Chapter 40
Bennett
“Good luck.”
Annalise had her hands full, so I opened the conference room door.
“Thanks.” She set her presentation materials down on the long table. “Even though I’m sure you don’t really mean it.”
I smiled a genuine smile for the first time in days. I actually did mean it, even though I wished I didn’t. Shit would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t want to see her succeed.
I’d just finished my final presentation to Star, and their team had taken a break while I cleaned up my stuff and Annalise set up for her turn.
“How did it go?” she asked.
I’d hit it out of the park, but I didn’t want to rattle her. Instead of gloating like my normal obnoxious self would, I shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
She squinted at me. “Just okay?”
I looked at the clock. “They’re not coming back for another twenty minutes. You want to do a dry run on me?”
“You mean show you my concepts?”
“Sure.” I shrugged. “My turn’s over. I can’t steal any of your ideas, even if I wanted to.”
Annalise chewed on her bottom lip. “Sure. Why not? I’m not usually so nervous, but for some reason, this one is freaking me out a little.”
She set up her boards and walked me through her presentation. I looked on, mesmerized by how she started out with such visible nerves, yet managed to plow through to deliver a kick-ass presentation. My gut told me her concepts weren’t going to go over as well as mine had, but I wanted to boost her ego, not shred it, so I complimented her.
“Nice job. Your colors brought in a familiarity from their parent company, yet you created an entirely new identity for Star.”
She stood a little taller. So I kept going.
“And I like the tagline. The play on the words is smart, too.”
“Thank you.” Annalise started to look suspicious, so I scaled back the flattery to something more my usual style.
“Your ass also looks phenomenal in that skirt.”
She rolled her eyes, but I caught the little grin she tried to hide. I’d done my job here. Her shaky confidence had been firmed.
Jonas walked into the conference room. “You all ready, Annalise?”
She looked over at me, and then to Jonas, with a smile. “Sure am.”
On the way out of the conference room, I leaned over to whisper some parting thoughts to my nemesis. “How about a little wager? I win, you’ll bend over my desk later. You win, you’ll get on your knees under mine.”
“Gee, what a prize for me.”
I smiled. “Good luck, Texas.”
***
Later in the day, Jonas knocked on my open office door. “Got a minute?”
I tossed my pencil on the desk, glad for the distraction. My concentration had been shit all afternoon. “Come on in.”
He closed the door behind him—not something Jonas did often. Taking a seat in the chair on the other side of my desk, he let out a big sigh.
“How long have we known each other now? Ten years?”
I shrugged. “About that.”
“In all that time, I’ve never seen you as stressed as you’ve been the last week or two.”
He was right about that. My damn neck ached from tension, even when I woke up in the morning.
“There’s a lot at stake.” Way more than this competition was ever supposed to be about.
Jonas nodded. “That’s why I’m telling you this in confidence today. I owe it to you to put you out of your misery as soon as possible, after how hard you’ve worked for me all these years.”
What was he getting at? “Okay…”
He smiled half-heartedly. “I spoke to the team at Star before they left a little while ago. They’re going with your campaign. It was the unanimous choice of the entire team.”
I should’ve felt like high fiving and celebrating, but instead the victory felt hollow. I forced a happy smile. “That’s great.”
“That’s not the only good news. Billings Media has also unofficially told me they plan to run with your pitch. They also reached out to our CEO and let him know they’d been impressed with your work over the years. I didn’t ask them to do that, either. They did it on their own because you work hard.”
“Wow. Okay.”
“I don’t think I need to tell you what this means. The board is going to formally vote on all of the senior management staffing restructures and terminations, but it’s just a formality at this point. You’ve won two out of three, so the third isn’t even necessary. You’re staying put, Bennett.” Jonas slapped his knee and used it as balance to get up. “Annalise will be transferred to the Dallas office. But we’ll wait until after the Pet Supplies presentations to break the news.”
I rubbed the knot at the back of my neck. “Thanks for letting me know, Jonas.”
He left the door open behind him on the way out.
I’d won.
Everything I’d wanted two months ago was mine for the keeping. Yet I couldn’t have felt more damn miserable. It made me question whether I ever really knew what I wanted to begin with. Because now I couldn’t imagine wanting anything that took Annalise a thousand miles away.
An hour later, I was still staring off into space when Annalise came by with her jacket on. “Thank you for the dry run this afternoon. It made my presentation come off smoother.”
I nodded. “No problem. Glad it went well.”
Her lips curved in a dubious smile. “Sure you are. Anyway, I’m heading out to meet Madison at some Nepali restaurant—whatever that is. Are we still on for dinner tomorrow night?”
I’d completely forgotten she was supposed to make me dinner at her place.
“Sure. Sounds good.” It might be one of the last nights we have.
Annalise dug her keys from her purse and tilted her head. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just tired.”
“Well, get some rest tonight.” She smirked. “Because you won’t be getting any at my place tomorrow.”