He shut my door harder than was necessary. I smiled to myself. Irritating him was my new hobby. I walked out to find Alexa asking if she should go and present her mockups. If she was going, there was no way I was. I hadn’t even seen the mockups, and neither had Matt.
I had to throw in my two cents, I didn’t care who the boss was. “We shouldn’t be showing our clients mockups until they have gone through an extensive internal review process.”
I think shetchtedat me. My eyes widened. How old was she?
Mr. Greyson surprisingly agreed with me. As she continued her whining, I walked away. I didn’t need this, and it was getting to the point that I would be demanding she work somewhere else. As a contractor, she didn’t need to be in-house, especially my house.
Mr. Greyson caught up to me on the stairs. “Are you sure you don’t want to drive together?”
“Positive.”
“How about lunch afterward?”
I laughed.
“What?”
“No thanks. I could only imagine how that would make your girlfriend whine.”
“Ms. Bryant, I told you, she’s not my girlfriend.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, whatever your arrangement is, the answer is still no.”
“Why?”
I stopped at the bottom of the steps. He was still on the last step, so he hovered over me a bit. “Aren’t you the one who said you weren’t here to make friends?” Then I amended, “But I guess that is unless they’re ‘contractors.’”
He wickedly grinned. “You really don’t like her, do you?”
“Oh, you can read people after all.” I threw open the door and marched out to my car.
The whole drive over I reproved myself for my own unprofessionalism. It was like I was suddenly back in high school or transported into a really bad soap opera. I pulled into the parking lot and tried to expunge my mind of Alexa and Mr. Greyson. I needed to be on my A game. This account was a big deal, and I didn’t want to be the one to blow it. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. It was showtime.
Mr. Greyson met me at my car door and opened it for me. “Are you ready?”
I nodded.
He began spouting off pointers, and I let him. It was weird, but I needed that. That was normal.
We walked into a large conference room that was filled to capacity. Lorelai and Nicholas greeted us warmly at the entrance. I would say Nicholas’ greeting was overly warm as he spoke to me. I could tell it annoyed my boss. He was such a hypocrite. To my regret, I let that thought take hold and responded too warmly in return.
They were running on a tight schedule, so we had to begin right away. This was one of my favorite parts of the job, and where I shined. Today was no exception. Mr. Greyson didn’t even jump in once. When I finished, the chatter and commentary was extremely positive. I could tell their sales team was salivating at the possibilities our software afforded. There was no doubt we were leaving with a signature on the dotted line.
“Well done, Ms. Bryant,” Mr. Greyson whispered as I was packing away my laptop.
“Thanks.” I smiled.
After their sales staff left, it was just Mr. Greyson, me, Lorelai, andNicholas. We met at one end of the large conference table and finalized the deal. As I watched Lorelai sign, I reminded myself this was why I hadn’t quit again. My baby had barely begun to see the light of day, and I wanted to see it through, even if it meant I had to put up with nonsense.
As we walked out, I could tell I wasn’t the only one elated. Mr. Greyson’s eyes sparkled. That was until someone called out after me.
I turned to find it was Nicholas. “Kelli, wait up.”
I wasn’t the only one to stop.
Nicholas looked between Mr. Greyson and myself, shrugged his shoulders, and ignored my boss. “How about dinner tonight to celebrate?”
Oh. This was awkward. I had never been asked out in front of my boss before. Where was Boss when I needed him? I bit my lip as I looked into his deep blue eyes and dimpled face. He really was a handsome guy, but I also knew his type. Then I thought,Am I sure?Maybe that was my problem: I judged too quickly. What if I kept missing out on Mr. Right?
