Page 40 of The Fix Up

“Wow, are these ad concepts something you guys came up with?”

Ben’s deep voice jarred Holly from the unpleasant trip down memory lane. She blinked, then followed his gaze to the magnetic board covered with a colorful array of ad slicks. He pointed to one, and she nodded, pleased to see he’d zeroed in on the concept she’d personally developed.

“Yes, that’s for a new advertising campaign we’ve been working on for a kombucha brewer that’s suddenly getting national media attention. These were mock-ups for a print campaign we showed them this morning.”

“Did they like it?”

“Very much. The whole team invested a lot into the pitch, and the company owners could tell.”

“Which one’s yours?”

Holly shrugged. “Everything is a team effort around here. No one person gets credit for a concept or a pitch.”

Ben grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Sure, but just between you and me, I’m betting one of these has a little more of you in it.”

She hesitated, then leaned past him to point at one of the ad slicks, conscious of the heat radiating from his body. “That one right there. The one with the dog and the grapes.”

“I thought so. Very clever. It looks like something you’d come up with.”

She smiled, pretty sure it was the first time someone she’d known less than a week had been able to pick her work out of a lineup. “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “Shall we get started on the speech coaching?”

He turned to face her, his expression somewhere between resignation and amusement. “You mean you didn’t invite me here to ogle your—work?”

“You’re welcome to ogle my—work—all you want. But our time might be better spent if you do it while I’m offering you tips on public speaking.”

“All right then. Shall we do it right here?”

“Let’s move to the conference room.” She led the way, conscious of Ben falling into step behind her. She’d worn her hair up in a chignon, and the exposed nape of her neck tingled with the thought of his breath on her bare skin.

She rounded the corner and halted just inside the conference room, then turned to Ben and gestured for him to join her. “I imagine this might be a similar space to the one where you’ll be presenting?”

He stepped past her and nodded as he surveyed the room. “Langley Enterprises doesn’t have a cool purple conference room table, but yes—the setup is probably pretty similar. Whiteboard, giant presentation screen, a big, ominous table with way too many chairs for way too many people.”

“Haven’t you heard that old public speaking tip about picturing your audience in their underwear?”

“Since my dad will be there, I’d rather not.”

Holly laughed and moved to the front of the room. “After we get started, I’m going to have you do some visualization stuff where you imagine bodies in each of those chairs.”

“As in cadavers or Victoria’s swimsuit models?”

“Whatever rolls your socks up.”

Ben sighed and pulled out a chair and slumped down into it, folding his hands on the table. Holly tried not to stare at them. God, they were huge.

“So where do we start?” he asked. “Guide me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“Star Trekagain?”

He widened his eyes, then pantomimed stabbing himself through the chest. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“Star Wars.Holly, Obi-Wan Kenobi is fromStar Wars.How can you confuse the two?”

“For starters, I’ve never seen either one. I only got yourStar Trekreference the other night because I had a roommate who was really into it.”

Ben shook his head in mock dismay. “How is it possible we’re from the same planet?”

---