Best Of Makeovers Bundle Part 70

"Good. The whole company will be working on the presentation for Tres Bien."

"The whole company?"

"Yes. It's important enough that I want everyone's input. But, to be honest, I think you're our best bet. We need something fun and fresh. Something s.e.xy."

His eyes dropped to her lips, and she knew he was remembering what it had been like to kiss her.

Clearing his throat, he tore his gaze from her face to stare into the fireplace. "Fresh, fun, and s.e.xy is what you do best."

"Okay, then. The whole company is depending on me to come up with something fresh, fun, and s.e.xy. Great. I'll get right on that."

His chuckle told her he appreciated her sarcasm. "No pressure, though, okay? I only told you so you'd stop worrying about losing your job."

Somehow, that didn't help. Yes, she felt better knowing her job was safe for now. But what if they didn't get the Tres Bien account? More to the point, what if they didn't get the account because she couldn't come up with a halfway decent idea?

What then?

Unfortunately, she had all weekend to worry about it.

Walking out of Jane's hotel room had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done. It took him most of the weekend to convince himself he'd made the right choice. The only choice.

Jane was too important to Forester+Blake for him to risk getting involved with her. Which shouldn't have been a problem. Work always came first in his life. That was the way it was. When his father had died while he'd still been in graduate school, he'd promised himself he'd do right by the company. He'd always known his father had dreams of them working side by side.

But Reid had never really wanted to work in the ad business, so he'd taken his time in college. And then in graduate school. He'd studied abroad and been in and out of several independent study programs, telling himself and his father that he just wanted a really solid liberal arts education before he finally settled into the MBA program at Stanford. Then, just before Reid had finally finished school, his father had died of a heart attack.

Reid had dropped everything and finally come home. Sure, he ran Forester+Blake mostly out of guilt, but what else could he do? If he'd come home earlier, his father might still be alive. At the very least, they could have worked together for a few years.

The company had to come first. He owed it to his father.

He was still telling himself that Monday when Matt stopped by his office.

"Everything all set for the meeting this afternoon?" Matt asked from the doorway.

"It's getting there." Reid looked up from the paperwork he wasn't reading. "Why do you ask?"

"You were here pretty late on Friday night." Matt propped his shoulder against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "Plus, the security log showed you'd stopped by over the weekend. I thought you might have been finis.h.i.+ng up something for the meeting."

"Just paperwork," he lied. In reality, he'd come to the office on Sat.u.r.day to look up Jane's address. The first time, he'd talked himself out of it and gone home before his computer was even booted up. But then, he'd come back on Sunday. He'd driven by her house that evening. He'd even parked his car a couple of houses down while he'd talked himself out of going in.

It shouldn't have been as hard as it had been to slide his car into gear and drive away. This business was his life. He'd given up more important things for it before. So why couldn't he get Jane out of his head?

Luckily Matt didn't see through his lie. He just nodded and then asked, "You've already decided on a team to head this up, right?"

"Yep." Reid nodded, mentally bracing himself for the argument he knew would come. "Teresa's team."

After a second of consideration, Matt frowned. "Isn't Teresa on leave?"

"She'll be gone until the fifteenth." He held up his hand to ward off Matt's protests. "I know, by the time she gets back, all the work will be done. If we're lucky, she can step in right at the end to do the presentation. If we're not lucky, she won't make it in time. Worst-case scenario, you or I will end up doing the pitch."

With his hands propped low on his hips, Matt just shook his head. "Teresa's team? Without Teresa? That's-"

"They're still the best we've got. Even without her."

"Man, I don't know. It's a huge risk."

Reid stood and rounded his desk. He propped his hips on the edge and stretched his feet out in front of him. "Trust me. Jane is ready for this. I can feel it."

Matt pinned Reid with an a.s.sessing stare. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah." And with that, Reid straightened, effectively ending the conversation, and crossed his office. "You want to grab some lunch?"

"Sure."

Reid grabbed his jacket from the coatrack by the door and pushed his arms through the sleeves as he shut the door behind him.

"You seeing someone new?" Matt asked as they made their way down the hall.

Reid stumbled, but hoped that Matt hadn't noticed. "No. Why?"

"Your jacket smells like perfume." Matt patted him on the shoulder.

"It does?" Reid raised his arm to his face and sniffed. Sure enough, the spicy scent of Jane's perfume wafted up to him.

"Yep."

"I went shopping over the weekend," he quickly lied. "Made the mistake of walking past the cosmetics counter in the department store."

"That's the worst lie I've ever heard." Matt shook his head. "You're slipping. When you were a kid, you could lie through your teeth."

"That's not something I'm proud of," Reid pointed out.

"Besides, whenever you're seeing someone, you feel guilty. Like you're abandoning the company or something. You always end up putting in more hours. Coming in on weekends, that kind of thing."

Reid felt a twinge of guilt. In the past, that may have been true, but this time around it wasn't.

As they reached the elevators, he turned to Matt. "Does Forester+Blake have a policy about intraoffice dating?"

Matt seemed to consider for a minute. "Not that I know of." Matt pressed the down b.u.t.ton. "Why? Does your new girlfriend work here?"

Reid didn't like the speculative gleam in Matt's eyes. "I don't have a new girlfriend."

Matt chuckled. "Well, if your mystery woman changes status, let me know."

"There is no mystery woman."

Not anymore. Now that he knew who Sasha was, wasn't he supposed to lose interest? Wasn't that the plan?

Or had the plan been that Sasha was supposed to make him lose interest in Jane?

Either way, finding out that Sasha and Jane were one and the same had really screwed up his plan. And if he wasn't careful, this debacle would screw up more than just his plan. It'd screw up his life.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

"YOU'RE LATE," Pete whispered as Jane slid onto the chair beside him.

"Oh, really? I h-hadn't noticed." Then, to soften the sarcasm, she added, "Thanks for saving me a spot."

Thank G.o.d Pete had picked seats towards the back of the room. For company meetings, Forester+Blake always rented a conference room at the Prescott Hotel large enough to accommodate their eighty-odd employees. Usually these meetings were an annual event. Since the formal company meeting had taken place less than four months ago, she could only a.s.sume Reid was planning some big announcement about Tres Bien.

But for now, Matt Blake was up on stage giving a warm-up speech about the "innovative creative style" Forester+Blake was known for. Rousing though it was, she couldn't be sorry she'd missed most of it. In fact, she'd nearly missed work altogether.

After Friday night, she wasn't sure she was up to facing Reid dressed as herself. And yet, there was no point in continuing the charade. He knew Sasha was a fraud. The easiest way to put this whole nightmare behind her was to bury Sasha forever.

The thought made her a little sad. She'd almost miss- "Did you hear that?" Pete elbowed her sharply.

Her gaze jerked to Pete's face. "Huh?"

"Stop daydreaming," he said in a whispered hiss. "This is important."

"What?" she grumbled. But when she looked up, she realized Reid had taken the stage.

"It's about Tres Bi-"

"Shh."

Pete shot her an annoyed look, but quieted, turning his attention to Reid, just as she had. As always, she promised herself she'd actually listen to what he had to say. But as always, she found herself studying him instead, fascinated by the heavy lock of dark brown hair that fell across his forehead, by the sharp motion of his hand gestures and the way he always kept one hand tucked firmly in his pants pocket.

He wore a Bugs Bunny tie today and she wondered if he was feeling clever and confident or if she merely read too much into his choice of ties. As he spoke, he kept rocking up onto the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, as if he wanted to pace, but wouldn't allow himself.

He'd paced her hotel room the other night. Of course, the other night he'd done a lot of things he didn't normally do. Since she was better off not thinking about that night, she tried again to focus on his words.

"...which is why we're up to the challenge," he was saying.

Around the room, she noticed her coworkers nodding in agreement, whispering to each other in their excitement.

"With a project this big, we'll need everyone on board and fully committed. Everyone in the company will need to pitch in. Even if you're not working on the project yourself, you'll be working with others who are. And we'll need the help picking up the slack on other projects."

He seemed to be looking at her as he spoke. Was this his way of telling her she wouldn't be working on the ad? If so, that would mean his whole "you're the most important member of my team" c.r.a.p was...well, total c.r.a.p.

She stood, ready to sneak out the back door, when she heard him say, "That's why Jane and Pete will be the lead team on this project."

As she straightened she felt every eye in the room turn in her direction.

As Jane waited for the rest of Forester+Blake to leave the conference room, she tried not to listen to the nervous chatter. However, it was impossible to block it all out. As she stood off to the side, waiting to talk to Reid and get this whole thing straightened out, she caught the occasional snippet of conversation.

"Jane Demeo? Can you believe it?"

"What is he thinking?"

"Never heard of her. Are you sure she works here?"

And-her personal favorite-"Jane Demeo is a moron. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sending out my resume now."

She gritted her teeth, trying to force her lips into some semblance of a smile. Then she heard the moron comment. Why bother? It'd be so much easier to just poison the idiot's coffee. Not to mention more enjoyable.

d.a.m.n it, she was tired of people treating her as if she were slow-a moron-simply because she stuttered. Now, more than ever, she wished she'd dressed as Sasha today. Instead she'd worn a simple denim dress, as nondescript as she was, with her short, highlighted hair pulled back with a clip and her face devoid of makeup. She really could have used Sasha's confidence right now.

"You don't look happy."

She turned to find Reid standing behind her. The auditorium had emptied, leaving them essentially alone. "Should I?"

Reid studied her for a moment. "Most people would be. This is a big opportunity for you."

He started walking towards the door and she had to follow. "An opportunity? An opportunity to fail in front of the wh-wh-whole company. That's wh-what it is."

d.a.m.n it, she hadn't wanted to stutter. It would be really nice if just once Reid could see her as a calm and collected professional. Not as a nervous, stuttering mess. Not as a s.e.xual piranha bent on seducing him. Just as a competent employee.

Reid merely smiled, looking not at all worried. "You won't fail."

When they reached the doors to the auditorium, she braced her hand on the door, keeping it closed, "N-n-no-o-one here believes I can do this job."

"I do."

The simplicity of his statement, the conviction in his eyes, rattled her. h.e.l.l, his mere closeness rattled her. She did her best to shake it off.

"I'm not qualified to lead a project like this."

"You weren't paying attention."

"Huh?"

Reid shook his head as if scolding her, but the smile tugging at his lips told her he was teasing. "First you show up late and then you don't even pay attention?"

Her heart thudded in her chest with a teenager's fear of getting caught skipping cla.s.s or breaking curfew. Fear, yes, but excitement as well.

"I was paying-" she began to protest before he cut her off.

"If you'd been listening, you'd know that I don't intend for you to run the project."

"Y-you don't?" She looked back at the stage, mentally replaying what she remembered from his speech.

But she had been sitting there like a dope, fantasizing about Reid, so maybe she'd misheard him. Great.