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Chapter Nine

As Sophie settled back into her seat, she couldn't help smiling to herself. The past three weeks had been a pleasant blur of activity. Her new position was challenging, but in a good way that kept her busy and made the days go fast. Her new team hadn't quite welcomed her with open arms, but she knew she was quickly earning their respect.

After hearing that Anderson & Company had joined Red Sharks, several other corporations had signed up for their services as well. They were busier than ever, and Sophie couldn't have been happier.

On top of that, things were great with Nate. They saw each other almost every day, had lunches together, texted and chatted, and spent most nights at each other's places. It was going so well that Sophie felt a bit breathless every time she thought about it. Something was bound to go wrong eventually.

Sophie knew that Anderson & Company was popular, considering that people loved food, and its restaurants were known for delivering excellent customer service along with delectable plates. But she had no idea that the Facebook and Twitter follower base would increase so quickly. At the end of the second week since they launched the campaign, the company page already had a thousand likes and growing.

When she met Nate for lunch at a small cafe, she told him about an odd comment from a Facebook fan. "I haven't deleted it," she said, "since I thought you might want to see it first." She hesitated when she saw the crease between his brows.

She waited as Nate picked up his phone. "It's a comment from Henri Albert." His expression hardened gradually. "Shit, this is long. What's he going on about selling out? Not staying true to our philosophy. Losing touch with our history." He looked up at her, his eyes dark and blazing. Even angry, he was sexy. "What the fuck is this, Sophie?"

Hot and cold sensations flooded her stomach. "It's a post from one of your fans--"

"I know what it is," he snapped. His grip tightened on his phone. "What I'm asking is, how could you let this happen? Thousands of people have seen this. Some of them even Liked it." He waved the phone in front of her, as if she didn't already know this. "Aren't you going to do something?"

"I have," she protested. Her heart was starting to thud heavily. "I've responded to him and asked him to take off the post. I would delete it myself but wanted your approval--"

"Then delete it."

"He's a client and a potential business partner. Don't you think you need to address the issue more diplomatically?"

He stood, his chair scraping on the floor. People turned and stared at them. "I knew this was a terrible idea. We never should have agreed to the social media campaign."

Her mouth fell open. She closed it. Then tried again. "You're overreacting."

"This is all your fault. You should have been watching the page."

"I've kept my eyes on this thing for weeks."

"You haven't been keeping them wide enough," he hissed. He didn't even bother looking at her when he spoke, punching things on his phone.

Sophie took in a deep breath. "I've done a great job," she said evenly, "and you haven't even looked at the analysis reports. All the numbers are up, your statistics are improving."

He didn't seem to hear her. "This is the last thing I need. Some crisis caused by a...a pet project."

Pet project? She clenched her fists. "The results have been amazing. Even your webmaster said he's never seen so many hits to your site. This is just a minor setback."

"Whatever it is, you need to fix it."

If she hadn't already been sitting, she might have fallen into a seat. She'd never seen Nate this angry, his face hard and cold, his mouth set in a straight line. She knew he was stressed with the La Boulange deal, but that didn't mean he had the right to take it out on her. Especially not now, when things had been going great between them. So great, she got panicky butterflies in her stomach every time she thought about what could go wrong.