Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) Read online

  “I have seen your numbers. They're great.” I took my seat as he took his. He folded his hands on the table and quirked up one side of his mouth as he continued. “Upper management has seen your numbers too. I’ll cut right to the chase, Matt. They'd like to bring you in-office to train the inside sales reps. They want to see if you can bring up their numbers with your sales experience.”

  Oh shit.

  “Umm, well, that's really great. I really appreciate the offer, but I'm really enjoying outside sales right now.” There is no freaking way I want to be back in an office. My heart started beating faster as dread filled my head at the prospect of being cooped up in an office again.

  “I understand. You're young still, no family. I'm sure you like traveling." Like it? I freaking love it. "Upper management really wants you here though. They’re willing to give you title of Vice President of Inside Sales, complete $200K with a great commission package, depending on sales performance. Full benefits. You'd have your run of the place. You just need to bring inside sales numbers up.”

  "Uh, yeah.” I felt like I was being backed into a corner. Damn rattlesnake. I sat up a bit in my chair and cleared my throat quickly. “Are you telling me I have to take it? Or can I turn it down?"

  Please tell me I can turn it down.

  "Well, we can't force you to take it, but they can probably stick you in a shitty territory. I know you like Atlanta and all..."

  I interrupted him. "Like it? Do you remember the last time you came to visit?" I was hoping to remind him of how I really showed him the city. He had a freaking awesome time and made me swear not to retell our shenanigans from that night. Living there is like a single guy’s dream party town.

  He chuckled, "Yeah, actually I do. It was pretty fun." He cleared his throat and then his voice turned to a more serious tone; a tone that I remembered all too well from when I worked with him. "They'll fuck you if you don't take this, son. Just suck it up for one year, turn sales around and you can have your pick of territories."

  I started grinding my teeth just thinking about having to work in an office again. That meant wearing dress clothes every day, being on business time, moving from my party town.

  This was going to suck.

  “I don’t have any management experience, Perry. This just doesn’t make any sense at all,” I told him with a slight worried expression on my face. I knew nothing about being a manager or motivating others.

  “We’ll get you training for that and don’t forget, I’m right down the hall from you. Just like sales, I can teach you this shit too.” As if he could see the quandary going on in my head, he continued, “You’ll have an unlimited budget. You can try new sales techniques. Like I said, you’ll have the run of this place. I’m not exaggerating when I say that either, Matt. I got direct clearance from upper. You have one year, try every technique you can think of and then you can go wherever you want. They care about sales going up and they don’t care how it’s done.”

  He was making it sound not too bad actually. Unlimited budget would really help out with a ton of techniques that helped increase my sales. Not to mention I would be near my family and old friends again. Although, everyone was getting married now. Except Clark. He still lives in the townhouse with Mel and Flynn from before they were a couple. He'll probably need to move out of Flynn’s townhouse soon to give them privacy. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. I’ll rent a place with him for a year and then go back to Hotlanta.

  "Alright. I guess I'm against the wall on this. If I stick it out for a year, then I can return to Atlanta and get my territory back?” I asked in a hopeful manner.

  "Well, it's not guaranteed, but I'm sure I'll be able to swing it for you."

  I guess in sales that’s as good of a guarantee as I’ll get. Damn, I’ll hate moving from my perfect condo downtown. It’s right in the heart of everything.

  As if he could see the pain in my eyes from having to move from my great lifestyle, he stood up and his expression softened. “Come on. Let me show you to your new office. You’ll love it,” he said with that damn rattlesnake grin.

  We walked down the hallway and I really liked how the entire office had just been redone with new cubicles and dark blue carpeting. It looked a lot nicer than last time I was here, not too long ago. Perry pointed out the sales cubes and I spotted more than a few people pop their heads up, looking to see who Perry was talking to.

  He led me into an enormous office with a fantastic view of the city. We were up on the twentieth floor so the huge windows really display a nice skyline. A massive wooden desk sat in the middle of the room with two chairs in front of it. Several empty bookcases lined each wall. Off to the left, were two light blue wingback chairs with a small table separating the two and a small dark blue couch. Even with all this furniture, the office was really quite spacious.

  Perry sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk and gestured toward the huge leather chair behind it. “Have a seat, Matt. Try it out and see what you think.” I smiled, knowing that sales tactic all too well. Try it out and fall in love with it. You’ll buy it immediately. Just like a car. I really don’t have a choice to buy this one though. I sat down feeling the supple leather on the arm rests and had to admit to myself that it actually felt pretty darn good.

  I realized I needed to get my head out of the clouds and that this job was going to be more than something I was used to. “What size sales force am I looking at?” I asked, knowing it was pretty large, but didn’t know the current number.

  “One hundred. We’re hoping to grow to two hundred by next year,” he stated without any feeling in his voice, but I noticed he didn’t look me in the eyes. Holy shit. Double the sales force? Under me. The guy with no management training. This whole idea continued to sound even more ridiculous now. I glanced nervously around the office, staring out the window just behind Perry. The slatted blinds were down, but open so I could see the employees trying to peek in to see what was going on.

  “You’ll have management training classes, Matt,” he stated emphatically, bringing me back to the discussion. I nodded my head slightly, realizing how well Perry remembered my worried facial expressions. “You were always a top performer. Even when you first started out, your numbers were always the highest. You can do this, Matt. I have no doubt in my mind.” His voice was firm and full of conviction. He had total faith in me that I could do this.

  I swallowed and looked around nervously. I placed my hands flat on the desk and tapped my index fingers trying to calm my nerves and think things through. If I could do this, it would look fantastic on my résumé. And if they didn’t give me my old territory back, I could find another job easily. One year. That’s it. Suck it up for one full year.

  I took a deep breath and nodded my head to the rattlesnake. “Alright, I’ll take it,” I said as I let out all the air I just took in. Perry’s mouth turned up in a slow curl, making me feel like I just made a deal with the devil himself.

  I spent a couple hours and a lunch meeting with Perry, going over sales figures, his ideas on why sales were declining and trying to put together a plan on how to proceed. I was given two weeks to move up here. Right after Flynn and Mel’s wedding, I would be back here. Two weeks didn’t seem like a long time at all and I knew it would fly by.

  Perry asked me to be back here by nine tomorrow to introduce me to the sales force and go over action items for my current position. I was asked to continue contact with my clients until they had someone to transition my accounts to for the rest of the year.

  I called Clark, knowing I needed to get drunk tonight. I just wish I were meeting up with Kara tonight instead of tomorrow. I tried calling that Sarah girl from the other night, but she was out of town on business.

  Clark and I sat at a table in front of the window at a sports bar near my hotel. I took a sip from my beer and stared out the window, shaking my head in frustration.

  “It won’t be so bad, Matt. It’s actually pretty cool.” Clark was le
aning forward trying to reason with me. The guy wore fake glasses half the time and coupled that with his tall, fit physique, he really resembled Clark Kent from Superman. Not to mention, he had the best opener to pick up women. “Think of all the partying we can do. Now that Z and Flynn are off getting married, they suck. Pussy whipped jerks.” He sat back and put his hands behind his head and smiled. “This is actually going to be great, Matt. We’ll get a place near all the cool bars. We can walk to Allure too. Free drinks all the time. Suck it up and smile, Matt. This is actually awesome.”

  Allure is owned by my little brother, Z. Hanging out there is always a great time, not to mention a lot of women hang out there. Clark was a bouncer there, but realized he could get more action partying at the bar. He made sure to become great friends with the new bouncer and gave him thorough instructions on the types of women that were to be let in first. The thought of hanging out with Clark as my wingman was appealing, but at the same time, I have my own friends in Atlanta that I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with. The thought of leaving my life behind filled me with dread.

  “Clark, how many times did you come visit and party with me in Atlanta? Atlanta is ten times the size of this city. That’s ten times as many bars. This is going to be a huge change for me,” I stressed as much as possible how different my life would change. Having a roommate again was going to be different too. At least I’d have a permanent wingman when I needed one.

  One year. One year. I kept repeating that in my head, hoping it would seem like less time until I could get back to my life in Atlanta.

  My phone rang and I glanced down at the caller ID. Alex. My best friend in Atlanta. I picked up knowing he just got around to reading the text I sent him just after lunch. “Guess whose ass I’ve got my hand on right now, Matt.”

  I chuckled, knowing he was at our favorite bar and his hand was on my favorite waitress’ ass. Cassie. She’s another one of my favorites I call whenever I want. Crap, I’m going to miss her. “Get your hands off her, Alex. She’s a good girl. She won’t want you,” I joked.

  “Yeah, well now that you have to move, Cassie said she’ll be with me.” I heard her yell in the background, “I did NOT say that, asshole.” I groaned out loud. I’m really going to miss her.

  She must have grabbed the phone from Alex because the next thing I knew, her sweet southern voice filled my ear as she asked me, “It’s not really true, is it Matt? Are you moving away?”

  “Just a year, babe, just a year. I’ll be back down there.” I was pretty sure I was trying to convince both of us that I would be back down there.

  “But I’m gonna miss you,” she whined. Most girls are annoying when they whine. Not Cassie. Her whining is pure sweetness that sounds more like begging, especially with her southern drawl. Man, this sucks so badly.

  “I know. I’ll miss you too. I’ll be back this weekend to pack up my stuff. You can come over and help me.”

  She moaned into the phone, “Mmm, I’d love that. But you won’t get much packin’ done if I come over. You know that.”

  One year. Just one year. I replayed my new mantra in my head as I pictured Cassie naked on my bed.

  “I’m counting on that Cassie. I’ll fly in Friday afternoon around three. Meet me back at my place,” I ordered.

  “I can’t wait. I’ll see ya then,” She said with that husky bedroom voice I love so much. She handed the phone back to Alex.

  “Man, so it’s definite? You’re really moving there?” He asked completely in disbelief.

  “Yep. Corporate boys ordered it, so I’m moving up here.” I recapped the conversation with Perry. I made sure to mention the perks in an effort to make sure it didn’t sound too bad – to either of us. I looked up while telling Alex what happened today and noticed Clark was already at another table chatting with three girls who were trying to eat dinner. One of the girls looked really annoyed, but the other two were pretty into him. Rooming with Clark will actually work out really nice if this is how he operates all the time. I hung up with Alex and just as I thought, Clark was the perfect wingman. I was able to work out some of my frustration that night. Yep. Living here might not be so bad.

  The next day, I arrived at the office right on time. I was introduced to my sales staff in our huge conference hall, which is located on the floor below my office and sales staff. I was able to talk to a few of my sales reps afterward. Some were just doing it to brown-nose me, but there were a couple of good people that I could tell were genuine and really interested in meeting their new boss.

  Afterward, Perry walked me over to meet with our human resources lady – Vanessa Hargrave. Perry briefly introduced us and then he left, closing the door behind him.

  Vanessa Hargrave was hot as hell and as bitchy as they come. I immediately noticed her gorgeous deep grey eyes, almost catlike. She also seemed as temperamental as a cat. I would think an HR lady needs to know how to smile and be personable to the staff. Nope, not Vanessa; at least she didn’t seem that way to me. She seemed to have some sort of chip on her shoulder, but damn if she wasn’t the sexiest, most feisty creature I’ve ever seen. Her body was that perfect hourglass shape, with hips I couldn’t help but imagine wrapping my hands around and pulling her towards me. Especially from behind. I was hoping she’d turn around so I could check out her ass, but she quickly took her seat after shaking my hand.

  Vanessa sat behind her desk acting as if she owned the whole freaking place. With her straight posture and hands clasped and placed firmly in front of her on her desk, she was definitely trying to get her point across who was in charge here.

  Lucky for me, I could tell she was uncomfortable. It seems that when feisty Vanessa gets slightly nervous, she twirls that pretty good-sized engagement ring around her finger. I continued to watch her body language, waiting for any other nervous tick she might have.

  I started to wonder if her gorgeous auburn hair was pulled back way too tight into that bun to make her so bitchy. Or maybe her dark rimmed glasses that gave her the appearance of a mean librarian type, made her feel like she should be stern.

  Of course thinking about librarians made me think of the strip joint when they’d walk out in a business suit, short skirt of course, and whip off the glasses and pull out their hair from the bun on their head. I bet Vanessa would look fantastic strutting down the stage, ripping her blouse open, buttons popping off. Teasing me with her skirt, slowly unzipping it and letting it fall to the floor. Just thinking about her sexy body on stage gave me a chub and I quickly adjusted myself as I tried to focus on what she was saying.

  “You’ll need an administrative assistant and I’m sure a manager, since Mr. Buchanan told me that you lack managerial skills. I’ve taken the liberty of signing you up for several workshops that are required in order to assist you in your,” she paused and her eyes glanced down my body before continuing, “lack of qualifications.” I cocked my eye brow and gave her a smug smile, letting her continue. I’ll be fucking with her enough to turn her happy little world upside down, especially since she’s giving me this attitude. I’ll let her have her little moment of trying to cut me down. I sat quiet while she continued.

  Go on, baby. Feel like you own the joint.

  “Any questions?” She asked with a smug look on her face after she finished explaining the changes in my benefits package.

  “Do you treat all transferred employees like you just did me?” I kept the smug smile on my face as I asked that.

  “Like what?” She asked pretending not to know what I was talking about. She began to twirl her ring again as she swallowed really hard, bringing my attention to her gorgeous long neck. Thoughts of running my lips along it and grazing my tongue over it ran through my mind.

  “As if you’re above them.”

  Her slight smile dropped and a worried expression over took her as she stuttered, “I…wasn’t trying to…”

  I interrupted her immediately. “I know what you’re trying to do. You don’t have to worry about being abo
ve me or anything. I’m not trying to win some upper management competition. I’m just here to do what I’m supposed to do, so don’t worry that pretty little head of yours,” I finished as I stood up, taking the folder of information she presented to me during her speech.

  “I…you must have misunderstood me, Mr. Williams.” She stood from her chair, nervously glancing away from me.

  “I didn’t misunderstand. I’ll keep to my side of the building and you can keep to yours. We won’t have any problems.” I gave her a sweet smile and added, “Unless you want to come visit me; of course, you’re more than welcome to.”

  Her mouth dropped open and I noticed her gorgeous long lashes flutter as she fumbled for words to say. I grabbed the door handle and started to walk out, but turned back to her before I left. “Oh and call me Matt, I’m not big on formalities.” I left her office not looking back. I wasn’t sure what she thought of me, but I’m sure she was going to let me know pretty soon.

  Chapter 2

  Matt

  My day finally ended and it was Kara time. Thank goodness. I grabbed some champagne on the way back, her favorite kind, and decided we’d just order room service — if we ever got around to ordering food.

  Kara arrived at my place and we ran through her interview questions. Well, when she first got there, she was dressed in clothes that would warrant being hired by a male who wanted her just for sex. So, we had to have a full discussion on clothing. I showed her how much her clothing options turned me on. I let her know how I would handle her interview on the desk in the hotel. Too bad I couldn’t sprawl her over the huge desk in my new office. I think I might just have to sneak her in there one night for an amazing time.

  I called Perry the next day and told him I had some personal stuff to take care of. Technically, I should be back in Atlanta packing anyway and he basically told me that. I decided I’d try to take off the rest of the week to look for a place to live. I had wanted to organize a little more at the office and tackle some projects I wanted to start, but I realized I would worry about that stuff later.