Mr. CEO(28)

Unconsciously, my gaze is drawn over in his direction. My breath catches in my throat. He’s staring back at me with a ravenous hunger in his eyes. My clit throbs in response and a prickly sensation goes up all over my arms. Not here. My heart beats rapidly. Not with everyone else watching. My eyes dart around the room, but everyone’s looking at Harold.

Doesn’t he know that you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure?

Oh, he knows, I tell myself, but he doesn’t give a f*ck. He’s a man that wants what he wants, and everything else be damned.

Logan continues to stare at me, his eyes boring into me like I’m the only person in the room. I shift in my seat, my core heating from his gaze alone. Good God, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this.

“So how much will this new tactic cost us?” Logan asks, his eyes still on me.

It takes a second for me to realize that he’s talking to Harold, and I feel a small twinge of disappointment.

Harold, a pudgy younger man with a balding head, beams happily, pleased to have caught the interest of his new boss. “Practically nothing at all, sir,” he says. “It’s a pop-up, and it won’t cost more than the small yearly fee of an ad.”

My ears perk up, and I tear my eyes away from Logan. “That’s not true,” I argue. “Using this method will result in a huge loss of revenue. Studies have shown that buyers are less likely to buy and checkout when a pop-up occurs.” I turn my gaze back on Logan. “It pisses them off, and they get turned off by it.”

Harold goes red in the face. I can tell that I’ve embarrassed him, and I cringe internally, but I can’t help it.

I’m not going to let someone propose an idea that would be bad for the company. I could have eased into it, but it had to be said.

“That’s not true,” Harold objects, shaking his head. “Layman Corp uses this very same method, and they’ve seen profits grow by two hundred and fifty percent.”

I open my mouth to set him straight, but then stop. I’m not sure if this debate with a coworker in front of a room of executives would be a good look. But I know what Harold is saying isn’t factual and could prove disastrous for our sales department.

Logan catches my eye and gives me an imperceptible nod.

“But were pop-up ads all they did to increase revenue?” I ask, my voice picking up confidence as I speak. “Or is there a bigger picture that you’re not looking at?”

Harold stands there, glaring at me angrily.

“You do realize Layman Corp utilizes various tactics for their ads, one of which is testing ad methods that are proven to be bad for business to see if they can improve them, right? They released a study just last month that backs up my claim that they are dismal for business and through testing pop-up ads they came up with a more effective ad campaign, and that is what caused their profits to grow by two hundred and fifty percent.”

I take in a breath, hating that I feel like I’m arguing. I don’t want to. He can read the study, and this conversation would be null and void.

“Charlotte’s right,” Cary Ann pipes up from at the end of the table, brandishing her work tablet and drawing Logan’s gaze. It’s been several days since I last saw her, but she looks like she’s had a long night, judging by the bags under her eyes. Her red cashmere sweater and white dress pants look nice on her, though. “There have been several studies done that show pop-up ads only piss off users, and some have actually resulted in lawsuits.”

Logan swivels back around to appraise Harold who’s looking like he’s about to blow steam out of his ears, his face red as a tomato. I feel sorry for the poor guy. And I didn’t mean to embarrass him, but I know I'm right in this.

“Is there anything else you would like to add, Harold?” Logan asks easily, seemingly unaffected.

For a moment, it looks like Harold's going to start yelling at me and branding me the demon bitch from hell, but instead he shakes his head and says, “Thank you for listening, sir.” And he returns to his seat.

Close by, Eva gives me a thumbs up. She thinks I’ve done a good job, but I feel horrible. I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and I’m pretty sure I’ve just made a new enemy. Great.

For the rest of the meeting, several people get up to speak and I do a better job at paying attention, but I catch Logan gazing at me every time I look at him. I spend awhile thinking about what just happened before the meeting and what it all means. A part of me wants to apologize to Logan for how I treated him, and how quick I was to accuse him of being an *. Another part of me wants to just quit this job and run away from this stress.

When Logan dismisses the meeting, I grab my briefcase and get up to leave, intending on putting everything behind me, but I freeze when Logan issues a command. “I need a moment to speak with you, Miss Harrison.”

Holy hell. Not again.

Slowly, I lower myself back in my seat, anxiety twisting my stomach. I’m not sure what Logan could want with me, but whatever it is, it can’t be good. Not with what happened earlier.

I sit there, my pulse picking up speed as everyone slowly files out of the room. Eva is one of the last to go and she sends me a flirty wink as if to say, ‘he has the hots for you, girl’ and then she leaves the room and I’m all alone with Logan.

God. If only she knew.