“No, thank you.” I forced a polite smile and took a seat in front of her desk.
She remained where she was and continued to smile at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I was no stranger to some clients hitting on me, but this time it caused a boulder to drop into my gut. When it came to who had the upper hand in this case, it was her.
And she knew it.
“Shall we get started, then?” I asked, steering the discussion in the right direction.
“Of course.” Finally, she walked back around and sat at her desk. “I should have you know, I’m meeting with another agency tomorrow morning. Whatever you have to say, it better be good, Mr. Sawyer.”
“That’s the plan, Mrs. Parks.”
“Ms.” she said. “I’m divorced.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, I’m not. The bastard had it coming. Now. Show me why I should hire your agency. What do you have that no one else does?”
“It’s all right here,” I said, handing over the pages that outlined our plan before pulling out my laptop and opening it up to the PowerPoint Reed had helped me put together.
“I’m a busy woman, Mr. Sawyer,” Vivian said, tossing the pages onto her desk without even looking at them. “Tell me why you’re the best. I don’t want to read pages and pages of statistics and other nonsense.”
“Very well.” Damn, she was even tougher than I suspected. “We’re the best because we care about the client. Each plan is specifically tailored to fit each client’s needs. We’ve gone beyond expectations of profit and audience reach. If you give me just a moment of your time to show you the plans we have for your resort, I know you won’t regret it.”
Vivian tapped her long nails on the top of the desk, saying nothing for several moments. “You have my attention. Go on.”
I clicked to the first slide of the PowerPoint. “It begins with this…”
Chapter Five
Reed
An hour later, my ass started to go numb from sitting in the same spot for so long, so I stood and walked around the lobby.
Jamie sat at the counter scrolling on her phone, then snapped a few duck-lipped selfies.
“Do you like working here?” I asked.
“I don’t work here,” she said, not nearly as friendly as she’d been when greeting us earlier. “And no, I hate it.”
“Oh. That’s… unfortunate.”
A door opened from down the hall.
“Thank you so much for your time and consideration, Ms. Parks,” I heard Daniel say.
I quickly rushed back over to the plushy chair and popped a squat, pretending like I’d been there the whole time. I didn’t want them to think I’d been wandering around like a child who couldn’t sit still. They came around the corner seconds later.
A stab of jealousy touched my chest at seeing the beautiful blonde standing awfully close to my boss, smiling at him like he was a sexy plaything.
“I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow,” Blonde Hussy said, lightly touching his arm. “I appreciate you coming all this way.”
I shook my head at my own ridiculousness. I had no claim over Daniel Sawyer. But it made me wonder what exactly had gone on in that damn office.
“I look forward to your answer,” Daniel said before pressing his lips together in a tight smile. He then shook her hand and walked over to me. “Let’s go. The snow’s picking up.”
I hadn’t paid much attention to what was happening outside for the past hour, but he was right. Big flakes fell from the sky, adding to the snow already covering every inch of the grass and concrete.
My heart jolted when I felt his hand at my lower back as he guided me to the exit. It took away all worries about the weather. I was sure we could make things nice and steamy if it got too cold.
I’m such a slut.
“I’ll check the roads to see if we’re good to drive,” I said, pulling out my phone once we were in my car. The weather report mentioned a few slick areas, but it was nothing I hadn’t driven through before. “It says the salt trucks have already been out on the roads, so if we’re careful, we should be good.”
“Excellent.” Daniel dropped his gaze to his phone as he opened his email and responded to one. A strand of his dark hair fell forward as he looked down. It gave his serious expression just a touch of softness.
I backed out and drove through the parking lot, the tires leaving tracks through the freshly fallen snow. “So. How did it go?”
Daniel sighed and pocketed his phone. “I think it went well. She refused to give me an answer, though. Another agency is meeting with her tomorrow. She’ll make her decision afterward.”
“That’s kind of shitty,” I said, unable to stop myself. “She asked us to come all the way out here, and she doesn’t hire us because she’s not sure? Reminds me of the time I asked a guy to be my boyfriend and he kept me waiting because he’d been talking to another guy at the same time and wanted to fuck us both to see who was better in bed before committing.”
He snapped his head toward me. “We shouldn’t be discussing your sex life. It’s inappropriate.”
“Sorry.”
What’s gotten into me? I was usually better at filtering my stupid mouth when around him. The four hours in the car with him had loosened me up a little, and I had to remind myself that he was my boss, not my friend.
Thankfully, although the snow was still coming down hard, the roads weren’t that slick. My four-wheel drive and damn expensive tires helped with the traction, so we barely even slid.
“Let’s stop at the next gas station to fill up and grab some lunch,” Daniel said an hour and a half into the drive. “Then we’ll switch places so you can rest.”
“I’m fine,” I said, though it would be nice to relax a little. My shoulder was stiff from being in the same position to hold the wheel steady just in case the car hit a slick spot.
“It wasn’t a question.” He peered over at me, his blue eyes looking gray as the pale light of the snowy day hit them.
“Okay.” I tore my gaze from his and put on my blinker when seeing a sign up ahead that said a gas station and restaurants were at the next right.
After filling up the tank, I went into the store to pay and grabbed us bottles of water before walking back out. He was in the driver’s seat, and I couldn’t help but notice how fucking sexy he looked in my car.
“What?” he asked after a handful of seconds passed.
“Nothing.” I handed him a bottle of water and twisted the cap on mine before taking a drink. “There’s a McDonald’s up the road. We can grab lunch there.”
He nodded and pulled out of the gas station. We went through the drive-thru before getting back on the road, eating our burgers in silence.
“It’s really coming down now,” I said, as the windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the amount of snow. When I glanced out the window, all I saw was white. I shivered just looking at it. “I hate winter. And rain.”
“And yet you live in a place that has an abundance of both,” Daniel said with a curious tilt of his brow. Crazy how he could make such a simple action look that hot.