that deep black hair was smoothed back into a high ponytail. It wasn’t a
 
 regular ponytail though. There wasn’t a hair out of place and some of the
 
 strands were wrapped around whatever held it in place. It looked like a
 
 celebrity stylist did Christina’s hair every single morning. Her makeup was
 
 tasteful and probably expensive. Taylor could see Christina shopping in the
 
 mall at those really pricy department stores and asking for the two hundred-
 
 dollar compact of foundation and the eighty-dollar tube of mascara.
 
 Whatever she’d paid for the makeup, it was worth it. Christina’s skin
 
 looked like porcelain, her pink lipstick looked like it never dared get on her
 
 teeth, and her eyelashes were extra thick and set off those dazzling blue
 
 eyes.
 
 Taylor realized she was gaping at Christina and tore her gaze away. “I—
 
 I really don’t understand why I’m here. You flat out rejected my idea
 
 yesterday. You told me that you could never get it approved.”
 
 Christina’s remarkable composure wavered for a split second before she
 
 offered Taylor an amused smile. “That’s right. I did say that. Why don’t we
 
 talk about it in our boardroom?”
 
 “We could talk about it right here. If you brought me here as some kind
 
 of a joke, I’m not going back in there.”
 
 “No,” Christina said seriously. “It wasn’t a joke. I don’t make jokes very
 
 often, and if I did, they would never be of that variety.”
 
 Taylor was reassured, since she could see that Christina was right. The
 
 woman probably never cracked a joke. She looked like she came from
 
 serious money. Old money. The kind of family who didn’t have a sense of
 
 humor. Taylor realized how rude that was. She didn’t know anything about
 
 Christina Hilford. Taylor was still stung at the rejection she’d received the
 
 day before. She knew she wasn’t being fair.
 
 She realized too, that if she didn’t want to just stand in the building’s
 
 entrance, entirely mystified at whatever happened overnight, she had better
 
 get moving. “Alright. I guess we can talk.”