Chapter Fourteen
Cierra
“Don’t you likeyour dinner?” Cory asked me as I picked at the eggplant parmesan.
I put my fork down. “I do, but I’m not that hungry. I’ll take it home for tomorrow night.”
“Is everything all right? You seem sort of down tonight.”
I straightened my slumped shoulders. “I’m fine. It’s just work, that’s all. I was excited about working on this great account and it fell apart. I did a ton of work on it too.” I wasn’t lying—Iwasupset about the Absolute Glam account—but my brooding was more over Trace and kicking myself for pushing him away. My mind told me I did the right thing, but my body was pissed as hell at me. And Trace was doing a great job avoiding me at work. I couldn’t say I blamed him, and a part of me was relieved that I didn’t have to see him.
“Why did the account fall apart?”
“The client decided to go with another agency after they signed on with us. Not cool at all. They didn’t even look at my sketches.”
He patted my hand. “That’s too bad. I’m sorry. Why did they pull out?”
I shrugged. “I guess the other ad agency contacted them and made a better offer.”
“So the client was stolen right under Velocity’s nose?”
“Pretty much.”
“What was your CEO doing while this was going on? Screwing his secretary?”
Heat flushed through my body. “What the hell are you talking about? You don’t know anything. Mr. Prescott is a hard worker who has brought in a bunch of new clients. How would a client leaving because a two-bit agency offered something it’ll never be able to deliver be my boss’s fault? Screwing the secretary? How clichéd.”
By the time I finished my outburst, I was sweating and breathing noisily. Cory just stared at me, the vein in his temple pulsing. It was like he was trying to control his anger, like he wanted to lash out at me but was keeping it at bay.
“Well, your boss must be doing something right to have such loyalty from an employee. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
I shook my head. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have come out tonight. I’m not in the best mood, and it isn’t fair to you.”
“Sometimes it happens. We can’t all be in a good mood all the time. I want to get to know you in all moods.”
I smiled. A lot of guys would’ve told me off and the date would’ve been ruined.Maybe I should see where this goes with Cory.“The launch of a new cell phone by Vibra is this Saturday. I was the lead on the campaign. I’d love it if you’d be my escort. It’s going to be real snazzy, and all the big people in the industry will be there. It’s free drinks, food, and I got a live band to play at the event. It’s at the Four Seasons Hotel.”
“It sounds awesome, and I’d love to go with you, especially since you worked so hard to bring it all together. You should be proud of yourself. But this weekend I have to fly to New York City to meet up with some investors on a big real estate project. I’m leaving Friday morning. I have to basically wine and dine and do some ass kissing to get them on board.”
“That’s too bad. When are you coming back?”
“Middle of next week and hopefully with the financial backing we need to fund the project.”
I’d hoped Cory could’ve gone with me. I just had a feeling Trace would have a tall, buxom blonde on his arm for the event, and I didn’t want to go solo. Damn Trace. If Mr. Linder was still the CEO, I’d be perfectly okay with going to the launch without a date.
“Are you finished?” The waiter’s question interrupted my thoughts.
I nodded. “I’m going to take this home.”
He scooped up my plate, saying, “I’ll get it all packed for you,” and then he was gone.
For the next hour, I feigned interest in what Cory was saying, and I strained to be cheery and even perky. From the way he watched me, I was failing miserably. Too exhausted to keep up the charade, I picked up the bag the waiter had brought me and pushed back in my chair.
“I need to get going. It’s late and I’m exhausted.”
He nodded as he stood up and helped me with the chair. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it more fun for you.”
“It totally wasn’t you. I just had too much on my mind and should’ve rescheduled. But I did enjoy the conversation and spending some more time getting to know you.”
