Page 53 of Simply Irresistible
“We need to talk about this,” she said, giving me a small smile now. “Lunch, today.”
“You have lunch with the representative from Bloomingdale’s about the advertising campaign.”
“Reschedule it,” she said before she disappeared behind her office door.
Reschedule it. It might not seem like that big a deal, but that advertising campaign is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Holy shit.
***
“Ty!” I said, bursting into his apartment after work that day. Brianna and I had taken an extended lunch, so I ended up staying late to finish up the work I missed while we were out. I’d sent Tyler a quick text earlier letting him know I would meet him at his place when I got done.
“Hey, Spice,” he said, looking up at me from the computer resting on his lap. He was leaning back against his headboard, dressed in nothing but a pair of pajama pants and a smile. Just how I liked him.
I bounced onto the bed, landing on my knees and straddling his legs. The bed banged against the floor and he laughed, setting his computer aside and gripping my legs behind the knee to pull me up to his lap. “Good news?” He knew I had lunch with Brianna, but that was all.
“Great news,” I said, feeling like my smile was going to split my face in two.
“Tell me all about it,” he said, kissing the tip of my nose.
I rested my arms over his shoulders, loving the intimacy of the position we were in. Face to face and chest to chest, but it wasn’t sexual.
I told him how she complimented my dress when she got to the office and how the invite to lunch happened. “I kind of thought she was upset with me for holding out on her all this time. She seemed a little disappointed I had kept it from her, but when I explained to her that I wanted to establish myself on my own merit and everything, she understood. She also said I was silly because getting started in the industry is all about who you know. Fortunately for me, I already know a lot of people.”
“That’s great, babe. It seems like she was very supportive.”
“She was! And that’s not even the best part.” I didn’t wait for him to respond. “She’s going to set me up with a mentor. She knows so many people, and she has a few in mind that she trusts to steer me in the right direction—when I’m ready of course. I’m so not there yet, and I told her that. She said she thought it was smart that I knew my boundaries and all that. I just can’t believe I was nervous about talking to her about it. She was amazing. And she loves my stuff. She told me she thinks I always wear the cutest things.” I laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m just so wired.”
“I can tell. I’m really proud of you, Spice.”
I leaned my forehead against his. “Thanks. It means a lot to hear you say that.”
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Yes,” I practically growled. It was hours since lunch. “All I had at lunch was a salad with the tiniest piece of grilled salmon on it. It was good, but not filling at all. I was way too nervous to eat.”
“My girl needs sustenance!” he said, making me laugh. “Let’s order a pizza.”
“That sounds perfect.”
29
Tyler
“It’s Tyler Scott, do you have a minute?”
I always used my first and last name when identifying myself to my asshole boss because most of the time he didn’t remember which was which. If I used them both, there was a greater chance he’d recognize at least one of them.
“Come in,” he called from behind the closed door. He sounded annoyed, but that wasn’t new. He was always annoyed these days. I’d heard rumors his job was on the chopping block after Preston had given him hell. My brother-in-law was a laid-back guy, but he was serious about business. He wouldn’t have made his fortune otherwise. He was also the kind of guy who strategized his next move; and I’m sure he had an entire chess game set up for Roger. I felt only a little guilty for not telling him just how much of an asshole Roger was, but I figured if the entire company knew, Preston had to know, too. If Roger had ever actually done anything damaging, I would have told Preston. No doubt about that. But so far, to my knowledge, all Roger was guilty of was cheating on his wife and not producing anything new for the magazine.
Which was precisely why I was knocking on his door.
Motivated by Melanie’s success with her own boss, I decided to present my column idea to Roger. Granted, Melanie and I had two very different bosses, but I thought Roger might have been feeling a little desperate given his reaming from Preston. He told him to come up with some new content…well, I was serving it to him on a grill. He could take it or leave it, but maybe he’d take it.
“What do you need?” he asked, his voice snide, as I walked in.
“I have a possible solution to the content problem,” I said, portraying confidence I didn’t actually feel. It wasn’t that I was nervous, I just hated the bastard and hated that his useless piece of shit ass had decision-making power. I also knew that this entire situation, of me reporting to him, was of my own making. If I wanted Roger’s job, Preston would have given it to me. That just wasn’t how I wanted things to happen. I didn’t want to be an editor. I wanted to grill and I wanted to write and this column…this column could help me to do just that.
