Professional Restraint

3 Distractions

Liam

This day drags on at a snail's pace. McQueen's presentation is about as stimulating as watching paint dry and yet, I have to fake interest and be professional. Despite my best efforts, I find myself constantly checking the clock, watching the seconds tick by till eleven when the next presentation starts.

When Miss Carter took one look at that file, saw all the holes, and fixed our curveball in less than an hour, I knew they would get the bid. A week later, McQueen never even asked for all the missing documents. What's worse is the amendment we dropped on them is maybe a third of the way done, despite them assigning a team to just that task.

She called their bluff right off the bat... I might have been a bit too quick to judge her. So far, she's kept up with every challenge, and even caught me off guard, a hard thing to do. It makes me wonder what else she might be hiding.

After our last meeting, I dug deep into HCR Solutions, Ms. Hernandez's company. It's small, so small that it would have never made it onto our radar if they hadn't submitted their bid. The entire company consists of three people. Sophia Hernandez is the Client Liaison, Ella Carter, the Data Specialist, and Timothy Ried, the Tech Lord. That is literally his title on the website, which he no doubt built himself.

Their size alone is enough to make me dismiss them. Trenton Technologies is a multi-million dollar corporation and we play in the big leagues. But, no matter what we throw at them, nothing fazes them.

"Mr. Anthony, Mr. Moore, a pleasure as always," Ms. Diaz says, leaning forward to shake our hands. She has been flaunting herself at me throughout both meetings, just lowering my opinion further.

"If there's anything more that we can do, you know where to reach me," Mr. Crawford says, shaking our hands as they head out.

"Sure do, we'll be in touch," Declan replies with his CEO charm. With a click of the door, the mask drops, and he turns to me, shaking his head.

"What the hell was that?" he blurts out, gesturing to the slide still up. "I'd have been embarrassed to show up half done like that, yet he comes in here, strutting like he's the king of shit mountain!"

I can't contain my laugh at his reaction. At twenty-seven, Declan may be young by CEO standards, but he's polished and great at playing the diplomat.

He didn't get where he is by half-assing things. Neither of us did.

"Stop laughing and grab me some scotch," he says, flopping back down into his chair. "I'm gonna need it."

The sidebar is fully stocked but my eyes automatically go to the high-end scotch on the far side. I grab two glasses and drop a single large ice cube in each before pouring the liquor. On my way back to my seat, I drop his glass off and he quickly downs half in the first sip.

"Pace yourself, we have another one yet," I chide, sipping mine. The smooth, fiery liquid feels like a caress in my mouth and down my throat as I swallow.

"Don't remind me," he groans and sets down his glass. "Tell me it's not going to be as bad as the first one?"

"Relax," I say with a laugh. "I hate to admit it, but you were right to give them a shot. They know their stuff."

I had been dead set against a small company from the get-go. Seeing Ms. Carter show up, looking like a scared librarian, didn't help my impression, but Declan insisted he saw something. When she challenged me during her presentation, it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

Declan was going to have our assistant Todd run the package down to the front desk, but it gave me the perfect chance to get her one-on-one. That flash of sass she gave me in the elevator made my palms itch.