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“Shall we begin?”
“Yes.”
“Winston tells me you’re walking us through the first half of the presentation.”
She nodded excitedly, walking to the wall where the presentation was projected. She talked with eloquence and authority. She was magnificent. I’d been right in asking her here.
After she finished the slides, I presented too before we all sat at the table.
“You have a solid, fresh approach. I’m surprised at how well you’ve integrated the new ideas into the traditional aspects people associate with Statham. You’ve run the profitability numbers to see when you’d break even?”
I nodded. “Yes. It’s looking good.”
“And we’re not done with that yet. We’ve got a financial expert doing some liquidity modeling, just to make sure we’re on the right track,” Sienna said.
“Sienna did a lot of the heavy lifting,” I said.
He turned to her.
“I’m impressed. Winston, you didn’t tell me you had such a brilliant branding expert. Any way I can persuade you to leave Winston for me?”
No way, no how. I accepted that Bennett Enterprises was her endgame, but I wouldn’t lose her to anyone else.
“I can match any offer you make,” I informed him, hoping he took my dismissal for what it was: a warning to stop.
He didn’t.
“I don’t know, Winston. I’m sure I can add a few perks to steal her away.”
He was watching Sienna with curiosity, which was when it became clear he wasn’t interested in her just on a professional level. A vein pulsed in my temple.
“I’m happy at my workplace,” Sienna said. “Do you want to look over some of our backup ideas? We haven’t fully finalized those, but between Winston and I, we can cover most details.”
“Sure.”
For a second time today, my focus was split between Sienna and the subject we were discussing. I respected Thomas as a business brain, but he was a jackass in his personal life. In college he’d proudly told everyone about the notches on his bedpost. He hadn’t changed, and I wouldn’t allow Sienna to fall in his trap.
By the time we’d debated the pros and cons of each tactic and idea, it was very late.
“I can’t stay any longer, but I think we’ve covered everything,” Thomas said. “Sienna, I have tickets to a horse race next weekend. Would you like to join me? I think you’d like it.”
He was looking pointedly at her.
“Sienna and I have an appointment all day on that Saturday,” I said sternly. I had no intention of giving him the slightest opportunity to make a move on her.
Sienna’s eyebrows shot up. Thomas shook his
head. “He’s making you work overtime? Just putting it out there, but that’s rarely the case in my consultancy.”
“Stop trying to steal my branding expert, Thomas.” I tried to sound casual and teasing, but by the way Thomas jerked his head back, I’d failed. Sienna pressed her lips together.
“Thank you for your time,” I told him as he walked us out.
“Sure. Let me know how it goes.”
Once we were alone outside, Sienna turned to me, crossing her arms over her chest.
“So what are those big weekend plans I don’t know anything about?”
