Chapter 3
“What’s this?”I ask to the deserted space around my desk.
I arrive to an almost-empty office right at seven-thirty in the morning, giving me two more hours to prep for my meeting. I shouldn’t need to do anything else. I’m pretty sure I’ve memorized all my notes, but I still want to show Mitch how much effort I’m putting into this, for him to see how ready I am for this promotion.
But when I get to my desk there’s a coffee sporting the Fog Foam logo. I take a sip, surprised to discover it’s my typical sugar cookie latte, extra everything. How?
“Oh, hey, Sparkles.” Gavin approaches from the kitchen and runs a hand through his hair. It still looks wet from a shower.
“Did you…” I raise the cup between us. “Did you get me coffee?” I feel like an idiot even asking because of course he didn’t get me coffee. It’s much more likely that it came from Andie, or a stalker I don’t yet know about, or maybe the tooth fairy trying to up my sugar intake to get more loot.
“Yeah, I umm…had a feeling you might be too rushed this morning. Didn’t want you to screw up the meeting just because you didn’t have a buzz.” He sits down at his desk and throws on his headphones, completely ignoring the shock on my face.
Yesterday was the most Gavin and I had talked in months, maybe ever. I know he only helped me out for the good of the team, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. Gavin’s brilliant. The way he speaks about our product, all the analogies he uses to help marketers understand the why, how, what—“always in that order, Liv!”—of what we do, the sheer confidence in everything he says, I was captivated by it.
Working in Silicon Valley, I’m surrounded by intelligent people. But there are different types. Most common are the ones who want you to know how smart they are, who drop hints at their Stanford degree every chance they get and love to humble brag about their money, their stock options, whatever else they can think of, really.
Unfortunately, my ex is the leader of this group. The brilliance and the status sucked me in. And then it became an actual chore to stroke his ego.
Gavin definitely has a chip on his shoulder, or at least I thought he did until last night. He’s great at his job and clearly smart, but he falls into a group of his own, one without arrogance and elitism. And I’m still in shock that he got me coffee.
I wave a hand to get his attention and he drags the headphones down around his neck. I don’t know why exactly but the move is so sexy I can’t stop my mouth from parting. Since when am I a neck person?
“Yeah?” he asks.
“Why did you…how did you…umm…how’d you know my order?”
He raises a brow. “I’ve got my ways.” And his headphones go right back on.
“Thankyou so much for meeting today,” I say, shaking Tristan’s hand. I grab the tray of coffees I pre-ordered from Karla and set them on the table. “This is Mitch Stevenson, our VP of Sales.”
Photos of Tristan were commonplace when I was compiling my research on him and Surf and Stream. But I wasn’t prepared for how intimidating he’d be in person. He’s wearing all black and looks like he stepped out of a Tom Ford ad. He has one of those perfectly square jaws I thought only existed in romance novels and photoshop.
We go through a quick round of introductions as Tristan has brought two team members with him to the meeting. Priya runs their social media department while Darnell is their creative director.
The meeting goes well. I take Gavin’s advice and encourage the team from Surf and Stream to do all the talking. This whole meeting is about information gathering so when I do schedule them for a platform demo, I can personalize it as much as possible.
Darnell is the most engaged. He is in charge of their current marketing platform and gives me a lot of info on what he likes and dislikes about it. It’s already easy for me to see where we can fill in their gaps and provide services they’re missing out on.
We agree to schedule the demo for next week in our office, but before we conclude the meeting, Tristan speaks. “I’m looking forward to seeing more, but I have to say, I heard Sizzl was the most expensive platform on the market.” He leans in and his cologne hits me like a drug. I could swear it’s intentional, meant to knock me off my game. It smells like money and power and hands tied to a headboard. “I know you said you’d be putting together pricing options once we decide on which features we’re interested in, but can you give me a range to consider before we move further?”
My brain circles back to my conversation with Gavin last night as I try to rid the aroma from my senses. We went over so much pricing info that it’s all jumbled. And then there were the talking points about why we cost more, or how to customize the package to make it more cost-effective. Fuck, I can’t remember the details of anything.
Pressure starts to build in my chest, the tell-tale sign of my anxiety taking over. I take a deep breath, thinking of Gavin’s words on the phone last night and will myself to get through this.
Mitch is eyeing me like he just can’t wait to see me mess this up, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.
“Tristan, do you mind if I ask what car you drive?”
A smirk starts to form on his face, but he hides it. He tries his best at least. The subtle grin is charming, especially on his chiseled features. I’ve been doing my best to ignore his face this whole meeting because Tristan is—objectively—hot as hell. He’s wearing an expensive three-piece suit, and his hair is gelled to perfection. He’s the epitome of tall, dark and handsome with jet black hair, olive skin and amber eyes framed by the kind of thick lashes women are always envious of. And between the Rolex on his wrist and the Gucci sunglasses he set down on the table, I’m betting he has a designer car to match.
“A Maserati.” He finally answers my question and I try to stop ogling him.
Okay, that was exactly the answer I was hoping for. Now I’ll just have to see if it pays off.
“Why?” I ask. “A Prius would be cheaper. Hell, a Tesla would. Less gas, less maintenance. If you live in the city, you probably don’t drive much anyway. Seems like a waste if you ask me.” Now he really grins at me. “But you seem like a substance over savings guy, someone who values performance more than a good deal.” I can’t help but pointedly look at all his accoutrements, finally landing on the Burberry tie.
“Touché.” Our eyes meet and I smile back, but something about the way his gaze locks on me feels much too intimate. I quickly divert my eyes. “I’ll see you next week, Olivia,” he says, standing up and extending his hand. “This has been interesting. Definitely interesting.”
Mitch is mostlysilent on the way back to the office, responding to a million emails on his phone. Once we reach the twenty-second floor he quickly says, “keep me posted with any updates,” before going back into his office.
I thought the meeting was a success. As much as a first meeting can be, but maybe I’m missing something?
“How’d it go, Sparkles?” Gavin asks as soon as I get to my desk.
“Good? I think? I don’t know. Mitch hasn’t said a word.” I can’t stop chewing the inside of my cheek as I run through the meeting over and over in my head. They agreed to a product demo. A second meeting. Isn’t that the whole point?
“I’m sure it was fine,” Gavin says, not looking up from his screen. He’s typing away on his laptop, reminding me I’m not too important for multi-tasking. “Mitch isn’t one for praise. If he didn’t tear you to pieces after, he’s happy with how it went.”
Okay, tucking that piece of knowledge away for next time.
The rest of the day flies. I spend way too much time drafting a follow-up email to Tristan and his team and eat lunch at my desk so I can keep working. Prepping for the second meeting is going to be even more grueling. I’m no product expert but I plan to be one by next week.
Then, at three o’clock, I receive an email no amount of planning could prepare me for.
From: Tristan Cross tristan.cross@surfandstream.com >
To: Olivia Diamond olivia@sizzl.com >
Subject: RE: Nice Meeting You
Olivia,
It was a pleasure meeting you today as well. We were all impressed with what you had to share. I won’t be able to meet for the demo next week, but Darnell is anxious to see more. He’ll be your point-person moving forward.
I would, however, like to see you again. Are you free for dinner this weekend?
-Tristan
It’s now justafter five-thirty and I have probably read this short message over a thousand times.
As soon as I finished the first read-through I put on my headphones and blasted my favorite playlist so that nothing could distract me. I’m sure people have tried to get my attention, or at least attempted to say “bye” as they left for the day, but I can’t seem to stop re-reading this damn email.
What the hell am I supposed to do with this?
I’m supposed to be landing a deal, not landing a date.
“Olivia!” It’s barely audible through the music, but I can faintly hear my name being yelled while a finger pokes into my shoulder.
Quickly removing my headphones, I find Mitch hovering above me. “Yeah?”
“Walk with me.”
He turns toward the exit, his messenger bag already strapped across his broad shoulders. I grab my keycard and chase after him.
“Sorry I didn’t have time to meet this afternoon. Prepping to present at the board meeting on Friday, you know how it goes,” he says, briskly walking toward the ferry building to catch his ride across the bay.
“Oh, that’s okay.” Even though it’s not okay, because a board meeting means I’ll finally have to see my least favorite human: Ian. Not only will he be spending the whole morning in our office, he’ll also be joining us at our off-site in Sausalito. I used to love our quarterly board meetings. All of the leadership team is busy in the morning, creating a super lax environment, and then a fun event in the afternoon to socialize outside the office. This will be my first one sans Ian at my side. I guess that’s a problem for Friday-Olivia to solve.
“What’s the next step with Tristan?” Mitch asks.
Shit. I need more time to prepare for this conversation. How do I explain that Tristan won’t be coming to the next meeting but asked me on a date instead? Mitch can never know about that email. I want the chance to do this job, to be brilliant like Gavin. I’m sick of people thinking the only way for me to get ahead is by seducing powerful men.
“Product team is looped in and we’re syncing tomorrow to start prepping the software demo for the next meeting. And yes, Darnell confirmed the time next week still works.” It feels like I’m about to break an ankle walking this fast in my pumps. I’m trying to make some eye-contact but if I step on any uneven ground, I’m a goner.
Mitch stops suddenly and I almost slam into his side. He looks at me pointedly. “Great. Fine. I’m asking about Tristan.”
“Well, Tristan said he’s going to have Darnell run point moving forward. Gavin said that’s normal, for executives to take a step back during the process, let their team handle things.” Gavin said no such thing, but I hope it’s true.
“I saw his email, Livy. I’m asking what your plan is.”
Mitch glances at his watch and over at the ferry line, as if this conversation is nothing but a notch to check off on his list before heading home. He saw the email? I reach for my phone but realize I left it on my desk.
“You saw it?”
“I assume he didn’t mean to reply all. I hope you don’t keep him waiting too long for a response.”
Tristan seriously replied all with that email? He is a successful executive. He shouldn’t be making mistakes like that. That’s something I would do, have done. Ugh.
Okay, try to relax. Don’t let the panic take over. This is an easy fix. Just be professional. Act like it’s just something silly. Big tit energy. A man would never get worked up about this.
“I’ll respond before I leave tonight. Let him know I’m only interested in a professional relationship. It’s no big deal.” Suck it, Ian. Look how mature I am now.
“Livy,” Mitch sighs. “You can’t say no to him. You wanted to work the deal. Work it.”
I can’t say no? “Mitch, you can’t be serious. He’s a prospect. Not to mention that he’s like fifteen years older than me and?—”
“Come on Livy, we both know that’s your type.” He winks at me, and it feels like a worm slithering down my spine.
“You think I’m going to sleep with someone to close a sale?”
I met Ian two months after starting the job at Sizzl, yet somehow people still treat me like I’m there because of him. If I really used sex to get ahead, I would hope I’d be promoted by now. Well, maybe not considering Ian’s opinion on my skills in the bedroom.
“Hey.” Mitch holds up his hands like he’s being interrogated by a cop. “I never said you had to sleep with him. But do you really think he’ll want to work with us after you turn him down?” He scoffs and starts walking again. “Look, I’m taking a big chance letting you work this. It’s my ass on the line if we lose the deal because you flirted with the client and couldn’t follow through. I gotta run.” He looks up at the crosswalk sign changing. “You wanted this to prove you have what it takes to be in sales, right? So prove it to me.”
He jogs across the street while I’m left slack-jawed and shaking.