“Saige, help me out,” I said. “What impresses them?”
“I would do it in here,” she finally said.
“Why?”
“Because we are talking about money. It’s a sensitive subject. People don’t like to blast their business in front of people they don’t know and don’t trust. It’s your job to make them feel secure. They need to feel comfortable with you and ultimately your staff. They have to know their business is going to be private as well as secure.”
I nodded. “Okay. I get it. That works.”
“Great, I’ll be back.”
She was being different. I couldn’t put my finger on it. She seemed happy. She was actually being nice to me. I wasn’t used to anyone being nice to me. It was strange.
But then I remembered who she was almost ten years ago. The woman who just offered me coffee was the same woman I remembered from back then. She’d been one of the few people who seemed to understand me. She looked past my tough exterior and saw me for me. She didn’t take my shit and never backed down.
There was a knock on my door. I got to my feet and straightened my tie. “Come in.”
The door opened and Saige stepped through. “Nash, this is Mr. Lyman,” she introduced. “Mr. Lyman, this is the owner of the firm, Nash Aarons.”
I stepped around the desk and shook his hand. “It’s good to meet you, Mr. Lyman,” I said.
“Call me Eli,” he said.
“Eli, have a seat,” I said, gesturing at a chair.
We all sat. This was really going to be Saige’s show. I was thinking of this meeting as a training session. I wanted to see how she pulled in these big clients. I noticed Eli looking at Saige. He was actually turned in his chair to get a better view of her.
“Thank you for coming in today, Eli,” I said and attempted to pull his attention back to me. The guy had silver hair and looked very much like Richard Gere. I knew his type. I was his type. Looking at him, I got a glimpse of my future. Oddly enough, I didn’t like him.
“You’re welcome,” he said with a smile and never once looked at me. “When I heard about this firm, I did my homework. I’ve heard a lot about you, Saige. I never imagined you would be this pretty in person.”
I almost rolled my eyes.
Saige smiled. “You’re very kind, thank you.”
“The total package,” he said. “Beauty and brains.”
“Thank you, Eli,” she said and looked at me. “Nash and I have gone over your financials and are confident the firm can handle your business.”
“You know, I’m very happy where I am,” he said.
“If you were happy where you were, you wouldn’t be here,” I countered. “You’re looking for a firm that will not only handle your money but find ways to make more money.”
Eli nodded. “You would be right. I’ve heard great things about Saige’s style.”
“She’s good at her job,” I agreed.
I found myself clenching my jaw. The guy was grating on my nerves. He was practically drooling on her. I had no right to be jealous, but I was.
“I am very interested in what Saige can do for me and my firm,” he said.
He was purposely talking in sexual undertones. She wasn’t rejecting him. Did I expect her to? I shouldn’t but I did.
She looked at me and smiled before turning back to Eli. “We’ve got an excellent staff with some of the best in the business. When you bring your business to us, you get more than just me or Nash. You get an entire team. We work together and strategize about the best ways to save our clients money.”
“I appreciate that,” he said. “I’d like to meet some of the staff if you don’t mind. Could you give me a tour?”
“I’d love to,” she replied.
“Saige has another client,” I said. “I’d be happy to show you around.”
Saige looked at me with surprise. “I don’t—”
“I emailed you an account,” I lied. “I’d like you to give it a look.”
“Okay,” she said. “I can look at it after I’ve given him the tour.”
“I’ve got it,” I said more firmly and got to my feet. “Eli, let’s go.”
I gestured for him to walk ahead of me. “I can wait until it’s a better time,” Eli said.
“Nope. Now’s good. Let’s do this. If you want to see all the boring stuff, let’s do it.”
Saige cleared her throat. It was going to take a lot more than that to stop me. “Nash, can I grab you for a minute?” she asked sweetly.
“I’ll be done with this in a minute,” I said.
“A minute?” Eli questioned. “Is this the two-cent tour? I would think I’d get the two-dollar tour with the amount of money I’m considering bringing to the business.”
“You want to see people working at computers and reading boring tax forms,” I said. “That’s not exactly worth two bucks but it’s your money. We’ll stop and inspect the toilets if that would make it more worth your while.”
I heard Saige gasp as we walked into the bullpen. “These walls are very old school,” he commented.
“It improves productivity,” I told him.
“It feels like a mausoleum in here. Your office is well decorated, but out here, it looks like something you’d see in a bad eighties movie.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “It’s something we’ve implemented to keep our employees focused on their jobs and not each other.”
He laughed. “I see. Does Saige work out here?”
“No, she has her own office.”
“Ah, privacy,” he said in a low voice. “I prefer to conduct my business in private. I can appreciate you outsourcing some of my work, but if I were to bring my business here, I’d like to have the best on my account. I would also prefer to keep the number of people who were involved with my account to be limited.”
“You’re asking for Saige to be the only one on your account,” I surmised.
He looked at me and grinned. “I guess you could say that. What’s the deal with her anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is she single?”
“You’d have to ask her.”
“She’s got a nice rack on her, doesn’t she? How do you work with her and not want to bang her at every turn?”
We were just coming up to the reception desk when I decided I couldn’t take it anymore. I had enough. “That’s the tour,” I said. “All two dollars of it.”
He laughed. “I think I’d like to see Saige’s office. I need to know what I’m working with.”
“What you’re working with?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
He winked. “I mean I plan on spending a lot of late nights in her office.”
“I’m sure she’d love to hear that.”
“If you can guarantee me she’ll be on my account, I’ll have my people transfer the files to you by the end of the week.”
“No thanks,” I said.
“Excuse me?”