Page 42 of Until We're More

Font Size:

I really should stop calling it home.

Thinking I’d send him a quick response before my meeting, I lifted my phone. Only the message wasn’t from Kevin, and the name onscreen sent a zip of electricity up my core.

Liam:Ready for your meeting?

I opened Snapchat, found the silliest filter—one that gave me fuzzy white ears as stars rained down around me—took a pic, and sent it to Liam.

Me:This is my kickass face. Thoughts?

Me:Is it intimidating enough?

Me:Also, to prepare, I’m eating the chocolate you gave me. Thanks again.

Finally, I stopped typing and waited for his response. Sometimes I accidentally overwhelmed him with too much at once, the way I did in real life.

Liam:We might need to work on the kickass face. Think less cuddly, more stony stare. You’ll knock ’em dead.

Me:Like TKO?

Liam:Probably frowned upon if we’re talking about your boss.

I laughed out loud, earning a couple of curious and/or concerned glances.

Me:Note to self: no knocking out the boss. Unless it’s with my brilliant ideas. Boom!

I snapped a quick picture of me giving a thumbs-up and sent it, too.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Brad heading into the conference room. I liked arriving at meetings a tad early so I could fit in some extra face time, which meant I should get going.

A few steps from the conference room door, my phone vibrated. The picture that greeted me was of Liam and George. My kitty had obviously been woken from a nap and wasn’t happy about it, and Liam was flashing a thumbs-up that made every muscle in his arm stand out, because of course it did. Every single move he made emphasized all those muscles. I swear, women could probably get pregnant just from looking at him—my ovaries were definitely kicking, adding a sensual edge to the full-body flutter that’d claimed me the second I saw the picture.

“Morning, Chelsea,” Brad said. “How are things going with your team?”

“Going well,” I said, and when he seemed to want me to elaborate, I added, “Really, really well.”Shit. That doesn’t sound smart or like I’ve got it all under control.“We’ve gone over a lot of analytics and A/B testing this week, plus did a recap of acceptable CTRs, CROs, CPLs, and basically every other marketing acronym. We’ve also had a few pitch practices.”

Ashlee still wasn’t a team player or playing nicely, but last time she’d attempted to take over, I’d told her I was in charge and would say when we were done with a subject. My face had turned bright red, no doubt, but she’d clamped her lips.

Speaking of…Ashlee stepped into the room as I was reaching for the pitcher and stack of plastic glasses. After flashing Brad a big smile, she circled the table, eyes narrowing when they landed on me, and I instinctively knew this was where she’d try to get her payback.

The pitcher wobbled in my hand, and water sloshed out over the glass and onto the gleaming cherry wood. Good thing I was in control. I dabbed the spill with napkins, then settled into the seat nearest Brad. Before turning my phone to silent, I sent a quick kissy face emoji to Liam and then placed the screen facedown so it wouldn’t distract me.

Since I’d been participating in these types of meetings for a while, I was fairly used to them. Not that they didn’t still get my heart pumping, and when it came time for me to present, my entire body flushed with heat, testing the bounds of my deodorant.

“We brainstormed a campaign for the new sedan.” Our top automaker client was unveiling the design in a couple months and wanted to make a big splash.

“My idea was to make it super sexy,” Ashlee said. “Make it look like if you drive that car, women will flock to you.”

My mouth dropped open. It was the same pitch I’d shut down. Not only because it was sexist but also because it was tired. I almost hesitated to see if Brad would like the idea, but then I thought of Liam with his thumbs-up and the advice Brooklyn had given me and decided I wouldn’t simply back down and wait. “And I told her that the client wanted something new, not something that’d been done so many times it wouldn’t stand apart from the rest, which is what they specifically requested.”

“Yeah, but we could find a way to make it fresh.”

“And as a team, we did.” I detailed the idea the rest of us had worked on together while Ashlee pouted. After I finished, I pinned her with a steely stare, holding it until she straightened in her chair. With that buoying my confidence, I went ahead and pushed it to the next level. “Ashlee, after the meeting, stick around. You and I need to have a chat.”

She swallowed, and I turned to my boss to double check that it was okay if I used the conference room. But then I thought about Liam again. He wouldn’t ask, so in spite of the side of me that needed to please and smooth everything over, I smiled at my boss and continued to fake-confidence my ass off. “I’d love to hear your feedback, Brad, and then we’ll adjust accordingly.”

As he rattled off his thoughts, I scribbled notes and noticed most of my team doing so as well. Already my head was spinning with ideas, and instead of keeping them there—and since I was riding a high—I went ahead and voiced them.

“So maybe we swap to a more nontraditional family to go along with the idea of standing out.”