Axel pushes me back and looks into my eyes. “A couple weeks. You mean that’s why you were so distracted?”
I grimace then nod. “Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Fresh tears come to my eyes. “Because you’re supposed to keep work issues and home issues separate.”
“Drama, yes,” he replies, thumb brushing away my tears. “But this isn’t some little thing. It’s major and will be on your mind. Even if you didn’t tell your coworkers, I wish you’d have told either me or Declan.”
“I’m sorry,” I whimper, collapsing against him again. His arms feel safe. I feel like I can let go, and he’ll take care of me.
“Shh. It’s okay.”
I do let go, the stress and fear of the day unleashed as I sob against him.
Axel rubs my back, quietly holding me until my tears start to subside. “I’ll take you home,” he finally says. “Do you want to stop somewhere and pick you up something for dinner on the way?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Come on. Let’s get you home, then.”
“Okay.”
Maybe giving Axel West a bit of control isn’t such a bad thing.
11
Axel
I can still see the strain when Harper walks into our Monday afternoon meeting. But she looks infinitely better than she did when I dropped her at her apartment on Friday evening.
“How’s your dad?” I ask softly, taking a few steps toward her as the door closes.
She gives me a weak smile. “Better. They moved him out of the ICU yesterday and back to the chemotherapy suite. They found an alternate medicine to the one that set off the reaction and are getting him back on track to start his cancer treatments.”
I walk over and take her delicate arms in my hands. “That all sounds like good progress.”
She catches her tongue between her lips. “I just…I just wish that he didn’t need the chemo at all.”
My thumbs trace back and forth over her arms. “I understand.”
She leans against me, and my entire body thrills to have her so close without the despair she’d displayed the week prior. Harper is so delicate and lovely. I want her as she is, soft in my arms, as much as I want to see her bound before me. I want to leave red lashes on her creamy skin, then kiss away the pain a few hours later.
Harper’s breath stutters, and she steps back. “We…we should get to work.”
For just a moment, I felt it, her desire to stay with me. But it’s too soon, and now that I know the struggles of her personal life, I have to be careful. She gave her trust so willingly, and I’m eager for more. However, what I want requires a lot, and she’s not ready.
Harper is as brilliant as she is beautiful, and I can see why Declan hired her. She may be just out of college, but she displays the instincts of a person with an innate knack for marketing. In only a few days, she’s gone from developing several package options to further narrowing down how best to pitch them to the different types of businesses. I have no doubt that she’ll be promoted from marketing assistant to associate quickly.
She pauses in her explanation of the importance of approaching area bloggers to write business reviews, and our eyes meet. The world around us slows, while her perfect pink lips part, and her tongue darts out to wet them. My cock stirs as the idea of tasting them crosses my mind.
I’d love to plunge my hand into her blonde hair and hold her close while kissing her senseless.
Harper blushes, a dusting of pink across the bridge of her nose, and turns back to where she was pitching her ideas from a whiteboard. I don’t miss how her eyes flick back to me, though, nor how she mindlessly plays with a lock of her hair.
Her cell phone chimes with a notification, something I allowed in our meetings after learning of her father’s condition.
“Go ahead,” I say, nodding at the device.
She smiles, takes a couple steps to the table, and picks it up. She reads the message on the screen and breathes a sigh of relief.
“Good news?”
She hesitates, then nods. “I think so. It was my stepmother letting me know that my dad is finished with his first chemo treatment.”
I stand, walk over, and rest my hand on her shoulder. “It’s almost the end of the day. You should head out early to beat the traffic.”
She looks up at me with her gorgeous blue eyes. “Are you sure?”
I nod. “Are you really going to be able to focus on work for the last hour, knowing your dad just got out of chemo?”
She smiles shyly. “Honestly? No, not one bit.”
I lower my hand down her arm, turning her towards the door. “And that’s why you should go. We’ll make it up next time.”
I lead Harper toward the conference room door, where she turns.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, a soft smile gracing her face.
“You’re welcome.”
We stand there for a moment, staring at each other, and once again, I notice how well she responds to me. I want to kiss her, and she’s leaning in, too. It would only take me bending down to close the difference in heights.
I take a deep breath and step back.
Harper seems to regain her senses, taking a sharp breath.
“You…should go,” I manage.
“Ye-yeah.” She pauses. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I nod. “If not then, on Wednesday for our next meeting.”
“Of course.”
Harper turns and stumbles through the door, and it takes every ounce of willpower to not go after her.
In our next meeting, I nod, going over the sample templates strewn across the conference table.
Harper has asked the creative team for five styles to give the merchants some flexibility in how they want to showcase their products without making it obvious that it’s all being handled by one company. From simple, to bold, to elegant, she’s worked out enough options to make it easy for our teams to drop in some promotional photos and language, change a few colors, and be ready to go.
I pick up one of the samples—an oversized postcard. Elegant swirls frame a stock photo featuring chocolates. There’s room for a catchy headline on the front, while the back features an area for the address, some informational text, and a coupon. It’s pretty standard fare, but the design is fresh and clean.
The front end of the campaign, what options we’ll present to potential clients, is nearly complete. A bit of fine-tuning here and there, and it’ll be ready to go.
Now I’m interested to see how she’s managed resources on the backend. I’ve already been impressed by her choice to present the packages as ready-made templates. It’s a departure from our typically bespoke approach to each client, but allows us to go in at a far more appealing price.
However, one major unknown is how she can handle the video and audio portions of the package pricing since we have to outsource those particular functions until we get enough consistent need to develop an in-house team for it.
I sit back and look up at where she’s standing next to the whiteboard again. “I like your samples. In fact, if this campaign does well, then we’ll probably add similar template options to other campaigns. Give potential customers a less expensive entry option.”