The Billionaire & The Barfly (Coming Home) (2 page)

“
Soon. Have a good trip,” Aubrey said then walked out and closed the door behind her. She pressed the elevator button down the hall and adjusted the straps on her dress. She fingered her hair to tame the bed head look down a notch just as the elevator door opened.

Aubrey came face to face with the same blonde
who bought her drink earlier. Only he was alone. He must have had his fun in one of the ladies’ rooms. Good for him. She smiled and nodded at him and stepped in. She turned to face the doors and rode the elevator down in silence. Should she thank him for the drink? Did he even realize that she was that girl or were there so many that he lost track? Not that it mattered. She only had a few floors left to go.

The doors opened
, and she quickly took her leave. Awkward silences weren’t her thing. She thought for a second she heard him say something, but when she turned back to ask what it was, the elevator had closed, and he was gone.

The lobby was empty except for a security guard behind a desk. She didn
’t know where she was or how to get back to her hotel. She may not be from the city, but she knew enough to know that wandering around at three in the morning wasn’t such a good idea.

“
Excuse me?” she asked as she approached the desk. The security guard stood up quickly and looked around before looking at her.

“
Yes, can I help you?” he asked.

“
Do you mind telling me what the address of this hotel is so I can call a taxi?”

“
You don’t know where you are? Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine. I just need the address, or even the name of the hotel.” Aubrey knew that he was just doing his job, but she was fine, and getting really tired. She just wanted to go to bed in her own hotel room.

“
Let me call a cab for you. We have a company on file we use for our guests. They can take you wherever you need to go.”

“
Thank you.” She was going to protest. She could call her own cab if she knew where she was, but figured it was easier to just let the man call. She could give into the macho thing once in a while if it actually made things easier.

The security guard picked up the phone and began punching in numbers. Aubrey took the opportunity to walk around the waiting room. There were fancy pieces of artwork all over the walls and lots of glass decor and leather seating. Swanky was the word that came to mind when Aubrey tried
to think of a word to describe it.
The Tall Hottie in the Swanky Hotel.
She laughed to herself a little. She loved that she could find little things like that to laugh about. She never wanted to go a day without laughing. Her grandmother used to always say that laughter was the best medicine. She believed that fully. She tried to find something to laugh at every day. Some days were harder than others, but even if she had the worst day in the history of days, a small laugh would help relieve the stress just a little.

“
Car’s here.” Aubrey turned and smiled at the guard, and with a little wave goodbye, she headed out to the waiting cab. Aubrey gave the driver the name of her hotel and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. It had been a long night, and her morning was going to come all too soon.

Chapter Two

Morning came much too early for Aubrey, but if she were anything, she was professional. Three hours of sleep, a hot shower, a cup of coffee, and she was ready to go. Not that she had to go far. When she and Jenna traveled trying to gain new business, they worked from either Jenna’s hotel room or a conference room that the hotel would provide for them when they had meetings. That morning, they were in the conference room. They were supposed to have a meeting.

Unfortunately for them
, Donavon Sports, a new start up company, was a no-show. They were the next
it
company in sports apparel, and Viola Gaming Industries wanted to use their logo on the characters in a new game. They wanted to cross market. They wanted a lot that they were willing to pay for. Too bad the company didn’t see it the same way.

Jenna was talking fast and furiously with her contact at Donavon to find out what had happened
. Aubrey could only hear one side of the conversation, but it wasn’t good. They were too late. Maximus Gaming strikes again.

“
Damn it, Josie. We could have beaten whatever offer Maximus gave you. You should have called us, given us a chance. We have been in this industry for thirty years. Maximus is practically brand new. They don’t have the experience we do

“
I know they developed the newest gaming system but—” Jenna continued on with her pitch that had become perfected over the last few months. Aubrey found the papers with market data that stated users of old gaming systems still purchased games and more often than those who were upgrading to new systems. It was a numbers game, and in today’s market, money, and lack of money, was everything.

Aubrey quickly handed Jenna the papers with the
data, and also another on the legal aspects of breaking a verbal contract (hoping that Maximus might have forgotten to bring the paper with the dotted line) before slipping out the door. Jenna was going to need a fresh coffee after that phone call, and she wanted to make sure to have it ready for her. Aubrey used her cell on the way to the coffee shop to call and make the travel arrangements for their flight home that night. On the way back, she called the top three other sports apparel companies in the city and set up impromptu meetings for Jenna. The best way to impress the boss was to always be a step or two ahead of the game.

If she ever wanted to get out of her parents attic and able to move to
a city, being a step ahead was a good thing. She loved working for Jenna, but she had bigger aspirations than being a personal assistant. She knew others whose career path was being a personal assistant, but that wasn’t hers. No, she wanted her own PA someday.

Jenna was off the phone when Aubrey walked in. She handed her the coffee and waited for a minute before informing her of the rest of the day
’s plans.

“
Thank you, I needed that. Maximus screwed us again. We need to make some calls. If we go back and don’t have a contract in hand, my ass is going to be eaten alive.”

“
We have three appointments—Vincent at eleven, Berkins at one, and Leslie at three. Our flight home is at six forty five. You have time to finish your coffee, and I will organize these papers and have everything ready to go by ten. A cab will be outside and waiting for us.”

“
I swear I would be lost without you, Aubrey.” Jenna said. When she walked out of the conference room, Aubrey let out a sigh. It was great to be needed and good at a job, but she was waiting for the day that she was given more. Anything more. What did she have to do to prove that to Viola Gaming? She had been with the company for five years. Two as the mail room copy girl and the last three as Jenna’s personal assistant. It was quite a jump from sorting envelopes to traveling the world with the head of new acquisitions, but once she got a taste of what Jenna did daily, she knew she needed to be in that line of work. She would be good at it. She knew how to talk to people and how to get them to see her way. That’s all it was really—being a good sales person.

“
Yes, Jenna, you would,” she muttered to herself as she cleaned up the papers strewn all over the table.

~*~

The first two meetings went just about as well as the no show. Apparently, Maximus had an exclusivity clause in their contract. Even though they were making football games, and Viola was looking to make a line of sports games for girls that included softball, volleyball, and field hockey, they couldn’t sign on.

Needless to say, Aubrey was rather irritated as she searched online on her phone as the cab driver took them to their third and final meeting of the day.
If Leslie were already signed with Maximus, she would have to start calling smaller companies and make phone appointments or push back their flight.

Jenna sat beside her absolutely silent. She got that way when she was worried. Usually, Aubrey would tell her it would be okay and remind her of how much other business they had acquired on their trip. Only this time, they hadn
’t gotten anything. The last two trips were the same.

The cab pulled up in front of a tall building with Leslie
’s Athletics in big bold letters across the front. Aubrey paid the cab driver, and the two women stepped out and crossed their fingers that Maximus wasn’t inside wooing them with their fancy new systems and iron clad contracts.

Aubrey and Jenna were met at the door by a very fit woman. She had to have been more toned than any other woman Aubrey had met before. She wasn
’t a body builder by any means, but each and every one of her visible muscles were defined.

“
Welcome!” the woman beamed at them, “Thank you so much for coming to see us today. I’m Leslie Hunter.”

Aubrey was taken aback. She had never met with
an owner of a company before. Usually, they sent people like her and Jenna to meet with them, people who were hired, so the owner didn’t have to worry about little stuff. Well, little in the scope of the entire business.

“
It is so nice to meet you, Leslie. My name is Jenna Peterson, and this is my assistant Aubrey Vincent. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice.”

The three women walked into the large building that definitely held a woman
’s touch. It wasn’t girly, but it was well decorated, and the artwork with big muscular men was kept to a minimum. Most sports companies Aubrey had visited had been really into athletic art. This building had images of people winning races, before and after pictures of employees, and a ton of children.

“
I love the decor in here. Are these children of employees?” Aubrey asked, trying to make conversation besides the sale. Make a connection to your consumer and making the sale is so much easier. Sales 101.

“
Actually these are all children with disabilities who have found sports and activities to help them in their treatments or just to give them something to do to feel normal. We have a foundation that connects personal coaches with these kids. They each receive a gift card for new equipment and apparel and a year of coaching. These are our kids.”

Aubrey was blown away.
She had never met a more generous company before. It warmed her heart to know that at least someone actually existed that cared for complete strangers. She hadn’t found any in a long time.

“
That must be a very costly charity, but I have never heard about it. Where do you advertise it?” Jenna asked. She didn’t get it. It wasn’t about the money or the prestige of the charity.

“
Because we don’t advertise it. It isn’t about growing Leslie’s Apparel, but about helping these kids.”

“
But how do you fund it?” Jenna asked, still completely confused. Aubrey knew she needed to jump in and get Jenna to stop talking if they planned on getting the sale at all. Sales 101 rule number two: don’t insult the consumer.

“
Jenna, what she is saying is that they fund it from their profits. But they don’t advertise it because they don’t want to exploit what they are doing. They don’t do it for the acclaim, but because it’s a good thing to do. They earn a little less, but it’s worth it to them.”

“
That is exactly right, Aubrey. Now, shall we head into the conference room? I am really interested in this all woman’s sports line of games. That’s something new, and I am all about empowering women and encouraging girls to become more active. You know a game where the girls are dressed.”

Aubrey gave a little laugh even though it wasn
’t funny. It was one of the reasons that Viola was launching a new line. A panel of women employees, as well as a street survey, both revealed that many women would be more interested in video games if the women characters were more than eye candy for the male players. Even the games where the women were warriors, they were barely dressed while the male characters were clad in leather and armor.

“
Absolutely. And if you are interested, the characters will all be wearing Leslie’s Apparel,” Jenna said. She was back in the game, and Aubrey knew this was where she stepped back and just took notes.

~*~

An hour later, Aubrey walked out of the building behind Jenna and Leslie. The excitement was bubbling inside of her, and she couldn’t wait until they were safely in the cab to let it out in a very unprofessional scream of joy.

“
Thank you again. The final contracts will be signed and sent to your office in the morning,” Leslie said, and then shook Jenna’s hand. Jenna responded with a thank you of her own and opened the cab door.

Aubrey smiled at Leslie and moved to get in the cab when Leslie placed a hand on her arm. Stopping
, she turned to look at her.

“
Thank you, too. You keep working hard, and this one will eventually have to move you up, even if she won’t be able to find another assistant quite like you.”