Page 3 of Thankful for My CEO

Damn.

I turned and scanned the ground for the card. It couldn’t have gone far.

“Here,” a low voice said with a tinge of amusement. I looked up and realized the man from before had my card in his outstretched hand. “You dropped it.”

“Yeah! Thanks,” I said, snatching it back with a smile. Seeing him just feet in front of me only revealed more intoxicating details: dimples, a mole under one eye, a slight raise to one eyebrow, an intricately detailed black and gray tattoo of a flower on his bicep.

“It’s an amaryllis,” he said, letting me know I had let my gaze linger for too long.

Embarrassed, I was about to turn back toward my room when the man reached out his hand again. I stared. He’d already given me my key back, why…?

“You don’t shake hands?” he asked, a little derision in his tone, and pulled his hand back.

I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t been expecting a handshake from a half naked guy who just emerged out of nowhere, I wanted to say. Instead, I shrugged.

I was getting the sense this guy had somewhat of an inflated ego. Of course, he was still absolutely gorgeous and delicious just to look at, but I was starting to put my guard up.

“Kit,” he said. “I wanted to introduce myself.”

“Lena,” I responded automatically with a polite smile. “Nice to meet you.” This interaction had already gone on long enough. I wasn’t here to get pulled into some asshole playboy’s orbit. Who knew who this guy was - some loner backpacker about to go on a trip over the holidays? I literally had a job to do.

I continued down the row of doors without another glance at him.

As I found room 190 and scanned my key, I realized my hand was shaking. What the hell? Why had that man -Kit -affected me so strongly? Sure, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a man with a face or a body like that outside of a billboard on I-80 on the way to wok, but he didn’t seem to have much else going for him apart from his inflated confidence.

I had more important things to think about.

I had to prepare for the meeting tomorrow and get ready to impress Mr. Christopher Hayes.

Chapter 2

Part of me had been expecting to wake up to birdsong and a sunbeam on my face. Instead, I awoke to an icy breeze and the sound of the curtains flapping.

Apparently I’d forgotten it was the day before Thanksgiving, winter at 6,000 feet elevation, and fell asleep with the window cracked the night before.

The chill worked better than my alarm and I was stone cold awake. I turned off the alarm, not due for another thirty minutes, and got up slowly.

I wasn’t complaining about an extra thirty minutes this morning. Our meeting was at 9am, and now I had a few more minutes to get ready and prepared, which I definitely needed. Jeff had sent me up here for one reason, and one reason only: he knew I would do it. He knew my passion and dedication for Earthbloom. It wasn’t like I was the best on our small team at explaining the details of our revenue model, marketing plan, financial projects, all of that… That was Zane, our Chief Financial Officer (and Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Technology Officer), but he had taken the whole week off to see family down in New Orleans.

In pitches, I usually took the role of explaining our vision, our values, and our successes. I loved to connect the product to the real impact we’d already made in communities just a year into development. “Don’t worry, Lena,” Jeff had said. “Go over what you can with the finance side of things, but focus on getting him on board with the mission. We can send over anything he asks for later. Just get him to say yes.”

Easier said than done.

I made coffee in the little kitchenette and then sipped it on my bed, laptop on my lap, flicking through my slide deck. There wasn’t anything I needed to change or add. I was just mentally going through my pitch that I’d already practiced a dozen times.

The monotonous task let my mind wander. Instead of line graphs and pie charts, I saw a towel slung low around Kit’s tan waist…

I bumped my elbow on the bedside table and a drop of hot coffee spilled from my mug and onto my crossed legs, a terrifying inch away from my laptop.

Stay focused, Lena.

8:30am and I was dressed and ready to go. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and smiled. The high-waisted skirt highlighted the curves of my hips, and the mustard yellow sweater, loafers, and brown leather tote brought everything together in a sweet, professional look. Even if this meeting went downhill, at least I looked cute for it.

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, gave myself a little smile, and left for the main building.

Of course, walking past the pool area brought me back again. Why the hell couldn’t I let that moment with Kit go? It had truly been sixty seconds of my life, at most. And here I was, replaying it over and over like a horny teenager.

Ithadbeen a while. Ever since I deleted all my dating apps, swearing them off after so many horrible experiences, things had been a bit of a wasteland out there…

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