The Billionaire Bargain #1(12)
I raised my eyebrow. “Does Stevie know you’re lusting after the boss?”
“Girl, I’m taken, not blind.”
“Okay, he is pretty hot,” I admitted grudgingly.
“Just pretty hot?” my skeptical friend pushed.
“Okay, very hot!” I said. “He is the hottest. He is so hot he is basically a volcano. It should be illegal the amount of hotness he generates, with the ripped arms and the shoulders and those eyes and you can stop giving me that look right now, Kate, it’s not like I’ve got a lot to compare him to, lately.”
“Jason?” she asked hopefully. “Come on, he wasn’t a complete bust, was he? He came highly recommended!”
“Cute at best, until he opened his mouth,” I said. “Grant’s smart underneath all that playboy bullshit, which is actually really hot too. It’s just too bad he’s shallow as a water fountain.”
“No disembarking from the positivity train, missy!” Kate pulled some pictures out of her purse, and pushed them across the table to me. “Here, this’ll cheer you up. Take a look at these new designs of mine.”
Kate is a genius with lingerie design. I never even imagined that was a thing before I met her—you’ve seen one pair of lacy silk panties, you’ve seen them all, right?—but I’m serious, she was a genius and I was pretty sure someday she was going to be famous.
This latest batch of designs was no exception in showcasing her talent: strips of boldly colored fabric that titillated but didn’t quite reveal, glossy textures that promised smoothness and sleekness, bows and lace that teased at lust with a just a hint of innocence…
“These are gorgeous.”
Kate grinned, delighted. “Glad you think so! You choose whatever you want and I’ll whip it up for you for when you get your next date.”
“I wish I had someone worth these designs,” I said. “I know I say this all the time, but you do know you’re a genius, right?”
Kate snorted. “If I’m such a genius, listen to my advice!”
So I did. It wasn’t easy at first, but as the night wore on, laughing and joking with Kate—and eventually Stevie and his friends when they showed up—it got easier. I remember, later that evening, looking up at the stars as we waited for a taxi, my heels in my hand and my mind clear as I suddenly realized, you know what? I really believed I could do this.
That was the moment when I made up my mind. I was going to give this promotion a shot. No, scratch that—I was going to give this promotion my best shot.
And maybe, just maybe, now that I had a little control, people would listen to me and I could help save the company.
SEVEN
I strode into the boardroom, feeling confident in the power suit that Kate had persuaded me to buy after happy hour, and secretly sexy in the lingerie she had pressed on me“until you make up your mind about the new designs,” loving the way it hugged my ample curves. My heels—another Kate order masquerading as a friendly suggestion—lifted me up and made me feel invincible, like I could take on the world.
Watch out, boys, there’s a new superhero in town.
I faced down the conference table full of department heads, Grant at the end, and refused to let my stomach do the slow flip it wanted to.
“We need a complete image rehabilitation,” I said crisply, clicking on the PowerPoint,“and I have a plan that will get us there.” I looked directly at Grant, square in the eye:“You show up to work every day, no partying, no girls. You complete one staged charity photo op every day.” I slapped a stack of papers down on the table.“This is your schedule. Your first event is right now.”
He opened his mouth to protest, and I steamrolled right over him.“You are going to go pet some kittens with cancer, and you are going to look happy about it for the camera.”
“I can’t justcancel—” he started.
“Kittens,” I repeated firmly.“With cancer.”
The rest of the table was holding their breath waiting to see if Grant was going to be enough of a dick to say no. He glanced around at them, looking for support that he didn’t find, and then back to me.
It’s just—” he began, not quite whining, though the tone was dangerously close.
“Your driver’s waiting to pick you up right now. Cliff will escort you there. Cliff?” I called, and Grant’s bodyguard came in, still holding the coffee I’d bought him earlier that morning during our little chat. I gave him a grateful smile.“You’ll make sure Mr. Devlin gets to those kittens, won’t you?”
“Sure will, ma’am.” He stood just a little closer to Grant than he had to, just to reinforce the message. Grant looked from me to him, and back to me again, and then nodded.
Message received.
I watched Cliff very diplomatically hustle Grant out, and smiled, victorious.
Cliff was a very loyal employee to Grant Devlin, but he also happened to be the owner of seven rescue cats, and a volunteer at the local no-kill cat shelter. Just one of the many things you can learn about someone when you take them out for coffee and a frank chat about the future of the company.
Step one had just gone off without a hitch.
Now I just had several dozen more steps to go.
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