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He hasn’t even seen what I’ve done, and he’s already acting like it won’t be good enough. I’m two seconds away from steam rolling from my ears, and if he bothered to look at me, he’d see how far he’s pushing me. But he doesn’t. He’s back to looking at his damn computer, acting like I’m not here.
He plugs the flash drive in and opens up the file. I wait as he watches the presentation, sorting through the mood boards and locale photos I’ve arranged in various folders on the drive. I’d put together a slideshow for three separate shooting locations and the aesthetics I felt would work best. The sound of him clicking through it makes me anxious. Finally, he gets to the last slide and stops it.
When he looks up at me, he grins. My heart thumps in my chest.
That grin.
His mouth.
Snap out of it. He’s an ass.
“You’ve worked hard on this.”
Obviously, asshat.“Very hard, sir.” The words come out happy, even though I’m spitting nails internally.
“Sir?” He lifts a brow. “I think you can call me Charles after hours, Raven.”
Now it’s Charles? This irritable man is driving me mad. I don’t know which side of him I’m going to get from minute to minute.
A smirk spreads across his face as a myriad of emotions pass through me. I have no doubt he can see them all.
That smirk.
It undoes me.
Drives me crazy.
“This looks like something my other account reps would’ve spent months on. Not a few weeks. I’m impressed, Raven. This is truly amazing.”
Damn straight. Now will you have some faith in me?
I don’t say it out loud, but I should. I need to stand up for myself.
“It still needs a bit of tidying up, though,” I say instead. “I didn’t get a chance, but I have written down a few ideas on how we can tweak it.”
He nods. “Which location would be your top choice?”
I’m struck speechless by this question. He went from acting like I was incompetent to asking for my opinion in the span of minutes.
I flush under the weight of his stare.
Getting to dream up something this big was massive, but actually having a say when so many variables are at play is something else entirely.
Despite the enigma across from me, I’m in heaven even having this conversation.
I take my notepad and move my chair next to him.
“I’d love to shoot AlteredX in Italy.” I flip to a certain slide and start pointing out why. “The beautiful backdrops and the ocean make me want to go exploring. We can have a group of yoga students behind Holly on the beach.” I shrug. “With that backdrop, I could be convinced to throw on yoga pants and join. Plus, yoga is most popular in Italy. It suits.”
He steeples his fingers, resting his chin on top. “Do you think we could sneak in shots for Diosa and Icon as well?”
I nod my head vigorously. “Of course. Italy gives us so many options.”
We spend the next hour reviewing my notes and making changes on the computer. Charles comes alive when it comes to organizing and planning. He rolls up his sleeves and jumps right in, which is completely opposite to the CEOs I’ve worked with in the past.
Those men and women were happy to sit back and simply oversee. They worked on landing accounts and rubbing elbows. They never got into the nitty-gritty unless it was to bitch about this or moan about that.
Watching him work and seeing his passion for this makes me like him even more.
