The Billionaire Boss (10 page)
Read The Billionaire Boss Online
Authors: J.A. Pierre
Savani leaned against her desk, her bottom propped on the edge, staring out the window as she tapped her heels against the floor.
There wasn’t much of a view outside the window. Just another tall office building across the street and a huge parking lot in between filled with cars.
Matthew had asked her to get a childhood photo of Nolan for the article.
“Call the publicist,” he’d said before the elevator door closed. He had a meeting to attend. Savani had turned in the article that morning. Matthew read it and loved it.
“His family drove down to Virginia Beach every Fourth of July,” he’d read aloud. Savani had sat in his office. “That’s good stuff. Gives our readers a bit of history.”
They talked about the article for a few minutes, then Savani went back to her office. She was about to venture out for lunch when Matthew asked her to make the call.
***
Savani wasn’t looking forward to picking up the phone. She gave her assistant the number and asked her to call Reese about emailing a photo.
When the assistant came into Savani’s office close to 5:00 p.m. with the news she’d been unable to reach Reese, and the voicemail she’d left had not be returned, Savani sighed.
The article and photos would have to go to the layout team by the next morning. It took time to put a magazine together. She didn’t want anything on her end to be late.
“I’ll try to reach her,” Savani told her assistant. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Her assistant gave a big smile. Though she was a hard worker, Savani knew she was glad when Savani tried to solve problems herself.
Savani picked up the phone and dialed Reese’s office number. She no longer had her former best friend’s cell number. Time had passed and the silence between them had snowballed.
To her surprise, the line was answered on the second ring. “Hello, Reese Winters.”
“Hi Reese. This is Savani. How are you?” Savani smiled so she’d sounded more cheerful.
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Good.”
“Hmmm.” Savani wished she didn’t have to talk to her. Even via phone, she felt uncomfortable. “I’m sure you’re aware that I interviewed one of your clients, Nolan Reynolds.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We’ll like to get one childhood photo of him to include in the article.”
There was a loud sigh from Reese. “What for?”
Savani was a bit surprised by Reese’s shortness. “Well, there are not many photos of his younger days available, and we feel it’ll lend to the context of the article.”
“Okay. Well, I won’t be able to do that. I sent two photos to your office already, so you can use either one of those.”
Savani didn’t want to have to explain to her boss why there was no photo. She couldn’t simply accept no for an answer the first time. She tried to appeal to a higher objective, telling Reese that a photo of Nolan’s younger days would be something readers would enjoy seeing. “People love to look at pictures. Do you know how many people only go on Facebook to look at people’s pictures?”
“Good for them,” Reese said bluntly. “I’ve already given you my answer. I have to go now.”
“Okay.” Savani felt defeated.
“Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
Reese slammed down the phone.
Savani rubbed between her eyebrows with her index finger and thumb. Reese was still mad at her. Savani was baffled that she’d held on to anger for so long.
She kicked thoughts of Reese aside. She would not be following the magazine’s protocol with what she was about to do. But she had a job to accomplish.
***
Nolan didn’t recognize the number that showed up on his phone. He hesitated as he looked at the digits, but decided to answer anyway.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Nolan. It’s Savani.”
“Hey.”
She thanked him for a good interview and for dinner.
“Hey, don’t thank me. It wasn’t on my tab. But since you’re on the line. Is tomorrow evening good for us to go out?”
“Sure.”
“I’m still trying to pick a spot, so I’m going to have to call you back on that.”
He could tell that Savani smiled. She asked if his family had taken any photos on their trips to the beach when he was a kid. Nolan told her yes.
Savani explained that the magazine wanted to use one photo taken from his childhood. “A beach photo would fit perfectly.”
Though Nolan wasn’t gung ho about the photo being used, he wanted to please Savani. “Okay, no problem. I’m going to my mom’s house later anyway. I’ll look through the photos in the family album and email one to you.”
Savani thanked him. “I’ll text you my email address.”
“Sure, no problem.” Nolan sighed. “And, Savani?”
“Yes.”
“When we go on our first real date, let’s put a wrap to the business side of things, all right?”
She laughed. “Sure thing.”