6. Maddie
6
MADDIE
Ian and I ate in comfortable silence for a moment, the easy-going, flirtatious vibe we’d had going ever since we met simmering just beneath the surface.
And even though I was starting to think that Ian probably just had the type of personality that oozed charisma whether he was trying to or not, I was having a hard time remembering that this charming, confident, and extremely attractive man was my superior. My boss.
That this man who had asked me about my hobbies and invited me to bring him baked goods was the same man who could fire me on the spot if I ever got my role in his life confused.
“So,” I said, picking up my water glass, taking a small sip to ease the flutter of nerves in my stomach, “we should probably talk about the summit, right?”
“That is why I invited you here, I suppose,” he said with a smile, setting down his spoon and seeming to gather his thoughts. “So, basically, the summer business summit in Boston is something I’ve been attending for the past three years. It’s a pretty big event with about seven hundred attendees—primarily business owners hoping to grow their companies. And though I’ve taught a few classes at this particular event each year, this time I’m actually giving the keynote on Friday morning.”
“Oh, wow,” I said, my eyes going wide. “That sounds like a pretty big deal.”
“It is.” He nodded, a modesty in his tone that I hadn’t expected. “I was honored to have been asked to speak.”
Ian was only twenty-eight—just two years older than me—so either he really was phenomenal at what he did at Hastings Industries, or he was given a lot of clout because of his dad being a billionaire.
Though, after seeing just a tiny bit into what he did during my short time at his family’s company, he did seem to be extremely competent. And if his reputation for charming women was any indication for how good of a salesman he could be, I was pretty sure he could sell a luxury yacht to someone living in the desert.
“Anyway,” Ian said, drawing my attention back to him, “I’ll be giving a presentation on ‘How to Thrive in Any Economy’ and then answering a few questions in the Q&A afterward.”
I nodded, thinking that topic sounded like a really good one.
“The conference staff should be handling most of the setup and tech for my speech, so you can just sit in the audience and watch during that time if you want.” He paused, seeming to remember something. “Well, actually, if you notice any good soundbites, if you could jot them down with the timestamp, that would be super helpful since our marketing team will be posting several short-form videos to my social media platforms, which they’ll also add to my YouTube channel.”
“Wait.” I blinked, surprised. “You have a YouTube channel?” How had that not come up in my internet search last week?
“Technically, yes.” He chuckled softly. “I mean, it’s not live yet. But I’ve been stockpiling content for a few months, and my team is hoping to have it up and running by the summit.”
“That’s awesome,” I said, trying to mask my surprise. Apparently, Ian had layers I hadn’t even scratched the surface of yet.
“It’s a passion project of mine,” he said, his cheeks flushing slightly. “A way to help make business education more accessible for all kinds of business owners.”
“That’s actually really generous of you,” I said, thinking most people would probably try to keep their business secrets behind a paywall.
"Well, I wouldn’t call it completely generous,” he said with a light chuckle. “Sure, I want to help people get better at business, but there’s a selfish angle, too. If I can teach business owners how to grow their companies before they partner with Hastings Industries, it means they’ll be that much more viable when we invest in them.”
“Sounds like a genius plan to me.”
“Thanks,” he said, a flicker of genuine appreciation in his eyes. “I hope it works out. But if it completely flops, I’ll just set all the content to private and pretend it never happened.”
“I’m sure it’ll be a hit.” I laughed. “I know I’ve only worked with you for a couple of days, but from what I’ve heard around the office, you’re pretty great at what you do.”
“That’s because I bribed them to say nice things.” He smirked, leaning in slightly.
“Well, that makes sense.” I couldn’t help but like how down-to-earth he was despite coming from a world so completely different from where I’d come from. “And when is the summit, exactly?”
“Oh, sorry, I should’ve mentioned that first.” He chuckled again, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “It starts on the last Thursday of this month.”
I opened my phone to check the calendar. And when I saw how soon the last Thursday of the month was, my heart skipped a beat. “So it starts on the twenty-fourth?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, taking a sip of water as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Oh crap. That’s next week!
Panic bubbled up in my chest as my mind spun through the arrangements I’d need to sort out in order to attend with him.
Ian must have sensed my sudden apprehension because his brow furrowed. Then, as if realizing the same thing I was, his eyes went wide and he said, “Oh sh—. That’s next Thursday, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Sorry about that. I think going out of town made me lose track of what day it actually is.” He sighed. “Do you think that’ll still work for you to come?”
“Y-yes, it should be…fine,” I said, knowing that I couldn’t afford to screw this up. And then, realizing it would be Jaxon’s weekend with Grant, I added, “My son will actually be with his dad that weekend, so I’ll just see if he can take him a couple of days earlier.”
“Good.” Ian looked relieved. “Your room should already be reserved. My old assistant handled all that when I was first booked. My keynote is on the second day, and that’s the only thing I absolutely need to be at, but I’ll be networking and meeting with clients the rest of the time.”
“That makes sense,” I replied, trying to take mental notes. “You said you’re hoping to bring in quite a few prospective clients?”
“Yes.” His expression sharpened with focus. “I tend to catch the interest of a lot of people at these things.”
“I bet you do.” Then I realized he’d meant it in terms of catching their attention in the form of them wanting to do business with his company and not in the romantic way my brain seemed to want to focus on way too much. So I cleared my throat and quickly added, “I mean, I bet this is a great way to bring in clients.”
“It is…” He chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners like he knew I’d been thinking about how his good looks probably turned a lot of heads. “There will likely be quite a few companies hoping to work with us after the summit.” He licked his lips before leaning forward. “That’s where I’d like your help. Since it’s hard for me to keep all the faces and names straight and remember each of my conversations, I’ll need you to be right there with me taking notes.”
“Okay, I can do that.” I nodded, liking the idea of being useful.
“Of course, there will be a few companies that I’ll know immediately that I don’t want to continue a relationship with. So we’ll come up with a special hand signal or something. Like, if I tug on my ear, it means I like them, so you should put a star next to their name in your notes. And if I don’t think I’d want to work with them, I’ll rub my nose, like this.” He flicked the end of his nose with his pointer finger to demonstrate. “And you can put an exclamation point next to their name.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Ear tug and star for good, nose brush and exclamation point for no.” Then just because I didn’t want to accidentally mix the signals up, I quickly pulled out my notebook from my bag and jotted it down.
“Anyway, I’m thinking we can drive up together on Wednesday afternoon and come back Sunday morning,” Ian continued, and I quickly wrote down Wednesday through Sunday in my notebook. “I should already have a few lunches and dinners scheduled with clients in the area, and then there will be a couple of mixers at the bar in the evenings.” He paused for a moment, letting me jot down what he was saying.
When I was done writing, he added, “These things are usually pretty laidback and just a good time to touch base and strategize.”
“Do you usually go to these things on your own?” I asked, glancing up from my notes. “Or should I plan to attend the dinners and mixers with you?”
“If you’re up to the long days, I’d definitely like to keep you close.”
And while I logically knew he was talking about keeping me close in a professional sense, my stomach flipped at his words—for a second, my mind drifted off to those same fantasies I had earlier, thinking about how it would be nice to “stay close” at the hotel during this business trip with my sexy boss.
Get your mind out of the gutter, Maddie, I mentally scolded myself, knowing Ian definitely wasn’t planning to keep me close in that way.
Ian continued to go over a few more particulars, mentioning that there would also be some time where I could explore the city on my own during the summit since he didn’t expect me to spend every waking minute with him.
“But it will definitely be a full three days,” he said after explaining everything. “So I hope you’re up to it.”
“I’m used to being on the go all the time with my son, so I’m sure it shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Good.” He smiled, that easy charm of his returning as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. It’s always fun to switch up my work schedule a bit.”
“Definitely,” I said, thinking that someone as dynamic as he was probably thrived in these kinds of settings.
Was it weird that I was almost bubbling with excitement over the idea of seeing a different side of my boss? And that the idea of putting in extra hours with him during those few days thrilled me?
Yeah…it was probably weird since at my old job, just making it through the forty-hour work week had been rough.
But there was something to be said about working a job that you actually enjoyed. (And yes…working with people you enjoyed being around.)
“Anyway, I think we’ve probably gone over everything I can think of. So, if you’re ready, we can head back to the office.”
“Yes, I’m ready,” I said, gathering my notebook and pen from off the table and slipping them back into my bag.
Ian asked the waitress for the check when she passed by, and once everything was settled, we walked out of the restaurant side by side, the afternoon sun warming my skin as we headed back to the office.
“Any fun plans for this evening?” Ian asked as he pushed the button on the elevator that would take us up to our floor. “A McDonald’s run with your son, perhaps?”
“No chicken McNuggets are in my plans, sadly,” I said, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. “Actually, my aunt is having some people over tonight and was teasing me about trying to set me up with one of her friends. But since I’m still trying to recover from my last dating blunder, I’m pretty sure I’ll just hang out for a bit before sneaking off to watch a movie with Grant or something.”
“Your last dating blunder?” Ian raised an eyebrow, his grin playful. “Is that what you’ve decided to call the night we first met?”
“Yes.” I chuckled, shaking my head. “I mean, thankfully, I haven’t added any others to my list since then.”
“Hey.” Ian nudged me with his elbow, amusement dancing in his eyes. “At least the last blunder made for a fun story.”
“One which I will be keeping to myself, thank you very much.” I shot him a look, trying to hide my own embarrassment.
He chuckled, his grin widening. “Oh, was I supposed to keep it a secret? Because I’m pretty sure it made for quite the entertaining story last week when I told my family I’d accidentally made-out with my new assistant.”
“Wait…” I froze, the blood draining from my face. “S-so does everyone know what happened?”
Was that why his mom and dad kept looking at me during the board meeting this morning?
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap .
They probably thought I was one of those girls who tried to sleep her way to the top.
“I’m kidding,” Ian said, holding his hands up like he knew I was on the verge of a heart attack. “The only person I mentioned it to is my friend Owen since he was asking about the girl I’d hit it off with at the club.”
“He saw us?” I groaned.
“He did.”
“So does that mean there were probably a lot of people who saw us?”
“It’s nothing to worry about.” He laughed softly. “I mean, it’s not like it was anything the patrons of The Garden haven’t seen me doing before. I’m sure we just blended into the scene at the club.”
Nothing he hadn’t been seen doing before.
As in…he probably kissed random girls at the club on a weekly basis.
Ugh, why did the idea of him hooking up with random women bother me so much?
“But you said your friend mentioned seeing us…?” I asked, my brain apparently wanting to reassure itself that our kiss had been at least somewhat noteworthy among the dozens of make-out sessions Ian had probably already had this summer.
“Well, that’s just because Owen was bartending that night and he notices things like that.”
“Okay…” I sighed, not exactly the reassurance I was hoping for. But it would make sense that Ian would assume I was worried about being seen kissing him at all since that was what I should be most worried about in this situation.
I shouldn’t be wondering how memorable it was for him and how our stolen moment ranked among all the other kisses he’d had recently.
“Trust me, no one else will remember.” Ian put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
And while I knew he was trying to calm me with the gesture, it only made my heart skyrocket further.
Because yeah, Ian Hastings was touching me. Like it was no big deal.
Like it was a completely normal thing to do.
And he didn’t seem to notice the way my pulse was suddenly racing because after letting his hand drop, he continued by saying, “And besides, you have that cute friend of your aunt to look forward to meeting tonight. Any gossip about us will be forgotten once they see you strutting around Eden Falls with a new hottie.”
“Har har.” I rolled my eyes, trying to push away the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
“Hey, you never know. It could be your lucky night.” Ian grinned, the mischievous glint in his eyes unmistakable.
“I highly doubt that,” I muttered, still feeling the heat from where his hand had rested on my shoulder.
The elevator doors slid open, and as we stepped inside, all I could think about was how I liked the flirtatious banter with Ian way too much.
Which meant, I should probably consider talking to Sloan’s “single dad” friend tonight. Because even if I wasn’t exactly looking to date right now, it wouldn’t hurt to at least try and get someone else on my mind. Anything to help distract me from the undeniable pull I felt toward my boss.