Page 7 of Love In The Spotlight

He stood up and walked closer. He was towering over her by more than a foot. At six foot five, he was putting her at maybe five foot four...and that was in those heels.

“That’s me,” he said, putting out his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” she said. Her soft smooth palm touched his and they held contact for a fraction longer than socially appropriate.

He didn’t bother to hide his grin.

He’d never been socially appropriate much in his life.

Or so he’d been told enough.

“You too,” he said.

“Come in and have a seat,” she said, gesturing toward some nice comfortable furniture off to the side of her desk.

He sat in one of the chairs, stretching his long legs out in front of his body and crossing his ankles.

He was in jeans and sneakers, a long sleeved cotton shirt fitted to his body. Like he wore everything.

He worked damn hard to be in the shape he was in from years of playing and he couldn’t stop the exercise.

He might not be training to be on the field, but he had to keep that drive in him somehow.

A lifetime of exercise routines was hard to break, but they kept him disciplined. Something his parents felt he lacked in life because they never really got to know him.

“Thanks,” he said. “Sorry that it took a week to meet.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “My schedule was pretty packed last week too. I’m on the road a lot. This is going to be a change for me once we start working.”

He lifted his eyebrow. “The business is a change?”

“The product,” she said. “That is part of it. We’ll get to that in a minute. But more the fact that we are starting from scratch. My job is to go in and explain everything to the new businesses that West invests in. The chain of command to reach him. Who the contacts are. Our policies and procedures. Things like that.”

“But this is starting from the ground up. I don’t even have staff.”

He grinned over that thought.

“No,” she said. “You don’t. Do you know the first thing about running a business?”

“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I know a thing or two about leading a team to victory.”

She smiled softly. “That’s a good analogy except your team was on the same page back then. That doesn’t normally happen in real life with a business or employees.”

The tone of her voice said that she was fighting hard to keep the sarcasm out of her words and now he knew what the smile was about.

It was pacifying him.

“I’m a hard worker. I’ve got no problem learning things. I got this far in life by more than my good looks.”

She squinted one eye at him. Nope, she wasn’t falling for his charm like so many other women did.

“Let’s get something straight,” she said. “This is business. Not a friendship. Not someone you’re trying to pick up on the street.”

“I don’t pick women up on the street,” he said. “They come to me.”

“I’m sure they do,” she said. “But I’m interested in you on a business level only. Though you might be a treat to look at.”

He laughed. “I didn’t expect you to admit that.”

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