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He nodded and moved past her.
Maggie wondered how much time he spent dreaming up ways to keep her off kilter.
After depositing her purse and briefcase in her office, checking voicemail and emails, she returned to the break room to grab a cup of coffee. Barb was already happily sipping hers. The receptionist had added so much flavoured creamer that it looked like a latte and smelt like vanilla ice cream.
Maggie poured herself a cup then paused. David’s mug was on the counter, waiting to be filled. She waged an internal debate before getting one for him.
She carried both to his office. Seeing he was on a call, she stopped, but he waved her in.
He continued his conversation while keeping his gaze on her.
Self-consciously, she placed his mug on a coaster bearing the company’s logo. Then she balanced her cup as she sat.
She started to fidget then, realising what she was doing, she crossed her legs and sat still.
He nodded, letting her know his attention was on her.
She looked away.
Behind him, on a credenza, were several stress balls, each in a different primary colour. Other than that, there were no personal effects in the office. He’d repainted after her mother had moved out—evidently bright yellow didn’t suit him.
Now the walls were a calm taupe. The furnishings were sleek and functional, with no space wasted and nothing cluttered.
She wondered if it was a reflection of him, and how he lived his life outside of work. Really, she knew little about him. Until now, she hadn’t been curious.
When he hung up, he said, “I saw you behave similarly at the Den. Once you recognise your behaviour, you correct it. It makes you a very good sub.”
“Could we not talk about that night? I thought we agreed not to.” She looked at him, desperately trying to forget the dream and about the night they’d shared.
“As you wish, Maggie. Thanks for the coffee.”
“My pleasure,” she said, fighting a compulsion to add an honorary title when she spoke to him. How did he so effortlessly do that? Put her in a comfortable role and make her want to stay there. She wondered who she was fighting, him or herself.
He took a drink and regarded her above the rim.
She waited for him to speak, after all, he’d requested her presence.
“I had meetings with the owner and a key manager of Around the World yesterday.”
“And?”
“We went over their financials. They are not as big as we are.”
“Are you serious? I was sure they did more revenue.”
“More business,” he agreed. “But they’ve underbid some of their bigger projects.”
“So that should put you—” She stopped and corrected herself—“I mean us, in a better position.”
“We should get an immediate lift in profits, yes. But raising prices could mean losing some accounts.”
“You don’t sound worried about it.”
“I’m not. I focus on results and the things I can control.” He put down his coffee. “Where are we on the open house?”
“Do you still want to move forward?”
“I thought about that. I do. No sense putting it off. I still want an event with our current clients. And it makes sense to have something bigger and splashier when we own Around the World.”
He’d said when, not if.
“Maybe around the holidays,” he added.
She thought about it. “We could hold that at a client site. We recently signed a winery. They have beautiful grounds, including a gazebo, and they give tours of their cellar. I think hosting an event there would be elegant, and it would give them some exposure.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Is the space big enough?”
“They have an events centre, yes.”
“Ah, it is in Denver?”
She leant forwards, gaining enthusiasm. “Surprisingly yes.”
“I’ll trust you. Give me some available dates.”
“Are we keeping our company name, or are you changing it?”
“We’ll stay with our name. But I figure we’d incorporate their logo.”
She nodded. “We may want to freshen it. I’ll come up with a few ideas, but since this is still quiet, I won’t have our graphics people work on it yet.” She knew their logo had an eagle of sorts on it. She’d always thought it was a little uninspired, so the idea of tweaking it appealed to her. “We could stick with an eagle, perhaps with talons extended to visually reinforce the ‘Now’ part of our name.”
