Page 43 of The Fix Up

“Fukalite. It’s a calcium carbonate silicate hydrate mineral.”

“Fukalite.” She stared at him. “Did you just make that up?”

He grinned. “Google it. F-U-K-A-L-I-T-E.”

She looked at him for a few beats, then down at the laptop. Moving her fingers over the keyboard, she typed in the letters and waited. “I’ll be damned.”

“I told you.”

Holly looked up to see him smirking, and she wondered if it was the thrill of being right, or the thrill of being able to say something so innocently filthy to her. Or filthily innocent. Was filthily even a word?

God, she was losing it.

But it was clear Ben was gaining confidence here. Whatever the cause of it, it was exactly the demeanor she hoped to refine in him. Holly drew her hands off the laptop and wiped her palms on her skirt. “This is good stuff, Ben. Important information to share with your audience. It’s also clear you’re passionate about the subject, which is a key thing to get across in your presentation.”

“Thanks. We reviewed a lot of this in the all-hands meeting last week.”

“Excellent,” she said, trying not to let her gaze drop to his hands. “Okay, what else? Tell me some more things you think your potential client will get excited about.”

“Well, there’s the elongation.”

Holly swallowed hard. “Elongation?”

“Absolutely.” Ben nodded to himself as he bent to scribble more notes, really getting into it now. “Greater elongation means the material is less prone to fracture. While that typically results in lower stiffness, that’s not the case with the materials I’ve developed.”

“Oh.” Holly uncrossed and recrossed her legs. “So stiffness isn’t a problem?”

Ben grinned again. “Not in this case.”

“Good.” She nodded, trying to keep her expression as professional as possible. “You want to address that right up front with your presentation. Let them know you’ve thought of it already, then show them the logic and evidence that proves—um—whatever you said about size and stiffness and hardness.”

Ben grinned wider and stood up, his long legs carrying him to the whiteboard in two easy strides. There was a certain spring in his step that told her he was feeling pumped up about the subject. That he knew it well, and felt confident about his approach.

God, why was that so damn sexy?

“This is really helping, Holly,” he said as he picked up a dry erase marker. “Thanks for getting my gears turning here.”

“Don’t mention it.” She cleared her throat again, wondering who turned up the heater in the conference room. “Um, okay, so tell me more about the elongation. You think this is something your audience will be concerned with?”

“Definitely. As I was saying, greater elongation often goes hand in hand with lower stiffness.” He turned to the whiteboard and began scrawling a complicated-looking formula while Holly fought once more not to stare at his hands.

“And your equipment has the right amount of elongation?”

“It’s perfect. See, elongation is usually expressed as a percentage of the length change over the initial measured length.”

“Right. I’ll see if the designers can work some details about elongation, stiffness, and length into the PowerPoint presentation.” She took a deep breath, willing herself to stay focused, but it was so hard.

So hard. So damn hard.

“Okay, it’s also important in any public presentation to have a very clear call-to-action,” she said.

“Action?”

“Yes. What is it you’re hoping your audience will do?”

Ben studied her for a moment, his amber-flecked gaze holding hers for a few beats longer than Holly expected. “Give it to me,” he said. “Their business, I mean. I want them to give me their business.”

She licked her lips. He had to know what he was doing, right? She honestly couldn’t tell. Maybe it was all in her head, or under her skirt, to be more precise.

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