Chapter 8 Kinley #2
It was connected to the cabin by a narrow pathway that snaked between large jacaranda trees. Very idyllic.
The staff consisted of three people: Anya, Jay, and Haley. They were all in their mid-thirties and truly laid-back, clad in flip-flops, shorts, and T-shirts.
After introductions and general conversation, I told them, “I’m glad to meet all of you.”
“Kinley is effectively going to be your boss from now on,” Wyatt stated.
I blinked. We hadn’t really discussed my exact role, so I was surprised when he just blurted that out.
Haley nodded. “Perfect. I figured you might bring someone else on board because you can’t run all of your businesses by yourself. So, are you going to be relocating to here in Napa, Kinley?”
“No, I’ll continue to live in San Diego and commute as needed.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jay said.
“We’ll figure it out. I don’t mind traveling in the least, and even the drive wouldn’t be a problem as far as I’m concerned.”
“No driving,” Wyatt stated emphatically. “You’ll fly and use company time and money, so that’s settled.”
The three of them looked as surprised as I was, but we quickly changed topics and talked more about each of them and their jobs.
They all had their desks in the same room and didn’t seem to mind the setup.
Jay brought chairs for Wyatt and me from an adjacent room so we could be more comfortable as we continued our conversation.
Over the next hour, they brought me up-to-date on everything. They were excellent at their jobs; their knowledge proved it. As Jay finished telling us about his latest reports, my stomach began to rumble loudly enough to make me uncomfortable, as everyone else heard it too.
“All right. Clearly someone’s hungry,” Wyatt said with a cheeky smile.
“I didn’t eat today,” I replied. They offered food on the plane, but I’d declined. I couldn’t eat that early, and my nerves were a tad on edge in anticipation of the day. Wyatt hadn’t had anything on the flight either, so he had to be hungry too.
“I had a bagel in the lounge before you got there, but I’m ready to eat too.”
“We’d offer you something, but we ate before you guys came over,” Haley said. “Everyone just packs their own lunch here; otherwise, we’d waste too much time heading out to a restaurant.”
“We’ll find something to eat, no worries. Thank you, everyone. We made a lot of progress today. Kinley and I will discuss how to integrate the new branding and upcoming campaigns later today, and we’ll continue tomorrow.”
After we bid the team goodbye, we left the office.
“They liked you,” Wyatt stated as we headed down the path.
“I liked them too. If we hire more people, we’ll need a bigger office.”
He shrugged. “Agreed. Let’s take things as they come.”
“That’s an interesting way to look at it.”
His eyes flickered. God, they were so vibrant. I’d never seen someone with that shade of blue eyes. They were like ice.
I furrowed my brow. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe in business plans and predictions.”
“Please, Kinley. A Sterling?” He smiled and chuckled. “I’m very much a big believer in those. Plans are vital. But it’s also important to be flexible.”
“True. God, I’m so hungry. I can’t even remember what the schedule is for this afternoon.”
“I should have gotten you something to eat this morning. I figured you’d had something at home.”
“Well, you were too busy ordering me to sit down,” I reminded him.
“That too. Let’s go inside. I’ll check out the fridge and feed you.”
“I can prepare something for us.”
He shook his head. “You look like you’re going to be sick. Besides, I make a good lunch.”
I sighed. “It’s that obvious, huh? I just... I do this a lot. I forget to eat, and then my blood sugar drops.”
He put one hand on my back as we entered the house. My entire body was on fire just with that simple touch. I’d reacted the same when he did it this morning too. I was so grateful, though, because I did feel faint and immediately sat down at the round kitchen table.
He opened the fridge and laughed. “We’ve got enough food for the whole week and then some. How about an Italian platter?”
“What’s that?”
“Just cheese and some veggies.”
“Sure, sounds good. And healthy too.”
He found an apron and threw it on.
Holy shit, what a sight. Bulging muscles, sexy tattoo, and an apron. This man was a complete contradiction, and I loved that about him.
He sliced zucchini and eggplant and threw them in the pan. A few minutes later, he took them out and drizzled balsamic vinegar on them. After dicing some cheese and tossing the apron on the counter, he put the platter on the table and sat down across from me.
“This looks delicious and very professional.”
“Italian antipasti for the lady,” he said jovially.
I immediately loaded veggies onto my plate as well as cubes of cheese. I hummed in delight after a few mouthfuls. “I’ve never had this.”
“Really?”
“When I go to Italian restaurants, I tend to skip the appetizers and go right for the main course.”
“I’m the opposite. I usually only order a few appetizers. You get a great mix that way.”
“I’ll try that sometime.”
Once we’d emptied the plate, I sighed out loud. “Thanks. This was absolutely delicious.”
I closed my eyes, putting a hand on my belly and drawing in a few deep breaths. When I opened them again, I caught Wyatt watching me. My entire body reacted instantly. The tips of my ears felt hot, and then the heat spread everywhere.
I glanced down at my hands, scrambling to say something so he wouldn’t figure out that I was onto him. I mean, holy hell. I sat up straighter. The wooden chair was tiny and a bit uncomfortable, but I managed to situate myself into a better position.
“Italian cuisine is your favorite?” I asked to make conversation.
“Hands down. Yours?”
“Burgers. Barbecue. Pizza. I eat everything.” Since we’d both finished eating, I added, “Let’s clean up and get back to work.”
“You read my mind.”
It took us no time at all to clean and put things away. Then we grabbed our laptops and brought them to the table.
“I don’t think we need to open both,” he said. “I’ll just write up everything on mine. What do you want to tackle first?”
“I want to look at the numbers. You hinted in the meeting that the winery isn’t as profitable as it could be just yet.”
“Yes. It’s bleeding money. We should be able to turn it around in two years’ time.”
“I could do it in one year,” I said without hesitation. The potential this business had was obvious to me, and I knew I could get the sales it needed.
Wyatt turned to look at me. Almost unconsciously, I shifted a little farther away in my chair.
“Game on. If you do, I’ll be more than happy to triple your bonus.”
I gasped. “Wyatt, I’ll hold you to that, because I will make this very profitable.”
“You haven’t seen the numbers yet,” he warned.
He had a good point. But my gut told me we could bring this winery to new heights.
“Well, then, show me what you’ve got.”
The numbers were atrocious. I wasn’t even sure how they could lose so much money year after year. Even with all the new competition and the increase in international players, they should have maintained more of their share of the market.
“We’ve got a lot of wine to sell, but the product isn’t distributed well as of now,” Wyatt added as he showed me a database of inventory.
He was absolutely right. There was every kind of wine available to hit the market tomorrow. That was the good news. I just had to figure out where to sell it.
“That’s good to have, but I’ll need to find distributors. This might put a dent in my master plan of domination,” I said.
“Setting up distribution chains might take six months or more,”
“True. There’s a lot of regulation when it comes to alcoholic drinks, even wine.” As I thought on it, I admitted, “Well, I might have spoken too soon.”
I couldn’t perform miracles. I had to work around the limitations I had. And being totally new to the industry, I didn’t have any favors I could call in.
Well, I’ll just have to work harder!
“And listing the product with various high-end retailers would be my job, correct?” I double-checked.
“Exactly. Anya, Jay, and Haley are good at what they do, but this is beyond their scope.”
“No problem. That’s why you brought me on, business development and all that. I’m not very familiar with the market, but I will be by the end of the week.”
“You don’t have to rush. We have a full week here to figure things out and organize our plan of attack.”
“True. And I’ll work evenings here too,” I said, mostly to myself.
Wyatt cleared his throat, and I looked up at him, but instead of making eye contact, I stared at his lips. Oh yeah. I was making such progress.
“I can think of much better ways for you to spend the evenings, Kinley.”
“Such as?”
“With me.” He flashed me one of his charming smiles. Not that they weren’t all charming, but this one was extra panty-melting.
“Doing what?”
“Exploring. On the plane, you said you’ve never been to Napa before.”
“That’s right, I haven’t.”
I was taken aback by this. He wanted to tour the city with me?
“We can explore it together. We can go out to eat at the various restaurants in the area.”
“Which reminds me... will we list the wines in restaurants too?”
He shook his head. “Not in the first phase. The big money is in retail. Restaurants and bars are good for branding but not as profitable.”
“I can see that. All right, I’ll focus on retail distribution, then.”
I leaned slightly backward. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was already five in the afternoon.
He followed my gaze and said, “Will you look at that? Workday’s officially over.”
“We could continue,” I suggested.
I definitely had my work cut out for me. I was going to focus on two things: First, mocking up a top-notch website for direct sales. Second, finding the best distributors so they could get us listed in retail stores.
“Kinley, we’ve been up since the crack of dawn. That’s, like, twelve hours already.”
I yawned as if on cue. “Oh, I know.”
“And tomorrow is another day.”
I blinked at him. “You are seriously a fantastic CEO. This day was great.”
“And it’s about to get better.”