LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER SEVEN

      ‘CALLIE, BLAKE NEEDS TO see you in Conference Room A.’

      Kate popped her head into Callie’s office and then disappeared almost immediately. But not before Callie saw the expression on her face. She recognised that expression. It was the sympathetic one Kate usually wore when Callie told her about a horrible tour she’d been on.

      Was Blake annoyed with her? She’d left him a note in the conference room to tell him that she wanted to prepare alone before their first potential investor arrived at ten. As she made her way to the conference room she faced the fact that it was certainly a possibility. He might have wanted to talk to her about the proposal and run through it one last time.

      But she hadn’t wanted to deal with him that morning, when her nerves had already been tightly coiled. Just being in his presence made her feel so tense that sometimes she felt sick. So this morning, before the most important tour of her life, she’d just wanted a bit of peace.

      When she arrived at the room she saw Blake standing with his back facing the door.

      ‘Blake? Kate said you wanted to see me?’

      He turned to her, his face calm, though she thought she saw an eyebrow twitch. She took a step towards him and then stopped when she realised she’d mistaken calm for professional. It was the same look he’d had on his face when she’d walked in on him and Connor talking the day all this had started.

      ‘What do you need me for?’

      ‘Both Mr Vercelli and Mr Jung arrived this morning. Apparently Mr Jung had an urgent matter to resolve in South Africa, and so took an earlier flight to Cape Town. Instead of individual proposals, customised for two different potential investors, we’re going to have to do them both today.’

      Callie felt her stomach churn, and sat down on one of the conference room chairs so her legs didn’t give out on her. She closed her eyes and let her mind go through the possibilities. Could they still do two different proposals? No, that wouldn’t work. And nor could they make one of the men wait, do it in two shifts, since both proposals included dinner.

      ‘Callie?’

      Blake was crouched in front of her when she opened her eyes.

      ‘Are you okay? You’re pale.’

      He brushed a piece of hair out of her face and her mind, which had been so busy before, blanked. And then she remembered that they had a job to do and nodded.

      ‘I’m fine.’ She stood, and he rose with her, and for a moment they were so close she could feel his body heat. ‘What does this mean, though?’

      ‘It means we need to work on a new plan that merges the two proposals.’ He said it confidently, his voice back to its usual formality, as though this had always been his plan and he hadn’t just shown his concern for her.

      ‘And you aren’t in the least worried that this might turn out poorly?’ she asked, her own fears motivating words that she wouldn’t have spoken if it didn’t irk her that he had recovered from their contact much faster than she had.

      ‘No, Callie, I’m not. This is what I do.’

      He shrugged and walked around her, and she thanked the heavens when her mind started working normally again.

      ‘And, today, this is what we do.’

      His emphasis stiffened her spine and she realised he wanted her to step up. So she took a moment, searching through the possibilities, looking for some way to maintain the two proposals they’d worked on. She knew both tours like the back of her hand, and before she could consciously think about it she started pulling threads of commonality from each of them.

      ‘Okay...so Mr Vercelli wants to experience the Italian side of Cape Town—family was our angle on that one.’ She spoke almost without realising it, needing to hear her ideas out loud to figure out whether they made sense. ‘And Mr Jung wants to experience Cape Town culture, which we know is so different from his own Chinese culture.’

      She frowned, and then looked up at Blake.

      ‘But isn’t family in a place fondly called the Mother City an important part of our culture?’

      Blake smiled at her, and she felt the knot in her stomach loosen.

      ‘I’d say so, yes. I think you’re on to something.’

      She returned his smile. ‘So we focus on the common aspect of the two proposals—family. We use tour stops and business details focused on that.’

      ‘Yes, that should work.’

      She waited for him to grab his tablet from the table to note things down. But instead he just stood leaning against the table slightly, with a satisfied look on his face.

      ‘You’d already thought about that, hadn’t you?’ she asked.

      ‘I had. But you needed to get there yourself.’

      She shook her head and sat down, not sure if she was relieved that her idea was one he approved of or annoyed that he’d already thought of it and had let her panic for nothing.

      ‘So what’s the plan?’ she asked in resignation, and listened as he outlined his thoughts, only objecting when she thought she had something valuable to add.

      And even though she knew he was good at his job—even though his calm and commanding presence gave her some stability—she still found herself saying the words that mingled with her every thought.

      ‘This is going to work, right?’

      He looked at her, and something on her face prompted him to sit in the chair opposite her. He placed his hands on her arms and the heat seeped through her jacket right down to her blood.

      ‘This is going to work. And I would know, since I’ve already seen you in action when you haven’t had the time to plan anything.’ He squeezed her arms. ‘You’re good at what you do spontaneously, and you still have some time to prepare now, while Connor is with them. Think about how awesome you’re going to be with weeks of preparation and fifteen minutes of practice.’ He smiled, and her lips curved in response. ‘This is going to work.’

      ‘Thanks,’ she said as he stood, and something made her want to offer him the same comfort, even though she knew he didn’t need it. ‘Blake? I’ve seen you work. And your passion, your dedication, doesn’t come close to anything I’ve ever seen before. I know you didn’t have to get new investors, or do as much as you have to save our jobs when the hotel would have probably been more successful if you had downsized.’ She shrugged and then continued softly, ‘I’m still not sure why you agreed to this, but I’m thankful that you did. We all are.’

      He nodded, with a mixture of emotions on his face that were complicated enough that she didn’t try to read them.

      Instead, she simply said, ‘Shall we do this?’

      * * *

      ‘As you can see, this is the best place to see Cape Town from and look around. Families—tourists and residents alike—all come here to experience the best of the Mother City. This is such an

Скачать книгу