AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you for that new moniker, but my name is Olivia." Her gaze on me was strong. Point taken, and I had to admire her gusto. "Sure, well, seeing as I was just walking by, I’m not quite prepared—” she began.
“I’ve got you, Olivia. I have the video file here,” Lucy said, plugging her laptop into the monitor and pulling up Olivia’s video.
“Thanks, Lucy. The piece I was working on is about James Jensen’s soon-to-open restaurant and bar called Blaze Bar. My goal was to engage as much as to inform.” Olivia was not looking anyone in the eye directly, but continually scanned the room. Maybe that was a tool to her confidence.
She nodded at Lucy, who pressed play. I immediately saw some technical errors on her recording, which was surprising because I knew Mark went with her. Her lighting was entirely too bright and it was reflecting off of her face—a little bit more brightness, and she would have looked like a ghost.
Olivia’s voice boomed through the high-end speakers in the meeting room. Her report continued to play, featuring a somewhat short segment with James Jensen that I also had qualms about. The video ended and silence filled the room.
I couldn’t quite help the small smirk that lifted on my lips as she looked at me expectantly.
Chapter 3
Olivia
Listen,Ihaddonea million nerve-wracking things before. I sent my grade school crush a secret admirer letter, though never revealed it was me. I went against my parent’s wishes and studied journalism instead of pre-med. I left home for New York without any savings or any concrete plan when I graduated college. I could safely say that I braved a lot of challenges, but I had never been as nervous as I was presenting my very first story to the one and only Ben Oviatt—especially since I was already on this man’s list.
I was even more anxious when he just sat there after I was done talking, just sitting there and looking at me contemplatively with those green eyes. There was something about his eyes with his thick dark brown hair that was just…captivating. Throw in the clean-shaven, hard jawline, and he was quite literally the most gorgeous man I had ever seen.
I swallowed hard and tried to stand completely still under his gaze. I didn’t need him to see me fidgeting. But I could feel my pulse racing and anticipation clenched low in my belly. A blush threatened to creep up my skin. Why was this room so warm?
The silence stretched. I wanted to look around the room, but I also couldn't take my eyes off of Ben. But I could feel the tension. Lucy was sitting next to me and I could tell she was holding her breath.
My body continued to hum with awareness. It felt like there was some invisible force rooting me to the spot, except the force wasn’t invisible. The force was Ben.
Suddenly, he stood up, breaking the spell. My knees swayed in relief. Or was that disappointment? Why was I disappointed? I rocked back on my heels, holding the chair in front of me so I wouldn’t fall backward.
“It’s passable,” Ben Oviatt finally declared in his low, deep voice as he took a few steps toward me, eye contact resumed. He was close enough I could smell his expensive cologne. It was heady and zapped me of any focus.
I wasn’t sure if my world was shattering or those were just bits of glitter blasting away in my brain.
“S-Sir?” I barely whispered as I tugged on the hem of my shirt. I hated how my voice betrayed my body in that instant.
He looked at me with nonchalance before one corner of his lips tipped up very subtly. Was that Ben’s version of a…smile?
“It’s passable, Olivia.” Oh god, the way he said my name. “It might need a few more clips featuring James Jensen to improve it a little. But it was fine. For your first story.” He looked over at Mark. "Mark. The lighting."
"Aye, aye, captain." Mark saluted in his direction.
He moved toward the door, Eric right behind him.
“Olivia, bring a revised edit to my office by the end of the day. As for the rest of you, reassess your priorities.”
I was gobsmacked. What the actual hell happened here?
“I…passed?” I whispered to no one, still in utter shock. Lucy squeezed my shoulder on the way out. I shook away the fog and got to work on the next edit.
Time flew by and Mark helped me with editing. He apologized for the lighting and said he should have caught that earlier.
“I hate that Oviatt pointed that out,” he said apologetically. “It’s my fault. But you gotta give it to Oviatt. He knows his stuff. I think it was just that Jensen guy. Threw me off. What a tool.” Mark talked about what he was doing as he clicked around on the editing software. My mind was still swimming, though, with what happened in that conference room. I had expected Ben to cut me down, but he didn’t. And that energy between us was so unreal.
“Okay, I think we’re done. Enjoy your trip to the ivory tower,” Mark said triumphantly. He gave me a high five and left me with my next steps.
I had no idea why Ben Oviatt wanted me to deliver this to his office. I mean, wasn’t that a little below his pay grade? That’s what I had an editor for. Also, couldn’t this have been an email?
I sighed and grabbed the stick Mark left for me. Everything had already been uploaded to the server, but he figured this would be easier for me to deliver. Fewer ways I could screw it up and make another terrible impression.
I barely noticed anything as I walked through the main lobby toward the elevator, which was a shame, because I loved this building. The huge windows of the atrium, although the sun was quickly setting. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Grateful to be alone, I pressed the button for the top floor.
