Page 8 of Foreplay with the Boss

I did as directed, and a few minutes later, I noticed that “Dinner with Vivienne” had been added to his calendar on Friday night.

A night not for business meetings.

It’s not like I have any claim on him, I thought as my stomach dropped. In fact, working with him meant there could never be anything between us. But I sorta wished I didn’t have full access to his calendar or the responsibility of reminding him where he needed to be when. Can’t wait until I get to remind him about his dinner date with the sexy-sounding Vivienne.

Shortly before ten o’ clock, I went into the conference room and made sure everything was set up. I plugged the flash drive into the USB port and pulled up the presentation Stone had sent me.

People started to filter in, and just when I thought I might have to go retrieve the boss and remind him of the meeting, he stepped into the room. Our eyes met, and my stomach jumped up to my throat. He took the seat to my right, the one at the head of the table, and I quickly looked down at my notepad.

“Morning, everyone,” he said, his deep voice dancing across my nerve endings. “I assume you’ve all met Katrina?”

I gave the most awkward wave in the history of waves as they mumbled variations that boiled down to “yes.”

Then the meeting was off and running. Each department presented what they were working on. I watched Stone, studying the way he responded, either with his expression or words— mostly on the austere side, but he gave a lot of suggestions along with the criticism. The praise was short in supply, the few “that’s a good start,” replies had a clear keep trying undertone, and so far, there’d only been one simple “Good.”

I knew I was supposed to be learning, and I was, but I had a feeling if I’d responded to the employees at the Hartford branch the same way, they’d call me an emotionless bitch. But since I wasn’t going to solve the way women in business were treated compared to men this afternoon, I tried to take in what I could use and apply.

The creative director and media planner were up next, and as they gave their presentation of ads they were planning to launch this month, I tightened my grip on my pen and fought the urge to shake my head and interject.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I barely covered the fact that it startled me. “Katrina, you look like you’re deep in thought,” Stone said. “Care to share?”

Oh, holy crap. I hadn’t realized that my thoughts were so visible—clearly I needed to work on my poker face, or who knew what else he’d see. “I understand that things work a little differently in this office, and I’m still learning the ropes…”

“But,” he prompted.

“But the targeting is…well, it doesn’t match the research we’ve done at the Hartford branch. So unless it’s changed recently…?” I knew it hadn’t because I’d personally compiled the most recent report myself, but I was trying not to completely crush their spirits. “I think maybe the images need swapped so the top one goes toward the older audience and the bottom goes with the younger, but not with that font—it looks like it’s trying too hard, not to mention it doesn’t match the rest of the branding I’ve seen from that company. It seems to me, anyway.”

Stone’s intense blue gaze stayed on me a few extra seconds, and I wished I could read him better. Then he looked at Rob, the guy who was now looking at me like he was thinking up ways to murder me and dispose of my body. “Well?”

“It’s not as simple as she makes it sound,” Rob said.

Simple? I never made it sound simple, did I?

“The client liked the direction of these ads.”

Stone leaned his forearms on the table, his eyes narrowing. “I’m not asking if it’s simple, or if the client likes them. Did you do your due diligence on the company’s target market before designing the ads? Or is Katrina right about the targeting and branding being off?” He glanced at me again, but this time, more like I was a perplexing puzzle.

Jeez, is it hot in here? At least I knew my observations were spot on. The answer was yes I was right, no matter what anyone else said.

Frustration wafted off Rob as he looked from Stone to me to the media planner, who shrugged, then back to Stone. “I think this version will still sell the product, and the branding is different because I thought we could revamp it to grab more of the younger audience.”

Wrong. All that would do was alienate their older, loyal customers. If they really wanted to grab a younger audience, that wasn’t the way to go about it, either. Basically he’d designed an ad for no one.

Rob huffed. “I guess I can try to incorporate her suggestions and see if the client likes it, but that would take days?—”

Stone’s demeanor went icy sharp, and I fought a shiver at just being in the vicinity. “Don’t try, just do it. You’ve got two days to send it to Katrina for approval.”

“Send it to me?” I blurted out, because I was still having that problem with my brain to mouth filter. Now I had two irritated men looking at me, and bright side, it helped put a dent in the attraction vibes I was feeling toward one of them, smoking hot or not. “I mean, yes, send it to me. I’ll, uh, give you my email address after the meeting.”

“She’ll also need the past three months' analytics reports so she can study them while you’re doing another mockup.”

“She’ll have it after lunch.” At Stone’s continuing glare, Rob amended it to, “Before lunch.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Next.”

Holy shit, I’m glad I’m not next. Talk about pressure.

David, who was the account manager, gave his presentation, and with that last department done, Stone had me start his presentation. There were graphs and numbers, and I understood most of them, since they were similar to figures I was used to working with.

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