It took me another twenty-five minutes to go through the images. The vibe didn’t quite match the brief. The coloring wasn’t bright and vibrant enough for the young market they were trying to capture. They needed a few tweaks, nothing major, but recoloring everything to match the mood was going to take hours. If she was going to get this to the client today, it would be closer todinner time than five o’clock. I buzzed Bosshole and told him I was done.
“Great. If you could come in, I’ll get your opinion on a couple of things, and you can run your impressions of the images and videos by me.”
Wow, we were actually going to work together like mature adults. And he hadn’t even insulted me today or been an actual bosshole. Maybe things were looking up.
I went in with my laptop and almost tripped when I saw him. The dirty rat had rolled up his shirt sleeves, exposing muscular forearms with just the right amount of light-brown hair. I knew some women loved when men were either super hairy or liked to manscape smooth for sport or whatever—each to their own—but I was like Goldilocks: I appreciated a medium amount of hairiness, except on the back. I didn’t want my fingers getting tangled in back hair while doing the deed. I shuddered. Although, this man’s face was so delectable that maybe I’d forgive a bit too much hair.
He looked up at me, stress tightening his features. Either the job Queen V had handed him was terrible, or there was more going on. Now that I really perused his face, telltale darkness shadowed under his eyes. He obviously wasn’t sleeping properly. Maybe he’d partied too hard on the weekend? “Please bring one of the chairs around here so we can look at the screen together.”
“Ah, sure. Teamwork makes the dream work.” He looked at me as if I was an idiot. I couldn’t argue with that, so I didn’t, which was a first. I dragged the chair around and put it as far away from him as possible while still being able to see the screen. I didn’t want to be presumptive, but also, if I wanted to keep my wits about me, I needed to be out of scenting range of his cologne.
He sighed. “I don’t bite. Bring your chair closer. You’ll need to set your laptop up so I can see it too.”
I acted as unaffected as possible. “Not a problem.” I placed my laptop on his desk, opened it, and logged in, then brought up thepictures. “These don’t really match the brief. I’ve advised on what edits I think they need. The commercial was okay, but again, the vibe was a little low on energy. I think it could be helped with a younger person doing the voiceover.” I stared at the screen the whole time because watching his face at this distance, I was liable to drool on him or something. If I wasn’t so desperate to finding out what was really going on, I’d march to Stephanie’s office and quit right now. I’d spilled into not-quite-impartial territory, which was embarrassing to admit. With everything I’d been through, I knew better, but it seemed that my body didn’t care.
It took him ten torturous minutes to sift through everything while I sat and breathed through my mouth, trying not to smell his intoxicating scent. He finished and looked up. “Have you got a cold?”
“No.”
He gave me a weird look, and great, because now he thought I was a mouth breather. Turning back to his computer, he said, “Your opinion is very perceptive, and I agree.” He turned his desktop screen slightly toward me. “Read these and my edits and see what you think.”
I risked a full hormone malfunction, closed my mouth, and breathed through my nose so he could see I was normal… normal being a relative concept when pertaining to me. When I was done, I sat back. “Those are all fair edits. I also think we can get rid of these.” I pointed to a few lines of copy that were going on their social media. “It’s all a bit preachy for that age group. They’ll respond to something a bit more chill, like this.” I typed a couple of lines. “What do you think?”
“Hmm….” He nodded slowly. “I like what you did there. Much better.” Then he turned and smiled at me. The warmth in his eyes slayed me. I’d never seen him so unguarded. My heart skittered with the unbounded energy of a puppy trying to run on a slippery floor.
I smiled back, careful not to let it turn into a crazy-woman grin. “Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. I also know I’m not your favorite person.” I wished I could come clean and tell him why I was here. If he was innocent of all the accusations, he could probably help me get to the bottom of it. But if I told him the truth, and he was to blame for the client losses and had done something to that singer, I was signing my own professional death warrant, not to mention, I’d signed that NDA. He could use it against me. Yes, I’d lost my last job because of some stupid choices, but if I broke that confidentiality agreement, I’d never work for another marketing company again. Word would get around because Knight Advertising was a huge player. Piranha was a small company with limited contacts. I was playing in the big leagues now.
My mother’s words niggled annoyingly in my head: “Aim low. People like us aren’t meant to have great success. Be happy with getting by.”
“What if I told you that you were my favorite least-favorite person?” He chuckled.
I laughed. “I could live with that. I think we’ve made some progress.” I ignored the guilt that screeched its fingernails down the blackboard in my head. It was too late now, and I just had to get on with it.
The door opened, both of us jerking our heads around to look at Queen V stride in on towering heels. If I didn’t know what a bitch she was, I’d be in awe of her beauty and posture. If I managed to keep my job, I’d have to work for her again. Best to be polite and kill her with kindness. “I love your shoes. The cherry motif is super cute.” I’d seen them somewhere before, probably on an ad or something. Maybe Amy had shown me them as a pair she wanted to buy. I was pretty sure they cost a few weeks wages… well, my wages. Queen V earned a heck of a lot more than me.
Her gaze dragged from Curtis to me and back again as sheignored my compliment. Maybe I should repeat myself. “This looks cozy. You really were serious about her helping you.”
Her? Fuck’s sake, I had a name. Also, that was the last time I made an effort to be nice to her.
“Of course I was.Wehave some notes for you.” I didn’t think I imagined the emphasis he put on we. He was trying to rile her up, and by her flaring nostrils, he succeeded.
“There better not be too many notes. I don’t have time for major changes.”
He didn’t say anything, just lifted his chin and looked down his nose at her. The unspoken “Well, you should’ve thought of that before you handed this to me at the last minute” hung in the air. I was happy I wasn’t the one getting chastised for a change. Curtis’s voice was calm when he said, “I’ll email everything to you now. If you have any questions, I’ll be here for the rest of the afternoon.”
I emailed my stuff to him so he could keep it all in one email, then shut my laptop, and walked out. There was nothing to discover with their remaining interaction. They could have it alone.
I plonked into my chair and positioned my laptop in front of me. My cell phone rang. Stomach tensing, I pulled it from my bag. Was it Stephanie again, or had Amy discovered something?
Argh, it was neither. I pressed the red button and rejected the call. My mother knew not to call during work hours. The phone rang again. It was 1:20 p.m., just after lunchtime, but I guessed I hadn’t taken lunch. I might as well take this call, or she’d keep ringing and then be pissed about it later. I’d never hear the end of it. “Hello.”
“Don’t sound so happy to hear from me.”
I spoke quietly. Even though I could technically say I was on lunch, it still felt wrong to take a private call. “I’m at work.” She didn’t need to know I had time if I wanted. The quicker I got her off the phone, the better.
“Oh.”
Why the heck did she sound surprised? I rolled my eyes. “So, is everything okay? Why are you calling?” I didn’t want to be a complete bitch. Maybe someone was sick, and she needed my help.
