Trust in Advertising (29 page)

Lexi flopped back down in her chair, completely dejected. “No, it’s not that kind of campaign.”

“If you think having me stay will help, I can. I don’t have any plans. I was going to eat, and then head home and watch the game.”

“A bite to eat. Shit!”

“There you go using that foul language again, Lexi. You know that talk is completely inappropriate for the workplace.”

“Sean, shut up and listen. Hope will be here in ten minutes. I was supposed to go out to a nice dinner with her, then go dancing and watch her pick up guys.” Lexi quickly appraised Sean in his black suit with a dark gray shirt underneath, open just enough to give a peek at his tan, muscular chest. “I need you to take her out and show her a good time.” Sean opened his mouth to make a completely inappropriate comment, but before he could utter a word, Lexi cut him off. “And not
that
kind of good time either. This is it. This is your chance with her. Don’t blow it!”

A dazzling smile broke across Sean’s face. He straightened his posture, brushed the lint off his jacket, and winked at Lexi. “Gentleman Sean reporting for duty, miss.”

“Just don’t piss her off. Flatter her, charm her, romance her, but whatever you do, don’t call her ‘babe’!” Lexi called after his retreating form.

Taking a deep breath, Lexi got out of her seat and headed toward Vincent’s office to give him the news about her failed attempt at bringing the productions team back into work. She knew he would be furious, but at this point there wasn’t much they could do. There simply wasn’t time for a tantrum. They needed to get to work. Lexi thought about calling Elizabeth, but she too was out of town.

Running out of options, she bit the bullet and knocked on his door.

169

Victoria Michaels

“Who’s coming back?” Vincent eyed her as he rapidly tapped his pencil on the notebook in front of him.

“No one, Vincent. I called them all, but nobody picked up the phone.”

“As usual.” Vincent leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling.

“Sean was here. I asked if he would stay and help,” Lexi said, second guessing her decision to send him out with Hope.

“Oh God, no. Sean and I cannot work together on this part of the project.

We’d kill each other.”

“I’d call Elizabeth, but she—”

Vincent interrupted with an exasperated sigh. “She left this morning. No, don’t bother her. She isn’t scheduled to come home until tomorrow night anyway.

Well, hell, I’ll just do it myself. I’ll pull an all-nighter. I did this all the time in college. The stakes weren’t as high though. I’ll get everything hammered out and then hand it off to whoever strolls in from productions tomorrow. Tony should be back. It’s the best I can do at this point.” Lexi bit her lip, obviously worrying about him. “Go. You’re all dressed up. You must have big plans.”

Lexi abruptly turned on her heel and headed for the door. She paused and closed the door, then kicked her black heels into the corner of his office.

“I’m not leaving you here alone. God knows what state this office would be in when you got through with it. Besides, I already sent Sean out to dinner with Hope in my place.”

“You really think that was wise?” Vincent grinned as he watched her pull her hair back into a ponytail and twist it into a knot behind her head.

Her light laughter filled the room. “Probably not, but it’s encouraging that I haven’t gotten a text threatening my life yet. You never know, sometimes you find the best things in the most unexpected places.”

“So I hear.”

170

∙ 14 ∙

Lexi grabbed a notepad and pen off Vincent’s desk and sat down on the couch in the corner. They had one night to pull an entirely new Stone campaign together, so there wasn’t a second to spare. “Okay, how do we do this?”

Vincent leaned back in his chair and spun in a slow circle, staring at the ceiling. “Well, first we make coffee, lots of coffee.” He strolled right out of his office, and Lexi heard him clunking around with the coffeemaker. When he returned to the room, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his tie was in his hand. He slowly flicked open his shirt at the collar.

“What were the other pitches you considered for this account? Was there anything good you didn’t go with that maybe we can tweak one way or another?”

Lexi asked hopefully.

Vincent shook his head and pulled a file out of his drawer, then sat down on the couch beside her, spreading the contents on the coffee table. “Stone was so hard to get a read on at the time; we didn’t have much to go on. And now, after getting to know him a little, I can see it’s all crap. He won’t like any of it.”

His hands raked through his hair.

Lexi quickly skimmed through the papers on the table and agreed with Vincent’s assessment of the situation. “Fine,” she closed the folder and tossed it into the trashcan beside her, “we start fresh.” She raised her pen to the paper.

“Show me what you’ve got, Mister Vice President. Impress me.”

Victoria Michaels

Vincent gave her a cocky smile and started rattling off ideas that Lexi scribbled down as fast as he could speak. Every so often she added one or two of her own thoughts while Vincent paced the room, thinking.

Hours later, crumpled pieces of yellow paper littered the office floor. Others were taped to the dry erase board Vincent had dragged in from Elizabeth’s office.

He paced the room like a caged tiger, trying to come up with a tag line that felt right for the Stone project. On his five hundredth lap around the room, he nearly stumbled over Lexi, who was now sprawled out on the floor, flat on her back, her long, shapely legs running up the wall.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Shhhh, I’m concentrating,” Lexi whispered, holding a finger to her smiling lips. “Perspective is everything.”

“We’ll, I’m starving. Let’s order something to eat. Screw perspective, I’m far more creative on a full stomach.”

That perked Lexi up considerably. “Tell me you like Thai food.”

“Never had it, actually.” Vincent shrugged looking down as he loomed over her. “Is that what you want?”

Lexi quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you like spicy food? If not, this might not be the thing for you.”

Vincent rolled his eyes. “I think I can handle it.”

“Okay,” Lexi snickered, “then let’s eat.”

Vincent held out his hand and helped Lexi up from the floor. “Do you know a good place?” Lexi quickly rattled off a phone number. “Here,” he thrust a phone at her, “you make the call.”

“What do you want? Shrimp, pork, or chicken?”

“Surprise me.” Vincent smugly smiled, chal enging Lexi. “And make it spicy.”

An hour later, boxes of food from a variety of entrees covered Vincent’s desk. There were noodles, dips, and sauces, as well as chicken, pork, and shrimp dishes to choose from.

“I think we’re getting closer, don’t you?” Lexi asked as she grabbed a plate.

She filled it high with spicy chicken and rice, then went back to the couch and stretched out. She was surprised when Vincent came and sat on the floor, leaning his back up against the couch in front of her.

“Yes, but let’s take a break from the project talk until we’re done eating.

Rest and refuel.”

“Done.” Lexi took a heaping bite of food.

172

Trust in Advertising

“Think it’s a good sign we haven’t heard from Sean or Hope yet?” Vincent chuckled as he set his plate onto his lap.

“I think it means so far Sean has had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. Either that, or she’s killed him and is dumping his body into the bay as we speak.” Vincent laughed out loud. “Don’t let her size fool you. She knows how to wield a tire iron.”

“Don’t piss off Hope. Got it.”

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend, right?”

“No, he’d been seeing someone casually, but it wasn’t going well at all.

Then recently, I think it was the day we went to Crowbar, as a matter of fact, he officially broke it off with her.”

Lexi hid a little smile. “Good to know.”

Vincent looked over at Lexi and cautiously stabbed at curry shrimp. “So, tell me what you’ve been doing for the last ten years.”

“It’s a long, boring story. You really don’t want to hear it.” Lexi shoveled some rice into her mouth to try to avoid any further discussion of the topic, but Vincent persisted.

“Actually, I do. And since I’m your boss, you can’t say no.” Lexi playfully kicked his shoulder with her bare foot. “Anna said something about NYU.”

“I made it through three glorious semesters.” Lexi sighed.

“Did you like living in New York?”

“Loved every minute of it.” Her eyes clouded with sadness. “I only wish I could have stayed longer.”

Vincent watched the pain flit across Lexi’s face as she became lost in her thoughts. He knew some of her story; Anna had filled him in. He placed his hand on her leg and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m so sorry about your dad.”

A single tear rol ed down her cheek, but Lexi quickly wiped it away, unwil ing to wallow in her sadness any longer. Harry wouldn’t have wanted that for her.

She placed her hand over Vincent’s and held onto it for a second, relishing the contact. “Thanks.”

“I think what you did, dropping out of school to take care of him, is easily the most selfless thing I have ever heard of someone doing.”

“He is … he was my dad. There was no way in hell I was going to let him go through that alone.” Lexi paused, chewing the mouthful of spicy chicken.

“Even at the end, when he didn’t remember who I was,
I
knew who I was, and I knew I was doing the right thing by him, so it was manageable.”

173

Victoria Michaels

Vincent gave her a sad smile, and then popped a piece of shrimp into his mouth. He tried to speak, but instead began sputtering, waving his hand in front of his mouth. “Hot!” He filled his mouth with ice from his drink, hoping to dull the pain, but his eyes started watering when no relief came.

Lexi stifled a laugh and ripped off a piece of bread, handing it to him.

“You’re the one that said to get it spicy. Just put this in your mouth for a few seconds and breathe, Vincent, breathe.” She gently patted him on the back until his breathing slowed down.

“How do you eat this stuff?” Vincent wiped his eyes. “I think my taste buds were just incinerated.”

“Are you always such a baby?”

“When I swallow something that has the same effects as Drano? Yeah.”

Lexi threw another piece of bread at his head and seized the moment to change the topic of conversation to him. She pointed up at the diplomas hanging on his wall. “So after Stanford, you went to Columbia for grad school?”

“Yeah, from one end of the country to another.” He went and rummaged through the rest of the boxes, looking for something safe to eat. “What else in here won’t dissolve the lining of my stomach?”

Lexi groaned and got up off the couch to help him. “Here, eat this. It has an orange glaze on it, so it’s sweet without the heat of the chilies.” Vincent eyed her cautiously. “It’s on the kids’ menu at the restaurant so I
think
you can handle it.”

“Smartass.” Vincent popped a piece of pork into his mouth and grinned as he went and sat back down.

“It’s part of my charm.” Lexi joined him on the couch and watched him happily dig into the pork. “So, why the cross country move after undergrad?”

The smile slipped from his face, and he stared at his plate intently. “Never mind.”

Lexi wished she hadn’t brought up the subject.

“It’s fine. I just needed to put some space between me and a few people.”

He laid his head back on the couch and studied the ceiling.

“So things didn’t work out with Jennifer?” Lexi remembered that the golden couple of Riverdale High had both been accepted at Stanford, making everyone in town speculate that they’d be walking down the aisle eventually.

“Jennifer?” His head shot up and he laughed. “Oh Lord, no! Jennifer and I were over well before I graduated college. Hell, we were almost over by our high school graduation.” He shook his head from side to side at the mention of her name.

174

Trust in Advertising

“Really? You two always looked so happy together. You were the ‘it’ couple, you know.” Vincent rol ed his eyes. “I’m serious. Everyone wanted to be you guys.”

“Yeah, well, things weren’t always as they seemed.” He became very quiet as he found himself lost in his own thoughts. “Being popular wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

“Yeah, rough life having everyone adore you, being the star of the football team, girls throwing themselves at you and being able to get away with murder by flashing a sexy smile. Sounds like hell.” Lexi twirled a piece of chicken on her fork.

“Did you really think I had a sexy smile?” Vincent leaned closer and grinned from ear to ear, his pearly white teeth on full display as she inadvertently stroked his ego.

“I was a child. I didn’t know any better,” Lexi quipped. Vincent placed his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt by her words. “Oh please, I’m sure Jennifer stroked your ego every chance she got.”

Vincent snickered. “She was shallow. I can see that now. But at the time, I thought she was genuine. Lesson learned.”

Lexi had to stifle a laugh. The similarities between Jade and Jennifer were endless. They both had that smile-sweetly-to-your-face-then-stab-you-in-the-back vibe about them. Lexi highly doubted that he had learned nearly as much as he thought, but she kept her opinion to herself. “Who do you keep in touch with from Riverdale?” she asked.

“No one. I was so ready to graduate, it wasn’t even funny. I didn’t care if I saw any of them ever again.” Lexi raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “Really.

All of my ‘good friends’ were totally fake. Because my family had money, they all wanted to be my buddy. Every single one of them wanted something from me and yet were ready to let me take the blame for their screw-ups the first chance they got.”

Vincent got up off the couch and grabbed two bottles of water and handed one to Lexi. “Do you remember my graduation party?” he asked.

“I knew you had one, but I didn’t go. My invitation must have been lost in the mail.”