“Morning petal, you’re an early bird.” He said as he headed past the kitchen towards his corner office.
“Early bird catches the worm… or so they say.” I called down to him.
He grin
ned and pointed his finger my way. “I need you free at 10.30 we have a very important client coming in and I think this could be your big break.”
He winked at me, stepping into his office “It’s one of those fitness health club things I know nothing about. You and Chris will know all about it though I’m sure, you’re young and go to hip and cool places like that.”
Well I didn’t know about young and hip; and I certainly didn’t know about fitness or health clubs seeing as the last time I stepped into a gym was about 6 years ago, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me working for a new client. “Pretend you know everything and say you can do anything.” My Nanna Jean always told me, “If it comes to it you can always learn to do it later when you get the job!” Her advice hadn’t let me down so far.
“Are we drafting a pitch for them this morning?” I asked as that was the usual way we won a client.
“Oh no” said Frank chuckling to himself and shaking his head, “seems our reputation proceeds us, the owner and CEO has asked for us specifically and wants us on board as soon as!”
Wow, I had never heard of that happening for us ever. We were such a small outfit in the city and from the sounds of it this company was bigger and more successful than anything we had dealt with before. I smiled with bubbling excitement as I made my way over to my desk to get my work up to date, I was raring to go.
Chris waltzed into the office a minute before 9 am, a smile the length of the River Thames on his face as he sank into his chair.
“Why are you looking so smug?” I asked glaring at him suspiciously down my nose like a head mistress.
“Baby girl you have no idea how awesome my night was. I met the most amazing guy in a club last night. He’s a surgeon, really brainy but so sexy with it, he has abs to die for. I’m seeing him again on Saturday, he’s taking me to an art exhibition can you believe it? A hunky guy with brains wants to take me out. He is so gonna get laid on Saturday.”
“You should play hard to get or a least a bit harder Chris, you might scare the poor guy off with your enthusiasm!” I laughed, but I knew it was useless trying to rein Chris in. He would do what he wanted regardless.
“We have to keep 10.30 free there’s a new prospective client coming in” I warned Chris, aware that his sneaky cigarette breaks and trips to Starbucks might affect our ability to impress and secure this new account for us both.
“Frank said it’s a health and fitness thing, I’m not sure about all the details but he wants us on our A game okay.”
“I can do that” Chris stared me down with his ‘I got this what else did you expect’ look, and started tapping away at this keyboard looking very much the professional advertising executive and not at all like the flake who jumped from his desk in a flirty manner every time the mail guy came in to deliver our post.
At 10.30 we all piled into the boardroom with our ipads to make notes and helped ourselves to coffee and pastries. This client must be special if they’re getting the posh pastries out I thought, it was usually a few rich tea biscuits if you were lucky in our staff meetings. Frank and Eric both sat at the head of the table, their smiles and easy relaxed manner brought an air of excitement to the room which made everyone sit up a little taller and more alert.
“Thanks everyone for coming to this meeting today. We have called you all in slightly earlier than the actual meeting with the client to get you all up to speed on what’s happened over the last few days.” Frank looked down at his partner Eric and beamed at him, this was all very intriguing. “On Tuesday we were approached by a very large chain of health and fitness clubs to put forward advertising and marketing ideas for their latest ventures in the U.K. They are primarily based in the U.S but they are looking to expand over here in Europe. They are opening some exclusive health clubs over here, starting with one not far out of the city. The owner has brought a huge plot of land in the countryside and secured planning permission for what looks to be a super luxurious spa for the elite sector I’ve no doubt.”
“What company is it?” One of the junior executives asked.
“JM Fitness Group is the company, they are quite well known over the pond, a household name apparently. Getting into bed with them could do major things for our little agency.”
With that the voices of approval started to hum and looks of excitement spread around the table.
“Is there anything specifically we should know about this client before they arrive?” I asked.
“Just that we want to wow them with our creativity Ella. The owner of JM Fitness, a Mr Joseph Madden is very young to be running a company of such magnitude. At 34 years old he’s managed to corner the market in quite a few states in his home country and I’ve no doubt he’ll do the same here. He sounds very confident and knows what he wants, what he likes. I think we show him we are the same. That he can trust in our hard work and integrity. We need to show him that we will go the extra mile, give him the personal touch that a smaller agency like ourselves can offer.”
With that there came a knock at the boardroom door, and Kim the receptionist popped her head round the door. She looked flustered and skittish like she’d seen a mouse and didn’t know whether to run away or scream and jump on the table.
“Mr Madden and his associates are here to see you Sirs.” She said. Frank and Eric both stood and went out to the main office to meet the client as we all took a deep breath ready to put on a show.
As the men walked back into the boardroom we all stood as a matter of respect and good manners.
“Please don’t stand up on our account.” Said a deep American voice that I recognised straight away. My heart reacted before the rest of me, hitting my feet and making my tummy flip. I took a quick breath in as I looked across at Chris then over to the other side of the room into grey sparkling eyes and a smirk that told me he knew exactly who I was, in fact he wasn’t surprised to see me at all. What was he doing here? Did he know I worked here? Was this a coincidence, fate or was he stalking me? I suspected the latter from the smug look on his face. He was joined by two other suits and the same skinny dark haired beauty from the club, with cat like green eyes that ran predatorily around our boardroom table. No doubt making sure she’d staked her claim on this man and ensuring we all knew about it.
“Ladies and gentlemen this is Joseph Madden of JM fitness group.” Eric informed us.
“Call me Joe please, I haven’t been called Joseph since I was a kid.” He said and everyone laughed that nervous laugh you do when something isn’t funny but you want to impress the speaker. I didn’t laugh, I just stared wide-eyed. He looked delicious, in a dark grey pinstripe three piece suit with a crisp white shirt and silver tie that brought out the sparkle in his eyes. His hair still looked unruly but in a sexy way like all he’d done was run his fingers through it before stepping out, dark waves falling over his forehead. That air of power took over the boardroom as he took a seat next to Frank and Eric and sat back with confidence, skinny bitch sat on the other side of him, gazing adoringly at his perfect face.
His eyes quickly scanned the room but soon made their way back to me, a sly smile growing on those luscious lips of his.