I didn’t know if Henry realized that too, or if by sheer power of the mind I’d willed him to pay attention to me. But either way, he turned his creepy, tractor beam smile my direction. “What do you think, Maverick?”
My cheeks instantly flushed when the attention of the room turned to me. I hated being the center of attention. I hated that everyone in the room was now staring at me, judging me, weighing my worth. It didn’t matter that I knew I was right for the job or that I had the chops to tackle this project. With everyone watching me, I felt completely unqualified. But not unqualified enough to give it up. “Y-yes. Of course.” I set my pen down on the table and then pushed it away so I wouldn’t be tempted to click it again. “I’d love the opportunity to work on this project.”
“It’s a lot of hours,” Henry reminded me. “A lot of late nights.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Catherine’s face flinch in disgust. Her reaction only added to my nerves. What was that about? “I can handle it,” I said firmly.
There were only a handful of other designers in the office that could juggle both the graphics and vision side of this project. Sure, they were more experienced, more professional, and more cutthroat. But I was on my way to being all of those things.
Kind of.
Someday.
My confident smile wobbled. Okay, cutthroat wasn’t really my thing. But it could be. Black Soul could make it be.
“Good,” Tucker Senior announced from the head of the table after Henry had picked a few more designers for support staff. “That’s settled. As usual, if you have questions or concerns, don’t bother me with them.”
My coworkers and I laughed our obligatory response that we gave every time he made that joke and began to gather our things. Meeting officially over. Thirty minutes late. But over all the same.
I glanced down at my phone. Three missed texts and two more missed phone calls.
Where are you???
Shit. I had to go.
By the time I stood up, the room was abuzz with excitement over the Black Soul project. For the Durham area, SixTwentySix was the best marketing firm around. But this project could build our reputation to national acclaim. And the commission wouldn’t be bad either.
I tried to slink out quietly, but I didn’t make it far. “Black Soul, huh?” Brian, one of the few designers that was under thirty years old, asked. He was a total hipster with too-tight pants and a man bun. Basically, he was an adorable hotdog.
“Exciting, right?” I tried to squeeze past him, but Daria from sales stepped in front of me.
“Do you think you’ll meet anyone famous?” she asked.
“I, uh, no?” I spin-moved to the right and managed to take two steps closer to the door. Henry moved in front of me, a shit-eating grin plastered on his spray-tanned face.
“Do you have a minute, Molly? I wanted to personally welcome you to the team.”
Checking my phone as discreetly as I could, I tried not to flinch and bit back the truth. “Yeah, sure. I have a minute.” Quite literally, one minute.
He stepped over to the corner of the conference room, and I breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t taken me back to his office. This would be much easier to get out of.
Henry’s hand landed on my forearm, just above my bent elbow. He squeezed gently and kept his hand there.
Suddenly, all concerns of being late, and feelings of glee for being chosen for the team vanished, and an uncomfortable feeling of ickiness washed through me. Oh, no, was Henry Tucker hitting on me?
I glanced down at his hand where it sat too warm and sticky against my bare skin. He didn’t remove it. So I shifted the things in my arms, and took a subtle step back.
He followed me.
Ugh.
“I’m expecting a lot from you, Molly,” he said in a smooth, deep voice.
Fear of being too inexperienced for the job I was just assigned pooled in my gut. Like a swamp. With fifteen-foot alligators. I smiled widely to distract attention from the green tinge of my skin. “I know. This is a big job. I’m really thrilled to be part of the team.”
Henry’s expression softened. “I believe in you, Maverick. I think you have exactly what I need.”
I licked dry lips and tried not to notice when Henry glanced down at my chest. Gross.
Shifting my planner in front of my body, I cursed myself for not buttoning my sleeveless blouse up to my chin. “Thanks, Henry. I’m looking forward to working with you and Ethan on this.” Lie. Total, complete lie. But one that needed to be said.
Henry leaned forward, bringing us uncomfortably close together. “But mostly me, right?” He winked.
He actually winked at me.
Letting out a nervous laugh, I nodded and said, “You got it.”
He finally released my arm, and I sucked in a deep breath to regain my personal bubble. “We don’t have a meeting with Black Soul until March. They want to see the full package before they approve anything, so we’ll need to work hard to put together a stellar presentation. We’ll start planning tomorrow. I’ll email you the details later tonight.”
“I’ll look for them,” I promised.
He caught me looking at my phone again. “Are you in a hurry to be out of here today? I figured you’d want to stick around and gloat.”
My smile had frozen in place a long time ago, and now wasn’t the time to drop it. “Gloating’s not really my thing,” I told him. “Plus, I’m late for another meeting.”
“Oh, really? Work related?”
I shook my head, “It’s definitely work, but not STS. I’m planning my best friend’s engagement party, and I was supposed to meet the caterer forty-five minutes ago.”
Henry stepped back, and I relished the additional six inches of separation. I wasn’t normally one of those people that hated being touched, but Henry had zero regard for space. I’d been at STS for three years. During that time, I’d never been able to warm up to the Little Tucker, even though he’d always been nice to me. And he could remember my name, unlike his father.
Slipping out of the conference room in a surge of other employees anxious to get home for the day, I hurried to my desk to grab my purse. Emily, my one true friend at STS, stopped by my desk. She leaned her weight on her hands and kicked up her legs. “Congratulations!”
I smiled at her, and it was real and genuine. It felt so freaking good. “Thank you! I feel like pinching myself. I can’t believe I got picked.”
“I can,” she said sincerely. “You have the best eye for detail here.” She leaned forward, cupping her mouth with her hand. “And the best taste. Black Soul is going to fall in love with you.”
“I’m just hoping they don’t fire me.”