Her posture slouched, and her eyes rolled. “FinCrest? I’ve already told you people we’re not interested.” She gave Alec and me a look up and down. “You Sales Reps don’t all talk to each other? Not a great look.”
Alec didn’t miss a beat, letting her attitude and response slide off his back. “Or we just needed to call in the big guns. An account like CompComm is not something we take lightly.”
She raised an eyebrow but fought a smile. “Youtwoare the big guns?”
Alec smiled like a supernova. “Give us the ninety second ride up to our rooms to show you we are. And why FinCrest is the best solution to bring your organization into this century.”
She smirked and eyed us one more time. “I’m heading down, not up. Got a flight to catch.”
Divine intervention, or a Hollywood producer, couldn’t have timed it better. The down arrow lighted as she spoke, and the doors opened behind her. We watched in stunned silence as she boarded and turned around to press the button.
As they closed, she said, “Not a good look at all, FinCrest,” still smirking.
I’d be afraid of blowing such a huge and rare opportunity with another boss. Alec caught my eye before we fell into each other, laughing so hard we almost hit the floor.
“Are you fucking kidding?” he said with tears in his eyes. “She’s amazing! Holy fuck! This’ll be the hardest, but biggest win ever!”
I gripped his shoulder to steady myself, my fingertips meeting the mass of tensed muscle under his casual button-down. “You think we’ll get another shot afterthat? She just ruined our whole lives!” I said, laughing so hard my stomach hurt. “What do they say? She read us for filth.”
“Whosays that? What does it evenmean?” His face was so red it was comical.
“I don’t really know, but I think it means we’refucked.”
Alec regained his balance. “But we’re not, Blackwood. Trust me.” He approached the elevator, the laughter in his voice dying as the cogs in his head whirred. “She knows she needs a change. That change will come. It’s a matter of time. She wouldn’t have been that way if she thought our product was shit—”
“What way?”
“Snarky. If there was no chance at all, she’d have taken our card and told us she’d reach out when she was back in office. The brush off was a memory, a moment neither of us will forget. And did you see her face when the door closed? That little smile. She won, and she likes to win. It’s a matter of convincing her, no,showingher that FinCrest is how she wins. We’ve just got to find out what and who she really wants to win against. Maybe it’s her CFO? Or maybe it’s something we can’t see yet. Either way, we figure that out, andwewin.”
I knew how good he was, but his depth of knowledge still surprised me—both in understanding people and how to land our products.
“Sometimes I forget how smart you are, Alec. Holy shit.”
He pressed the up arrow. “Not smart. Just good at reading people. And old enough to know the patterns. We either need to play a 4D chess game with her, or she’s already tried some change and got shot down. We can work with both. It’s just up to us to figure out which one.”
“You’re the sensei here. I’ll follow your lead.”
He smiled, and my heart fluttered. Even without the alcohol in my blood, after letting Alec fuck me, I was putty in his hands. Part of me hated it, but most of me wanted him to take me upstairs and reenact my deflowering. Several times.
Chapter Ten
The jovial mood lasted until we got in the room. There was still a chuckle in Alec’s voice as he said, “It’s early, gonna get some work done before I call it. I also wanna get a jump start on our plan of attack on CompComm.”
“Oh yeah, let’s work. Instead of drinking our faces off with the rest of our colleagues. Great.”
“You don’t have to. Just telling you what I’m gonna do.” He shed his shirt and dropped his pants before rummaging to find his gym shorts.
I stripped down, too, but opted for a tee instead of a bare chest. It was chilly in the room, but I figured Alec’s chest hair kept him warm.
“Mind if I put the TV on?” I asked.
“Just keep it low.”
I wanted to say “Yes, sir” to be a dick, but I didn’t. The TV was loud enough to hear but low enough to ignore, which I did while browsing my phone. Going in and out of social apps, scrolling, liking, chuckling, and moving on. But each time I did, I’d see the icon for Flare. It prickled my skin. We hadn’t talked about it since that night, and after he fucked me, there wasn’t much more to say.
He was such an interesting person. So fascinating that even the constant dopamine hit of social media couldn’t hold my attention. His back was to me, but I could often see him in profile. He looked almost regal, if a sexy-as-fuck shirtless dude answering emails ever could.
Alec gripped the bridge of his nose and dug his fingers into his eyes. Such a simple gesture, but so telling. He got up to retrieve his glasses, and I glanced away, but looked back when he sat down.
