Page 112 of Ask Me Something

Thankfully, my face was hidden from view as I’d gotten up to get the lights. I took several shallow breaths, wishing I could give the band a snap without anyone noticing. So he’d left my place to have a drink with Vanessa, and this is how I found out he was traveling to Dubai this week. I’d asked him not to hide shit like this from me, and yet he’d chosen to ignore that request.

Tamping down my temper, I turned toward Vanessa. I didn’t catch his reply to her but needed to get my niceties out of the way.

“Safe travels. I’ll be in touch later this week to give you details on the photo shoots.” I smiled, hoping it was convincing. I didn’t dare glance toward Brian.

“Sounds good. Logan, Charlie, thanks for your time on this. Good work,” she complimented.

Oh, sure, the boys got the credit.

Brian walked her out, and I let out the breath I’d been holding, careful not to vent or show any of my emotions in front of my staff.

“Did it dawn on anyone else that she has an issue with women?” Logan said the minute the door closed.

Charlie nodded and then looked toward me. “Definitely.”

I didn’t have the luxury of commiserating with my staff. “It would appear so, but it doesn’t matter. The client is always right even when she’s not. Thanks for your work today, gentlemen. Charlie, I trust you can book the studio and get the photographer lined up. Logan, I’d like for you to bring me competitive samples over the last year. We need to ensure we aren’t doing something that’s already been done.”

They both nodded and got back to their tasks while Nancy came in. She started cleaning up the conference room and asked, “How did it go?”

“Okay, all things considered. Thanks for getting Vanessa her tea and setting this up, Nancy.” I needed to retreat to my office to regroup after hearing Brian had met her for drinks and also regarding the earlier call.

“Sasha, you know I have your back, right?” the older woman said, surprising me.

I looked at her a moment and saw loyalty. Something that I’d never thought I’d rate in her book. “That means a lot, Nancy. Thank you.” It was nice to hear that someone did.

She nodded curtly and proceeded to go on with her chore.

* * *

After returning to my office,I sank into my chair and wasn’t surprised when Brian came through my door a couple minutes later.

“What did you think about the presentation and her reaction?” I preempted anything else he might have wanted to say with a business-only tactic. It was the safe zone and one I intended to stay in until I could calm my heart rate.

He took a seat and regarded me cautiously, obviously not expecting that I’d start off with this question. “I think it went better than expected. Good call bringing Logan and Charlie in.”

“Yes, well, it appears she is much more open to my ideas when presented by them as opposed to by me.”

“It’s nothing to take personally. Maybe she truly didn’t like the radio idea.”

“Maybe next time you two have drinks you can pick her brain about why.”

He muttered a curse. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you before the meeting. Look, she called about eight o’clock last night, saying she had something to discuss. She asked that I meet her for a drink.”

“Let me guess. It was geographically convenient to meet her at her hotel.”

“Are you pissed off professionally or personally?”

“It’s nice that you can draw the lines when it’s convenient for you. Let’s go with the professional line first, shall we? How do you think any one of your vice presidents would feel to know that you got a call from the client on their account and had a drink with said client without them being in attendance or being informed of such a meeting? Do you think that they might be the slightest bit peeved and feel like, oh, I don’t know, you left them out?”

A muscle in his cheek throbbed, clearly showing he was getting annoyed. “I would think that most of the other VP’s would understand that I’m here to make the client happy, and that we’re on the same team. I’m good at my job for a reason, which includes holding the client’s hand or helping you out when it comes to customer relations. And I’d hope none of them would make it personal.”

“You mean the way you might take it personally if I were to have dinner with Logan?”

“You’re the one that pointed out we couldn’t have rules when it came to clients or co-workers and I agreed it was an unreasonable expectation. If you needed to have dinner with Logan for a professional reason, I may not like it, but I’d trust you.”

I didn’t like that he had a point. “But I would at least tell you about it.”

He ran a hand over his face. “I’m telling you now. And it was only drinks to discuss the client budget and the fact that they may be looking at raising it.”

---