. I was looking forward to the night when I got to spend the evening with two of my best friends. I wasn’t going to bring them into my shit, but I hoped relaxing for the night would at least clear my mind enough to give me something.
Just an idea, that’s all I needed.
Just one idea to get the board off my back.
Chapter 5
Liz
“Did you meet a girl?” I asked as I gave David a look.
He shrugged.
“She works at the office, in another division,” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s going to turn into anything.”
“I think you should give it a chance,” I said with a smile. “Really, why not?”
“Because we work together. That might make it awkward. What if it doesn’t work out?” he asked.
“What if it does?” I replied with a grin. “Come on; it’s been forever since you’ve had a girlfriend. You might as well see what happens.”
“I don’t know,” he said with another shrug. I knew he didn’t really want to talk about his dating life with me. Though he and I were very close, he was always so quiet about when he was seeing someone. But, since he and I were now roommates, I knew if he were, I would be seeing a lot of her, too.
I knew him well enough to know something was going on. He was acting differently – the kind of different that he always acted when he was interested in someone.
“Don’t say anything to Nick about it, okay?” he asked as we walked up the hall toward Nick’s apartment.
I gave him another smile. He liked her a lot more than he was going to try to let on if he didn’t want me to tell Nick. But I would respect his wishes, and keep my mouth shut.
“Alright,” I said. We rang the doorbell, and I smiled when Nick opened.
“Come in,” he said. “Please. I hope you’re hungry; dinner’s already on the table.”
“Wow it smells amazing in here,” I said.
“When did you learn to cook?” David asked as he looked at the table in surprise. “Or did you cheat and pick up takeout?”
“I’m going to let you wonder on that one,” Nick said with a laugh. “What’re you drinking?”
I was surprised at how well set the table was, and even more surprised at the collection of liquor he had on the bar in the corner. There was enough variety we could have virtually anything we wanted.
“Full bar!” David said with a grin. “Whiskey on ice.”
“I’ll take tequila,” I said. “Do you have orange juice?”
“I can do you one better and make a margarita,” Nick replied. “You’ve always loved those, right?”
I nearly blushed. I was thrilled he remembered. “That would be awesome.”
Nick mixed the drinks, and I set my folder and notebook on the table. “Did you want to take a look at these after dinner?”
“You can explain what you want to do while we eat,” Nick said. “Then I can look over whatever you’ve got going on in there.”
“Not too much,” I said. “Nothing too fancy anyway, just a few sketches I drew.”
“Let’s get it over with,” David said with a groan. “I don’t want to talk about work all night.”
“Hey now, it’s only been a week, don’t tell me you’re getting tired of the schedule already,” Nick teased.
“No, not at all, but I’d still rather focus o
n the weekend and what we’re doing,” David said.
My heart skipped a beat. It was nice having Nick so accessible these days, and I wouldn’t have been opposed to hanging out with him, either. Then again, there was something about his attitude that seemed somewhat off. I didn’t know quite what it was, but he had just seemed different when I talked to him at the office earlier.
At first, I assumed that something had gone wrong in the meeting, but he didn’t offer any explanation about what it might be.
“We’ll see, I’ve got some shit I’ve got to do this weekend,” Nick replied.
“You’ve become a workaholic,” David said with a shake of his head. “But then, you always were.”
“I mean, work is money, time is money, really,” Nick said with a shrug. He handed David his whiskey; then he gave me the margarita. I sipped on it, but I was still rather concerned about him.
“Are you alright? I mean, is everything alright? You seemed a bit off after the meeting earlier,” I told him.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a small smile. “Just stupid CEO crap I’ve got to take care of. Investors can be rather difficult to work with from time to time.”
“Glad you’re the one who has to deal with them. I would rather stick to finances myself,” David said as he sipped on the glass. “I’ve never dealt with figures so high.”
“Just wait until we seal the deal next month,” Nick told him. “I’ve got some people in mind I want to talk to and see if I can convince to sign on with the company, too.”
“That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about,” I chimed in. “I think if you like my ideas you’re going to find that we can get even more people interested.”
“I’m looking forward to hearing about it,” Nick said. “But first, let’s eat before the food gets cold.”
He was adding whiskey and coke to his glass of ice, but I was eager to sit down. The food smelled amazing, and I didn’t care if he cooked it himself or not. Chinese was great, and though it was a little odd to pair with the margarita, I was hungry enough not to care.
I was nervous, and I took another sip of the drink. I wanted to be confident and give him my ideas, but at the same time, I was afraid he wasn’t going to like them. But all I could do was pitch my ideas and see what came of it. With liquid courage starting to take effect, I knew I’d at least be able to tell him what was on my mind.
“Alright, so what are you thinking?” Nick asked when he finally sat down.
“I think we should redo the entire brand image,” I told him. It came flying out of my mouth before I really thought about how I was going to say it, and I smiled at him nervously.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, think about doing a whole new logo, a new slogan. You’ve got the company off to a great start but think about how we can make it better here,” I said. I took a much bigger drink of my margarita than I meant to, and Nick sat back in his seat. He was thinking about what I said, but I was too nervous to wait for his reply.
“The more money we can bring in, the more we can have the chance to donate to charities and do things for people in need. That’s only going to bring more interest to the company, and help us grow,” I told him.
“She’s not wrong about that,” David said. I hadn’t told him my idea yet, either, but now that he heard what I had to say, he seemed interested, too. “The more we can appeal to the public, the better off we’re going to be in the long term.”
“I love it,” Nick said as he slapped his hand on the table. “Do you have the graphics in the folder?”
“There are a few that I wanted to suggest; then Jean put some in the notebook that I brought, too,” I replied. I rose and grabbed the two items before returning to my seat. “I’m totally willing to redo them, too, if need be. I just wanted to give you an idea of what I was talking about.”
“We can even redo the front of the building to match one of these,” Nick said. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, or if he was talking to himself out loud. He was flipping through the images that I drew, and I felt a shiver of excitement run down my spine.
“I like this one,” he said, at last, pulling the one I’d spent the most time on. “It’s flashy, eye-catching, but it still seems to have the same flavor of what we’ve got going on now. I think it’ll look good on the front of the building.”
“That’s the one I liked, too,” I said with a grin. “I’ll put it in the computer, and we can work with an actual graphics designer to see what they think.”
“I like the one you drew,” Nick said simply, and I had to fight the blush that was trying to rush into my cheeks. “Maybe play around with colors when you have time, and we’ll see if we can come up with something that’ll work.”
“Okay,” I said with a grin. I was willing to put a lot of time and effort into the logo. Though I was the brand manager and there were plenty of other people I could work with to get this done, my heart was swelling with pride at his words. “We could even talk about creating our own charity with time,” David said, as though he read my thoughts.
“I love it. Let’s make it happen,” Nick said again. He was just as easy to talk to as he had been before he’d become mega-rich, which filled me with relief. It was clear to me money hadn’t changed him at all, and for a brief moment, I felt like we were all back home, teenagers again and talking about what we were going to do with our lives.
“Now let’s forget about this work shit and talk about something else,” David said with a laugh.
“Like what the hell do you put in your margaritas,” I said as I finished my drink.
“Or where you got this food from. I know you didn’t cook it, I’ve had your cooking before,” David said.
“I might have taken a cooking class when I was in college,” Nick said with a smirk. “I’ll give you some pointers sometime because we all know how well you can cook.”
“He’s getting better. It’s edible at least,” I chimed in.
“Let’s face it, you were the only one who could cook when we were kids,” Nick turned to me, and this time, I couldn’t stop the blush from taking over.
I grinned and rose, heading back to the counter and pouring more tequila in my glass.
“Tell me what you put in this thing so I can make it at home. I want to up my game,” I told him.
“I’ll just show you,” he rose and walked into the kitchen, standing very close to me. Almost too close, but I didn’t move. David didn’t seem even to notice, as he had his phone out again and was eagerly texting with a smile on his face. My heart could have leaped from my chest; it was pounding so hard, and I almost wondered if Nick was able to hear it from where he was standing.
The sexual tension that existed between us was undeniable, and though I tried to ignore the memories of what happened before, it was impossible. Everything about Nick was captivating, and I had a feeling he knew it. As he stood next to me, I could see the tatoos that peeked out from his collar at work continued down one muscular arm in a full sleeve of intricate designs. It only added to his appeal.
Though the tension subsided a bit as the two of us returned to the table, I knew I was going to have to leave when David did. There was no way I could have two drinks in me and expect to control myself alone with him. And, I knew there was a chance he’d go along with it himself.
As difficult as it was when David announced he was going to head home, I also told Nick goodbye and thanked him for dinner. He gave me a look that made me want to stay, but I forced myself to follow my brother out the door.
What had happened before was something I’d treasure forever, but it was in the past, and I knew it had to stay there. My mind didn’t want it to, and I hardly dared let my heart get involved.
But things were different now, and I had to accept that. As much as I wanted to tear his clothes off, I was going to behave.
Chapter 6
Nick
“Gentlemen,” I said as I looked a
round the table. “I’ve come up with an idea that’s going to satisfy you; I’m sure.”
The same men were gathered around as before, and they all looked unenthused. But I had kept my part of the bargain, and I was going to present my idea to them as best I could.
“I’m going to quit drinking, and as we expand with the company, we’re going to be a lot more involved in the public services around the city. I want to start donating to charities when possible, and perhaps even build a charity of our own one day,” I grinned.
Mr. Mason and Mr. Maxwell looked at each other, and I saw several other glances exchanged around the table. I waited patiently for someone to say something, but I wasn’t thrilled when it was Maxwell who spoke up.
“That’s a good start, but we’ve also come up with a solution to this,” he said. “We want you to do all that you just said, but also, we want you to get married.”
“What?” I asked, shocked. I couldn’t have been more surprised if one of them had sprouted a second head. “To who?”
“We aren’t going to be too picky on that, as long as she is also an upstanding woman,” Maxwell replied.
“You really think me getting married is going to keep the tabloids off my back?” I asked. “It will do quite the opposite. If you remember, I’m one of the most eligible bachelors on the Eastern Seaboard.”
“If you do anything stupid that causes you to lose her, or if you get into trouble with or without her involved, then we’re going to pull the funding. If you’re married, you’re going to have to think about your actions a lot more carefully,” Mason chimed in.
“And you think I’m just going to go out there and find a wife?” I asked with a shake of my head. “You don’t think that that sort of thing needs to unfold naturally?”
“We don’t care if this is a fake marriage, or one of convenience if you will,” Mr. Maxwell said. “You have thirty days to get this fiancé, and I’m sure with your kind of money that’s not going to be a problem.”
Boss Man Page 3