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"I know I haven't done a great job at keeping up on your work and going along with your suggestions. I hired you to do a job, and then I made it difficult for you. I won't do that anymore. You are the head of marketing for the team, and I need you to take charge of this. Tell us how we can get out of the bad press that I got us into."
"It doesn't have to be me. You can use someone else, and I’ll just oversee them."
I sat back in my chair and studied her. Maybe now was the time to apologize for the other night. "The things you said to me the other night, the accusation you made, have been burning in my gut. It's killing me to know my behavior made you feel that way. That was not my intention. I didn't hire you or promote you for the purpose of fucking you any more than your seducing me in the library at Naomi's wedding was an attempt to use me to get a promotion.”
She sat up, ramrod straight, and glared at me. "You thought that?"
I shook my head. "No. I'm just making a point. The meaning you've attributed to my behavior is incorrect. I'm not sure whether this is going to put me in more hot water or not, but to be honest, I see the two things, the attraction and the job, separately.” It occurred to me that it was probably not quite true, considering I'd designed Mikael's whole campaign for the sole purpose of spending time with her. Fuck, I was an asshole.
"It's not possible to separate the two. At least not for me. If it got out that you and I had slept together, you'd be given a pat on the back. Boys will be boys, after all. But my reputation would be ruined. People would wonder about the promotion or my getting the job. And then they’d look at the way you ended my campaign and didn’t listen to me when I told you Mikael wasn't ready as proof that you didn't see me as a legitimate hire.”
I sat forward as irritation filled me. "I don't give a fuck what people say."
She let out a derisive laugh. "Of course you don't. You have nothing to lose."
Dammit! I was fucking up again. I leaned back in my chair and held my arms out to my sides in surrender. “Right now, the important thing is getting the hockey team back on track and getting Mikael media ready. As I said, you are the head of marketing for the team, and so I need you to do this. Whatever you say goes."
Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. "Whatever I say?"
I nodded but added, "I need to focus on Mikael. People are going to love to watch him skate, but until the season actually starts, I need people to get excited about seeing him skate."
"And what about Naomi and the rest of the team? Mikael's not out on the ice by himself."
I nodded. "Whatever other ideas you have about that, we’ll do them."
She studied me again for a long moment. "You’ll do that?"
"Absolutely. I won't scrap or change them. That's how much I believe in you, Betts." I had the urge to call her Elisabeth. There was nothing wrong with Betts, but Elisabeth was such a lovely name. It fit her.
Her features softened, and I finally thought that maybe I said something to lessen the disdain she had for me.
Finally, she stood and said, "Okay. I'll do it."
I stood but stayed on the other side of the desk, not wanting to fuck this up worse than I already had. I extended my hand out to her.
She looked at my hand and lifted her gaze to my face. "But from now on, all our interactions are professional only."
"As you wish." I agreed because I wanted to respect her and knew this was the only way to keep her. But as she put her hand in mine to shake and the zap of electricity shot through my arm, all I wanted to do was to jump over the table and kiss her senseless.
But an agreement was an agreement, so I stayed where I was.
I watched her as she turned and left my office. I hated that I wouldn't be able to touch her again. Not unless she wanted me to. That thought had me pausing. She wouldn’t have slept with me if the attraction didn’t go both ways. Yes, she didn’t want to be attracted to me. It complicated her life. But just like my agreeing to keep my hands to myself didn’t mean I stopped wanting her, her setting limits around our interaction didn’t mean she still wasn’t attracted to me. Unless her thinking that I was using her killed it.
Still ...
I would keep my hands to myself as promised, but maybe there were things I could do to change her mind, to make her want me as much as I wanted her. I wouldn’t cross the line, but maybe she would.
10
Betts
It probably wasn't a good idea for me to agree to continue to work on Mikael's campaign. What was the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing but expecting a different result. I had no reason to think that my efforts this time would be any more used than they had the last time, except for the fact that Todd appeared sincere. My feeling was that he really did unintentionally make me feel used and abused. It had never occurred to him that his behavior could be misinterpreted and deemed insensitive. But why would he think that?
Men with wealth and power had very little need to consider the implications of their behavior on other people. The fact that he seemed genuinely mortified at how I had interpreted his actions meant that at least he understood and cared. And so, I agreed to continue on, giving him another chance. Not a chance to sleep with me, but a chance to trust my work.
I’d barely gotten back to my desk when Todd called and asked that I contact Mikael and have him meet both of us at a men’s clothing store this afternoon. I took this to mean that he was going to work on Mikael's external image, but the truth was, Mikael needed work from the inside out. I supposed that was what Todd was putting me in charge of.
I contacted Mikael, giving him the address and time to meet both me and Todd. Then I reread all the articles and social media about the press conference, using them to decide how we could improve Mikael's reputation and likability.
