Page 10 of Flirting with the CEO

Chapter Four

Colton

Darla, my assistant, poked her head in at eight o'clock the next morning. "Hey, Colton. Mr. Browning is here."

"Tell him to come in." Browning was the only one who arrived at the office as early as I did. He was one of the board members and also my mentor, someone I looked up to immensely.

I walked over to greet him, shaking his hand as he came in. "Good morning, Browning," I said. His first name was Joel, but he liked being called by his last name. "What brings you here?" He worked from home most of the time, so it was nice to see him in person rather than a Zoom call.

"Haven't been here in a while. I wanted to see how you’re doing."

Joel was like a father figure to me. He'd been with the company for many years, long enough to have known my mom. The two of them had been close. After she passed away, he took me under his wing.

"I’m well. I'm already working on my next idea."

He clapped his hands, smiling widely. "That's what I was hoping to hear. Your mother would be so proud of you and the dedication you put into your work."

His words meant the world to me.

"Thank you, Browning. Whitley Biotech is my life's work. It means everything to me."

We chatted for the next fifteen minutes or so about pending projects, profits, and budgets Joel was inspiring, and I really enjoyed spending time with him.

After we spoke of the competition, I could tell he was ready to be on his way. He nodded and then stood abruptly. "Well done. Don't let me keep you from your work. I heard a consultant started working here.”

"Yes. You know that one of the conditions the production company had prior to working with us was that I become more responsive."

He scowled. "Everything seems to be running fine, but what do I know? If this helps you organize your time better, why not? Would you mind sending me notes on your ideas as soon as you have something finalized?"

"Sure." I often shared my reports throughout a product's development. Joel was pretty sharp in pointing out things to look for as I created the formulas. It also kept me accountable.

After he left, I went back to my desk. This was turning out to be a good day. I hadn't seen Joel in a while, and I’d been thinking about taking him out to lunch. If I didn't have a date with my grandmother today, I would have done just that, but I didn't want to cancel on her. I knew she was looking forward to it.

The first meeting of the day was with my lead scientist, George. I was updating him on my progress.

“Colton, this all looks great. But the team and I can do more prep work in the early stages of the research,” he said toward the end of the meeting.

“Thanks, but I like to do the brunt of the work myself. I’d rather focus on the details and not manage the team’s efforts.”

“But I think it’d be quicker, since we could create the formula and alter it as we go. See right then and there the breakdown and reformulate it. I feel like a broken record at this point,” he countered. “You know my arguments.”

---