Page 41 of Say You Hate Me
He juts his jaw toward the large office on the other side of the space. “Now.” He walks away, leaving my knees shaky and my heart rate galloping against my ribcage. What in the ever-living fuck could he want to see me for?
Maybe he wants to kiss you again and then ignore you for the next few days while you drive yourself crazy.
I swallow as I walk into his office—a large, bright space. The glass is frosted, giving us some semblance of privacy. He doesn’t have many decorations—some abstract art, a grey mid-century sofa, and a wooden coffee table. His desk is expansive, shaped like an L, with two chairs facing him. I take a seat in one of them, giving him a practiced look of aloofness.
“What’s this about our newsletter?” he asks, looking down at his nails and leaning back in his chair.
“Is that really your forte?” I snap.
He slowly looks up at me, his eyes zeroing in on me as they scan my face.
“I deal with every single aspect of this company. And you copied me on the email.”
Damn.I’d forgotten about that. “Out of courtesy,” I retort. “Is there a reason you called me in here, or was it to harass me again? Because quite frankly, I have a million other things to do, and I’m fucking starving.”
I blurt that last part out as my cheeks redden.Whatever.It’s not like he’s never seen me swear or lose it before.
Anderson’s tongue hits the inside of his cheek, and I have to clench my legs together because seeing him with a slightly open mouth, tongue in cheek… it’s doing funny things to my fanny.
He leans forward and presses the intercom button. “Andi, can you please order some takeout from Pink Taco?” He watches me with an amused gaze. “Yes, the usual, but double it, please. Thank you.” He hangs the office phone up and clasps his hands together. “I didn’t ask you in here to harass you, Natalia. I asked you in here so that we could discuss Maui, Sunrise, and also the newsletter issue, if we have time.”
“Okay, let’s discuss.” I straighten my spine and don’t take my eyes off of his. Neither of us blinks for twenty whole seconds as a claustrophobic silence fills the room.
He starts. “The newsletter needs a major revamping.”
“Stop saying newsletter. Everyone calls it a mailing list now,” I correct him.
His eyes burn into mine. “Fine. Themailing listneeds major revamping.We should probably find a new provider, since we’re paying an exorbitant price every month to send coupons and emails that—obviously—no one is opening.”
I shake my head. “You were grandfathered into a promo price. All other providers will be double, if not triple, what we’re currently paying. Veto.”
The wordvetosends a surprised shock through him, and he jolts, a small smile playing at his lips. God, I wish his lips weren’t so lush, so soft.
“Veto?” His voice is low, daring me to continue.
“It’s a bad idea, from a marketing standpoint. If we had triple the opens on another provider, sure. But let’s do some A/B testing to see what kinds of things subscribers respond to before we jump the gun and paymoremoney. That’s just bad business. You should know better.”
He sits back and studies me. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d be this good.”
I sigh, clenching my jaw.Prick. “It’s Marketing 101, Anderson. It’s simple stuff. People overthink it.”
My phone buzzes, and I look down. It’s Luca, and he’s letting me know that he’s taking the rest of the day off. Geez. I haven’t seen him take this much time off since… well. Since everything happened with my parents, and Gather was nowhere near the size it is today when that happened. I send a quick text back and then set my phone down.
“Reading any good romance novels lately?”
Groaning, I cross my arms. “Make fun of me all you want, but romance book sales exceed abilliondollars a year. Sixteen percent of romance readers are men, and nearlyhalfof all eBook sales are romance.”
He smirks, and I grip the edge of the chair with both hands. Why is he so insufferable?
“I’d like to get back to business now, if you don’t mind.”
Leaning back in his chair, he watches me as he picks up a pen and begins to chew on it. “By all means, let’s get back to business.” His voice is dripping with sarcasm, and I hate him for it.
“Can I show you a recentmailing listcampaign by one of your competitors? I can highlight what I think we’re missing, and what we can add to our next email.”
He gestures for me to come over, so I stand up and walk over to his side of the desk as he pulls up the data I sent earlier, which includes examples of competitor emails. I try not to notice the way his breathing quickens slightly when I bend down, or the way his jaw is clenched the entire time I hover over him as we run the goal numbers for the A/B campaign. Once we have a tentative plan in place, which involves a lot of revamping the mailing list design and copywriting, Andi knocks on the door with our tacos.
We eat the fish tacos quickly, discussing Sunrise and our plan to reach out to other media corporations. When we’re finished, Anderson recycles the takeout containers and stands by the door as I grab my phone. It’s nearly three—we’ve been in here for three whole hours, talking business. We only managed to argue a little. I call that a win. For someone who was previously so rude, he was pleasantly accommodating today. He never once doubted my capabilities. In fact, if I had to, I could work with him in this capacity.
