Tamed by the Billionaire (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) (6 page)

With that conviction she began to speak her mind.  She made recommendations for the wardrobe for the models, and for the television commercial she even suggested changing the model all together.  From what Roman had told her about the Enchanted line of products she knew it was targeted toward young, professional women.  The model selected by the agency was in her late thirties.  She reasoned that they needed to use a model to whom the target market would relate.  Both Martha and Herman were looking at Serena with an air of surprise but Roman had a satisfied smile on his face.

“I guess we’ll have to go back to the drawing board,” Martha said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“We want this campaign to be perfect,” Serena said calmly, “so it doesn’t make sense for us to rush to put out something substandard.”

Martha sucked in her breath but said nothing.  She began packing up her storyboards and papers and sat back down beside Herman.

“I guess this is a good time for me to take over,” the man said, pulling out two folders and sliding one to Roman and the other to Serena.  “I had put together a budget for the campaign but seeing that we’re going to make changes, some of these figures will change as well.  Still, I wanted to give you an idea of what the budget will look like.”

“No problem,” Roman said, nodding.   “Let’s see what you have.”

Roman and Herman began to discuss the budget line by line.  Serena tried to listen but felt totally distracted.  There was something about that print ad campaign that was bothering her.  She just couldn’t put her finger on it.  She was itching to ask Martha to let her see it again but felt she’d be rubbing salt in the wound.  The woman already probably hated her for making all those comments and changes to her campaign.

She became so distracted that she began to fiddle with her pen and more than once Roman glanced over at her.  Finally he said, “Is something wrong, Serena?”

“Aah, yes,” Serena said, deciding to take the opening he’d given her.  “I just want to see that print ad again.”

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing and turned to Martha.  The woman shrugged and pulled out the ad then slid it over to Serena who studied it for a few seconds.  “There’s just something about this tag line…I don’t know.  I just love your baby face…can we change it?”

“Why would we want to do that?”  Martha’s voice was sharp but she hurried to change her tone.  “I mean, it’s just perfect for the print campaign.  The little girl is stroking her mother’s face and telling her she loves her baby face.”

Serena shook her head slowly.  “It sounds a bit corny to me.  What about, caress your face with love?”  She looked across at the woman as she spoke and saw to her surprise that Martha’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face.

“That’s perfect.  I can build a whole campaign around that tagline.” 

Serena looked at Roman and he, too, was smiling.  He gave her a nod and an enigmatic smile.  For some reason it made her think of his touch and a shiver ran down her spine.

For the rest of the meeting Serena remained silent but a warm glow suffused her body.  She knew she was being silly but Roman was pleased with her and she was happy.

The meeting wrapped up shortly thereafter and Theresa came in to escort the visitors out.  Serena picked up her notepad and pen and was heading out of the conference room when Roman spoke.

“Just a moment, Serena.”

She stopped in her tracks, her heart thumping loudly in her ears.  She turned and saw that he was smiling at her.  Goodness, he was so handsome when he smiled.  She remained standing, her notepad clutched tightly in front of her, and waited.

“You did well today.”  His voice was soft and as he took the four steps that brought him within inches of her she shuddered in reaction to his nearness.  She struggled to keep her face calm, not wanting him to know the effect he was having on her.

“You’ve got an inborn talent that came out in the meeting today.  You have an eye for beauty.”  He smiled down at her then took her elbow and turned her toward the door.  “You may go now but rest assured you’ll be in many more of these meetings from here on.”

Serena simply nodded, held her back straight and walked out.  For the second time in a week he was showing her the door.  She was glad for the praise but she would have preferred it if he’d swept her into his arms again and kissed her passionately like he’d done at their last meeting.  Was she the only one who’d gotten drunk on that kiss?  She bit her lip and kept on walking, her face as placid as Lake Ontario.  She would never let him know how much she craved his touch.

******   

That night Serena could not sleep.  She’d climbed into bed at ten thirty then tossed and turned for hours with no sleep in sight.  She’d had a wonderful day.  No, a terrible day.  She sighed in frustration.  It had been a totally confusing day.  First, she’d been defiant, preparing to challenge Roman next time she saw him.   Then she’d tingled with the anticipation of seeing him again after their kiss.  When he made the declaration that he’d never touch her again she felt deflated.  When he praised her after the meeting she felt all gooey.  Then he’d shown her the door.  Back to depression.

What made it worse, despite her resolve to hate her job and do everything in her power to get fired she’d actually enjoyed the meeting with the ad agency.  She’d learned so much in the space of just a couple of hours and, she had to admit, she was looking forward to learning even more.  She groaned.  That was going totally against her plan.  What was she going to do now?

She looked at the clock.  One thirty-five, which meant it would only be six thirty-five in the morning in Paris.  She was sure that neither Jan nor Tammy would be up at this hour but she didn’t care.  Right now she needed someone to talk to.   She picked up the phone and dialed Jan’s cell number, praying that the roaming feature would work.  It did.  Jan answered the phone on the fifth ring.

“Hello.”  Her voice sounded groggy and far away.

“Wake up, sleepy head,” Serena said, trying to sound cheerful.  “What are you doing in bed at this hour?  Do you know what time it is?”

There was a pause then Jan said dryly, “Of course I know what time it is.  It’s an ungodly hour of the morning .  You know I never get up this early.  I’m on vacation, for heaven’s sake.”  There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Serena sighed.  “I know I shouldn’t have called you so early but I just need to talk.  I’m all alone over here and I’m going crazy.”

“What’s going on, Serena?  Are you alright?”  Jan sounded fully awake now.  Her voice was sharp with concern.

“I’m fine,” Serena said with another heavy sigh.  “It’s just that you guys are over there having all the fun and I’m here working so hard.  And to make things worse I have a devil of a boss who’s driving me mad.”

“What on earth do you mean?  Didn’t we discuss the plan for your boss?  You were going to go in there and show him that you’re a Van Buren.   So what happened?”

Serena could not help smiling to herself.  They had been so naïve.   “Let’s just say, he’s not exactly the boss I expected.”

“Is he nice?”

“I wouldn’t describe him as…nice.”  Serena bit her lip and wondered how much she should tell her friend.  Then she continued, “He’s probably the most gorgeous man I’ve met in my entire life.”

“What?  You never told me this.”

“How could I?  You’re halfway across the world.  You and Tammy abandoned me when I needed you most.”

“Come off it, Serena,” Jan said, sounding exasperated.  “I’m not going to feel guilty about that.  We had a plan and you backed out.  Mind you, I know it wasn’t your fault but you certainly didn’t expect your father’s rules to apply to Tammy and me.  Now let’s get back to the real issue here.  Tell me about this hunk.”

“What’s going on?”  Serena heard Tammy faintly in the background.

“Serena’s found a man and he’s handsome,” she heard Jan say.

“No, I haven’t,” she retorted.  “The man is my boss, for goodness sake.”

“Really?  She’s finally fallen for a guy?”  It was Tammy’s voice again, closer this time.

“Yeah, and she’s going to tell me all about it,” Jan said excitedly.

“Will you guys stop that?”  Serena yelled into the phone.  They hadn’t even waited to hear her story but had jumped to all kinds of conclusions.  Trust her crazy friends to be so…crazy.

“Okay, okay.” Jan laughed into the phone.  “I’m listening.”

“Thank you,” Serena said in a huff then she drew in a deep breath and began.  “As I was saying, my boss is nothing like I expected.  He’s over six feet tall and he has jet black hair and such startling dark eyes.  And his skin is dark, like…I think he’s part Italian or something.”

“Sounds like a movie star,” Jan said, dreamily.

“Hey, I’m not hearing any of this,” Tammy whined in the background.

“Shh, I’ll tell you all about it when we’re done,” Jan hissed, quieting her.  Then she said to Serena, “So have you gone out with him yet?”

“What do you think I am?  I just met the man last week.  Anyway, his name is Roman Steele and he’s the CEO of Steele Industries-”

“Roman Steele?  I know him.  I mean, I’ve seen him in the papers before.  You’re right, he’s a real hunk.  You’re so lucky…”

“No, I’m not.  He acts like he doesn’t even notice me.”  There was a sudden hitch in her voice and Serena sat up and cleared her throat.

“It sounds like there’s something going on, something you’re not telling me.”

“No, there’s nothing,” she said quickly, “It’s just that…he’s…”  Serena bit her lip as a sudden tear stung her eye.  She didn’t know how to go on, she didn’t know what to say.

“Serena,” Jan said in a schoolmarm voice, “be careful what you’re doing over there.  Sounds like you’ve gotten yourself into something deep.  But whatever you do, don’t fall for him.”

Too late.  Serena put her left index finger to her lips and began to nibble at the nail.  It had only been a week since she`d met the man but that advice had come way too late to save her heart.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was after five o’clock but Roman had no plans to leave the office any time soon.  He’d been working on a report for the past three hours and, looking down at the papers in front of him, he realized that he didn’t have very much to show for all that time.  He’d been distracted all afternoon and, as important as this report was, for the life of him he just could not put his mind to it.

And it was all Serena Van Buren’s fault.  The witch was driving him crazy.  He’d avoided her most of the week but this morning they’d spent over two hours together poring over the files of old ad campaigns,  discussing those that had been successful and restacking those that had not had much impact.  They’d sat together around the conference table, so close that he could smell the light fragrance of her perfume.  The closeness had made him aware of her every move and he’d been hard put not to pull her into his arms and kiss her breathless. 

Today Serena was wearing a tailored navy blue suit that clung to the soft curves of her hips and bust.  The soft waves of her hair floated around her heart shaped face, giving her the look of an angel.  Her full lips were rose pink and there was a slight flush to her face that made her look vibrant.  Once when they both reached for the same sheet of paper their hands touched and she jumped as if she’d been shocked.  He’d felt it, too.  A jolt of electricity rushed through his body, making him suck in his breath.  He’d tried hard not to react to her closeness but it became almost difficult to breathe and he couldn’t help glancing at her every now and again.  He shook his head as he remembered how his physical reaction to her had been so strong that at one point he’d had to get up and go over to the table to pour himself a glass of water just to get away from her. 

What in the blazes was happening to him?  He, a thirty year old man, was acting like a lovesick schoolboy.  He sighed and rubbed his eyes.  Somehow he had to fight this attraction to her.  Richard Van Buren had trusted him with his daughter and he could not afford to jeopardize their relationship.

Roman was still sitting at his desk, staring out the window, when there was a knock at the door.  Serena peeped in and he felt his heart tighten in his chest.

“What are you doing here?”  His voice was sharper than he’d intended.

“It’s almost six o’clock.  I thought you were gone already.”  She stepped inside the room and pulled the door shut behind her.  She looked just as fresh as she had first thing in the morning.  If anything, she looked even more fetching right at this moment.  She stood there looking so beautiful it was annoying.  “I’m still here because of the work you gave me which you said you absolutely had to have first thing in the morning.  I was going to leave it on your desk. ” She held out a folder as she approached.