Page 9 of Not Safe For Work

A smirk starts to form on his face, but he hides it. He tries his best at least. The subtle grin is charming, especially on his chiseled features. I’ve been doing my best to ignore his face this whole meeting because Tristan is—objectively—hot as hell. He’s wearing an expensive three-piece suit, and his hair is gelled to perfection. He’s the epitome of tall, dark and handsome with jet black hair, olive skin and amber eyes framed by the kind of thick lashes women are always envious of. And between the Rolex on his wrist and the Gucci sunglasses he set down on the table, I’m betting he has a designer car to match.

“A Maserati.” He finally answers my question and I try to stop ogling him.

Okay, that was exactly the answer I was hoping for. Now I’ll just have to see if it pays off.

“Why?” I ask. “A Prius would be cheaper. Hell, a Tesla would. Less gas, less maintenance. If you live in the city, you probablydon’t drive much anyway. Seems like a waste if you ask me.” Now he really grins at me. “But you seem like a substance over savings guy, someone who values performance more than a good deal.” I can’t help but pointedly look at all his accoutrements, finally landing on the Burberry tie.

“Touché.” Our eyes meet and I smile back, but something about the way his gaze locks on me feels much too intimate. I quickly divert my eyes. “I’ll see you next week, Olivia,” he says, standing up and extending his hand. “This has been interesting. Definitely interesting.”

Mitch is mostlysilent on the way back to the office, responding to a million emails on his phone. Once we reach the twenty-second floor he quickly says, “keep me posted with any updates,” before going back into his office.

I thought the meeting was a success. As much as a first meeting can be, but maybe I’m missing something?

“How’d it go, Sparkles?” Gavin asks as soon as I get to my desk.

“Good? I think? I don’t know. Mitch hasn’t said a word.” I can’t stop chewing the inside of my cheek as I run through the meeting over and over in my head. They agreed to a product demo. A second meeting. Isn’t that the whole point?

“I’m sure it was fine,” Gavin says, not looking up from his screen. He’s typing away on his laptop, reminding me I’m not too important for multi-tasking. “Mitch isn’t one for praise. If he didn’t tear you to pieces after, he’s happy with how it went.”

Okay, tucking that piece of knowledge away for next time.

The rest of the day flies. I spend way too much time drafting a follow-up email to Tristan and his team and eat lunch at my desk so I can keep working. Prepping for the second meeting is goingto be even more grueling. I’m no product expert but I plan to be one by next week.

Then, at three o’clock, I receive an email no amount of planning could prepare me for.

From: Tristan Cross

To: Olivia Diamond

Subject: RE: Nice Meeting You

Olivia,

It was a pleasure meeting you today as well. We were all impressed with what you had to share. I won’t be able to meet for the demo next week, but Darnell is anxious to see more. He’ll be your point-person moving forward.

I would, however, like to see you again. Are you free for dinner this weekend?

-Tristan

It’s now justafter five-thirty and I have probably read this short message over a thousand times.

As soon as I finished the first read-through I put on my headphones and blasted my favorite playlist so that nothing could distract me. I’m sure people have tried to get my attention, or at least attempted to say “bye” as they left for the day, but I can’t seem to stop re-reading this damn email.

What the hell am I supposed to do with this?

I’m supposed to be landing a deal, not landing a date.

“Olivia!” It’s barely audible through the music, but I can faintly hear my name being yelled while a finger pokes into my shoulder.

Quickly removing my headphones, I find Mitch hovering above me. “Yeah?”

“Walk with me.”

He turns toward the exit, his messenger bag already strapped across his broad shoulders. I grab my keycard and chase after him.

“Sorry I didn’t have time to meet this afternoon. Prepping to present at the board meeting on Friday, you know how it goes,” he says, briskly walking toward the ferry building to catch his ride across the bay.

“Oh, that’s okay.” Even though it’s not okay, because a board meeting means I’ll finally have to see my least favorite human: Ian. Not only will he be spending the whole morning in our office, he’ll also be joining us at our off-site in Sausalito. I used to love our quarterly board meetings. All of the leadership team is busy in the morning, creating a super lax environment, and then a fun event in the afternoon to socialize outside the office. This will be my first one sans Ian at my side. I guess that’s a problem for Friday-Olivia to solve.

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