Page 10 of On the Fly
He took the elevator downstairs and quickly navigated through the maze of halls, the loud dance music designed to keep the audience engaged drew him closer to the arena built dead center of the office complex. When he walked through the arena’s open doors, he’d unwittingly timed it just right. Emma was being called to the stage. As the crowd settled, he watched her stride across the length of the platform. She looked poised and professional, something others in this company truly lacked. She settled behind the podium, and Ander shifted his gaze to one of the screens on each side of the stage with a bigger, clearer image of her.
She cleared her throat and focused on the audience. Emma was beautiful, her look just did it for him, but he’d acknowledged that in the long hours alone in his room last night before he wound down enough to sleep. Having her image in his mind, he couldn’t help but notice the complete lack of emotion on her usually expressive face. When she spoke, the strength of her voice commanded attention as the room darkened and the slideshow he’d seen yesterday replaced her image on the large screens.
She didn’t miss a beat as she put on a strong, clearly scripted performance for the staff. The lights and magic drew the crowd in, and her showmanship—something he hadn’t anticipated from her—engaged the audience as well as taught them the value of social media in this new age. These performances by various departments were intended to create a surge in morale. Though, by his estimation, morale was the least of their problems. That had his ever-ready scowl forming. Eliminating these kinds of events would save Rora Airlines hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze glued to Emma. He needed more staff like her, though. She was the future of this airline. If he blocked out everything he knew about Emma until this moment, she was perfect representation of what a Rora Airlines employee should be. He couldn’t help his grin, tucking his hands in his pants pockets as moment after moment he had shared with Emma mocked him over his last thought: Emma clawing his arm, drooling on his shirt, chatting endlessly with that sassy mouth, the finger poke in his chest, the banging her forehead on the table before abandoning him mid-conversation when she found out that her boss was talking to her. Right, and he thought she was the model employee.
He gave an almost silent laugh as he thought of her storming out of the executive suite last night. She was funny and had been on his mind ever since. He imagined her in that horrible dress her family had planned for her to wear. It didn’t matter how they dressed her down, she’d still be the prettiest one of the bunch. He’d just regret the missed opportunity of getting to tease her. As acting CEO, maybe he could put a monetary value on some candid personal shots from this weekend to help initiate the start of the new focus on social media…
His inner miser immediately rejected that idea. He was trying to save money, not spend it. Now, he was thinking like his father. If he wanted to date an employee, he absolutely couldn’t use company influence… Wait, no, he didn’t want to date her. What was wrong with him? He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Emma was a walking disaster of a person who appeared to be good at her job. She might literally be the only person employed by Rora Airlines who could help raise the public’s perception of the company. Hell, she might be the only person on the planet to take his mind off the noose hanging around his neck. He needed to hold on to her for her intelligence, resourcefulness, and out-of-the-box thinking. Having her within reach for all those self-preservation qualities made smart sense. The fact that she provided ample comic relief to him didn’t hurt either.
And the ache to kiss her…and more. Well, he wasn’t opposed to the possibility of a one-night stand, but that would need to happen before he officially took the job. Fraternization among the staff was a hard pass for him and, if it didn’t already exist, it was a rule he intended to put in place as soon as he had the power to do so.
Ander scowled as he thought about that sassy mouth of hers. Maybe she’d be open to some bondage action. He almost snorted out loud at that image. He could secure his tie over her mouth as an easy fix…
“Excuse me,” Ander said, catching the attention of a guy wearing an event staff badge as he tried to get past him. “Can you get a message to this speaker for me?”
“I guess.”
Ander’s brows dropped into his scowl again. Not a one of the local staff had respect.
“Tell her”—he pointed toward Emma—“I’d like a word with her when she’s done.”
“And you are?”
Ander could no more help the shake of his head than he could help breathing. “Ander Jorgensen, acting CEO.” He left the auditorium before he did something dumb like fire the guy for just being stupid. He had given the keynote address this morning. His picture was mounted on the stage with some motivational quote underneath. That latest interaction merely reinforced his desire to cancel these events in the future. Clearly no one listened. What was wrong with these people?
~~~
Emma stared out at the sea of people and prayed she hadn’t messed up any of her memorized presentation. Presenting to so many of her fellow employees had her nerves ignited, which was technically amazing that she had any anxiety left to fret with. How had she not known the company she worked for was so big? She’d seen all the pictures. In theory, she knew all the stats. She posted all the time. But being there in person gave a new perspective. Why hadn’t she known this many people worked for Rora Airlines?
Or maybe the numbers were inconsequential. The fanfare had been the surprising part. She hadn’t expected more than a standard company meeting with speeches and roundtables and executive panels. Rora Airlines’ massive arena in the middle of their office complex spoke of an entire corporate culture. There had to be ten thousand people in attendance. She was the social media coordinator—whole campaigns should have been planned around this day.
When she exited the stage, she swiped a hand over her forehead, wiping away a fresh sheen of sweat. She wondered how much more pounding her heart could take since she’d reached a steady level ten over the last twenty-four hours.
“The boss man wants to see you,” some guy said while walking past her, clipboard in hand.
“What? Who wants to see me?”
The guy barely spared a glance over his shoulder as he kept going. “The big guy. Tall, blond hair. I think he’s Mr. Jorgensen’s son.”
“Emma, you did great! You really touched a chord. I think you’ll get them to respond to you for that campaign.” The boom of the T-shirt cannons fired, drowning out anything more the director of human resources said as he came up on her other side. She automatically reciprocated the bright smile and the double high-five lifted her way as the flurry of backstage activity swept her up and scooted her past the flight attendants readying to take the stage.
More than anything, she didn’t want to go to Ander Jorgensen’s office. What if she ducked out, pretended like she hadn’t heard the directive?
She quickly gathered her purse from the cubby beneath the stairs to the stage. She could skip out, run to the hotel, grab her things, and be on her way to the bed and breakfast before he’d wonder if she’d gotten his message. Maybe she could get there early, have time to change and down a few motivational shots before her family arrived. It seemed reasonable enough if she could just remember to lie at the time she was asked. Emma cringed at that challenge.
Defeat slumped her shoulders and slowed her pace. She sucked at lying, and the new owner had asked to see her for whatever reason. Instead of leaving the complex and going back to the hotel, she trudged to the elevators that would take her to the administrative offices. With each step she took, her high heels turned into marching boots creating disgruntled stomps by the time she reached the suite of offices she’d been to yesterday afternoon. She pushed through the door. A young woman sat behind a large mahogany desk.
“He wanted to see me.”
“You can go on in,” the assistant said, not sparing her more than a glance.
“You don’t need to tell him I’m here?” she asked, pausing at the edge of the desk. The man she’d spoken to yesterday didn’t seem laid-back enough to want pop-in guests.
“He requested you. He should know,” she said off-handedly. Emma cocked her head to the computer screen that held the assistant’s attention. She played solitaire, which Emma was finding wasn’t that abnormal in the corporate office.
