Page 43 of Out of Bounds

“The only major item on today’s agenda is the new pub partner program for the Rising,” he continued. “Christian, I know you said you wanted to talk about incorporating some more environmentally friendly plumbing standards on the new buildings, but I haven’t had time to fully read the research you sent, so I’d like to table that for now until I can do that.”

“Works for me,” Christian Webb, one of the vice presidents in the construction division said.

“Great, then I will let Felicity do most of the talking, since the pub partners was her idea.”

A thrill rushed through Felicity as she sat forward in her chair, squaring her shoulders. She was ready for this. Ready to show everyone here just what a great idea this was and just how much of a success this would be. Opening her mouth to start the spiel she’d been practicing, she was cut off by a voice that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge.

Jonah.

“I still am not sold on this idea,” he said. Felicity huffed out a sigh, trying not to let her anger get the better of her. After the morning she’d had, she was already on edge and didn’t need Jonah trying to pick at the one nerve she had left. “Especially Bunz.”

“You have made your concerns clear, Jonah,” Dalton said, giving her a nod letting her know he would handle the objection. “But I have talked with Heather myself, and I’m with Felicity on this. Bunz targets a highly underserved market and a key demographic for us. By partnering with them early, this could be very profitable for everyone involved.”

“Bunz?” Christian asked.

“Yes, Bunz,” Felicity answered him, taking charge of the conversation. “It’s a local, female-owned establishment that targets female sports fans. It’s designed to be a safe place for women to watch the game without having to have things mansplained.”

“Except all the waiters are half-naked,” Jonah chirped.

“Count me in!” Becky Smythe, the company controller, commented, resulting in a few laughs from the group.

“Funny, that doesn’t seem to bother anyone when they go to Hooters,” Felicity shot back, glaring at Jonah. “Regardless, there are a total of eleven places around town that have agreed to partner with us—”

“Only eleven?” Jonah questioned.

“These eleven businesses represent the major neighborhoods around the city, as well as the targeted zip codes outside the city limits that we have used for all our other marketing efforts.”

“But it’s still only eleven places for fans to go. That’s not really reasonable, is it? I discussed this idea further with Big D, and we came up with a list of bigger, more established places that would be a better fit. Companies that have multiple locations throughout the greater metro area and are already places that customers would be familiar with. I took it upon myself to reach out to these organizations to determine interest.”

“You mean chains. You contacted chain restaurants.” Felicity could feel the heat rise within her. He was not only trying to steal her idea, he was bastardizing it. And with the help of her father.

“Call them what you like. But if you insist on taking us down this road, we need to make sure it’s successful. Your father agrees with me. We can’t be leading our fans to grubby holes in the wall. National restaurant companies offer a safer, cleaner, less scandalous environment.”

“Part of the point of this program is engaging the community. We do that by bringing on local partners. Not sending everyone to Chotchkie’s with their regulated fifteen pieces of flair!”

“Okay, okay,” Dalton interrupted them. “Jonah, we get it. You object to the idea as proposed. If you would like to submit your own proposal on how you think this should be run, then do so. I’ll take a look at it, and the board can vote. But right now, we’re going to let Felicity continue. I don’t have all day to sit here and listen to you two bicker.”

Felicity drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Her heart was racing, and every part of her wanted to reach across the table and strangle Jonah. He was not going to take this from her—she wouldn’t let him. Her father might have been willing to let him pass this off as his, but she wasn’t going to stand for it, no matter how much it stung that Big D had taken Jonah’s side in this, brushing her off. She’d worked too hard to get to this point, and she would die before she let either one of them manipulate the idea.

“I’ve put together a packet with the breakdown of how the tier system will work, and ‘what’s in it’ for each entity,” she continued, trying to steer the conversation back to her ideas. “However, what I really want to talk about today is kicking this program off with a charity event.”

She paused, taking a deep breath. Looking around the table, most everyone’s eyes were on her, actively listening to what she had to say, and those that weren’t, with the exception of Jonah, had turned to the packet that had been waiting at their seats. She and Becky had worked hard on the numbers presented in there to make sure that this venture would be profitable, and she was excited that everyone else seemed as interested in this as she was. This was a good sign. At least they were taking her seriously.

Her eyes briefly caught Gunnar’s, and a flash of self-consciousness hit her. Not only because of earlier in her office, but because of the scene just now. She hated that even as pissed off at him as she was, that she still cared what he thought. And she did care—a lot. She was mortified that he’d just witnessed that whole scene.

You are a professional woman. You got this. He is just the coach. Last night was just sex. His opinion of you doesn’t matter.

Except, she knew deep down she was lying to herself.

“Increasing our community involvement was one of our top goals for the year for all of Southland Holdings, and I think one of the best ways to do that is through a fundraiser with the Rising. It would help keep the team name out in front of people as the season starts, plus getting the players involved would increase recognition and help the city bond with them.”

“What do you have in mind?” Cowboy asked, an intrigued look on his face.

“A bachelor auction,” she said, smiling at him. “I talked with—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Jonah interrupted. “You want to host a bachelor auction with the players?”

“Yes. Research shows that—”