“A disaster.”
“Great.” My teeth were clenched. Parker wasn’t one to exaggerate. If he said it was a disaster, then he meant it was a disaster.
“I’ll catch up with you when I get back,” I said. Parker took his leave and stalked out of my office.
“Kimberly,” I called out as I shut down my email inbox.
She poked her head into my office, not daring to step into the room, for whatever reason.
“I’m going to Spotlight. The Plush ads are all fucked up.” I consulted my watch, silently calculating the time I would need to handle this. “I need you to reschedule my three o’clock and block out four o’clock for a meeting with Parker.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
“Thank you.” I offered her a strained smile and then swept past her as I left the office.
Thanks to the ridiculous downtown LA traffic, it took me nearly half an hour to get over to Spotlight. By the time I reached the main reception desk, I was radiating anger.
“Mr. Brighton,” the receptionist said as I approached the marble-topped desk. Her face looked like she had just seen a ghost.
“I need to speak with Rita, immediately.”
She opened her mouth as if to object, but quickly closed it and dialed an extension on her phone.
I stared at her as she repeated my demand to whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Brittany will be down to escort you shortly,” she said, hanging up the phone. She offered me a polite smile.
“Thank you.” I pushed away from the counter and waited.
I was about to go to the elevators and ride up without an escort, when Brittany popped into view. She rushed across the parquet floor, her sky-high heels clacking frantically. My eyes drifted down her, watching as her perky tits bounced with her exertion.
“Cooper,” she greeted, plastering a fake smile on her pretty face. “How nice to see you.”
“Brittany,” I replied, giving her my best false smile as well.
Brittany had been at Spotlight for a while. I’d gotten to know her over the years and at one point, we had been romantically involved—if hot, sweaty office sex was considered romantic. It had been some time since our last…encounter…and I couldn’t tell if it was my seething anger or some other disconnect, but I found myself uninterested in her at the moment.
“I need to speak to Rita,” I to
ld her, pushing my mind off our prior entanglements.
“So I’ve heard. You have the entire fifth floor in an uprising.”
I couldn’t hold back a small twitch of a smile, as I pictured the chaos following my arrival. Brighton Enterprises was likely the biggest account at Spotlight. We spent millions with them each year and, as such, commanded a red carpet, all access experience. Which usually required more than a five minute notice, to prepare.
Brittany started back towards the elevators and I followed. My eyes noticed her ass looked nice and perky in her pencil skirt, and I was trying to figure out why I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the visual, when my mind ping-ponged back to the girl I had seen at the coffee shop. I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind for the past week and since then, all other women seemed to morph to her. I’d easily held to my no-sex rule because no one else had even tempted me since I’d seen the jet black-haired goddess.
Not even Brittany, who I happened to know was always up for a quickie up against a wall.
I shook my head, forcing myself back to the matter at hand.
Brittany led me through the maze of the cubicles and ushered me into Rita’s office where the battle began…
Twenty-minutes later, I left Spotlight with Rita’s promise that she would personally oversee another set of images and get them to me by the end of the business day. Rita had been nothing but apologetic and friendly. She agreed with me on all points and nodded along like a fucking bobble-head the entire time.
The perks of being a high-profile client. I sighed as I left the building.
My entire body was tensed up. I’d gone to Spotlight to try and release some of my aggression, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect. I was more amped than when I’d left my office. I needed an outlet…and there was only one thing I knew that would do the trick.