Playing With Power - Book 2: New Adult Office Romance (6 page)

“Awww, that sounds like the beginning of a movie” said Ali. The girls leaned against the dark marble island in the center of the kitchen as he finished up.

“I actually got a little chubby from eating all the time,” he laughed. He turned and leaned against the counter, drying his hands on a towel, slinging it over his shoulder when he was done. “I didn’t hit my growth spurt until I was fourteen or fifteen. They didn’t forbid my cooking but they did hire a personal trainer to balance things out.”

“Well clearly you’re in fine shape now,” Ali said. Lauren resisted the urge to elbow her sharply in the ribs.

“In any case, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Lauren couldn’t tell if he was starting to blush or if the redness was a little too much sun. A brief silence fell over the group, Ali’s obvious flirtation hanging heavy in the air. Lauren raced to find something to say but before she could Landon continued, “Ali, perhaps you’d like to take a swim while we hash out some business? It won’t be very exciting stuff I’m afraid.”

“But I just ate! What if I get a cramp? Will you jump in and save me?” Ali said fluttering her eyelashes. Lauren glared at her.
Unbelievable. She’s like a feral animal in heat.

“What kind of publicity would I get if I allowed an up and coming actress to drown in my pool?” he laughed. With a satisfied smile, Ali returned to her room to get changed. “Let me top up your wine. We can get this out of the way and enjoy our weekend, sound good?”

“Yeah, sure. Absolutely.” Despite a few drinks and conversation over dinner, she still felt flustered and scattered when his brown eyes locked with hers.
Thank God he can’t read my mind.

She did allow a quick peek at his ass as he turned, leading the way back to the patio. Lauren had changed into one of Ali’s long maxi dresses before dinner. It was so long she had to lift the bottom as she walked, praying with every step she wouldn’t trip and expose her breasts. After sunset, the air was cooler and pleasant. A fog rolled in over the hills on the horizon, gray against the bright pinks and oranges cast from the setting sun. House lights flickered on across the valley. He navigated to a long L-shaped bench covered in blue and white striped pillows.

“So, StyleSpur,” he said crossing his legs. “Let’s hear it.”

“If you want I can go grab my laptop and give you the full presentation,” she said moving to get up.

“No, no. Just talk. I want to hear you tell me all about it.”

Lauren started off shakily but after a minute found her footing, even under his intense gaze. She’d given the presentation so many times in the past two months, she wasn’t surprised to find most of it memorized. In any case, she understood so much about the company she didn’t need to follow any script. Lauren found herself pitching to him in the way he himself had suggested; apparently a few of his talking points from the conference had stuck. He let her speak uninterrupted for several minutes, his focus unyielding.

As they talked, Ali strutted out from the kitchen in her new polka dot bikini and sheer cover up. Lauren continued speaking as she peripherally watched her friend lay out her towel on a lounge chair, seductively slip the cover up over her head, and step slowly into the pool. Landon’s attention didn’t waiver for a moment.

“So what are your future plans once you acquire funding?”

“Parker wants to expand. He’d like to grow the sales team and move offices, of course, but he’s also interested in pushing into new markets; children’s clothes, pets, things like that.”

“But you don’t agree?” he said as he leaned his elbow against the back of the bench, their knees nearly touching. She could feel the heat from his proximity and was momentarily distracted.

“Oh, it doesn’t really matter what I think. Parker has a vision for the company. It’s not like he listens to me anyway,” she heard herself say. She tightly pressed her lips together after the words tumbled out. Landon’s expression didn’t change, in fact if anything, he looked to be studying her. She tried to remain calm under his gaze but her twitching foot betrayed her discomfort.

“Don’t worry. I told you, I know Parker. Well, I know
of
Parker.” He took a sip of wine and looked to the horizon. The sun had long disappeared behind the hills and a few stars had emerged. The accent garden lights around them flickered on as the darkness deepened. Ali peacefully floated on a raft, her fingers dangling in the water. “You said you were their first hire, right? How much was there when you first started?”

His lack of response emboldened her. “Honestly? Enough to prove the concept. They hired a contractor to hack some software together they could then present to clients but it wasn’t more than a demo. I think they ended up spending more money on a designer so it at least looked pretty. After they secured their first round of funding, they hired me and I pretty much had to rewrite everything.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Well, the company mainly grew because of Parker’s connections. If there’s anything I’ve learned in this industry, it’s that knowing the right people can be more important than having a good idea.” She was surprised at how cynical that sounded. Maybe it was being in this house, actually seeing how the other half live. She thought of the tiny apartment she could only afford because she shared it with a stranger.
That’s what hard work earns you.

“StyleSpur has succeeded because it was innovative and industry changing, not because it was the best idea in the world. Already you have what, two or three direct competitors eating up your market share?” He took another sip of wine and said, “I can’t deny it helps to know the right people or to be born in the right family.”

Ali flopped out of the raft with a splash and walked out of the pool, grabbing the towel. “Alright you two, I’ve had enough fun and excitement for one day. I’m going to collapse in that fluffy king size that probably cost more than my monthly rent.” She rung the water from her hair. “Don’t stay up too late now.”

“Good night Ali,” Lauren called out, thankful for the brief respite. She couldn’t believe how much she was spilling about the company, so much more than she should be. It felt cathartic to speak to someone who understood what she was going through, to empathize, but she had to remember where her loyalty remained.

“Sleep well. You’ll need to be rested if you have any chance of beating me in volleyball tomorrow,” said Landon referring to a previous conversation.

“You’re on!”

They both watched Ali disappear into the house and Lauren was suddenly very conscious she was alone with him.

Without missing a beat he jumped right back into the conversation. “You know the inner workings of the company. What would you do differently?”

“I don’t think I should...”

“Humor me. Lauren Kemp is named CEO of StyleSpur tomorrow. What would you change? What would you do about your competitors? Name a direct competitor.”

“Luxe Redux.”

“What would do to stay ahead of them?”

“Infiltrate, obviously,” Lauren laughed hoping to release some tension. “Hire someone and plant them on the inside so we could know everything they’re planning.”

“Corporate espionage...I should watch myself around you,” he joked. He smiled yet his eyes remained serious, focused. “Really, what would you change?”

“Landon, really, I was out of line earlier. I shouldn’t have said those things.” She twirled the wine around in her glass, avoiding his eyes.

“Okay, just so we can get past this, I’m officially stating that I’m not interested in investing with StyleSpur. Nothing you said affected my decision, it’s simply not the right opportunity for me at the moment. There. Happy?”

“Well, happy isn’t the right word,” she laughed nervously. “Satisfied, I guess.”

“Pretty, smart, and easy to satisfy,” he replied with a smirk. Before her jaw even had a chance to drop he said, “I’m sorry, now I’m the one speaking out of turn. Please, here’s your chance to get it out. Might even be therapeutic.”

Lauren would look back at this moment for the rest of her life. It was one of the few times where it was obvious life could’ve gone down two different paths. She never regretted her choice but sometimes wondered, usually late at night after a difficult day, what the other path would have looked like. Something Landon said earlier in the day on the phone bubbled to the surface of her mind.
I’m giving you the opportunity. It’s your decision.
With a lump in her throat and plenty of liquid courage, she took a deep breath and told Landon about the idea she’d pitched to Parker.

“One of the biggest problems StyleSpur has faced from the start was inconsistency in sizing between retailers. Not only do women come in all different shapes, there isn’t one standardized rule for sizing, sometimes not even in the same company. Add to this the growing trend of vanity sizing and the company has always struggled to manage this headache.

“Now, believe it or not, I’m utterly clueless when it comes to fashion. I grew up in a rural area and wore jeans and sweatshirts most of my life. I faced a steep learning curve when I moved to the city and started working in a fashion-forward company. I knew nothing about body types, accessories, colors, fit, cut. Even now, I feel like I’m still a bit of a novice, but it’s something that’s always stuck with me. It’s a barrier to entry for a lot of women and that’s not good for business. Sure, we make it easier for them to buy clothes but they might not even know what clothes to buy.

“So I started thinking. By triangulating three normal web cameras and a little user inputted data, I could conceivably tailor clothes perfectly to their body. Not only that, I could make suggestions on what colors work well with their skin type or what accessories work with a certain neckline. Levi’s has already proved that customers are willing to pay a little extra for custom tailored clothes. I think it’s a natural progression in the industry, especially as 3-D printing and manufacturing changes.”

He regarded her for a long moment and his expression disclosed nothing. Lauren couldn’t handle his penetrating gaze and looked down to the empty glass in her hand. It wasn’t an emotion she’d anticipated, but she felt utterly exposed. To have her concept laid out bare, to actually stand up and declare what she’d do differently to someone outside her circle of friends, it was surprisingly terrifying.
Why do I get the sense I’ve completely screwed things up here?
she thought.

“Do you have a working prototype of this?”

“Not yet. I’ve worked on it in my spare time but I’m not close to finishing.”

“But you know it can work?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” she said. “There’s nothing that should prove too difficult. They already do similar modelling in video games.”

Landon seemed to retreat into himself slightly, his mind working. After a moment he smiled and nodded, as if coming to some conclusion.

“Listen, I appreciate you going through everything with me. It’s getting late and unfortunately, I’m expecting a phone call from Japan.”

Lauren got to her feat clumsily, the wine and sudden shift in tone leaving her a little wobbly. He followed her into the kitchen where he politely bid her a good night, and disappeared down the dark hallway to the right. Her mind spinning, Lauren retired to her room. She shut and leaned against her bedroom door but moments later Ali shoved it open, nearly pitching Lauren to the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ali whispered, closing the door.

“What are
you
doing?”

“I heard you come back but I didn’t expect you for at least a while. What happened?”

“Nothing, the conversation ended,” Lauren said with a shrug. In truth, she didn’t know what
had
just happened. One minute they were getting along fine, the next minute he almost couldn’t wait to get away from her.

“Did you kiss? I thought you’d be up all night k-i-s-s-i-n-g,” she said in a sing-songy voice. “I even planted the idea in his mind all tricky like.” Ali sat cross legged on the bed, tightening the belt on her black bathrobe.

“He had to take a call.” Lauren slumped on the bed beside Ali, her head feeling fuzzy. “He also said he didn’t want to invest in StyleSpur, which I’m sure Parker’s gonna love.”

“Ah, well that’s alright. Just means we’ll have an awesome weekend without all that business bullshit getting in the way.”

“Then I told him about my idea, you know the one Parker tried to extort sex for? He just, I don’t know...he just shut down. I don’t know if I just royally screwed up or if I’m reading too much into it. What if he tells Parker? Obviously he has no problem going behind my back and messing around with my life,” she gestured around the room.

“I’m sure it’s fine, don’t worry! He seems like a really nice guy. I bet he was just interested in what you had to say.”

“He
is
a nice guy and
you
need to quit flirting with him.” Her eyes felt dry and scratchy. Finally relaxing in the comfort of her room, she realized how nervous and wound up she’d been all night.

“It’d be weird if I
didn’t
flirt with him. ‘Anything with a pulse’ is my motto. Hell, I’m flirting with you right now, you’re just completely oblivious.” Ali raked a fingernail down her arm.

“I suppose now the funding deal is off the table you’re free to do whatever you want. It’s not like I have a chance with a guy like that. Anyway, I don’t think I’m ready to start anything after all that shit with Nick.”