“You’re Dylan Reeves?” he asked after hearing David’s then Rob’s names.
“I am. You’re the COO. It’s good to put a face with a voice and an email address,” Dylan stated. He tried for a casual smile and purposefully avoided glancing in Tristan’s direction.
“It is. We sure are excited about Secret around here,” Landry said as a couple more well-dressed men met them in the foyer near the elevator. Thank god he’d spent the money to dress his guys, otherwise they’d have come to Wilder looking like the Beverly Hillbillies. “We should take this into the conference room.”
Landry guided them through the top floor, introducing them to the rest of the executive staff as they made their way deeper into the offices of Wilder, Inc. Dylan loved the openness and modern feel of the place. Each desk was ergonomically correct and outfitted in a cool futuristic design. Of course, much like his own office, everyone had state of the art computers and monitors.
Dylan stayed toward the back of the group, taking everything in. Landry was at the front, making polite conversation with David and Rob as they threaded their way through the maze of workstations toward the back of the building. Since he’d purposefully kept his eyes off Tristan, he had no idea of the man’s position in the throng of people moving in the direction Landry led.
“Your flight was good?” The husky voice came from behind. He’d thought he’d been bringing up the rear alone. He turned his head to see who’d spoken, only to find the man he avoided directly behind him.
“Absolutely. I haven’t traveled too much on private planes. It was nice. Thank you.” Dylan gave a sincere smile and caught Tristan’s return grin before he turned forward again. He registered the way Tristan’s eyes lit up when he smiled.
“It’s a business perk that didn’t take too long to get used to,” Tristan chuckled. All of a sudden the designs of the building faded as Tristan’s breath tickled the exposed skin above Dylan’s collar. All of Dylan’s attention centered on Tristan and the thrill of him being close.
“No, I wouldn’t imagine it would,” Dylan said. They were trailing now behind the crew, most likely his fault, so he picked up the pace. “I like the design of your building. I always imagined something like this for my staff.”
“It’s costly, but they’re our greatest asset. I wouldn’t be here without them. I need those creative juices flowing,” Tristan replied, placing a hand on Dylan’s back as he started to turn the wrong way. Electricity sizzled through his body, and he stepped away from the touch, barely registering the hand extended in front of him.
“This way,” Tristan said. The genuine smile was still in place when Dylan looked his way.
“I get it better now that I’ve been here. You promoted synergy before it became a buzzword,” Dylan said, forcing himself to focus on business. He remembered one particular article where Tristan was just starting out and had all these ideas about creating a community that worked together. He’d definitely achieved those goals.
“Thank you for knowing that,” Tristan added quietly, patting his shoulder as he stepped around him, walking a few feet ahead of Dylan. The warm puff of breath across his cheek and the light touch when Tristan passed by had goose bumps springing up on his arms. As he watched Tristan in front of him, he realized he’d been so absorbed in thought he’d again missed another turn they’d all made. “The conference room’s in here.”
Tristan caught a door and stopped Dylan before he walked away. He covered his mistake with a laugh. “It’s a distracting place.”
“I’m certainly glad you like it.” Tristan gestured toward the brightly lit room. “We’re meeting in here before we start the tour. It’s the only room, besides our individual offices, that’s truly private. Anytime you need it, it’s yours this weekend,” he said. Dylan walked in to see an over-the-top conference room. Of course, it had the standard table-and-chair setup, but off to the side was a seating area with decorative plush chairs, a sofa, and a full sink and bar at their disposal. If the rest of the place looked like this and Wilder did make an offer, his staff would do well here. That eased him more than anything else. It had been one of his chief concerns in this acquisition.
“Perfect. I’d really like to see the rest of the place,” Dylan added. As one burden eased the other took on a life of its own. He never had these problems. He had to figure out how to shake off his attraction to the company owner. This was business. Important to his life. Too many lives depended on him being on his A game, and yet, he found it hard to concentrate when the CEO was anywhere near him.
He’d been so absorbed in his own thoughts that it took a minute to see David and Rob were both in brisk conversations with the Wilder staff. It amazed him how well everyone seemed to get along. If anything, he was the odd man out, standing on the outside listening as the Wilder top executives were very much like his own. They spoke the same language, used similar analytical skill to come to certain viewpoints on the industry. They were interested in all the same things. If Dylan hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn they’d been friends forever.
He watched a little closer and wondered if this might just be part of the game. He’d never been in negotiations like these. Maybe this was the reel-you-in stage. For some reason that thought helped bring his perspective back. Of course Wilder, Inc. would know how to work them to get what they wanted.
Several minutes into the meet and greet, Tristan clapped his hands at the front of the room, effectively gathering everyone’s attention. “I’m changing our plans. Why don’t we start with a quick tour? We can have a more extensive conversation tomorrow as we iron out the details. What do you say?”