I loved this building. It was iconic in New Orleans. The red paint and wrought iron balconies on the first floor were historic. The LeBlanc-Broussard restaurant itself was famous too. I’d been here a few times with my parents.
Stay professional, Piper. You’ve got your work cut out for you. They told you what they need. You gave them ideas. Now it’s just about expanding on them. Focus on the team, not on Beckett.
Maybe Beckett would skip the meeting. I couldn’t even believe that I was wishing for that. But the man unraveled me, and I simply couldn’t pull myself together.
I arrived on the executive floor with five minutes to spare.
“Are you Piper Dawson?” a young woman asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m Nina from marketing. Beckett asked me to come get you. He’s running a little bit late.”
I was keeping my fingers crossed that he wouldn’t make it at all even though I was dying to see him too.Holy shit!I’d never been so wishy-washy in my entire life.
Nina led me to a small meeting room. There was already another woman inside.
“I’m Sonia,” she said.
“Hi, Sonia. I’m Piper,” I replied as I took a seat across from her.
“Nina and I head up the marketing team for the bakery and the restaurants.”
“Just the two of you?” That couldn’t be.
“No, ourteamis bigger. But we’re in charge of the commercial marketing projects.”
I nodded. “Got it.”
“What did I miss?” Beckett’s voice rang out, and I went on edge instantly. My entire body strummed tight as nerves enveloped me.
I sat straighter in my chair, pressing my thighs together. I made a quick mental note of my outfit. Black high heels and a little black suit. I preferred dresses, but I went with a suit whenever I was meeting a new client or their team. My heart was beating faster. Goodness, this was off to an interesting start.
“Beckett, you made it in time after all,” Nina said. “You haven’t missed anything. We just managed to introduce ourselves.”
“Excellent!” He sat down at the head of the table.
At first, I was relieved that he wasn’t sitting next to me. Intuitively, I knew the proximity would simply be too much. But then I realized that from here, I had a full view of the man. Well, of his upper body at least. The way his muscles flexedwhen he held his daughter on his chest was branded on my memory.
“Piper, ready to start?” He trained his gaze on me.
I swallowed hard and nodded.
Then hewinked.
Oh my God!Why would he do that?
Quickly, I glanced at the two other women, but they were both busy opening their laptops. I took my own out of my bag, stealing a glance at Beckett as I set it up. He was still watching me closely. It was unnerving. I felt like I was under a magnifying glass.
“So, we’ve all looked at your pitch and suggestions,” Nina began, “and they’re all good—reallygood. But we liked the last one best for our business.”
“It’s unanimous?” I asked, looking at the three of them.
Beckett nodded. “Yes. I didn’t even tell them that it was my favorite. So, let’s go with that one, since we all like it.”
I could talk about ads until the sun went down. But luckily, I’d prepared notes for each example so I wouldn’t ramble on, boring them with details. Sometimes I could get a bittooenthusiastic about my job.
Of course, I didn’t manage to stick to my notes completely. I went on a few tangents, but everyone was eating it up, and they asked pointed questions. I was surprised at how much insight Beckett had about what went into a marketing campaign. CEOs usually only had a superficial overview, which was understandable.
