Page 75 of Baby by Mistake (Beautiful Mistakes 2)

I opened the folder on my desk. “First, I want to point out that I’m the face of the brand. Ousting me could hurt the brand, and therefore the bottom line.”

“Since when is your face on the brand?” Henry demanded.

I shook my head at the irony of Niall’s joke photos to me being the thing that could save my ass. “The marketing department has been testing some ads that include me in the promotion of a new toy we recently released.”

I passed out copies of the two ads, one of me shirtless in the gym and the other in tuxedo taken at a charity event three months ago, to the board members. I’d known Niall had taken them because he liked to send me photos with lewd captions as a joke. I had no idea he’d used them to test in marketing.

“The ads have a ten percent higher response rate than our other ads. Sales of dildos and male enhancement items from those ads are also higher.”

Leah laughed. “Women buy because they want you and men buy because they want to be you.”

“That’s what Craig said.” It was a little embarrassing, but if it helped me keep my job, I’d have to give him and Niall a raise.

“The brand stays with the company,” Henry argued.

I shook my head. “Not in this case. I didn’t agree to have my image used and therefore Sensual Delights doesn’t own it. I’ve already asked them to pull the ad.”

“We can find someone else to be the face of the brand. There are plenty of other men that can sell sex toys.”

Leah took a breath, and I expected she was about to lash out. I put my hand on her shoulder.

“There’s one more thing. I’m about to finalize a deal to export Sensual Delight products to France. This deal has the potential to increase revenues by five million in the next year. This deal is not done yet though, and if I were to be fired, I’m certain the people in France would be concerned and walk away.”

Henry’s jaw clenched.

“Five million is a lot,” Joe said, looking over the other paper I handed out showing the projections of the deal.

“And clearly Leah isn’t going to sue us.”

“Sebastian didn’t sign off on my internship either. So, I didn’t sleep with him for my grade,” she glared at Henry.

Henry stood. “Well, I can see where this is going. I’ll have my resignation from the board to you this afternoon.”

“Henry. Please. Your counsel is important to me. So is your friendship.”

“You should have thought about that before you slept with my daughter.” He strode out of the room.

I leaned over and whispered to Leah. “You should go talk to him.”

She shook her head. “He’s pretty clear.”

“You can’t give up on him. He needs you by his side as much as I do.”

She gave me a warm smile and nodded. I squeezed her hand and then watched her as she walked out.

Then I turned back to the board. “If I still have a job, I have a lot of work to do.”

“You still have a job, Sebastian. But if we get wind of more risky behavior, we will take action,” Mari said.

“I understand.”

Chapter 31

Leah

I wasn’t able to catch my dad, so I headed to his apartment to wait for him. While I waited, I’d called Sebastian and was relieved when he said he still had his company.

My father got home several hours later looking like he’d had a few martinis too many.

“Are you drunk?”

“Why are you here, Leah? You made your choice.”

I closed my eyes and willed for strength. “Dad, my choice is to have both you and Sebastian in my life. You’re the one making that hard.”

“He was my best friend. I helped him become the success he is, and how does he repay me? He fucks my daughter.” He headed to the bar and poured another drink.

“Now who’s being vulgar?”

“What’s vulgar is the things he’s probably done to you. To my baby.”

“I’m not your baby.” I took the drink from his hand. “I’m your grown daughter. I’m going to make some coffee and then we’re going to sort this out.”

“I can’t Leah.” He walked over and sagged on the couch. “He lied to me. He betrayed me.”

“And he hates that he’s done that, dad.” I went into the kitchen and brewed a cup of coffee.

“He should let you go.”

“How come what I want doesn’t matter to anyone?” I handed him the cup of coffee.

“You’re too young to know what you want.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not true.”

“Things change. I thought I was in love in my twenties, but it wasn’t until I met your mom that I really knew what love was.”

“Love doesn’t have a timetable, dad. Karen is in her thirties; am I supposed to wait until then? Sebastian is forty, do I need to wait until then?”

---