Page 18 of Say You Remember Me
“Sounds like a genius plan to me.”
“Thanks,” he said, a flicker of genuine appreciation in his eyes. “I hope it works out. But if it completely flops, I’ll just set all the content to private and pretend it never happened.”
“I’m sure it’ll be a hit.” I laughed. “I know I’ve only worked with you for a couple of days, but from what I’ve heard around the office, you’re pretty great at what you do.”
“That’s because I bribed them to say nice things.” He smirked, leaning in slightly.
“Well, that makes sense.” I couldn’t help but like how down-to-earth he was despite coming from a world so completely different from where I’d come from. “And when is the summit, exactly?”
“Oh, sorry, I should’ve mentioned that first.” He chuckled again, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “It starts on the last Thursday of this month.”
I opened my phone to check the calendar. And when I saw how soon the last Thursday of the month was, my heart skipped a beat. “So it starts on the twenty-fourth?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, taking a sip of water as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Oh crap.That’s next week!
Panic bubbled up in my chest as my mind spun through the arrangements I’d need to sort out in order to attend with him.
Ian must have sensed my sudden apprehension because his brow furrowed. Then, as if realizing the same thing I was, his eyes went wide and he said, “Oh sh—. That’s next Thursday, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Sorry about that. I think going out of town made me lose track of what day it actually is.” He sighed. “Do you think that’ll still work for you to come?”
“Y-yes, it should be…fine,” I said, knowing that I couldn’t afford to screw this up. And then, realizing it would be Jaxon’s weekend with Grant, I added, “My son will actually be with his dad that weekend, so I’ll just see if he can take him a couple of days earlier.”
“Good.” Ian looked relieved. “Your room should already be reserved. My old assistant handled all that when I was first booked. My keynote is on the second day, and that’s the only thing I absolutely need to be at, but I’ll be networking and meeting with clients the rest of the time.”
“That makes sense,” I replied, trying to take mental notes. “You said you’re hoping to bring in quite a few prospective clients?”
“Yes.” His expression sharpened with focus. “I tend to catch the interest of a lot of people at these things.”
“I bet you do.” Then I realized he’d meant it in terms of catching their attention in the form of them wanting to dobusiness with his company andnotin the romantic way my brain seemed to want to focus on way too much. So I cleared my throat and quickly added, “I mean, I bet this is a great way to bring in clients.”
“It is…” He chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners like he knew I’d been thinking about how his good looks probably turned a lot of heads. “There will likely be quite a few companies hoping to work with us after the summit.” He licked his lips before leaning forward. “That’s where I’d like your help. Since it’s hard for me to keep all the faces and names straight and remember each of my conversations, I’ll need you to be right there with me taking notes.”
“Okay, I can do that.” I nodded, liking the idea of being useful.
“Of course, there will be a few companies that I’ll know immediately that I don’t want to continue a relationship with. So we’ll come up with a special hand signal or something. Like, if I tug on my ear, it means I like them, so you should put a star next to their name in your notes. And if I don’t think I’d want to work with them, I’ll rub my nose, like this.” He flicked the end of his nose with his pointer finger to demonstrate. “And you can put an exclamation point next to their name.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Ear tug and star for good, nose brush and exclamation point for no.” Then just because I didn’t want to accidentally mix the signals up, I quickly pulled out my notebook from my bag and jotted it down.
“Anyway, I’m thinking we can drive up together on Wednesday afternoon and come back Sunday morning,” Ian continued, and I quickly wrote downWednesday through Sundayin my notebook. “I should already have a few lunches and dinners scheduled with clients in the area, and then there will be a couple of mixers at the bar in the evenings.” He paused for a moment, letting me jot down what he was saying.
When I was done writing, he added, “These things are usually pretty laidback and just a good time to touch base and strategize.”
“Do you usually go to these things on your own?” I asked, glancing up from my notes. “Or should I plan to attend the dinners and mixers with you?”
“If you’re up to the long days, I’d definitely like to keep you close.”
And while I logically knew he was talking about keeping me close in a professional sense, my stomach flipped at his words—for a second, my mind drifted off to those same fantasies I had earlier, thinking about how it would be nice to “stay close” at the hotel during this business trip with my sexy boss.
Get your mind out of the gutter, Maddie,I mentally scolded myself, knowing Ian definitely wasn’t planning to keep me close inthatway.
Ian continued to go over a few more particulars, mentioning that there would also be some time where I could explore the city on my own during the summit since he didn’t expect me to spend every waking minute with him.
“But it will definitely be a full three days,” he said after explaining everything. “So I hope you’re up to it.”
