I sighed. “I will, I will—only men that are my age or a little older though.”
“Fine, but you don’t have a good reason not to take this Jonathan guy up on his offer. Who cares if he’s younger? You did say he was attractive, right?”
He’s more than just “attractive”...
“Yeah.” I leaned against my desk. “He is...”
“So go for it! You can still search for a more mature guy in the meantime, but can’t you have a little fun until you find one?”
“Okay, okay. I’ll call him tonight.”
“Miss Gracen?” My assistant buzzed in.
“Yes, Rita?”
“Mr. Barnes wants all the directors in the conference room for the weekly overview session.”
“I’ll be right there.” I hit the end button on my office intercom and gave Sandra a hug.
“I guess I should get back to my practice huh?” She shrugged. “Don’t forget to call me after you talk to him.” She walked towards the east elevators and I walked towards the north ones.
Another overview session with Mr. Barnes and the rest of the directors was the last thing I wanted to do today. No one ever had anything remotely interesting to discuss in those meetings. It usually just entailed Mr. Barnes spewing out brainstorming ideas until Bob from demographic research fell asleep and banged his head on the table—everyone’s cue that another dreadful meeting was over.
I took my place at the glass conference table and sat down.
“Good afternoon, everyone!” Mr. Barnes seemed extremely chipper today. “As usual, we have some very important ventures and promotional plans we need to discuss. But, before we get into that, I want to introduce you to someone who has never visited us before...All the way from the fiftieth floor, founding member and CEO Jonathan Statham!”
Everyone stood and clapped as he walked into the room. I gave a soft clap and was about to begin my standard “tuning everything out” routine, until I noticed that all the female directors were salivating—yes, salivating, at whoever had walked through those doors.
I turned my head to the left and saw that the “Jonathan” I’d met at the grocery store last week was the Jonathan Statham.
My jaw dropped as I looked him over. He was even sexier in his navy blue suit. He’d shaved his stubble and his dark sleek hair was combed off his face —not a single strand was out of place. His eyes were gleaming in a seductive hue of blue, and I couldn’t take my eyes off his lips...or that smile...
He nodded his head at each and every one of us, raising his eyebrow once his eyes found mine.
His lips curved into a wry smile and he began to speak. “It’s an honor to be at your meeting today. With over four thousand employees, it’s hard to know everyone, but this year I want to make myself more transparent, more available.” His eyes met mine again.
“I’m sorry I don’t tell you how much I value you every day, but I really do,” he continued. “As you know, we’re going through a restructuring phase. We’re going to be shaking a few things up over the coming weeks by hiring new talent. Not to worry though, no one is losing a job. We’re about to sign four major clients and we want to make sure our marketing team is as strong as it can possibly be.”
Just fire everyone and start over if that’s the case...
“I’ll turn things back over to you now, Mr. Barnes.” Jonathan walked around the table and took a seat directly across from me.
The art director who was sitting next to him blushed bright pink.
Everyone was on their best behavior for a change. People were participating in the brainstorming session and contributing ideas instead of scrolling away on their phones or looking out the windows.
I contributed whenever I was called, and couldn’t help but notice that Jonathan was watching my every move. Occasionally, he would redirect his focus to the projector screen or on whoever was speaking, but his piercing blue eyes always found their way back to me.
Why is he staring at me? And why is he making it so damn obvious?
I answered another question about our latest ad campaign and caught Jonathan winking at me as he poured himself a glass of water. I tried to look away from him, but it was too damn hard.
He was too damn sexy.
I was glad I’d perfected the poker face a few years ago; I was a master at looking unaffected.
Maybe Sandra’s right. Maybe I can date him and at least get some good sex out of it. I haven’t had sex in a long time. A very long time...Wait, is four years really that long of a time?
“Miss Gracen?” Mr. Barnes interrupted my thought-fest.
“Yes?”
“Are you still willing to work as team coordinator rather than going to the company’s IPO ball this summer? You sure you want to gift your ticket to an intern?”
Jonathan tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at me.
“Yes, Mr. Barnes.” I swiveled my chair around. “I don’t want to go. I think we should gift it to the intern that works the hardest over the next few months.”
“Excellent idea!” He began to say other things and I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes glued on the presentation.
I looked at my watch every five seconds, hoping the meeting would come to an end so I could jump up and leave. I thought that there had to be something wrong with me. I couldn’t believe I was actually fantasizing about a man who was eleven years younger than me.
“Miss Gracen, did you bring that segment data with you?” Mr. Barnes intruded my thoughts again. “Did you include the latest prototype research?”
Could you please end this fucking meeting?!
“Yes.” I held up a blue folder.
“Great! Could you give that to Mr. Statham please? And how about you, Mrs. Turner? Did you happen to find out if—”
I tuned him out. I wanted to jump across the table and thrash him for dragging this meeting on longer than necessary, pretending like we actually did anything productive just because we were in front of the CEO.
I turned my chair around and saw Jonathan beaming at me with his hand outstretched. I didn’t bother placing the folder into his hand—I didn’t want any bodily contact between us, especially not with that panty-dropper smile of his.
I slid it across the table and turned back around.
The meeting came to an end an hour later, without Bob’s head bang as a gavel, and everyone made a move for the door.
I leapt out of my chair and squeezed between Mr. Barnes and the regional director. I was about to step outside the room when Jonathan grabbed my hand, causing a sudden shock of electricity to ripple through me.
He must have felt it too because he immediately let my hand go.
“May I please have a word with you, Miss Gracen?” he asked.
“Sure, Mr. Statham...” I moved to the other side of the room.
He waited for the last director to leave the room and shut the door before walking over to me.
“How long have you been working here, Miss Gracen?” He placed subtle emphasis on the word ‘Miss’ and smiled.
“About four years.”
“Hmmm. I can’t believe I’m just now finding you.” He rubbed his chin. “Do you like it?”
There has to be a better word than “sexy” to describe you...
“Do I like what?”
“Your job, this company.”
“You want me to be completely honest?”
“That would be nice.”
“I absolutely hate it here, but the offices are decorated quite nicely. The interior designers did one hell of a job.”
“Good to know.” He laughed. “I take it that since you haven’t called, you’re not interested in going out with me?”
I nodded weakly. “Clearly.”
“May I ask why, Miss Gracen?”
He needs to stop saying my name like that...
“There are several reasons why.”
“Name the best ones.” He stepped in front of me and looked deep into my eyes. “But your age and the fact that you have kids aren’t good enough reasons for me.”