I spend my entire weekend thinking about Kit. God knows why.
It’s like he’s etched into my mind.
It’s even more irritating considering that I don’t like him. Well, a part of me doesn’t. About eighty percent of me. But the other twenty percent feels very differently. The guy ties my stomach in knots. Gives me butterflies. I can’t decide how to describe it, but I don’t like feelings that I can’t control. This is definitely one of them.
I can’t help but smart about having an argument with him, an argument where he was right. I made a fool of us both when I refused to call back the team. I know I humiliated him. Which is why I have to start this week out on a better foot or I’ll risk losing my job.
It’s Monday morning. A fresh week, a fresh start.
It’s also judgment day for us all.
Today, Kit will head down to our department to take a look at the work we’ve done. Ultimately, it’ll be his decision which design goes through. I hate having him decide. I don’t need him to tell me whether I’m good at my job or not—I already know I am. Still, it requires his approval, so today, I’m on my best behavior. I so need this to go well, that I might even apologize to him.
I’m not my usual sharp self, and it doesn’t help that the line at the coffee shop is so long that I have to skip it. I never consider myself fully awake without caffeine in my system, but for today, I’ll have to make do.
When I arrive in the office, my team is already hard at work. I put my bag down on my desk chair. Tim looks up and smiles in greeting.
“Morning, Alexandra.”
“Morning, Tim,” I say. “It’s good to see you all in early and in top form. Glad you’re back with a better attitude, and I intend to have one, too.”
“Nice speech, boss.”
I turn and see Ellie walking in. She’s grinning like nothing ever happened as she heads to her seat.
“All right, everyone. The boss will be coming in later to look over the final three designs. Let’s blow him out of the water, shall we?”
Tim cheers and the rest of the team laughs. I roll my eyes, but I’m kind of glad I’ve gotten my office clown back. Today isn’t going to be easy. But my team’s excitement reminds me that even on difficult days, there can still be a reason to smile.
It’s midafternoon and we’ve reviewed our designs endlessly by the time I have the courage to call Kit. I’m sitting in my mini-office at the back of the department, trying to muster the energy to go to battle with him. He’s already scheduled to come and see the work we’ve done, but either he’s forgotten or he’s deliberately missed the appointment. I get the feeling it’s the latter. He probably wants me to call him and beg for his attention. Pathetic.
I dial the phone number for the CEO suite—the number that used to belong to Alastair—and it rings several times.
“Yeah?” Kit finally answers.
I frown. “Is that how you greet your father’s favorite and soon-to-be your favorite as well?” I tease.
“It’s how I plan to answer when you show up on the caller ID, Ms. Croft. How can I help?”
I stiffen, taking the hit in stride and quickly say, “You were meant to come and see our designs and make a decision on the final look for the app.”
“Was I? Oh, so your team is back to work? Are we certain we don’t want them to take a few more days, just to be sure they’re ready and recharged?”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I know he’s trying to wind me up, so I keep a calm front. I don’t want him having any sense of power over me. “We’re ready, sir. Whenever you’re ready, we’ve prepared a presentation.”
“Well that should be just riveting,” Kit says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll be down in two minutes.”
He hangs up the phone without saying goodbye. I know for a fact he won’t be here in two minutes. He’s going to make me wait as part of his game. I smile to myself, heading back into the main office to speak to my team.
“Mr. Walker will be with us shortly,” I tell them. “Let’s be ready to do the presentation in twenty minutes.”
As suspected, Kit shows up late. When he looks to my face for a reaction, all he receives is a well-mannered smile. Take that. I know it’s childish, but I’m so determined to dazzle him today. I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s guilt over our fight Friday. Maybe I’m just trying to get in my new boss’s good graces. I don’t like when I lose control, and he’s caught me off guard several times already. Now, I’m determined to play it cool.
It would be nice if my heart got the message; it gives a little kick as Kit walks through the room.
He opts to ignore me, clearly aware his stunt didn’t aggravate me. He rubs his hands together. “Right. Let’s get on with it, shall we? What do you have for me?”
My skin prickles at his voice and I curse his gorgeous British accent to hell. Even Ellie, across the room, is eyeing him like he’s the chef’s special of the month.
As I show him the designs on the display screen, Tim tentatively pushes a portfolio toward Kit with a printout of the designs we will be showing him. “We’ve narrowed it down to three designs, sir.”
Ignoring the screen on the wall, Kit takes the portfolio.
I smile. My design is at the back of the folder. Save the best until last, I say. Kit flips open the folder casually, flicking through the pages. There’s weeks’ worth of market research, color palettes and font designs in there. But I guess to someone like Kit, with no experience in the industry, all he sees is pretty colors on a page.
He lets out a long sigh as though everything in front of him displeases him. My heart freezes. What if he doesn’t pick my design?
Kit throws the folder back on the table, clearly unbothered that he’s tossing around people’s hard work. “Who designed these?”
He lifts his gaze and looks at me.
I see the challenge there, but beneath that, I see intelligence. A lot of it.
“Ellie, Angela and I came out with the top designs,” I tell him. “If you look up at the wall screen, the colors are more noticeable—”
I frantically work the remote, but Kit ignores the images zooming on the wall. He looks me in the eye and smirks.
“Well, I expect better from the ‘best’ design team in Chicago,” Kit says, air quoting the word best. I blink.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re excused. For now. But I expect better, Ms. Croft. From all of you,” Kit says with a glint in his eye.
“There’s nothing wrong with these designs.”
“There’s plenty wrong with the designs.”
“Such as?”
“Well, where’s the sex appeal? All these colors are stripped back and muted. If this is all you have, we might as well stick with the old design. At least it’s erotic.”
Angela giggles when he says this, which makes the entire situation even worse. I can’t have my team swooning over this man when they’re meant to be taking my side. I suck my teeth.
“If you read the brief your father sent, you would know that we’re trying to move away from that type of design. A lot of our users are younger adults, and we need to make it more accessible to—”
“Right, that’s all well and good, Ms. Croft, but I’m in charge now. I’m telling you, these designs are boring. They won’t sell. I want you to start over.”
Kit turns his back on us and starts to leave the room. He’s showing his dominant side again. I almost gasp. I can’t believe he’s shot us down so savagely.
I stare at his broad back, his dark hair, every inch of me wanting to shake some sense into the guy or maybe do something else with him entirely. Something to appease the insane sexual tension crackling between us every time we bicker. Every time we’re near. Every time those damn gorgeous, perceptive amber eyes lock on mine.
What is he doing to me?
Setting down the remote, I march after him, desperate to get him to see sense.
“You don’t understand what you’re saying. My team worked hard on this. You can’t just discard everything we worked on.”
Kit stops. He smiles. He moves back over to the table and picks up the folder, flicking through the papers again. He nods a few times and I wonder if by some miracle, he’s actually changed his mind. He finds my design right at the back and takes it out, examining it in a better light. I feel my heart thudding against my ribcage.
Then I watch Kit set it back down.
Kit catches my eye.
A hot little shiver runs down my spine.
“Not. Good. Enough,” he says. My design lies lonely on the table. Unwanted. His eyes are glistening with devilish glee. “My father expects me to bring it, Ms. Croft. And I... I expect you to bring it, as well. Now, try again.”