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Turning to him, I narrowed my eyes and replied, “Of course I did.”
He grinned.
It didn’t take long to travel up the three floors to the top of the building. Mason stepped off the elevator, and I followed behind him. It wasn’t hard to notice the countless women saying hello to him or eye-fucking the hell out of him as we walked down the hallway.
I rolled my eyes. They guy was drop-dead gorgeous, but the way some of them were gawking at him turned my stomach.
We walked into a large conference room, and I was stunned to see there was only one person in the room.
A beautiful woman at the end of the table stood and smiled. I instantly knew it was Ava Maxwell. No. Ava Locke. Shit.
“Mason, thank you so much for taking the time to meet this morning.”
He nodded and walked over to her. “How’s the little one?”
She smiled. “Wonderful! Thank you for asking. Have you spoken to Charlie?”
“A few days ago. He called to see how things are going.”
I stood there, feeling totally and utterly out of place.
Ava turned and gave me a sweet smile. “Saylor Night, I’ve read good things about you, and I’m excited for what you can bring to Maxwell and Locke.”
Extending my hand, I replied, “Thank you so much, Mrs. Locke. I’m excited as well and looking forward to jumping in.”
“Good. Please, both of you have a seat.”
I glanced over at Mason, but he didn’t bother to look at me. He pulled a seat out and sat. I cleared my throat and did the same.
“I’ve asked you here because I want to get to know you both better,” Ava said. “Derrick and I have worked tirelessly to show our clients that we’re not afraid to take risks and that we understand their current needs. We’ve been able to bring in some great new accounts, but there’s one we haven’t been able to snag yet. I want it. That’s where you both come in.”
My heart was racing. This wasn’t a goddamn “welcome to the company!” meeting. That motherfucker had set me up.
A pad of paper in the middle of the table caught my eye. Pulling it closer to me, I reached for a pen and prepared to take notes.
Ava continued. “Jameson Rum is looking for an agency to redesign their campaign on drinking responsibly. They’re also looking for someone to design their social media. They’re number two behind Bacardi, and they want to be number one. We’re the agency to make it happen.”
I wrote down a few ideas that instantly popped into my head. The first thing I’d do when I got back to my office was research the shit out of Jameson.
“Saylor, you’re busy writing away over there.”
Lifting my gaze to Ava, I smiled. “I worked a social media campaign about six months back for Blue Moon. It ended up being very successful for them, and as soon as you mentioned Jameson Rum, I had a few thoughts. My first plan of action, of course, will be to gather and analyze data on Jameson’s consumers, as well as their top competitors. Barcardi will be a hard one to surpass, but not impossible.”
Ava leaned back in her chair, looking like the cat who’d just eaten the canary. “Mason, would you mind if I spoke with Saylor alone?”
Mason looked back and forth between us before he stood. “Of course not. I’ll be right outside.”
I watched him as he made his way out the door. Once it shut, I focused back on Ava. She slowly shook her head. “You do know what Mason just did, don’t you?”
This could go either way. I’d been down this road before—put to the test to see if I would crack under pressure—but never with a woman CEO. Especially one who was younger than me. I could play dumb, which honestly didn’t do me or my career any good, or I could let her know I knew exactly what the asshole just did to me.
“If you mean my new boss walking me into a meeting I was totally unprepared for so he could see how I’d react under pressure, then yes, I completely know what he just did.”
She leaned forward. “I’ve heard amazing things about you, Saylor, and when Mason said he had the chance to snag you from Smith and Smith, I was almost giddy. Women at our level don’t come around very often, so to have you with Maxwell and Locke is a thrill. I won’t promise you that things will be easy. We still have a lot of old suits—as well as young ones—who don’t think a woman’s place is at the top, equal to men. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean.”
I nodded and grinned. “When I was little, I remember my mother telling me about Ginger Rogers. I was watching a movie with her and Fred Astaire and was entranced by her. My mother leaned down and told me how Ginger once said that she did everything the man did when it came to dancing—only she did it backward and in heels. That no matter what I wanted to do in life, I could do it, and no one,especiallya man, would be able to tell me I couldn’t. And from the moment I took my first upper-level position, I’ve been working to prove that I can do exactly what they can do. But I can do it backward and in heels.”
Ava smiled. “I knew the moment I saw your face that Quinn had sprung this meeting on you. He’s a good guy, but I won’t make excuses for him. I wanted you to know that I knew what he did, and I’m very proud of the way you handled yourself.”
