Love Undefeated (Unexpected #5) (13 page)

“You’ll do great, Nalee,” My former boss, Stephanie Delacorte, said reassuringly while pushing the button on the elevator.

When she’d hired me two years ago, I was fresh out of college. The East Coast company I had been planning on working with right after graduation had declared bankruptcy so I was at a complete loss. I’d sent my resume to more than a dozen companies, both private and public, and had received at least five job offers. Stephanie, then chief compliance officer, had given me the shortest interview out of all of them, and asked me three questions. I remembered sitting in front of her in her colder than the frozen Arctic room, skimming over my resume, and with an indifferent look, she’d fired up with the interrogation.

First, she’d inquired, “What makes you different from the other candidates?”

My reply was, “I don’t know them. I just know what I’m capable of. I’m hardworking, self-sufficient, and will stay overnight for a project if needed.”

A slight tilt of her blonde eyebrows was her response.

Second she’d asked, “What’s your biggest weakness?” to which I’d said, “Animals, trees, and Mother Nature who suffer because of our actions.”

And before she asked the last question, she’d risen up on her toes before saying, “What scares you, Miss Sands?”

I thought about her question for a second and then fired back, “Winning.”

“Winning?” Her expression was quizzical and she’d momentarily stopped flipping through my portfolio. “Why is that?”

“I’d be scared at winning at everything. All my life I’ve struggled and my struggles have taught me strength. When I do something, I don’t want to think of it as winning because winning would mean that I’m always competing, always fighting, never getting satisfied. Ms. Delacorte, if you hire me for your company, I will do my best to be the best that I can be. I promise you that you won’t be at the losing end. I’ll be the voice of the creatures who don’t have the voice, I’ll be the best researcher on your team, a team player, a loyal worker. But know this, I’m not doing it to compete with anyone else. I’ll be doing it because I want to make a difference, a dent in the grand scheme of things. I’ll be doing it because it brings me unparalleled peace.”

Her bewildered glance took me aback and I thought she was going to laugh at me. Instead, she’d held out her right hand and gave me a firm shake, “Renee will call you later after she verifies your references. How does working for me sound, Miss Sands?”

So here we were. The grand scheme of things. My first presentation as an executive member of the team. I’d gone to these meetings many many times and presented just as much, but today was the day I was carrying on with my new title. Boss lady of the environmental research division.

Thanking Stephanie for opening the magnetized glass doors, I sat on the swivel chair at the edge of the conference table, closest to the wide projection screen and started pulling up my files on the computer.

Breathing in, I gave my former boss, Stephanie, a wide smile. She was now the head Project Manager and was the one who recommended me for this position. We’ve had our differences and I’d doled out many discussions with her on certain projects, but we had a mutual respect for each other. Under her guidance, I’d grown in my profession and I wasn’t stingy in showing her my appreciation, especially during the holidays. She loved shopping at the fancy places such as Net-a-Porter and Bloomingdale’s, so I often gifted her with generous gift certificates. She valued my stance on issues and during my most difficult times she’d given me reprieve by extending my leave of absence with her approval.

Three tall, dark-haired men in their standard form of attire – power suits – entered the room. Standing in my three-inch black heels, I adjusted the back of my fitted skirt before greeting them.

“Devon Wahler at your service,” the guy with the darkest blue eyes I’ve ever seen stated. His strong jaw and regal nose made me think of the man who graced those perfume commercials. Dripping with confidence, he reached his hand out and shook mine.

Wow
. Firm, firm grip.

Okay, Nalee, this is not the time to be drooling over a potential client.

“Nalee Sands. It’s a pleasure meeting all of you today,” I intoned, hoping my voice didn’t drip with the potential drool accumulating in my mouth.

His amused smile was filled with meaning as he introduced the older gentlemen who came in with him. “Robert Briles, senior partner, and Justin Kirkland, managing partner.” The two men shook Stephanie’s and my hands and nodded their heads while Devon continued to speak, “We’re pleased that your company has looked at our proposal and hopefully this will signal the beginning of our project.”

“Gentlemen, no rush,” Stephanie chided, her carefully coiffed blonde hair moved in sync with her head. There wasn’t a strand that was getting loose anytime soon. She’d perfected the vibe of snooty, cold platinum blonde woman down to a science. Only her closest staff got to see the softer side of her. As a boss, she was unforgiving of mistakes. However, she also knew when to back off and to let someone else take over. “Ms. Sands has the complete report on your proposal.”

“I thought you were commanding the ship, Steph,” the silver fox named Robert Briles cut in before sitting in his chair.

My brow might have lifted a millimeter at the rather familiar way he talked to my former boss. Since when did anyone ever call Stephanie “Steph”?

“Ms. Sands is now in command of that ship and she’s doing an excellent job.” Stephanie eyed me and I took that as my cue.

Stepping to the front, I clicked on the wireless laser pointer and the blank screen came to life. The small group held a respectful silence as I began. “These slides show the locations where ZeroGrid Energy is proposing for the wells to be drilled.”

The slides changed and I continued to show exactly what they were proposing. It was important for the clients to see that we had taken everything into consideration according to their plan.

“Now here’s where the beauty of the proposal doesn’t match the reality.” A palpable, eerie tension belied the astute stares of the representatives of the third biggest oil driller in the country. If our company agreed to the project, we’d be able to get a massive commission, but my job wasn’t about the money. My job was to ensure that the projects that I would now be handing out to Stephanie’s team would have the least risk for the environment; that the companies who came to us received expert advice, and that I was responsible for making sure that every detail does not get missed.

“If you drill here,” I pointed the laser to the specific area a few miles away from the Golden Gate Bridge, “not only will you be compromising the natural habitat of over 130 species of fish, you also run into the possibility that if there was an oil spill, you’ll have a massive disaster to clean up.” I’d pored over this analysis multiple times and I arrived at the same conclusion.

“We’ve approved numerous projects for your company.” My palms started to sweat and I could feel the clicker getting wet between my fingertips. “But there’s no way in good conscience we can put our company’s stamp of approval on this one.”

I continued, “We have several alternatives listed in the documents you’re holding so please take a few minutes to look through them –“

“Stop right there, Ms. Sands,” the cutting voice of the gray-haired gentleman whom I recognized as Robert Briles, senior partner
and was
one of San Francisco’s most influential developer, commanded the room. “I believe you’ve said enough and we’ve heard enough.”

He thumbed through the documents I was referring to and without looking at me, addressed my boss, Stephanie, who was sitting across from him. “Stephanie, this is not a project that your assistant should be handling. We have investors waiting on us for the final go. You should have warned me that your little assistant here would be handling this so I could have talked to Lemar before we wasted our time here.”

By Lemar, I knew he meant Senator Lemar Keyes, San Francisco’s charismatic leader and major proponent of the private oil drilling and just last week had sponsored a bill that expanded the drilling areas. As good he was towards his supporters, he was not someone whom I was fond of. Before he became a senator, he was rumored to be involved in some underground illegal activities which seemed to have vanished before he was elected into office. He was the best friend of private companies such as Briles and Sons, who needed a legislator to sign off on their projects even without the backing of EPA.

My boss barely raised a brow before saying, “Be careful on where you’re leading this conversation, Robert. You might find yourself being challenged by hundreds of environmental groups before you set foot in your office by evening time. I trust Ms Sands’ conclusions, and by the way, she is not my assistant, she is an executive member of our team.”

“It’s not wise to cross me, Stephanie,” Robert’s posture was stiff and the look that he gave my boss reminded me of the way Ms. Jones, the librarian at CSUF, would reprimand me and my friends for talking too loudly in the quiet areas of the library. There were areas where you could talk in a conversational voice and not be asked to step out, but then there were areas where absolute silence was required. Ms. Jones was the royal guard of
summus silentio.
Absolute silence or else your library privileges would be revoked. Anyways Robert had the same posture, the same hard stare, and uncompromising hardened jaw. Did I mention Ms. Jones used to be a Mr. Jones? And while she had changed most of her looks to become a woman, the masculine jawline was still intact and would be kind of hard to chisel, so that’s how we were able to absolutely tell that she was a man at one time.

Oh Dear Lord, why am I thinking of Mr. — errrr,
Ms
. Jones at this important time of my life? It was not only disconcerting, but also certainly not needed.

Robert went on about how our report would delay everything that their company had scheduled for half a year and how this would negatively affect our company’s relationship with theirs. Just as Robert’s mouth opened to elaborate on just how bad my findings were to their company’s plans, Devon cut in as politely as he could.

“I believe that what Robert is trying to say…” His blue eyes focused on me, “is that we would like for you to re-evaluate the report after we’ve made some changes to the draft per your recommendations.”

The man who he was speaking for clearly did not have the same opinion as Devon, because the hard line of Robert’s mouth was still plastered on his face, and while he was in the act of saying something again, Devon continued, “This is my proposal, Ms. Sands. While my team contributed to the plan, ninety percent of what you have reviewed came from me. So it is only fitting that I, I mean our company, be given the opportunity to review your recommendations and make necessary adjustments.”

With a quick glance over to my boss, I ran out of anything to say so I nodded, feeling the hair on the back of my neck electrified by the way Devon was taking charge of the situation and the way he was looking at me was, well, let me just say that it was not appropriate for the meeting.

Stephanie, quickly standing from her chair and glancing at her watch, said, “Well thank you for your time, gentlemen. I believe that our next meeting will be quite interesting. Devon, please direct all your questions to Nalee. She will continue to be the lead contact for this.”

“Will be happy to,” Devon answered, his gaze on me, ignoring the almost bewildered looks of the men he worked along with.

“Robert, we’ll talk. Justin, nice meeting you. Devon, we’ll hear from you soon.” Stephanie was cordially dismissing the males in the room. “Nalee, I’ll see you after my meeting.”

She had a meeting with another project manager from the East Coast. She didn’t have to be in this particular meeting, but because it was my first big project she was here to show support. Since the meeting was going downhill, I was glad that Stephanie was here to back me up.

I replied, “I’ll be in my office.”

Stephanie gave me a quick smile before stepping out of the room. A few seconds later, Robert with his eye on Stephanie’s retreating back, quickly followed her out. Justin stood up, walked towards me, and held out his left hand. “Nice meeting you, Nalee. I’m sure Devon will keep us posted on what we need to do so that we can have this project started.”

Giving him a small smile and shaking his hand with my right, I stated, “Thank you.”

“For the record, I see all your points and from what I can discern, they’re all valid,” he acknowledged. He didn’t speak much in the meeting. Maybe it was because Robert had spoken before anyone else could. And while I didn’t need an appraisal of my skills or my findings, it was still nice to know that my hard work had paid off. Two out of the three representatives from Briles and Sons, one of San Francisco’s respected business development firms, were saying that I did a good job. I didn’t need it to pad my ego, yet it was a good feeling to have. Late nights. Hours and hours of Indian and Chinese take-out. Migraine-inducing eye strains on the computer. These were the perks of my job, so yes, I would take a compliment as it comes.