Page 30 of Business or Pleasure

Shit. I was in so much trouble.

“So, what is it exactly that you do here?” Ms. Flitton asked, her lips curled into what I could only call a sneer.

Damn.

“My role here is to gather and analyze statistics, then use those findings, along with the things we brainstorm today, to give the marketing department a direction to go.”

“I don’t see why you need to separate departments. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just hire people who can do both?” Ms. Flitton leaned closer to Baylen. “I know Alec was your friend–”

“He is my friend,” Baylen said, his expression tightening. “And I trust him. I trust his expertise.”

“I ken–”

“The McCrae International Research Institute has been successful for decades,” he cut her off. “If you don’t want to be here, I can arrange for you to return home alone.”

“No!” Color drained from her face and then flooded back again. “I’m sorry, Mr. McFann. I was thinkin’ out loud. I just want what’s best for you…for your business.”

I’d spent a lot of time working with people, and winning money off them, which meant I knew how to read them. Ms. Flitton was embarrassed, but she was also furious. What I didn’t see in her face at all was any sort of apology. She said she was sorry, but she didn’t mean it.

But that was none of my business.

Also none of my business was the way I noticed her touching his arm. How she angled her body toward him. The ways she looked at him when he wasn’t looking at her.

Well, damn.

She was in love with him.

Or, at least, very much in lust with him.

I had a feeling he had absolutely no clue, but I didn’t think it mattered. He wouldn’t have slept with me if he felt anything for her. Even the short time I spent with him told me that. Now, I was even more glad that she didn’t recognize me. Still, something about me had set her off. Maybe she was like this with every female she met. Hell, maybe she didn’t like people in general, and right now, I was ‘people in general.’ No matter what her reason, I had a bad feeling she could make things difficult. I could only hope her feelings for Baylen and her desire to do a good job would keep her in check. This was going to be difficult enough as it was.

“Tell me about your product.”

“I thought you read all about it,” Ms. Flitton said. “Wasn’t that what you were doing all that time?”

I refrained from pointing out to her that I’d barely been gone for fifteen minutes. “I did, but I would like to hear from the person who created it. Not just about it specifically though. The reasons behind it. Who you see as your target market.”

“Women, obviously,” Ms. Flitton said under her breath.

“Not all women are the same,” I pointed out with as friendly a smile as I could muster.

“Which is what makes my product so great,” Baylen said.

I couldn’t tell if he interrupted because he caught on to the tension, or if he was simply responding to my statement as was. Either way, I motioned for him to continue, listening as he explained the patent and how he thought it would benefit all women, though some builds more than others.

The way his gaze dropped just the slightest bit made me think I knew what he meant…and that he was remembering just exactly what my ‘build’ looked like without clothes. My eyes met his for a brief moment and I caught a glimpse of heat before a more professional expression took its place. Still, the tips of his ears were red, which made it hard not to smile.

As he finished, however, I focused on my job. “The notes focus on marketing specifically in the UK, but I think you should expand marketing to the US. I can provide those numbers to both you and the marketing department, and determine if my idea has merit.”

I was honestly surprised how natural it felt to pull together my thoughts and narrow the scope of what I was going to research.

I could do this.

The annoyed expression on Ms. Flitton’s face made me think that she wasn’t going to make it easy, but I’d dealt with a hell of a lot tougher people than one lovesick assistant. As long as she continued to not recognize me, everything was going to work out just fine.

Fourteen

Baylen

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