Chapter 8
I'd made sure to bring an insulated bag with me, so when the doors opened to the penthouse offices, I was sure the coffee was still piping hot.
I'd hoped to beat Charles there, but he was already standing in front of the window, answering a phone call. The city skyline was visible out the windows to his right.
"The fact that you're short-staffed is not my problem..."
I was taken aback. I'd never heard him talk like that before.
He was intense and dominating, the voice of the Alpha I always knew he was but hadn't seen flexed like this.
"You will do it this way and move Saturday's staff to Thursday... What?... I don't care. You need to figure that out."
He paced back and forth, gesturing as his spoke. His posture radiated power, and I felt my heart begin to race. This side of him was totally new to me.
"You will call me in ninety minutes to report," he finished. He hung up his cell and stopped, his arms folded. I could feel the energy rolling off from him as he stood still, starting into space.
He turned around and found me standing into his office. He looked a little tired and more serious than I'd seen, but as his eyes focused on me and he inhaled, his entire face seemed to lift. He smiled, and his blue eyes snapped back to life.
He moved toward me as I put down my handbag and hurried in with the insulated carrier.
"You're not supposed to be here when this happens," I said, unzipping the bag and beginning to organize things. "I wanted it to be all ready for you when you got to the office. Did you sleep here or something?"
"Sometimes it feels that way."
"I know we have good coffee in the breakroom but this is still the best espresso in town."
I pulled out the cup that was marked "macchiato" along with sugar packets and a spoon.
"Did Jessica tell you my usual order?"
"I noticed the writing on the cup she had for you the other day."
He looked at me, appraising. "Smooth move. Trying to impress the boss?"
"Let's call it journalistic attention," I said. "I'm trained to snoop and be curious."
He picked up the cup I placed in front of him and inhaled deeply. "This is going to make the day so much better."
I took out the three other cups, folded up the bag, and took the others to Amy and Jessica's desks. I felt his eyes on me as I placed them carefully in their spots, and then sat down at my desk with mine.
When I looked back up he was seated again, but looking over his work at me. I smiled and he smiled back.
"Early lunch in three and half hours?" he called.
"Sounds good," I nodded and watched him smile as he went back to work.
The conference room held representatives from a rival vendor of Southside Solutions. Their owner had just finished giving a presentation of what they were willing to offer and Charles had been listening intently, his eyes narrowed.
I wondered how anyone could concentrate with him starting that way.
Jessica had suggested I sit in, so I sat making notes to myself, silently comparing what made their company different from the one I'd spent time compiling information on.
"And that's our overview," the owner said, looking at Charles and sitting back down at the table. "My managers and I welcome any questions."
Charles asked about rates, billing cycles and how their product was sourced, then cocked his head to one side, looking at Amy and Jessica.
Jessica smiled to me, and I knew something was up.
"Actually, I think Elena was going to take the lead on this. Elena?"
All eyes turned toward me. I felt my stomach drop.
Now I knew why Jessica had been so eager for me to participate. She had set me up. If I objected, it would have to be in front of everyone and she could protest that I'd done the brief for the competition.
Think, I told myself. I took a moment and flipped through my notes, trying to appear as if I were considering some information.
"I'm curious about a few things," I began, focusing on a difference I'd noted. "Of course, we've had a few more bids, you can understand, and I noticed that theirs went out of their way to talk about the environmental impact of their breakdown process. Can you address this topic?"
"We'd be glad to," owner said, and gestured to a junior partner to take over.
I saw Jessica's mouth press into a thin, hard line, saw Amy's eyebrow raise over a small smile, and caught a flicker of Charles's eyes toward me, too small to even be called a glance before he focused his attention back to the presenter.
I tried to listen to what the man was saying and take notes, but my mind was reeling for having pulled it off. I nodded, trying to seem like I was listening more than I was, and scribbled some notes.
"Thank you. But if I can just follow up on that," I said when the man ended. "Can you also be specific about the employee numbers and how they might fluctuate during your installation process. It may seem like a trivial thing but it's helpful to know how many extra we can expect to be on premises for both safety and billing purposes."
This time I definitely saw Charles' mouth twitch toward a smile.
However, it's clear that Jessica did not intend to let me off the hook yet.
