Even without having seen Lori Harris prior to this meeting, Mandisa was able to spot her the moment Mandisa stepped into the hotel’s restaurant. Coiffed blonde hair pulled into a fashionable roll. Her makeup neatly applied to give off that airbrushed appearance usually attained by a professional’s skilledhands.
Like must have recognized like because before Mandisa reached the table, Lori was standing, waving Mandisaforward.
“Dr. Avery, thank you for meeting with me thismorning.”
“Please, call me Mandisa. And thank you for taking the time to hear myproposal.”
Lori nodded as she motioned for the waiter to come to their table. “How about we start this proposal off right with some coffee and breakfast? You can tell me about your company and product, and hopefully by the time the check comes, we’ll have something positive tocelebrate.”
Mandisa wasted no time delving into her practiced spiel. She’d been raised in this company by her mother. There wasn’t anything about it she didn’t know. The mission of the company, to serve the average woman who didn’t have the resources to buy high-end cosmetics, but still wanted to look good, was drilled into her head before she was old enough to wear Sweet Sadie products. Although they made shades that flattered all complexions, the company made a special effort to focus on women of color, because it was so much easier to find drugstore-brand makeup that catered to fairercomplexions.
Lori appeared interested in Mandisa’s proposal, especially the sales record and the current demand for Sweet Sadie’s Signature products. Mandisa knew she’d done what she was supposed to do when Lori stopped sipping her coffee in order to pay closer attention to the laptop slideshow Mandisa was using as a supplemental tool to herpresentation.
“Wow, that’s extremely impressive, Mandisa. Your Sweet Sadie’s Signature cosmetics and body lotions line is exactly the type of thing Venus is looking for. We’re one of the top three cosmetics companies in the world, but we still seem to be lacking when it comes to catering to our clientele with darker skin tones. Frankly, we’ve been looking for a quality product like yours for a longtime.”
“Does that mean Venus will invest in SweetSadie’s?”
“Well, we certainly want Sweet Sadie’s to be part of the Venus family. But before I can make any offers, or rather counter offers to your investment proposal, my new director wishes to meet withyou.”
It wasn’t the immediate yes Mandisa was hoping for, but it certainly wasn’t a no either. She checked this meeting off in the win column of her mental tally and returned her attention to the woman sitting before her. “Do you have any idea when your director would like tomeet?”
“Considering he’s walking across the room as we speak, I’d say rightnow.”
Mandisa turned around to look toward the entrance behind their table. The first thing she saw was a familiar cowboy hat. Panic began to settle in her stomach when the owner of the hat’s face came into focus. When the man was finally standing at their table, Lori stood to makeintroductions.
“Dr. Mandisa Avery, the new director of Venus Cosmetics, SladeHamilton.”
Mandisa watched Slade tip his hat to her, then Lori. Lori gathered her things, then left the two of themalone.
When he sat, they both just stared at each other. This was surreal. It couldn’t be happening. She’d spent the night letting this man take her to sexual heights she hadn’t experienced since…well ever, and now he was sitting across from her ready to dobusiness.
“Mandisa,” hebegan.
“You son of a bitch. You played me. You set me up from the moment I walked into that fuckinglounge.”
He held up both hands as he shook his head. “I had no idea I’d meet you in that club. I certainly didn’t know you were the person I’d be meeting with to discuss an investmentdeal.”
“You must really think I’m stupid.” She spat the words across the table in a quiet but furious fashion. “You really expect me to believe you didn’t know who the hell I was at Syn? That you didn’t target my ass, plan this entire seduction to give you a better advantage in businessnegotiations?”
“Mandisa, you can’t really believethat.”
“Exactly what am I supposed to believe, Slade? This is too much of coincidence to be accidental. You planned this shit. Unfortunately, the joke’s on you. The dick was sublime, but there isn’t a man alive whose meat is good enough to fuck me out of mycompany.”
“Enough,” Slade shouted as he slammed his hand down on the table, bringing the attention of the other patrons and restaurant employees to their heated discussion. He cleared his throat, and when the nosy Nellies in the restaurant returned to their own conversations, Slade lowered his voice to resume his explanation to Mandisa. “I did not seduce you with any ulterior motive. The only thing I wanted was to spend time withyou.”
He let some of the anger bleed out of his voice as he reached his hand across the table to gently caresshers.
“I promise you, when I took you to my bed last night, I had no idea who you were. Everything that happened between us in that room came from a sincere place,darlin’.”
There it was, that damn word, the one that always felt like silk every time he directed it at her. She wanted to hold on to her anger, but slowly it ebbed away. “You really didn’tknow?”
He shook his head. “Ididn’t.”
She took a deep breath and leaned into the back of her chair. “What do we do now? Can we even do this dealnow?”
“We can,” he answered. “I’m just not sure you’ll actually want to when you hear what I’moffering.”
“What do youmean?”
