Secret Surrender (Forever 2)

On the way to Carl’s office—which occupied a corner on the opposite side of the floor from mine—I checked my phone and saw I had a text message from Vincent.

Hope your morning has been going well. Mine’s been going steadily downhill.

Thoughts raced through my mind. What could have happened? I texted back asking what was wrong.

My phone buzzed again.

I’m not in bed with you right now, mostly.

Blushing furiously, I tapped out a quick reply.

This is a work phone! We have to be more discreet than that!

I shoved the device in my jacket pocket as I came to Carl’s office. The door was closed. My phone buzzed as I looked around for his secretary. Spotting her, I walked over. “Carl asked me to drop by a minute ago. Do you know when he’ll be free?”

As I waited for her to finish typing, I glanced down at my phone to read Vincent’s message.

Fine. Your performance managing my assets this morning was exemplary. I have ideas for some new positions we could take that I want to share at our next meeting.

“—was your name, honey?” I snapped to attention, feeling the heat in my cheeks again as I worked to push Vincent’s message from my mind. She must have been asking who I was so she could buzz Carl. I needed to focus at work or else my performance would suffer at the worst possible moment.

Before I could respond, I heard Carl’s voice from behind me.

“Kristen, come on in.” I turned to face him and he nodded at my phone. “Impossible to get away these days, right? I admire you young people for being so good at managing all these devices. I want to throw mine through the window once or twice a day.” His green eyes twinkled behind gold framed glasses. The way his face wrinkled when he smiled combined with the white hair on the sides of his head—he was bald on top—showed his age, but he owned it and generally exuded an air of happiness.

I shoved it into my pocket and laughed politely. “That would be a pretty serious liability if it hit someone.”

Carl chuckled as he led me into his office. “You could have been a lawyer if you weren’t doing this. Maybe you should talk to them; they’re the ones making me mad enough to throw the thing half the time.”

I did my best fake smile. He sat down and motioned for me to take the seat across from him.

“So,” he said, clasping his hands on the desk, “Vincent Sorenson. First of all, congratulations on landing that one. Tough prospect. Second, what’s your plan to keep him?” He smiled and looked at me expectantly.

I wished I had been given more time to research what to do with Vincent’s account before talking to Carl about it. Since I hadn’t had enough time, I decided to stay vague. “Well, the bond market has some pretty promising sectors, so I’m thinking we can start there.”

He nodded. “Sure. The thing is, a guy like that is going to want big returns. He’s used to taking risks and reaping the rewards.”

I bit my lip. He had a point. “True, which is why I also wanted to suggest a plan targeting BRIC assets. There’s more risk there but those economies have been performing very well for a while and I think he’ll be interested in the international flavor.”

His eyes widened and he held out his fingers. “I think Brazil is the only one with surfing out of those, right? Russia definitely not, and I’m not sure about India but I know I’d only go surfing off the coast of China if I wanted to commit suicide by pollution.” He laughed. All anyone at the firm seemed to know about Vincent was he was rich and enjoyed surfing.

“Do you surf?” I blurted.

He laughed even harder. “It was a hypothetical. Can you imagine me surfing?”

I shrugged and wracked my brain for a useful nugget from the research I had done on Vincent’s company before the pitch. “Actually, India has lots of great surfing, and his company has been targeting China as a new growth market. Apparently there are people going out on the water there, though I imagine they’re avoiding the river mouths.”

Still chuckling, Carl nodded. “Shows what I know about that stuff. I like this BRIC plan. Focus on that, and present the safer bond strategy as a backup if you need it. We’re going to get some analysts working under you, but that will take a while because people are wrapping up other jobs, so for now you’re going to be on your own. Knowing your work ethic, I’m sure you won’t mind the longer hours in the interim.”

I nodded, eager to get back to my desk and see if this plan was even remotely viable. This is what happened when you weren’t prepared: you had to make stuff up and it might not work out.

“Anything else for me?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. I do think Vincent will like this BRIC plan. He’s actually flying to Rio tonight for a product launch.”

He furrowed his brow. “How do you know that?”

Great question—how did I know that? Beyond the truth, of course. This whole seeing a client thing was going to keep me on my toes.

“I saw a news story about it,” I said, scrambling. “I have Google Alerts set up for his name and his company. Just saw the story before I walked over here actually.” It didn’t explain why I knew he was flying over tonight, but hopefully it would be enough of an answer for him not to push me on it.

It was. He shook his head. “It’s been so long since I was an analyst, I feel out of the loop. Great to see young blood getting their feet wet. I’m predicting great things from this account, Kristen.” He stood up and I did the same before he motioned me to the door. “I have a lunch meeting now, but keep me posted on how things are going and let me know if you need anything.”

With another nod, I left.

I was taking deep breaths to stop myself from hyperventilating all the way back to my office. When I got there, I closed the door behind me and sat in the dark. Meeting with Carl would have been stressful in itself, but adding in the situation with Vincent made it even more so. Thankfully, it seemed to have gone well. Carl liked me, which was more important than Richard liking me, since Carl was my new boss.

I knew better than to go to Carl about anything Richard was doing unless it was absolutely necessary. Bosses were a lot like clients: they wanted you to make their lives easier and make them money. Giving Carl a situation to deal with was the best way to make sure he liked me less.

Other than losing him money. That would be worse.

I got up and flicked the light on in my office before checking my phone. No new messages. I tapped out a belated reply to Vincent’s earlier message about taking up new positions at our next meeting.