Really, he had to be the most frustrating, confusing, impossible man on the face of the earth. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he surprised her. Never in a million years would she have believed he’d take time out of his busy schedule to help Jack. And yet he had.
While denial had become her new best friend, she had to admit that she’d misjudged Cole. He wasn’t just the arrogant asshat who strolled in, stole her partnership, and humiliated her team in front of her. He’d gone out of his way to help that team find success. He’d sent her roses before their big pitch to boost her confidence. And then there was that night he’d swept her into his BMW and taken her home because of her migraine, then bought her every breakfast food known to man the next morning to help her feel better. He had a sweet side she hadn’t been willing to acknowledge before, and he seemed to have boundless confidence in her. Was it possible Cole was a closet romantic?
It was too good to be true, wasn’t it? Men like Cole didn’t settle down. And they didn’t have hot one-night stands with strangers and then fall for them. Cole dated models and actresses, and nobody for very long. If he wanted to date her—and she wasn’t convinced that was the case, although she had to admit, it held a certain appeal—what did that say about her?
Chapter Eighteen
Cole studied Olivia as she tapped furiously on the keyboard, putting the final touches on the Vixen proposal. She was completely focused on the task at hand and oblivious to his presence, but he didn’t mind. He was just happy to be in her company. Tomorrow they’d make the pitch and their late night work sessions would come to a halt. It wasn’t exactly something he was looking forward to. He’d grown to enjoy her sassy wit over the last few weeks and he was going to miss their time together.
He was especially going to miss the opportunities to see the flush in her cheeks when he looked at her and that fierce defiance that made her baby blues sparkle. Angry or excited or confused, Olivia was always gorgeous. She was also smart as hell, and it was clear why Pritchard had been considering her for partner before he arrived.
Yeah. He needed to do something about that. It wasn’t fair for Olivia to be killing herself as an associate when she was smarter than anyone else in the agency. Maybe even including him. If the pitch at Vixen went as well as he expected it to, maybe he could turn that to their advantage. If he could find a way to get Pritchard to make Olivia a partner, that solved a lot of problems. She couldn’t very well keep denying their connection by saying she couldn’t sleep with her boss if they were at the same level. And he really didn’t want to think that he’d seen the last of those killer legs wrapped around him.
“Ahem.” Olivia was looking at him, gesturing toward the screen so he could see what she’d been working on. “You want to pay attention here for a second?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Cole said, running a hand through his hair.
“Thank you,” she said, a triumphant grin on her face, as she tucked a pen into her messy bun. “I think we’re as ready as we’re going to be. I’ll walk you through it one more time and then I am going home to crash.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed, glancing at his watch. It was getting late and they both needed to get some sleep before tomorrow’s meeting. If ever they needed to be on their A game, tomorrow was the day. They couldn’t afford any mistakes.
Olivia quickly rolled through the slides, recapping the top level talking points for him. Not surprisingly, she had the whole damn presentation memorized. When she was finished, she looked at him expectantly. “What do you think?”
“You’ve nailed it,” he assured her, pleased with the latest changes and her ability to work so much of the market research into the deck. There would be no doubt they’d done their homework on the Vixen consumer and had created a campaign that would speak to her. The Vixen executives were going to love it. “Great work. You should be really proud of yourself.”
“We should proud of ourselves,” she corrected him, deflecting personal praise, as usual. “We did this as a team.”
“Don’t be so modest. In this city, modesty won’t get you far,” he advised. “Just say ‘thank you’ and take credit where it’s due. You’ve earned it.”
Olivia blushed, reminding him how uncomfortable she was being in the spotlight, despite all her efforts to shine.
“Who’d have thought an Apple Butter Princess had it in her?” Cole teased, hoping to lighten the mood. He knew she regretted telling him about her pageant days, but he had to give her a hard time about it every now and then. It was all in good fun. God knew he’d never have the courage to do something like that himself. Strutting around on stage for the sole purpose of being judged? Thanks, but no thanks. As far as he was concerned, that took guts. Still, if she ever found out about the hellacious garage band he started in high school, he’d never live it down.