Breaking Into the Business (3 page)

Ben
had a plan to counter that and possibly save their company. He had written out
an enormous proposal and had numbers to back up his ideas. He presented it to
those men in the windowed offices, but it had met with such resistance. Months
later, they had begun to listen, but still they weren’t ready to take the full
plunge and go with his ideas.

I
thought of him as a genius. I had read his proposal before he had presented it
and found it flawless. He was an innovator and had a familiarity with
technology and culture that most in the office couldn’t fathom. His fingers had
a better hold on the pulse of society, whereas the rest of us were simply
worried about keeping our jobs.

“They’ll
listen eventually,” I told him. “Let’s just hope it’s not too late when they
do.”

“It’s
whatever,” he waved it off. He walked around our cube wall and stopped in the
entrance to mine. He was a nice looking kid, but in that geeky way. His
complexion was a little pale, but he had nice facial features, and his glasses framed
light brown eyes were pretty.  “It’s not like this is where I’m going to make
my post-college career.”

“There
are big things out there for you, Ben,” I said.

“I
hope so,” he said. “Did you hear about the pay cuts?”

“No,
I didn’t.”

“Well,
the part time staff had their pay cut down,” Ben said. “I don’t know what I’m
going to do. I tried to take on more hours, but they wouldn’t let me. Now my
weekly check barely covers my rent and car insurance. That leaves me no money
for food or anything else.”

“Oh
dear,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s
not your fault.”

“I
know, but if I were in a better position, I could help you.”

“I
wouldn’t dream of asking you for help,” Ben said. “You’re a single mom and have
two kids to worry about. You definitely don’t need a third.”

“But
I still wish that I could,” I said. “It’s just silly that this company cuts
your pay when you are the only one who knows how to keep this place afloat.”

“Tell
me about it,” he sighed.

“So
you want to do lunch?” I asked.

“Sounds
good to me,” he said.

“I’ll
buy.”

“I
can’t let you do that,” he said.

“Nonsense,
I got it. But it’s got to be cheap.” I smiled.

Ben
leaned in closer. “So I heard that Jeremy Towers is coming into the office
today.”

“What?”
I gasped. He was one of the biggest name authors that the company represented. I
had never had the wonderful chance to work with him, but I would sell my soul
for a chance to talk to him for thirty seconds.

“Yeah,
he should be here soon.”

I
was suddenly glad that I had chosen to fix myself up. The odds that I would
have the chance to see, much less speak to him, would be next to impossible.

As
if our conversation about him were some sort of telepathic invitation for him
to enter, Jeremy Towers came walking through the front door. His entrance was
announced first by all of the other staff standing up and gawking. Of course, I
had to take a peek myself, but I could barely manage to hoist myself up enough
to look over the top of the cube.

“Can
you see him?” Ben asked.

“Just
a little,” I said.

Finally,
I gave up and plopped back down. “I don’t think I’ll get the chance to see him.
I don’t want to be one of those that line up along the main aisle like he’s a
parade float.”

Ben
smiled. “Before we go to lunch, maybe we can walk through the office and try to
catch a peek.”

Before
I could answer, someone behind Ben called my name.

“Ms.
Ford.”

Ben
turned around and stumbled backwards. I scrunched my forehead in confusion and
tried to peer around him.

That’s
when I saw Mr. Leighton, one of the company executives. I nearly fainted when I
saw that famed author and drop dead gorgeous Jeremy Towers appear beside him.

Clutching
my hand to my clavicle, I tried to force a response. “Yes,” was all I could
manage.

“This
is Mr. Towers,” he said, beckoning to the man next to him. “We’re about to go
into a meeting, and when we get out, I would like for you to visit with him
about your plans for the next few weeks.”

I
shook my head to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. What plans was he referring
to?

“I
can see by the look on your face that you’re confused,” Mr. Leighton smiled. “I
sent you an e-mail this morning, but I see that you haven’t even turned on your
computer this morning. Our meeting should only last a half hour, so please see
to it that you log on to your system and read my e-mail. That should explain
everything.”

“I
apologize, Mr. Leighton,” I stammered, never taking my eyes off of Jeremy. “And
to you too, Mr. Towers.”

“Please,
call me Jeremy,” he said. His voice was a deep baritone, and it was as sexy as
the rest of him.

“I
will read the e-mail immediately,” I said. “And I’ll be prepared for whatever
it is you need of me.”

“Good,”
he said with a half-smile.

Mr.
Leighton led the client away to the nicer side of the office. As soon as they
rounded the corner, Ben whirled around, his eyes so big I thought they might
pop out of his head.

“Did
you hear that?” he asked rhetorically.

“Of
course,” I said. I turned and sat in my chair. Flicking on my computer, I
started tapping the desk in front of me in futile hope that it would make the start-up
process go faster.

“What
do you think he wants?” Ben asked.

“I
don’t know, but I’m freaking out,” I said. “This can’t be good.”

“Of
course it’s good,” Ben said.

“No,
I mean that I’m not prepared, so how can that be good? Jeremy Towers is one of
the biggest clients in this office, so whatever they’re asking me to do has to
be huge, and I’m supposed to prepare in less than half an hour.”

“I’ll
help you.”

“I
just might take you up on the offer,” I replied.

A
few minutes later, my computer had finally booted up and I accessed my company
e-mail account. There it was at the top of a list of unread e-mails. My hand
shook so much that it made it difficult to hover over the e-mail and double
click.

I
scanned the e-mail first and then went back and read it in detail. There wasn’t
much there, so there couldn’t be a way to misinterpret. Famous author and
journalist Jeremy Towers had personally requested that I be assigned to his
manuscripts. He had heard about my work from another lesser-known author friend
of his, and had been so inspired by the other’s words that he insisted I do all
of his editing. Today, following his brief meeting with Mr. Leighton, I was to
have lunch with Mr. Towers and a calendar reminder accompanied the e-mail.

“I
can’t go to lunch today,” I told Ben.

“Is
it that bad?” he asked.

I
filled him in on the e-mail.

“That’s
wonderful!”

“Shh,”
I said. “I don’t want anyone else to hear.”

“Why?
This is great news.”

“People
will get jealous. I’m a nobody around here and then suddenly one of our biggest
clients asks for me. You know the others on our side aren’t going to take this
well. I’m going to be ostracized.”

“Who
cares? You don’t even come into the office that often anyway.”

“It’s
the principle,” I said.

“You
aren’t looking at this the right way,” Ben said. “You get to go to lunch with
one of your crushes.”

“That’s
true,” I said, trying to hide my smile. I was sitting there trying to search
out the negative aspects of this new endeavor, when there were so many
positives.

I
was going to get to eat lunch with the hottest man I had met in a long time.
And I had chosen that day to fix myself up. Maybe everything would turn out
okay.

The
little restaurant on the corner was crowded, which lessened the nervousness
that the situation had presented. Jeremy and I had taken my SUV and arrived
within a few minutes. On the way there, he had talked about his latest book
signing when a crazy fan had tried to get him to sign her breast.

We
had to wait a few minutes for a table, and halfway through the wait, I was
tempted to drop Jeremy’s name to see if it would get us a table any faster, but
thought better of it. My position in the company was increasing in prestige
with this new assignment and I had to act the part.

When
we sat down, Jeremy actually pulled the chair out for me, which only made me
like him even more. As I sat back in the chair, I crossed my legs and waited
for him to speak first.

“It
is lovely to meet you,” Jeremy said. “A colleague of mine told me how prompt
and diligent you were on his manuscript, so I knew that you were the one that I
had to work with.”

“That’s
good to hear,” I smiled. “So, tell me what you’re working on right now.”

“You’ll
be editing my latest book,” Jeremy said. “I’ve just finished the first draft
and need for you to take a look at it. In it, I detail nearly a dozen accounts
of obese women trying to have children. It’s a very intriguing story and will
be filled with many photographs to chronicle their journey.”

“Did
any of them get pregnant?”

“Five
of them did get pregnant,” he said. “But two of them could not carry the baby
to full term. They endured a plethora of health risks. The women that I talk
about are many hundreds of pounds, so the stakes and potential problems are
severe.”

“That’s
awful,” I said, holding my hand up to my mouth.

Jeremy
Towers was known for these types of books though. It shouldn’t have surprised
me. His critics in the literary circles asserted that he was no more than the
reality TV of the publishing world. There was truth to many of their claims. If
you read his book titles off, you wouldn’t know whether you were talking about
books or the fall line-up of basic cable programs.

His
primary profession was as a journalist for one of the largest online magazines
in the world. He wrote very typical exposes, such as stories about puppy mills,
teenage pregnancy, and even one piece on the treatment of women in some
backwoods church in Mississippi.

Of
course, much of what his critics said was absolutely correct, but the most
important thing to consider was that it made him a lot of money. Not the type
of “lot of money” that pays the bills and you can live off of. No, he had
enough money to put him in league with the highest earning percentage of the
population.

“This
one was a tough assignment,” Jeremy agreed. “Some of the cases broke my heart,
but most of them did end happily.”

“How
could those stories end happily?”

“Some
of the women were able to use the money that I paid them for their story to
have surgeries, lose enough weight and become healthier. One of my subjects was
able to get below two hundred pounds and is currently trying again to have a
child. Two of the others who have lost a significant amount of weight are now
proceeding with plans for adoption.”

“That’s
wonderful,” I said.

The
waitress interrupted our conversation so that we could both place our orders. I
tried to make eye contact with the waitress, but that was hard, because out of
the corner of my eye, I could see Jeremy staring at me. I actually stuttered when
placing my order.

When
she had written both of our orders down and disappeared, I turned back to him. Apparently,
he had never taken his eyes off of me.

“I’m
really glad to have you on board for this project,” he said.

“I’m
glad, too.”

“I
can promise you a mention in my acknowledgments,” he said.

“That
would be great.”

He
was about to say something and then stopped. He cocked his head to the side and
his eyes narrowed, as if he were studying me like one of his subjects.

“Is
something wrong?” I asked him.

“Yes,”
he said pointedly. He studied me for a second longer before finally speaking.
“My friend failed to mention one key fact about you and your work.”

“I
hope it won’t be anything that will affect the project,” I said quickly. My
mind reeled, trying to figure out just what it was he was referring to. I had
never made an enemy and had a proven record of accomplishment in my profession.
Granted, I didn’t have any notable work under my belt, but I still had plenty
of years’ experience.

“I
must speak frankly and I hope that this does not make you uncomfortable,” he
said. “But you are incredibly attractive.”

“Oh,
wow,” I said. Luckily, he brought that one out before the food arrived, because
if I had been eating, I would have spit the contents of my mouth out all over
the table.

“My
intention is not to make you uncomfortable,” Jeremy continued. “But I have
never been taken by someone before. You really are ravishing.”