Page 77 of Bossy Trouble

GEORGIA

Iwas on my way back to the office, riding the high of the recent triumph.

I’d done it.

I wasn’t sure for a second there that I would pull it off.

When I went to the client’s headquarters, they nearly hadn’t allowed me entrance. Then they’d wanted me to meet with the director of supplies instead. But I insisted on meeting with Christine, the CEO. The woman and I already had a good working relationship, and I knew she was the one I needed to convince to continue being their sole supplier of handbags. Christine was kind of a hardass and wouldn’t take anybody else’s word for it.

If I couldn’t at least get a meeting with her, then this trip would all be a waste.

Luckily, her secretary was passing by while I discussed it with the receptionist. The man remembered me and, after I explained some of it to him, invited me in to sit in the waiting room while he told Christine about my presence. And then, to my everlasting luck, she agreed to meet with me.

I went in there, fully armed with my sales pitch, to clarify the issue and what we were doing to resolve it. The older woman was sitting behind her desk, and she looked up at me when I entered.

Without even letting me say a word, she said, “It’s fine. Spencer already told me. We’ll continue the contract with Moniche.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

She smiled warmly. “Yes. I was only leaving because I thought someone else had taken over the company, and I truly didn’t know if I could count on them to deliver the same quality and customer service that you did.”

Relief washed through me, and I grinned at the woman. “Oh. Well, in that case, rest assured. I’m still in the daily operations of everything over there. There were just some complications with ownership, but soon, I will be back in charge of that too.”

Christine frowned. “What do you mean by complications?”

I wondered how much to reveal, then decided to go with brutal honesty. Christine was not someone who was moved by marketing language, and she inherently distrusted half-truths. Plus, I knew she would run her investigation anyway, and it’s better she heard it from me than from her PI.

Besides, if there was anyone who could understand navigating the difficulties of running a business, it was Christine.

“The truth is, we had a huge problem with a staff,” I said. “My accountant siphoned a whole bunch of money from the company, and Dresden Inc. got us out of a very tough situation. Which was why we agreed to the merger. But it’s only for a certain time until the loan is paid off.”

“Ooh.” Christine’s stern eyes glowed with sympathy. “I certainly understand that. I’ve had things like that happen to me, too, back in our earlier days. Although it didn’t quite crush my business, we were in the red for a few years after that.”

“Yes,” I said. “It set us back by a lot, but luckily, we’re getting back on track now. And we would be very happy to have your business.”

“Likewise,” Christine said. We shook on it, and it was a done deal.

I couldn’t wait to tell Donovan. My heart was filled with such weightless joy, which was a direct contrast to yesterday. Yesterday had been an awful, terrible day, and today was so good. Donovan seemed different too.

I couldn’t believe that, even after finding out what I plotted with Alexander, he hadn’t fired me. On the other hand, he praised me for it. And then he’d given me my company back.

The contrarian bastard. I smiled.

I still felt giddy over the fact that Moniche would soon be mine again. Plus, he’d said he was proud of me, of all things. I now understood that in Donovan’s deluded mind, doing what I did and plotting to betray him was a sign of strength and standing up for myself. That man was certainly something, to say the least.

But with happiness came the guilt.

Because of the secret that I was still keeping from him.

Perhaps, I would reconsider the Avery thing,I thought, musing over the thoughts as I made my way back to the office. The idea of telling him about Avery’s parentage still terrified me, but now I could see where Garrett was coming from. It wasn’t fair to not tell Donovan about Avery and at least give him the chance to know her. And now I knew he wasn’t the complete beast I thought he was. But I wasn’t sure if he’d changed, or maybe I just didn’t know him as well as I thought.

Still, there was the nagging thought at the back of my mind that told me everything was just too good to be true. That I was once again trusting too easily.

That something would go wrong soon.

I shrugged it off. There was no use dwelling in paranoia now.

If anything bad were to happen, it would happen regardless of whether I prepared for it or not, so I might as well enjoy the good moments too.

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