Chapter 5: Chapter Five

LOGAN

“Let me get this straight. Taylor hired a photographer and social media strategist to help with recruitment?”

I’m fuming. I knew things wouldn’t be easy when Dad promoted Taylor to chief marketing officer.

She’s great with brand campaigns and public relations—I’ll give her that—but she doesn’t understand the first thing about operating on a budget.

That pisses me the fuck off because as CFO, my job is literally to ensure we operate on a budget, among other things I loathe doing.

I can’t believe Taylor is actually convinced that getting our name out there on social media will reduce the company’s insane turnover rate and help us hire more young people.

That is, young people who aren’t related to executives. I’m fully aware that I only have this job because Dad is the CEO. Taylor wouldn’t be CMO if her uncle weren’t COO. And don’t even get me started on Michael…

“Yup,” my assistant replies.

“Am I crazy, or does that just not make sense? Be honest with me, Ellen.”

“You’re not crazy,” she confirms.

I sigh.

“Anyway,” Ellen continues, “you have a meeting with the consultants at nine. They’re going to explain their strategy and answer any questions you might have.”

That’s the thing I hate about working at a small company. Anywhere else, the entire C-suite wouldn’t be involved in social media, but it pretty much falls on us to develop a strategy for everything.

“Oh, I’ve got a lot of questions,” I grumble.

She raises her eyebrows in a grandmotherly fashion. “Ask them nicely, Logan. It’s not their fault Taylor decided to spend—”

She’s interrupted by the devil herself, Taylor Hanover. I won’t lie; she’s stunning. Her deep brown hair falls to her waist in loose waves, and she has the most piercing, beautiful hazel eyes.

Not to mention, her figure is incredible, and her attire always flaunts her beauty. Legs for days, perky chest, I could go on. If only she weren’t a grade-A bitch, I’d give our relationship another shot.

“Hi, Ellen. I need to talk to Logan alone.” She purses her glossy lips and stares expectantly at my assistant.

“We’re in the middle of a conversation, Taylor,” I snap. I hate the way she talks to people she doesn’t deem worthy of her politeness, which is pretty much everyone who isn’t an executive or in the finance department.

Ellen stands. “I was just heading out. See you at nine, Taylor.”

Taylor grimaces when Ellen leaves. “Shouldn’t you have a hot, young secretary or something?”

“Ellen’s amazing at her job. Why would I care what she looks like?”

Taylor rolls her eyes. “All those late nights at the office, you don’t want something to spice them up?” She leans forward. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Taylor…” I warn.

She giggles. “The consultants are here early. The social media guy is hot. I might try to—”

“Jesus, Taylor. You can’t harass the consultants,” I interrupt.

“Jealous?” She winks and flashes a smirk.

“No. Find someone who doesn’t work here.”

She shrugs. “They’re in conference room B. Want to walk over?”

~Not at all~. “Sure.”

We leave my office and head down the hall, passing row after row of cubicles, toward the conference rooms that border the west-facing side of the building. They offer beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.

The Wasatch Range is usually the only interesting thing in the dozens of meetings I attend every week.

I stop in my tracks when I enter room B. ~She’s~ there. The woman I haven’t been able to get out of my head since Saturday.

Sitting, camera strung around her neck, next to Ellen. She’s quietly going through notes with the guy beside her, probably the social media strategist.

Dad pats the seat beside him, and I begrudgingly sit down. Taylor takes the spot on my right and inches her chair closer to mine.

Michael plops down beside Taylor. A predatory grin spreads across his face when he lays eyes on Rae.

“Alright,” Dad announces. “Calling this meeting to order.”

Rae’s head shoots up. She scans the room, locking eyes with me, then Michael. Her lips part and quickly move back together as her face goes scarlet, then pale, then clammy.

Her hand flies to her necklace, and she begins to fidget with it, rapidly blinking like she’s trying to wake herself up from a nightmare.

“Logan.” Dad claps me on the back, just a touch too aggressively. “You’re up.”

I have no idea what’s going on. “What were—”

Dad huffs. “We’re introducing ourselves.”

“Oh, got it.” I sit straighter in my chair. “My name is Logan Quincy. I’ve been at Quincy Ventures for six years. I started as a financial analyst and was promoted to CFO two years ago.”

Taylor tosses her hair behind her shoulder and shoots a glowing look at Social Media Guy.

“I’m Taylor Hanover, chief marketing officer. You’ll be working with me the most. I’m looking forward to it. My office door is ~always~ open.”

She bats her eyelashes while I suppress a gag. “I’ve been at the firm for three years and CMO for eight months.”

The remaining executives introduce themselves, and then it’s Social Media Guy’s turn. “Hey, everyone. Thanks for having us. We’re really excited.”

He flashes a shiny, white smile. “I’m Shawn McMann. I’m a social media strategist and brand consultant. I’ve been with Jade Agency for just over two years now.

“This is my colleague, Rae Olson. She’s the most talented photographer Jade Agency has to offer, but don’t tell anyone I said that.”

He winks, earning a few chuckles from my colleagues. Rae’s cheeks go from milky to red. “Onto you, Rae.”

“Hi, I’m Rae,” she says shyly. “Shawn covered me—it, I mean.” She giggles nervously.

“I’m a photographer, and I’ve been with the company for a year. Before that, I worked at a studio. Before that, I was in college. I have a BFA in photography.”

Michael slams his empty coffee cup on the table like he’s just polished off a glass of fine whiskey.

“Looking forward to having you around, Rae.” He grins before adding, “And Shawn,” as an afterthought.

She smiles with thin, strained lips, clearly uncomfortable. He’s such a fucking creep.

“Thanks for the intros,” Dad says. “I need to run. I’ll pass it off to Logan.” He stalks off without another word.

“Alright.” I clap my hands together.

“Thanks for coming, Rae and Shawn. Team, we have you here so you can ask our new consultants questions related to what they’ll be doing around Quincy Ventures for the next six weeks.”

Howard, our chief operating officer and one of the only qualified people in the C-suite, asks the consultants about what content we can expect to see and the relationship between social media engagement and improvements in hiring.

Nicki, the head of HR and another decent person, has some questions about recruitment. Shawn answers all of them.

Then, Dylan jumps in. He’s our chief technical officer. I despise him almost as much as I hate Taylor. He has a cocky attitude and consistently interrupts people in the middle of their sentences.

“So, Rae.” He folds his hands on the table. “Shawn said you’ll be taking candid pictures. As you know, this is a venture capital firm, which means we have some highly sensitive information.

“If you’re taking photos of us in meetings, how do we know you aren’t going to use what you hear to your advantage?”

Nicki audibly gasps. Rae goes white, the same color as my knuckles. Even Taylor, the queen of insensitivity, wrinkles her nose in irritation.

“Photography requires a lot of concentration. I’ll be focusing on getting photos, not the meeting content.” She inhales deeply. “If there are any meetings you don’t want me in, I’m happy to sit them out.”

“We also signed NDAs,” Shawn chimes in. “We take client confidentiality very seriously.”

“Good. Are you just going to be lurking around, snapping photos when we don’t expect it?”

I hate the way he’s staring at Rae, like she’s a bug he wants to crush under his loafer. I grit my teeth, but before I can say anything, Michael comes to her rescue, the bastard. “Dylan, they’re not the paparazzi,” he snaps.

“It’s a simple question. Let the lady answer if she can.”

~If she can. ~I could smack him. I’d like to smack Michael too, even though he ~did ~just save Rae a little bit.

Rae shifts in her seat, but she doesn’t look terribly uncomfortable anymore.

“I won’t be hiding under desks, trying to get the perfect shot. I’ll be out there in the open, right where you can see me. Although, I can’t say I won’t blend into the background.”

“You won’t,” Michael and I blurt out at the same time.

~Shit. This is going to get awkward.~

~