Chapter 6

Erica

Mandy walked beside me down the hall the next morning, rattling off a list of things that we needed to get through before our Monday afternoon meeting with Kent. I nodded and took note of the important ones, but didn't interrupt her until we were in my office, seated across my desk from one another. I had on my favorite grey slacks and a tight blue shirt that left me feeling powerful and pretty.

"E-mail that list to me, and you make sure you stay focused on the new service campaign. Kent is going to start offering a new line of advisory services to our customers in Dallas, and we need to make sure the imagery is spot on. Find a few pictures of men in the oil field, or grab the right models and get the photos ourselves."

"Of course." She nodded and scribbled something down. "When do you want a mock up?"

"By Monday if you have stock imagery that you can use. Actually, use stock photos for now, and if we need to take our own pictures, we'll just make sure Kent knows that." I turned and typed in my password on my computer to find forty new messages waiting for me. Corporate jobs paid the bills, but what a fucking drag to have to sit behind a desk all day and create drama out of nothingness.

"Will do. Anything else you need me to focus on?"

I leaned in a little as one of the e-mails caught my attention. "Oh nice. Blink-182 is back on tour? I didn't even know they were coming to Seattle."

"Oh yeah. Lewis has tickets that he was trying to get rid of. You want me to send him in?"

Excitement pumped through me. I hadn't been to a concert in forever, but I knew without a doubt that Lanie would love to go with me.

"That would be great, actually. I need to do something fun before my head explodes." I leaned back in my chair and studied Mandy, wondering what the girl's life was like outside of the office. The sad reality was that I knew very little about my staff, but it was a protection mechanism to keep everyone at arm’s length. It allowed me not to be invested emotionally and then crushed when something went wrong, which it would. It always did in my life. My relationship with Lanie was the only solid friendship I had, or wanted.

Mandy chuckled and brushed her long brown hair over her shoulder. "All right. I'll send Lewis in. We're ordering sandwiches today. You want me to get you anything special?"

"Nope. I'll just eat whatever you guys are eating. I'm not picky."

She bit her bottom lip and studied me for a minute. I lifted my eyebrow and chuckled. She had something on her mind.

"Can I ask you something?" Her expression softened.

"Absolutely." I leaned back in my chair and gave her my full attention.

"How do you stay in such great shape? You're here all the time with us and eat what we eat, but you look like a million bucks. I don't mean to be too forward, but-"

"No, it's fine. I run a lot late at night, and I have enough exercise videos to fill up this office." I snorted and stood. "It's all about balance, right? I eat better for the other meals during the day and just let myself go for one meal a day at most."

"Very cool." She smiled and nodded before standing up too. "Thanks, Miss Hall."

"Erica, Mandy. I think I've told everyone to call me Erica at least ten times in the last year." I walked around the desk and opened the door to my office for her.

"It's just hard to call your boss by her first name. I'll remind them. Thanks again."

I watched her go and leaned against the doorframe of my door for only a moment before the phone buzzing behind me pulled me from my thoughts. Maybe I needed to loosen up a little. Maybe being more relatable to my staff wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Turning, I walked quickly toward my desk and picked up the phone. "This is Erica Hall."

"Erica. It's Kent. Do you have a minute?"

"For you? I guess I could make time." I sat down and smiled as he chuckled on the other end of the phone. My boss had a special place in my life. He was a good mentor, a semi-father figure and a friend.

"Well, thank you, kindly." He cleared his throat as I looked up to see my secretary, Joan, stick her head in the office. I shook my head at her that I wasn't to be disturbed and to close the door. Whatever she needed could wait.

"Of course. What can I do for you, Kent?"

"You know that Matthew is headed up to Seattle right now, and from what Damon tells me, he's planning on meeting with you one more time over the job offering up there."

"It's not the same position as that one has been filled, but yes, he's going to stop by the office this afternoon to chat for a little bit. I figured we would work to open a position for him after I worked to understand what he was looking for."

"He's not really looking for anything, unfortunately. I wish he would grow up and realize the value of the opportunity before him, but you know how he is."

"He's a right brained guy. Much like everyone else in my department. I'll work on him today and see what I can do."

"I was hoping that would be your response. Damon and I had dinner last night, and we were thinking that maybe the way to go about getting Matt to come join us isn't to push him into it, but to have you just bind him to your side a little."

"I'm not sure I understand. Matt's not exactly fond of me."

"Yes he is. He's just being dramatic about you with all of us, but he's attracted to you. I saw the way he watched you in Jamaica."

Warmth filled my chest and raced up my neck to coat my cheeks. "Are you asking me to use that attraction to reel him into the company?"

"Nope. I would never do that. I'm asking you to not talk about business while you guys are together. Instead, take him to see the city this weekend. Have fun with him and maybe show him around some of the art galleries. Just make him see that there is far more for him in Seattle than he's giving the city credit for."

"Why are you and Damon trying to get rid of him? Seems odd to me."

Kent chuckled. "We're trying to give him a fresh start away from Dallas. We love him to death, you know that. He just needs to grow up and find himself, and to be completely honest, I just don't think that's going to be here. He grew up here and has planted his roots in deep, but it's never been him. I wanna see him fully bloom somewhere, Erica. I just can't shake the fact that he should be there. You can help me get him there. I know you can."

I let out a soft sigh and closed my eyes. Kent didn't know what he was asking of me. Matt did belong in Seattle, but having him reject me and then move up to my city where we could bump into each other ten times a day sounded like hell on earth, but like most things... this wasn't about me.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Excellent. How are we doing on our advisory campaign ads?"

"We're working hard on them. I'll have a mock up ready by Monday for you to review."

"Just one or two ads this time. I know you like variety, but I don't. Just put forth what you think would be best, and I'll choose from the limited options you give me."

I laughed. "That never works for us, but we will try it one more time."

He chuckled as well. There hadn't been a meeting in the last two years that he hadn't asked for at least one more drawing. It was a running joke between them.

"I'll do my best to choose from what you bring."

"And if you don't, I'll bring more. It's what we do." I finished up the conversation and got up to walk down the hall to Lewis' office. He glanced up from his computer and gave me a warm smile.

"Boss. Did you come down here to scalp my tickets to the concert tomorrow night?"

"I'm almost positive that scalping means to sell the tickets, so you would be the scalper." I awarded him a quirky smile and stopped in front of his desk.

"And you would be the scalpee? That sounds horrible." He pulled out two tickets and handed them to me. "Have fun. You'll have to update me on how the band does."

"I will. How much are they?"

"Nothing. It was a gift. I'm good paying it forward."

"No. I'm not taking the tickets for nothing, Lewis. I'll just get the market value of them and pay you on Monday."

"I really wish you wouldn't. They're great seats and you need to enjoy life a little more. You're a great boss and we're always trying to think of ways to get you to get out and enjoy yourself."

"You are?" Emotion raced up my chest and lodged in my throat. Had they been trying to help me live a little more? Maybe so. I hadn't noticed, but the thought of them caring brought me to tears.

"Oh hey. I'm sorry." He stood up and snatched a Kleenex from the box on his desk. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's okay. I'm just tired. I didn't sleep too well last night."

"Something on your mind?" He tilted his head to the side and watched me.

"No, but thanks for asking." I lifted the tickets and dabbed my eyes with the tissue. "Thanks again for these. I need it."

"Anytime."

His warmth followed me down the hall back to my office, and I figured I had about ten minutes to have a good cry, but the broad shouldered, blond haired man sitting in the seat across from my desk with his back to me left me trying to pull myself together.

"Matt?" I closed the door behind me as he stood and turned. The goofy grin on his face left my heart racing. He was beyond attractive in all the right ways, but it wasn't the lust that sat between us, but the promise that so much more could exist if we could push past the awkwardness of our relationship.

"Erica Hall." He extended his hand and shook mine firmly as his eyes moved down the length of my body. It was a relief to know that if nothing else, he was interested in checking me out. "Don't you look beautiful today?"

"Thanks." I released his hand and walked around to the other side of my desk. "How was the flight?"

"Too short. I sleep like a baby on those things." He sat down in the chair closest him and cross his clasped hands over his stomach.

"How long are you in town?" I glanced down at the tickets and thought maybe for a minute about asking him, but lost my nerve. I was too raw from the simple kindness Lewis and Mandy had shown that morning.

"I'm here until Monday afternoon. I'm staying at the Hyatt just down the road." He nodded toward the tickets. "Whatcha got there?"

I handed them to him. "Blink-182 tickets. I haven't been to a concert in forever and they're one of my favorite bands."

"Oh my goodness." He laughed low in his chest. "I love these guys."

I nodded and sat back, trying hard to relax. Everything about him turned me on. He was like the greatest treasure I might get the opportunity to uncover. I just needed to know which key to use to open him up.

"I have two tickets." I shrugged, trying to appear casual. "You can join me if you like. I was going to ask a friend, but I'm happy to take you with me."

"Seriously?" His eyes lit up and his smile was so big it had to hurt.

I found myself smiling like an idiot because of him.

"Yeah. It could be fun."

"It'll be a blast." He licked his lips and handed me the tickets back. "So I'll go with you tomorrow night, but I have this stupid dinner I need to have with Jonathan Luntz tonight. He's bringing his wife and told me to bring a date. Any way I can twist your arm to come with me? You're the only woman I know in Seattle." He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

I could have taken his comment as an insult, but I decided not to.

"Yeah. I'll go."

"Just a friendly dinner. We'll get ice cream or something afterward if you're up for it."

I nodded. "Sounds good to me."