CEO'S Secret Baby: A Standalone Surprise Pregnancy Romance by Iona Rose (books for 5 year olds to read themselves .TXT) 📕

me back then but I refused to return. My current CFO Mark Garritty was my team head at the time, and he was pissed off about my punishment, because he felt it was undeserved, as I had tried to convey the message of the brand as clearly as was expected. So when they failed to bring me back, he got up and resigned.”

“Wow…” she paused, her gaze somber. “That was quite selfless of him.”

“He’s a good guy,” I admitted. "But never tell him that to his face. You’ll never hear the end of it. At the time, he told me not to feel guilty, that he had been planning to resign either way, as the company’s disloyalty to its employees had been pissing him off for quite a while. Patience is not one of his strong suits. At that point, I’d been working for about ten years under supervision, and was sick of it too, so I went to a client I’d handled a campaign for in the past. It was an Australian lifestyle brand and the owner had told me that if I ever wanted to start my own company that he’d be willing to back me up. I went to him, and he was ready. That’s how Mark and I began. It’s been five years now, and although things have not always gone to plan, I really cannot complain.”

I took a deep breath, and released it, exhausted from the day and the talking. I enjoyed opening up to her but talking this much at once, was completely new territory for me. So I headed over to her, my hands slipping around her waist as she transferred the noodles into the sauce. She added the shrimp, and grated cheese, and then raised a forkful to my lips for a taste.

I accepted it all, taking as many chances as I could get to kiss her.

Soon, dinner was ready, and we sat down to eat.

“Do you have some wine around?” I asked. “Let’s share a bottle.”

“I don’t,” she said, something akin to alarm suddenly flashing in her eyes, but then her gaze shot over to the coffee table. “Anne brought some wine along with her though.” She went over to the table and returned with the dark bottle, and an apologetic gaze. “It’s nonalcoholic, but it’s still actual red wine.”

“That’s alright. We have to turn up sober at work tomorrow either way.”

I saw her expression change, and although she tried to hide it from me, I knew what was going on.

We began to eat, and I waited for her to talk about it, but when she didn’t I decided to bring it up. “Do you need any help handling Coghlan?” I asked.

She lifted her gaze to mine, a bit surprised.

“I’ve heard,” I said with a smile.

“I swear I’m doing my job the best way I can,” she said, her smile nervous. “Please don’t fire me.”

“That’s up to Henry.” I laughed. “I only have incontestable jurisdiction when someone royally screws up. This does not seem to be the case here.”

“It’s not,” she replied. “I don’t know what he’s expecting, but he’s focusing on the same demographics that every energy drink company in the country markets to, and using the same gimmicks, but yet he’s hoping that we’ll come up with a way to still blow everything out of the park.”

I was concerned at how much this was currently weighing her down. “Let me hear your idea.”

At first, she hesitated, but then she lifted a forkful of noodles to her mouth, and agreed to speak. “I think that the focus should be on young mothers,” she began.

I listened. By the time she was done, I was incredibly impressed by what she had said.

And the moment I told her, her mouth fell open.

“It’s a fresh take and might actually be a homerun.”

“Exactly!” she exclaimed. “How can the freaking owner of the company see this and he can’t?”

I smiled. “Because I don’t know the client, but he does. It was a personal recommendation so I’m sure he’s trying to go over and beyond but not stray too far from what the company will be willing to bear risks for.”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “Those type of clients are the worst. They ask for something out of the box, but still end up pushing for the same cookie cutter tactics.”

I smiled again. “Perhaps what you need is to convince him to go with your idea.”

“I would if he cared enough to listen to me. Every single time we’re in a meeting I’m ignored like I’m not even there. And Henry has little to nothing to say because he’s in charge of the resources, but Daniel is the Account Manger and the Vice President. No one wants to offend him. “

“Try a little harder, if you believe in your idea,” I told her. “You want to focus on mothers, right? Make your suggestion incontestable and I’ll take it from there.”

“Oh no,” she immediately refused. “I don’t want it to seem as though I’m sailing because you’re my boyfriend.

“You will sail,” I corrected her. “Because you’re my employee. I would do the same for any other employee. So do what you need to, and leave the rest to me.”

Her grin tugged at the strings of my heart.

“Yes, sir,” she said but then she got lost in her thoughts again.

I knew exactly where her mind had gone. “Have you ever studied Amazon reviews before? Of other energy drinks?”

“Not exactly,” she said, and then her brows shot up at the suggestion. “You’re right. I can use that to get a glimpse into the mind of people who already consume it.”

I rose to my feet to take my dish to the sink, but she wasn’t yet done with hers so I went past her.

Still she abandoned the plate, and rushed over to me. “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll get right on that, and consumers most times usually blurt out the best damn copies.” Her shoulders slumped again. “I need to talk to a