Page 39 of The CEO's Baby

He hoped so.

“I’m going to head out. I’ll see you at the office tomorrow,” he said.

She talked about temptation, but he was as tempted as ever being with her.

He pulled her close and pressed his mouth against hers, releasing her before she could respond. With a flick of a finger gently against her cheek, he turned and left before he made an even bigger fool of himself.

Cath heard the front door close. She couldn’t move. Bemused, she felt tears begin to fill her eyes. If things had been different, she could have fallen in love with Trace Williams.

Cath arrived at work early Monday morning. She’d rested as much as she could during the weekend, but she was still tired. Staying awake long into the night thinking about Trace hadn’t helped.

She wondered how the future would unfold. She hadn’t a clue how his being a part of her private life would impact their working relationship.

Which would fall apart if she didn’t do her job. Turning her attention to the work at hand she returned the call of a long-term client, and then threw herself into her tasks.

She was going to make this pregnancy proceed the way she wanted. She may only have one baby and she wanted everything about it to be perfect.

Shortly after nine, Ellie called about a meeting Trace would be holding at ten.

“He’s introducing a couple of new men he’s hired. Sparks will fly in marketing,” she warned.

Cath knew there’d be changes with a new man at the helm, but somehow she thought she’d know about them before others. She couldn’t believe she thought she had the inside line to Trace Williams.

He hadn’t become the head of such a large company at a young age by blabbing his business far and wide.

Promptly at ten Cath entered the large conference room. There were only four other directors—not the large group there had been on the day Mr. Deerfield retired.

She nodded at the others and took a seat opposite the marketing director. She wondered what changes were coming his way and had Ellie warned him as well.

Trace entered, two men right behind him. He nodded to the group already seated and waited while the newcomers found seats on the opposite sides of the table.

“I’ve hired two new directors, with approval of the Board. James Ruston will now head up the Domestic Sales force. His directive is to increase sales by at least five percent in the next six months. Please give him your full cooperation and assistance so he can achieve that goal.”

Everyone looked at the dark-haired man seated on the same side as Cath. He inclined his head slightly.

“I’ve reviewed the current strategies and will be meeting with the entire sales force in the next week. I want input from everyone, any ideas, no matter how far-fetched they may seem on the surface. I’ll decide which to use or ignore,” James said. “I look forward to meeting you all. Hope you can help me out.”

Trace waited a beat then looked at the second man. “Al Henning will head up domestic marketing. He comes with a strong background in high tech marketing and knows how to build name recognition.”

Trace mentioned the name of the company he formerly worked for—recognizable worldwide.

“Now, I’d like each of the rest of you to introduce yourselves and give these men a bit of background with your area of expertise.”

The drill was repeated as it had been when Trace started, only a few weeks ago.

Once that was complete, Trace began asking for updates. Bill Stewart’s report was incomplete and Trace called him on it.

“I expect you to have all the information immediately available. How can you run your department if you lack the data necessary to make decisions?”

Trace was uncompromising in his desire for excellence.

Hank Brownson was next with the accounting department’s updates. He knew the answers to each question Trace posed after his brief report. But the stress showed by the perspiration on his forehead by the end of his moment on the hot seat.

“Cath, what’s the status of the new move into Italy? Time frames, costs, difficulties perceived?”

Cath was caught unaware. She’d done an analysis for that market a few weeks ago, but nothing had been done. It was one of the ones she’d listed in her paper to Trace when he first arrived. But he’d said nothing further.

“We plan implementation to begin in January when I’m there to oversee the project,” she began.

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