Page 34 of Kiss and Tell

“I’m happy I’m able to make a client happy,” I told him, only half-lying.

His mouth turned down into a frown. He looked back down at the papers, shuffling through them.

“That’s all that matters, isn’t it?” he said. “Pleasing one of your clients.”

A kernel of guilt settled in my gut, but I refused to give in to it.

“That’s my job,” I said. “If I can pull this off, I’ll prove to everyone I can do this on my own. That I don’t need a senior consultant looking over my shoulder.”

“Is that important to you?”

“Definitely,” I replied. “People at the company will have to respect me and listen to me when I bring up ideas.”

“Does that not happen now?” he asked.

I pressed my lips together.

“I’m sure you can imagine how it goes,” I told him. “I speak up in a meeting, my ideas are dismissed, and then five minutes later someone else repeats it in different words and gets all the praise for having such a good idea.”

Connor made a sound of sympathy.

“Happens often, does it?” he asked.

“More than once,” I replied. “But even once was enough to irritate me. That’s why I want to work for myself some day. I won’t need to worry about office politics, or people not taking me seriously. If I start my own consulting company, the only people I’ll need to impress are my clients.”

“You’ve got that entrepreneurial spirit,” he noted.

“I know I’m young, and it’s not going to happen for a while,” I said, “but if I can keep working my way up, eventually I’ll get to a point where I can snag clients all on my own based on my reputation.”

I hadn’t realized I’d raised my voice and started gesturing with my hands until I saw the slight smile on Connor’s face.

“You think I can’t do it?” I asked, put out at his amused expression.

“I’ve just never seen you this fired up about something,” he said. “You really care about this.”

“I do,” I said. “That’s why this redesign is so important.”

“We’ve got it now, though,” he replied.

“This is only step one, remember?” I told him.

“Right.” He ran a hand through his thick hair, pushing it back from his forehead, revealing more of his handsome face. I stared at that full mouth, that sharp jaw. “We’ve got to think about the menu. And more employees. And whatever else you said.”

I put my tongue back in my mouth before replying.

“There’s branding, marketing and the grand opening,” I said.

We still had so much to work on. We were still going to be spending so much time together. The thought was both worrying and exhilarating.

How was I going to manage to keep myself together for that long?

“I’ve already been researching some well known craft breweries we need to visit,” I continued. “One of them isn’t local, so the both of us will have to take a bit of a drive to get there. But it’s got great reviews.”

“Can’t we just sell PBR?” he asked.

“You’re the one who told me you wanted quality drinks along with something unique.”

He let out a heavy breath through his nose and slumped into his chair.