It took a moment for Chelsea to notice him, which gave
Ian a moment to admire her. He was going to crush her
tomorrow, but that didn’t stop him from appreciating a
figure that guys like him dreamed about. Chelsea was
wearing a skirt today. It hit about mid-thigh and was
tight enough to show off all her curves. She looked a bit
taller today too. He glanced at her feet and noticed the
shoes. Chelsea was walking on stilts, and her legs, good
God, her legs. She was smoking hot in that dress and
those shoes.
“Hey!” she said sharply, her voice full of accusation.
Ian’s head snapped up. “Hey,” he said con-genially.
“Practicing your pitch?” He settled one hip onto the
conference table.
“Do you mind?” She gestured to the door in a be-off-
with-you way.
“If you want, I could listen and give you some feedback.”
Chelsea’s mouth dropped open. And then her green eyes
narrowed into little slits. “You have got to be the most
arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
Ian smiled and shrugged.
“You can go, Ian,” she said, marching around the
conference table to usher him out. “I think I’ve got it.”
“Suit yourself.”
“I will.”
“So hostile,” he said with a wink as he stood up. “I’m
just trying to help. It never hurts for someone to hear
the pitch, right? You’ve had someone listen to you go
through it, right?”
“Yes, I’ve had—Hey, hey,” she said, poking him in the
chest. “Are you trying to play me?” she demanded.
“Because it won’t work. I’m not some junior account
person, you know. You can’t intimidate me.”
“Well, obviously,” Ian said and poked her back. “You
wouldn’t be pitching at all if you were a junior account
person. I know I can’t intimidate you. It wasn’t a
declaration of war, you know; it was an offer to help.”
“It wasn’t a let-me-help, best-friends-forever offer,
either. I’m not playing games with you. This account
means a lot to me—”
“Me too.”
“Oh yeah?” she said, shifting closer. “Well, don’t get
too attached to the idea. I’ve got seniority, you know.”
“So why are you so afraid to show me what you’ve got?”
“Because it’s none of your business.”
“On the eve of the championship, it’s okay to go out and
shoot some hoops with your competitor. It’s not going to
affect tomorrow’s big game. It’s not like I can go out
and change weeks of work overnight if I see you’ve got
something better.”
She laughed. “Good try, Rafferty, but I think maybe the
reason you want to see my pitch is because you’re worried
about the strength of your pitch. Is it a little rough?
Maybe I should listen to you.” She winked, and her green
eyes shone with pleasure at her comeback.
“I’m definitely not worried about my pitch.”
“No? Seems to me if you’re presenting three,” she said,
holding up three fingers and wiggling them at him, “then
you must be uncertain which one is the winner.” Her smile
broadened into sheer triumph, as if she thought she’d
really zinged him.
She hadn’t zinged him, but Ian did wonder how she knew
what he had…Zach. Of course. That rat bastard. “Have you
been talking to Zimmerman?” he asked accusingly.
She shrugged and studied her manicure. “Maybe. Does it
matter? I thought we were doing the let’s-help-each-other
thing. But if we’re not, would you mind toddling off? I
have a lot of work I need to do before tomorrow. I plan
to hit the ground running with this account on Monday.”
She was amazingly and annoyingly confident. Ian was
generally a confident guy, but she was making him a
teensy bit nervous. “You really think you’re going to get
this, don’t you?”
“I don’t think, I know,” she said, looking up.
He tilted his head to one side to study her. “Isn’t it
obvious to you why they brought me in?”
“I don’t know—I haven’t given it the slightest bit of
thought.” She lifted her chin, and Ian realized she lied
about as well as she engaged in verbal volleyball. “I’ve
been promised that this account is as good as mine.
Didn’t they tell you that when they brought you in?”
A bit more of Ian’s confidence leaked out of him. He’d
been in New York advertising long enough to know that the
industry was full of snakes. He wouldn’t put it past
anyone to feed him a bunch of half-baked promises to get
him to commit. “Who told you?”
She grinned. “None of your beeswax.”
“Come on, tell me—” His phone rang, distracting him
momentarily. He fished it out of his pocket and noticed
the number was the Grabber-Paulson main number. That was
weird. “Listen, I’ll just say this,” he said, clicking
off the phone. “Don’t be so sure of things. People say
things they don’t mean, especially in this industry.” He
started for the door.
“Uh-huh, I know. And I would offer you the same advice,
Mr. Rafferty,” she said in a singsong voice, and she
flashed a dazzling smile, full of straight white teeth.
“Cocky too. I like that about you,” he said. “I’ll keep
it in mind when I make partner.” He winked at her, smiled
as if he was completely unbothered, and went out of the
conference room.
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