JENNIE

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I still couldn't believe that Sutton Investments had pulled out less than two weeks away from the gala. Stan was all over my ass to find a new sponsor because obviously he would be the one feeling the heat if we couldn't find a replacement. I'd only been there for five months and I really didn't want this one thing to define the rest of my career.

After Rosé had come in this evening, explaining to me her hand in telling Lisa about the sponsorship opening, I had been furious. I'd spent the rest of the night calling and emailing other possible companies. Unfortunately, this late in the year, they'd already all made other commitments. As much as I hated the idea, I was going to have to give in to Lisa's offer.

The next morning, I called Lisa at eight on the dot.

"This is Lisa," she spoke smoothly, sounding annoyingly sure of herself.

"Hi, it's me, Jennie Kim. Uh, I was going to let you know that you can have the main sponsorship if you still want it. What we'll need now is—" I said but was cut off when she interrupted.

"Of course we want the sponsorship. We'll discuss it over dinner tonight. I'll pick you up from the museum just after five."

"Wait, what? No."

"Jennie, I have a few requests and I think we should discuss them further."

"No, absolutely not. I know what you're doing here, Lisa," I snapped.

"What? We both have to eat and we have business to discuss."

She was trying to play innocent, but I knew exactly what she was doing.

"Lisa, this isn't a good—"

"I have a sizeable donation I'd like to make to the museum but if you're not interested, I understand."

I knew she was baiting me. But, considering my career was riding on this deal, I needed to change my tone—and quick.

"No, no! I'm sorry, er, yes, we would love to have your donation," I finally conceded through clenched teeth.

"Good, it's been decided. See you soon."

Click.

I was going to tell her I would just meet up with her at the restaurant but she had already hung up on me. The fucker hung up on me!

My blood boiled as I thought about how this pompous ass had injected herself into my life. Every time I thought about her pretty face grinning at me, I wanted to throw my laptop against the wall.

When a knock sounded on the door, I took a deep breath, pushing out my anger as I exhaled. I looked up to see Stan watching me.

"Did you find a replacement yet, Jennie?" he asked with his arms crossed. Stan was a pretty good-looking guy. He might have even been my type had I actually had one. His dark curly hair was cropped short on his head, but it would start to curl around his ears if he went too long without a haircut. I glanced down at his dress shirt that stretched over his muscled chest and biceps. He really should have bought bigger shirts. It was distracting.

Dragging my eyes back to his, I said, "Yeah, Manoban Enterprises. They want to add a 'sizeable' donation as well. Ms. Manoban and I are going to dinner tonight to discuss it all in further detail."

His eyes darkened as he looked me over.

"That's nonsense. I'll be going to dinner with her. I need to make sure the sponsorship is finalized and that I can get as much as I can from the donation. Where are you supposed to be meeting her?"

My mouth dropped open. He seriously thought I was incapable of handling things with Lisa. Standing up, I stalked over to him with my finger in his face.

"She's picking me up at five. Stan, I can handle it. You can't just take over like this! Trust me."

Swatting my hand out of his face, he stormed out of the office, but not before saying, "I can and will do this. Watch me. And if you know what's good for you, you won't yell at your boss."

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For the rest of the day, I stewed with anger. At first, I had been miffed at having to go to dinner with Lisa. But now that I had been told that I couldn't, it was all I wanted to do. Damn, I was a stubborn woman.

I finally looked up from my laptop hours later when someone knocked on my door. Lisa's pretty face was grinning at me. My heart fluttered on its own accord. The smile that popped up automatically across my face pissed me off. My body had its own ideas that my mind didn't necessarily agree with whenever Lisa was around.

"Lisa, nice to see you," I greeted formally, standing to go over and shake her hand.

She willingly took my hand in hers and held on to it.

"Um, it looks like there is a slight change of plans," I huffed out, frowning. It was embarrassing that I'd been trumped by my boss.

Her smile fell but she didn't release my hand and it sent chills up my arm.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my boss, Stan, wants to go to dinner with you to talk about the sponsorship. So it looks like I'm out." I couldn't help it when my chin quivered for just a moment. Biting my lip, I stopped it from continuing. Her scowl let me know that she saw that I was upset by this new revelation.

"No." One simple word, but my heart pounded when she spoke it.

"Lisa, there's nothing I can do about it. He's my boss. I have to do what he says." Her eyes flashed with anger. Lisa was Ms. Happy-Go-Lucky every time I saw her, so her mood surprised me.

"You must be Ms. Manoban. I look forward to discussing the sponsorship with your esteemed company over the dinner that Jennie set up for us. I'm Stan White, the production manager here at the museum." He extended his hand but dropped it when he realized Lisa still had mine in her grasp and wasn't making any moves to let it go.

"Mr. White, I'm sorry to ruin your plans, but I made this meeting with Jennie. She's been my contact and I'd like to keep it that way." Her words were cool and professional but her stare was hard.

"Ms. Manoban, I assure you that my knowledge far exceeds that of Jennie's, so you'll be doing yourself a disservice by having her go over the specifics rather than myself. She's still green, fresh out of college." I gasped as Stan threw me under the proverbial bus.

Asshole.

"Mr. White, I am feeling agitated and am now reconsidering my decision to proceed with this. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to." She squeezed my hand one last time and winked at me. My heart swelled at her defiance against Stan. Lisa began stalking off, but Stan called after her to stop.

"Wait! Ma'am, I do apologize. Please, take Jennie along with you. She could use the experience." Lisa nodded and waited for me.

I hurried to my desk and snapped my laptop shut, tossing it into my bag. Grabbing it and my purse, I headed for the door.

Before I made it all the way out of my office, Stan reached out and squeezed my upper arm, stopping me. "Don't mess this up Jennie."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Lisa glaring at him and taking a step forward. Stan dropped my arm and stalked back to his office. Lisa took hold of my hand again and I let her lead me to her car.

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