Clearing her throat, she stared down at the work she’d done over the past several weeks.
Rafi started the meeting.“Sorry for the short notice.I just returned from London last night.But I’ve received word that there are some excellent ideas coming from this group.”He’d looked at Dave and Tanya during that short speech, but after a moment, he focused his attention on Carys.“Let’s hear them,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair at the head of the table.
“I think I have some good ideas,” Tanya blurted, drawing everyone’s attention.She opened her sketch pad and started talking.The idea she presented was a rough outline, without scripts or fleshed out campaign ideas.Her drawings looked like something she’d slapped together in the past thirty minutes.There were no graphics, no cohesive message, and even the pictures were badly drawn.
“I know it’s rough,” she said, with what probably was supposed to be a secret smile, “but I think it has potential.”She leaned forward, giving Dave and Rafi an excellent view of her cleavage.
When she finished, there was a stunned, almost awkward, silence while everyone contemplated the truly horrible ideas that the assistant director had presented.
Finally, Rafi turned to Carys.“Okay then.How about if you give me your ideas?I liked the approach you suggested several weeks ago.Let’s see what you’ve put together.”
Carys pulled out her storyboards and flipped them around.She passed out copies of her scripts for the first ad series and went over both the obvious and subconscious attributes of the idea.Then she went on to demonstrate how this concept could be altered for six other products the company currently had on the market, as well as two more products that were still in production.“The overall campaign gives the ads more of a cohesive message.It’s sort of a branding effort as well as a message about the product.”
“I like it,” Rafi replied, nodding in a way that caused the morning sunshine from the window to make his dark hair glimmer.“That’s exactly the kind of advertising that consumers are responding well to right now.”He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.“It’s not an obvious push for the product, but it gets people thinking.You’re solving a problem they have and giving them a reason to buy the product.”He turned to Dave and Tanya.“Why aren’t you pulling more of the team members to help flesh out this idea?I told you several weeks ago that this was the direction I wanted to go.”
Dave had the grace to look embarrassed, but Tanya straightened, pasting a bright, fake smile on her overly made up face.“I know that you wanted to go in that direction, Rafi, but what’s the harm in coming up with other options?We’re all brainstorming, trying to toss around ideas, just like you asked us to do.”
“You’re right.I like the idea of collaboration and brain storming, but let’s focus on Carys’s ideas.I want her in charge of pushing this out.Get the rest of the team on board so that we can advance her ideas.I want this same concept developed for every product in our line.We need to get this idea out for everything so that the production crew can start creating the graphics.”
With that, he stood up.“Carys, I need to speak to you in my office, please.”And then he walked out of the conference room, his assistant at his heels, like a well-trained puppy.
Carys started gathering up her materials, feeling self-conscious now that she was left alone with Dave and Tanya.Unfortunately, their anger over Rafi’s set down was palpable.
“You undermined my authority,” Dave snapped, then stalked to the door.“I won’t forget this!”
Carys’s heart skipped a beat, and she frowned at the empty door, feeling unfairly attacked.Tanya came around the table, towering over Carys in her spike heels.
“Back off!”Tanya spat.
“What?”Carys gasped.
“Don’t you dare play the innocent ingenue with me!”she snapped.“Rafi ismine.We’re seeing each other after hours, every night.No, I’m not sleeping with him to get ahead.We’re falling for each other and I’m not going to let you ruin this for me.The man wantsme, so just back off!”
Carys clenched her teeth.Maybe if she’d gotten a bit more sleep last night, her temper wouldn’t be so short.But Carys was sick and tired of Tanya playing the queen bee around the office.
“I don’t know what kind of relationship you think you have with our new boss, but keep me out of it.I’m here to get the job done with as much creativity as possible.”Oh, that felt good!So good, that Carys kept going.“You and Dave have fostered an atmosphere here where we can’t share ideas for fear of you or Dave stealing credit for our work.Everyone keeps their ideas to themselves instead of collaborating, which is why I wouldn’t even let you carry my work into the meeting!”Carys paused, shocked that she’d said it aloud.While Tanya’s fury boiled, Carys breathed in, slowly regaining control.She was shocked that she’d said as much as she had, but it felt really good.In a calmer voice, she added, “If you don’t like my work, then fire me.Otherwise,” Carys leaned forward, “youback off!”
And with that, she turned and walked off to Rafi’s office, her boards and materials tucked under her arm.
As soon as she stepped into Rafi’s office, he said, “Close the door.”
Carys looked around at the huge office with the impressive view of the city and the Delaware river in the distance as she followed his direction and closed the door.
“Put your stuff down.”
She looked into his dark eyes and, instantly, those heated, needy feelings stirred to life.She forgot about the confrontation with Tanya as well as Dave’s harsh words.This moment was all about Rafi.
With a shiver of awareness, she backed up slightly.“I think I should hold onto my stuff,” she argued.
He came around his desk, his eyes heating up with the challenge she’d tossed out.“I haven’t seen you in several days.I’m going to kiss the hell out of you and I don’t care if those story boards get ruined in the process.But you clearly put a lot of work into them and I’d hate for you to have to redo everything.”His voice dropped into a growl as he stalked toward her.“So, it would be wise to put them down.”
She saw the determined, heated look in his eyes and swallowed hard.Rafi looked like a predator and she was his prey.Suddenly, she knew that it would be better to dump her stuff before he reached her.Fast!
She’d just freed her arms when Rafi pulled her into his arms.“You were jealous last night,” he said in a deep, husky voice.
“I wasn’t,” she lied, but felt as if she needed to defend herself.
“You were.”He paused, his dark eyes moving over her expression.“I liked it.”He bent his head and nuzzled her neck.“I liked it a lot!It turned me on.”He nipped at her earlobe, causing her to melt against him.“You’re always so cool and controlled, until I take you into my arms.And every damn morning, you are gone by the time I open my eyes.”He nibbled on her neck.“Until last night, I had no idea how you felt about me.”He stared down at her.“Do you have any idea how much I liked your jealousy?It showed me that you care more than you’ve let on.”
