Chapter 1
I am sitting in my office staring at the most obnoxious man, why I put up with his tantrums I have no idea, but right now I want to punch his light out, this is the fourth time this week that I have had to deal with him and his arrogance. He has the audacity to tell me that I do not know what I am talking about.
"Mr. Emerson with all due respect, I was not employed in this position because I don't know what I am talking about." I say, my eyes locking his so he can see that I am not intimidated by him.
"Exactly why were you employed, did it not have anything to do with the fact that you are sleeping with the owner of this company." He smiles a wicked crooked smile.
"No and I can assure you that who I sleep with does not and will not ever affect my work. Now if you wish to take your work elsewhere, I will ask Hannah to arrange for the release letter and we can sign it. You will be free to take your work to any other publishing house." My finger is on the intercom button. He looks at me seriously and then he puts his finger on his lips like he is thinking. I got him now; I know that he has been rejected by most publishers because no one is willing to work with him. He may be an excellent writer but his attitude stinks. I have done my homework, he has no option but to agree with my terms or he will have no book at all.
"Ms. Steele, I see you want to play hard ball, what ever happened to the customer is always right?" His tone softens but he is still sitting here so that must mean that I am winning.
"Not at all, I have your book's best interest at heart. I am a woman I know what woman want to read and woman go for what they know, yes it is a brilliant story but writing it from the man's point of view is a little disturbing. In fact it is kind of insulting to woman and not just insulting but also make woman come across as a kind of sex object, which makes even me feel uncomfortable. Your work speaks to mostly woman, when I pick up a good old romance I don't want to read things like, if I could bang her lights out." I cross my arms over my chest and stare at him. I have no idea why he even writes romance, yes his work makes most women go weak but then I have to wonder why this excellent writer has suddenly decided to change his writing style.
"Let me think about it, I put a lot of work into that script you want to tear apart." Mr Emerson sat back, he looked like he was relaxing a little, letting his guard down, his cool green eyes stared into mine, his lips twisted into a little smile and I noticed then that he had a set of handsome dimples.
"We are not going to tear your script apart, we just want to change the wording, like your previous book, in this case yes we will need to re-write the script and change it to a woman's point of view or you can keep the man's point of view and we take out all the vulgar thought scenes."
"They are not vulgar, that is the way men see woman." He sits up again, his defensive face back on.
"Ok Mr Emerson, I think it is best if you make a decision and let me know. I have another meeting a few minutes; you can call Hannah and let her know what you have decided." I stand and walk around the table and open the door. He looks totally shocked and stares at me with wide amazed eyes. Finally he stands, I shake his hand firmly and then he exits my office, I close the door behind me and walk to the ladies room, rolling my eyes as Hannah hands him his coat.
"Mr Emerson." I say under my breath, I would give anything to hit him over the head with something.
After I relieve myself, I wash my hands and stare at my reflection in the mirror. It has been a whole year since all the drama in our lives, Christian's accident, Monty and who could ever forget Ray-Ray, William and Elena. It was a crazy year but apart from the crazy things that had happened, Christian and I have grown so close, even without his memory of our past he has made me fall crazy in love with him again. my thoughts of my handsome fifty makes me feel warm and relaxed, I reach inside my jacket pocket and take out my cellphone and there it is, a text message from my one and only.
*My dearest Ana, I am sitting in a boring meeting thinking about you.*
I smile, my cheeks turn pink and I press the reply button.
*My one and only Christian, I just finished a very tough meeting, cannot wait to be in your arms again.*
Of course he does not reply right away, i slide my phone back into my pocket and head out to my office, I am surprised to see that Mr Emerson has not left.
"Mr Emerson, is something wrong?" I ask curious.
"I have thought about this whole thing and I am willing to give it a go."
"That is great; I will get started on it right away." I say happy to know that I have won.
"I have one condition." He says bursting my bubble.
"What would that be?" I ask.
"I would like to have coffee with you next week, we can discuss your idea on how you will handle this and then if I am happy we can proceed."
"That is fine; I will have Hannah contact you with suitable times and dates." I say.
Mr Emerson lingers for a few minutes, he seems awkward like he wants to say something but just does not get to the point. I don't have time to wait for him to spit it out so I say a final good bye and head to my next meeting. I am the happiest person in the room when the meeting finally finishes, I look at my watch and i still have time to catch up on mails. 30 Minutes later I look up to see Sawyer at my door, he is always punctual. I smile and grab my bag and shut off my computer.
"See you tomorrow." I say to Hannah.
She looks up and waves and I shake my head at her, she either loves her job very much or seriously has no social life.
