So here she was, halfway into a bad day, also halfway into her first real assignment, and already with questions. It was probably a departmental record.
She sent an email to the general Sales account, having no one specific listed in her email, asking for some specific information. It would take a second for the email to be routed, so she headed to the other side of the floor to get a soda. By the time she got back, she had a message in her inbox. She nearly peed herself.
It was from Sean.
He must not have realized he wasn’t supposed to respond to her last email, and was now trying to glean some more of her private info while the vault was open. When her eyes skimmed lower, her heart froze. Even worse still.
Dear Krista,
I received your email from the main Sales email account. In future, please contact me directly with any questions about this presentation.
Attached you will find specific parameters and demographics I would like to encompass within this presentation. If you have any problems with the guidelines, please notify me immediately. I am excited to be working with you on this campaign.
Best regards,
Sean McAdams
Before she could open the attachment, she got another email.
Dear Krista,
On hindsight, I am not sure how thorough James was about protocol for getting a presentation approved. He will need to sign off on any final content. He will then forward it to Sales for our viewing pleasure, but will not give us time to work with the Researcher on format.
As a special favor to me, I wondered if you might send me a copy of your presentation when you send it to him? I can then have more time to look it over. I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks a million!
-Sean
She couldn’t help but notice how formal the first email was, and how loose the second was. It was like he sent the first email without looking at who the researcher was, then realized it was her and tried to use his influence to call out a favor. If he didn’t use her name in the first email, she would have paid it no more mind. As it was, it seemed like there was a tiny bit of manipulation going on.
On the other hand, Sean could help, whereas Mr. Montgomery wouldn’t. Being that Sean was the best salesman in the company, his critical eye was as good as getting a private lesson directly from the teacher. She just had to make sure he was always out in public, and therefore responsible for his actions. She really didn’t want her first real presentation marred by a sexual harassment suit. Or a kick to the groin.
~*~*~*~
Four full work days of complete focus later, Krista sat back and looked at her finished report. She’d done two edits and two final checks, and now it was ready to be sent.
The presentation wasn’t for another two weeks, so she didn’t have to work so diligently, but she had little else to do and a lot she didn’t want to think about—like the latest date and his love of birds--so she worked on it almost exclusively. She wasn’t hammering it out like normal, either. She took her time, learned the software, did some Photoshop, and tinkered with the visuals. She wanted it to pass her personal inspection before it went out to the powers that be. And she had exacting standards.
In the end, despite her aversions to Sean, she did care what he thought. Obviously he was doing something right in his professional career to be where he was. Logically, she should listen to his every word so some of his success might rub off.
In truth, though, she wanted to stand out. She wanted to prove she was better than the sleaze-buckets he took home. That she was worth something, that she was more than just tits and ass. She wanted respect, damn it. R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
I’m dumb.
When she was finished, she paused in her fifth rendition of Aretha Franklin’s song. To help Sean, or not to help Sean. The power was in her hands.
Who was she kidding? Sometimes she was bitchy, but overall she wasn’t a bitch. Or spiteful.
Hi Sean,
Per your request, here is a copy of my presentation. It was sent to Mr. Montgomery earlier today. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention that I sent it to you directly—he gets touchy about that sort of thing.
Any feedback you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
Krista
Faster than a flash, she received back:
Dear Krista,
Understood.
-Sean
She stared at the screen for a minute, looked away, and then looked back at the email just in case she missed part of the message.
No, she was right the first time--it was a pretty simple message.
It was the simplicity that was misleading. Did he understand she was going out on a limb for him? If so, where was the gratitude? What did he think about it being her first presentation? Did that worry him? Did he have confidence in her? There was so much more going on than “understood” could portray.
Could he have at least given her a sentence so that she could read into it a bit more? Cripes, she had nothing else to do, dissecting his code like she was in high school would have at least passed the hours.
And while she was on the “I hate Sean” bandwagon, why bother with the Dear Krista shenanigans? And why sign his name? The email said who the sender was; she didn’t need him to double up the info.
She sighed, loudly, and leaned back in her chair. Then she went for coffee. Her friend Peet was always willing to lend an ear while selling his wares.
The next day there was an email waiting in her inbox. Thankfully it was from Sean. Thankfully because she had slept horribly worried that he would accidently, or not accidentally, tell Mr. Montgomery that she sent it directly to him. She would get in serious trouble if her boss found out.
Krista—
Fantastic work! You get a gold star for this. And thanks for breaking protocol sending it ahead of time—your secret is safe with me. Any problems and don’t hesitate to say I strong-armed you.
I have noted some minor changes that would help on a macro level. As soon as James sends me his version (which I doubt will have any changes), I will send these changes to him so we are all on the same page. I will not mention you already received these notes.
I also have some art mock-ups. If you wanted to pop by my office I could briefly show you what we are looking at in terms of overall feel. It would help you to know how you fit into the overall layout. Please let me know if you have time for this.
Thanks again on such a thorough job. I knew I would be in safe hands.
-Sean
Well, now, that’s more like it!
Krista smiled to herself. Her worry had been stupid. Of course Sean would understand! Thank God!
She got to work right away on his notes, which were both insightful and easy to change, then got her mug and headed down to meet him with a bounce in her step. It wasn’t until she stepped out of the elevator that she paused. That she realized where she was going. Alone.
Her stomach filled with butterflies and her fist tightened on her lucky mug.
“This is not a big deal,” she whispered to herself.
Taking a big breath, stepping out of the line of fire into a fake, bushy plant, which was only weird if she got caught, she took stock of her situation. She was here for business. She was not here to meet him in some kind of intimate tryst. He was funny and nice to talk to, but so were a million people. His handsome face and freaking god-like body just meant he was bad news to boot. No mystery there. She’d already catalogued that fact.
So why the hell was that open door beckoning her closer, the pull of the charismatic salesman moving her feet as if she was in a lovesick daze. It was so freaking unfair.
With a big sigh, face a stern mask of determination, she stepped out from behind the bushy plant, then apologized profusely to the passing woman who jumped and screeched at the Research girl materializing out of thin air.
Back on track, Krista marched down the hallway, eyes trained on the battlefield, ready to keep her wits about her, hands to herself, and not grab any crotches in an act of sexual starvation. As she stepped up to the gaping door, hand in the act of knocking, she heard a female voice float out into the hallway. Then laughter.
Her gut pinched in worry. She really, really didn’t want to walk in on some sort of office sexual fantasy being acted out by Sean and his squeeze of the day.
She poked her head in slowly, eyes squinting just in case they had to close quickly, and saw a woman leaning heavily over the desk, half her large chest spilling out of her top and onto the wood. Sean’s green eyes seemed to glow in the bright, fluorescent light as they glanced at the cle**age show, a slick, predator-like expression dominating his face.
Her stomach seized up. Instead of the hurt she feared, her determination hardened. This clown wasn’t worth her emotional rollercoaster, and she was tired of him getting his way. Really, did these women not have any self-respect?
Rolling her eyes, Krista continued her knock, sighing when Sean’s head snapped up and his hungry expression turned into a mask of guilt.
“Sorry to disturb you,” Krista said coolly, irritation firing on all cylinders. “I just wanted to look at the art mock-ups. Should I come back later?” She glanced at the busty girl who was surprisingly not cute.
It was official. This guy would literally screw anything. No offense Miss Boob-N-Plenty.
“Not at all, Krista. Please, come in,” Sean answered cordially.
The girl, a member of Marketing, gave Krista a look that said she should watch her back or her desk might catch fire with her tied to it. “Okay, Sean, well I’ll chat with you tonight.” Mt. Bust slowly crossed to the door, then made a show of waiting for Krista to get out of her way.
“Ole,” Krista said without thinking. She looked up at Sean with a “Don’t you dare comment” look. Wisely, he caught it and erased his smile.
After Krista finally stepped into the room, Sean said, “Sorry about that. She was just visiting.”
He looked like he needed Krista to understand something. Male urges? Helplessness in the face of ni**les? Unwilling participant in a love affair but unable to say no for fear of life? Whatever it was, she wasn’t buying.
“No problem. Could I just see the mock-ups?”
“Of course.” Sean smoothly exited his chair, raising a hand to beckon her over.
Krista stayed right where she was. She knew what happened to raw meat when it wandered into the lion’s den.
“They are on discs,” Sean explained patiently, “so you have to view them from my computer.” His face was perfectly blank.
Have you ever heard of a flash drive?
Defeated but still rigid, Krista crossed the space, taking the path on the far side of the desk to get to the chair. It meant she had to awkwardly climb over a garbage can and recycling bin, half leaning on the desk so as not to crawl through a plant, but she did not have to pass within inches of an incredibly attractive, though exceedingly sleazy, salesman.
As she sank into the overstuffed leather chair it went cush. “Oh holy hell, this is a nice chair. Sorry about the language.”
A smile flickering up his face, Sean said, “Can’t complain.”
He took two slow steps to her side, leaned over her, his solid bicep inches from her face, and worked the mouse, bringing up the presentation. A buzzing filled Krista’s head as she tried to ignore the heat radiating off that exquisite body. She took a deep breath, not hearing whatever was drumming out of his muscular chest next to her ear. His special elixir dizzied her, made her want to lean in, connecting her skin with his.
“There you go.” That smooth masculine tone tickled her ears and groin at the same time, making her break out in a sweat and shiver.
“Hmmmm?”
Sean’s face angled down to hers, wondering if she understood.
Oh, she understood alright. She was about to go down the wrong road if he kept standing there, that’s what she understood. She didn’t need to add sexual harassment to her list of accolades.
“Yup, all good here. No problem. Please step away.”
With a confused chuckle, Sean did exactly that, eating her alive with his intense gaze.
Shaking her head, reaching for control, she reached for the mouse as she cleared her throat. “Do you have a pen and notepaper? I’d like to take some notes. Me memory no so good.”
Sean chuckled. “Sure.”
“Jeez, you get all the nice office stuff,” Krista noticed through a foggy head. “I get crappy plastic pens with no grip, a crappy mouse, a used, dirty keyboard—well, until it was replaced…”
“Replaced?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess the main-cheese in IT thought he’d do me a favor. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Jacob?”
“The one and only. I think Research freaks him out, though. He hasn’t come back, thank God. I only need so much leering in my lifetime.”
Sean chuckled again. “It’s who you know, though sometimes the cost isn’t worth the end result.”
He had that right.
He paused for a minute before he moved to the visitor chairs facing the desk. “Are you wearing a new scent?”
“What?”
“Your perfume. New?”
“Oh, yeah. My friend Kate gave it to me. Well, not true. She left it at my house and I failed to return it.”
“Finders keepers.”
She laughed. “Exactly.”
When the slide show came up she had a good look. The art portion wasn’t all that exciting, but looked way different than her presentation. The colors, for starters, clashed with her colors. They looked like two different presentations altogether. If what she was looking at was set in stone, she needed to redo her whole design format.
That would mean she wasted a ton of time on this! It was short-sighted on Sean’s part to wait this long before letting her know.
“Is this what you’re going with? Final, final?” she asked, irritation seeping back into her voice.