Kiss the Girl Read online

  “So unfair,” Hunter said.

  “Not this one. She’s not getting this one,” Brooklyn muttered, more determined than ever to nail this presentation and seal this account for Savvy. “Lennox is going down.”

  Chapter Four

  So it was possible that the Foster Foods executives were in some sort of competition with the Eskimos. It was freezing in the waiting area, and Brooklyn found that it only made her tense up more. To say she was nervous about giving this presentation was an understatement. The high ceilings, the opulent furniture, and the high-end coffee station in the corner with all the flavor varieties displayed on a carousel reminded her that this was, in fact, the big time.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she reminded herself that the campaign was good. Because it really was. It was quite possibly her best, but the notion that she could single-handedly screw up the communication of her ideas had her in a tailspin. She didn’t do “in front of people.” That’s what they had Mallory for.

  All they needed now was just a little bit of luck. She reached into her pocket and found the four-leaf clover she’d mounted and sealed when she was in high school. She carried it with her whenever she needed an extra shot of help. She ran her thumb across it now and made a silent wish. And seriously, could they not raise the temperature in here just a few degrees? This was insane. Or at least hand out parkas to all those who entered the office? She was considering lighting a fire in the trash can to warm her hands. Drastic times…

  As they waited, Brooklyn stole a glance at Mallory and was not at all surprised to see her in typical game mode and totally in her element. After all, this was the kind of thing Mallory lived for. It was like she was born with this incredible amount of finesse and polish. It wasn’t fair. “Look at you. You’re a total cucumber over there.”

  Mallory inclined her head. “Cool, calm, and collected. That’s how you get things done.”

  Cool, calm, and collected. It sounded like a winning combination. She would try it and hope her false sense of confidence would beat to hell the butterflies racing around her stomach. Miraculously, over the next few minutes, that’s what seemed to happen. She felt herself relax. She imagined the presentation playing out perfectly and told herself that she had this. That’s when the door to the conference room opened and a group emerged.

  Showtime.

  She was ready to knock this thing out of the park.

  They stood as the agency that had presented before them exited with the Foster people.

  “Lennox Group,” Mallory murmured to her quietly, indicating the two women and one man who stood on the other side of the room chatting with Royce Foster, the new CEO of Foster Foods.

  “Got it,” she whispered back.

  Royce shook hands with the three of them and took a minute to speak quietly with the well-dressed brunette. Her back was to Brooklyn, but she seemed to be the one in charge. This had to be Lennox herself. Finally, the brunette placed a hand on his arm. “Thanks so much, Royce. Today was a pleasure. I’ll look forward to your call.” As she turned, the brunette’s focus seemed to fall on Mallory. She smiled conservatively as she approached them, and that’s when Brooklyn felt the color drain from her face.

  “Hello, Mallory. How are you?”

  “Jessica. I’m well. I’d like to introduce you to my colleague, Brooklyn Campbell. Brooklyn, this is Jessica Lennox.”

  Stunned.

  That’s how she felt and that’s how Jessica looked as she turned to her, pausing for what felt like an eternity. “Brooklyn,” she finally said, extending her hand. “It’s wonderful to see you again. We think a lot of Soho Savvy.”

  Brooklyn swallowed and forced herself into action. She took Jessica’s hand and managed a reply. “You too.”

  “This is my assistant, Bentley, and one of our account executives, Tina.” Brooklyn shook hands with Jessica’s employees, but she can’t say she was exactly present in the moment. Her brain was racing to catch up. Jessica’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a pressing lunch appointment. Best of luck in there.” She smiled, rejoined her colleagues, and in a flash, they were gone.

  Brooklyn was reeling. Mallory shot her a questioning look, which she shrugged off. This wasn’t the time to explain.

  But as they headed into the conference room, her head didn’t agree, because how in the world had this happened? Jessica Lennox was Jess from the bar, and she had somehow missed it? And had Jessica known who Brooklyn was that night? These were the thoughts that were darting in and out of her head as she was introduced to Royce Foster. She only hoped to God she didn’t look as confused as she felt.

  They set up briefly for their presentation and within minutes it was underway. Mallory was a pro. She opened with poise and power and had the executives nodding and smiling in all the right places. “And now, I’ll invite Brooklyn to walk you through the promo spot we have in mind. Brooklyn?”

  That was her cue.

  She stood and offered the six pairs of eyes staring back at her most winsome smile. “Thanks, Mal. Mallory.” Damn it all. “Foster’s maple-flavored bacon is down-home. It’s the crux of every family’s breakfast, but it’s also a new product, and the commercial spot should reflect that edge.” And in that briefest of moments, she lost her train of thought. Wait. What had she been saying? Oh, no. Not now. Not right here. She’d been nervous about the presentation to begin with, and the run-in with Jessica Lennox—correction, her Jess—had only tripled that effect. And while this was the moment she should be speaking, she was instead inside her own head investigating the cause of her distraction. Double damn it. She was going to advertising hell.

  Mallory flashed her an encouraging, albeit terrified smile. And Brooklyn picked it up as best she could. The glaring silence hadn’t been that long, had it? “Um…Right. So I’ll direct your attention to the storyboard. We start with a series of quick shots. Pine trees, a bird chirping from a branch, the natural sounds of the environment are acutely sharp, showcased in fact. We next hear the sounds of play fade in slowly. We see a cabin and four boys engaged in a game of tag football with their grandpa. But it’s not just any grandpa. It’s Football Hall of Fame coach, Jimmy St. Romaine, who in a brief montage calls plays, throws the ball, and laughs with his grandsons. This is followed by a shot of them walking back to the cabin, Jimmy ruffling the hair of the littlest guy, who looks up at him like he hung the moon. We end with the five of them sitting down to a hearty breakfast they’ve been craving after the active morning. Jimmy picks up a crisp piece of bacon and the light crunch is audible. The little guy, wanting to be just like his grandpa, mimics the action, a second hearty crunch, as we crosscut to Foster’s logo and a voiceover says, “Pass on what you know. Foster’s Maple Flavored Bacon.”

  Mallory joined her. “It’s an homage to those commercials we grew up with in the seventies and eighties, only with the natural sound in the forefront, the jump cuts, it has a modern, sleeker approach accomplished through editing. The best of both worlds.”

  As Mallory went on to outline the rest of the campaign, including print, radio, and an Internet push, Brooklyn watched the faces of the Foster execs. They genuinely seemed into the concept, but in her heart, she knew she’d botched her part of the presentation and hoped it hadn’t hurt their chances. She’d completely lost focus and made them look less than professional up there. Thank God for Mallory and her ability to finish strong.

  Instead of the subway back to the office, they splurged on a cab. After riding in silence, she sent Mallory an apologetic look. Plain and simple, she felt guilty and thought she should explain. “Sorry about my blank-out in there.”

  Mallory stared back, but her expression was serious. “A minor blip. It happens to all of us.”

  That wasn’t true. “It’s never happened to you in your life, and you know it.”

  “You were nervous.”

  “And blindsided. Apparently, a killer combo. You want to hear something crazy?”

  Mal
lory studied her curiously. “Try me.”

  “Remember the sexy Cinderella kissing?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “So I found out a little more about her, and it messed with my head a little bit.”

  Mallory seemed to like this. “In a good way?”

  “More like in a shocking, I-never-saw-this-coming kind of way. Mal, it was Jessica Lennox.”

  Mallory stared at her a moment, her eyes widening and her lips parting in shock as realization hit. “Shut up.”

  “I’d like to shut up. Really, I would. But I can’t, because it’s true. She’s the woman from the other night.”

  “The woman you were so into?” Mallory held her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. “Wait. Hold the phone. Let me make sure I’m getting this right because this is really important. You’re telling me you made out with Jessica Lennox, the Jessica Lennox?”

  She considered the question. “Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”

  “How is this even possible?! How could you not know who she was?”

  Brooklyn lifted her hands in helpless exasperation. “I knew her name was Jessica, but there are a million Jessicas in New York. It’s a pretty common name. Hell, another one lives two doors down from me. If we yelled ‘Jessica!’ out of this cab window, someone would turn around. And I had never seen Jessica Lennox before today.”

  Mallory seemed to still be trying to make sense of it all. “So Jessica Lennox is a lesbian?”

  Brooklyn tilted her head to the side. “Based on the evidence, I’m gonna have to go with yes.”

  “Since when exactly?” Mallory was practically yelling now, and Brooklyn, for whatever reason, felt the need to match her.

  “I don’t know! Always? I don’t have these answers, Mal. I’m still piecing this whole thing together.”

  Mallory paid the cab driver, bringing their conversation to a brief pause, and they walked the final block back to the loft. The October chill was in the air and seemed to calm them both. They walked a bit in silence, adjusting to the curveball that had just been thrown their way. Finally, Mallory turned to her. “You’re not going to see her again, are you? Brooks, this is Jessica Lennox we’re talking about.”

  “First of all, stop saying her name over and over again, and second of all, of course I’m not going to see her again. I’m not certifiable.”

  “Thank God for that. Because there are plenty of women out there who don’t happen to be our biggest rival and have ice water running through their veins.”

  “Agreed. It is a shame, though. You have to admit she’s hot.”

  Mallory sighed. “Makes me hate her even more.”

  When they arrived back at the loft, Samantha stood in anticipation. “So, how’d it go? We’ve been dying here. Were you dazzling? You were dazzling, weren’t you?”

  “It went fairly well,” Mallory said conservatively as she set her briefcase on the table.

  Brooklyn fell onto the couch. “She’s being kind. I had a blank-out moment during the presentation. I recovered, but it wasn’t as slick as it could have been.”

  “S’okay, guys,” Hunter said from behind her laptop. “They’re not hiring us to give presentations. They’re hiring us for our ideas and execution.”

  “Still.” Brooklyn let out a breath. “I was hoping it’d go smoother.”

  Mallory grabbed a bottle of water and sat down at the table next to Samantha. “That wasn’t the most interesting part of our afternoon, however. Oh, no, it wasn’t. Are you going to tell them?”

  Brooklyn covered her eyes. “Oh God, kill me now. I can’t do it. Go ahead, Mal.”

  Mallory turned to Hunter at her desk across the room. “I think you’re gonna want to come in here for this.”

  With eyebrows raised, Hunter abandoned her laptop and perched on top of the kitchen counter instead. “Appropriately attentive. Shoot.”

  “We ran into Jessica Lennox in the lobby.” She paused dramatically, and Brooklyn closed her eyes in total embarrassment.

  “Okay,” Samantha said, drawing out the word. “Was there an altercation? Ad-agency rumble?”

  “Not even close. It seems our friend here found some common ground with Ms. Lennox in the form of a hot-and-heavy lip-lock the other night. One word. Cinderella.”

  It took a minute to settle, but then it did.

  “No!” Samantha covered her mouth. “God, no. As in seriously? Lennox is the sexy Cinderella kiss?”

  “Hot damn,” Hunter said, grinning and walking to the couch. “Little Miss Brooklyn.”

  Brooklyn pointed at Hunter. “No. There is to be no congratulating, or mocking, or amusement of any kind. It was one night, and now that I’m fully informed, it will never happen again. So we’re all going to pretend this didn’t happen and go about our lives and wait to hear from the Foster execs while we continue to service our other clients and drink coffee and take lunch breaks and everything else we do!” Okay, so that came out a bit more intense than she’d planned, but it felt good.

  In response to her miniature outburst, her friends straightened up pretty quick and did their best to hide their smiles as they retreated to their individual workstations. Mallory blew out a breath. “Probably for the best we let her off the hook. I have a lot of work to do anyway. I’m gonna be here late as it is.”

  “Just make sure you’re home by midnight,” Samantha offered, which inspired a whole new round of laughter from the other two.

  Brooklyn picked up the stuffed bear that resided on the corner of her desk and threw it across the room at Samantha, whom she shamefully missed. “Not funny.” But the smile had already broken through, and she relented. “Okay, maybe a little.”

  *

  The day had practically eaten Jessica alive. It was almost ten that night when she finally made it back to her third-floor apartment in the Village. She was half inclined to throw herself on the floor in gratitude just to be home. She wanted a glass of wine, badly she did, but she promised herself she’d try to be healthier and opted for a cup of tea instead. She was only a few years away from turning forty, and it was time she started taking better care of herself.

  She slipped out of her heels and sighed in submission at just how amazing it felt to be free of them. She wiggled her toes against the coolness of the hardwood floors in quiet celebration. Fashion took a lot of work, and the truth was, she was most relaxed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

  On that note, she changed into a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top and snuggled into her extra-soft couch, tea in hand, to marinate on the happenings of the day. It was her nightly routine.

  The Foster meeting had been an out-and-out success, and she felt pretty damn good about that. She’d worked hard on that presentation, and it had paid off. She had the group in that conference room eating out of the palm of her hand, and she had to say that Tina was pretty impressive herself. She was one to watch, clearly on her way to world domination. If The Lennox Group didn’t get the account, she’d be utterly shocked. Inevitably, her thoughts then drifted to the surprise meeting in the waiting area following their presentation.

  Seeing Brooklyn, whom she’d thought about on multiple occasions throughout the week, standing there in front of her had been more than surreal. Mostly because she was so very far out of context. Talk about a plot twist.

  It was definitely an interesting development to find out she was a competitor. And it wasn’t like Jessica was sold on the idea of pursuing anything further with Brooklyn to begin with, but this new scenario definitely nixed the possibility. Too complicated and a total conflict of interest.

  But the whole thing tugged at her a bit.

  She’d genuinely had fun that night. She liked Brooklyn, and this was the first time in a while someone had captured her attention. If she was honest with herself, it was a disappointing end to it all.

  She corrected herself. Because in actuality, it probably wasn’t the end. And that could make things more cumbersome, which she wasn’t a fan of
. Working in the same industry, they would likely see each other from time to time. If nothing else, they should be able to be polite, friendly with one another. She’d just have to find some way to smooth out the awkward first.

  An idea sparked.

  Before her logical side could overrule the impulse, she grabbed her phone. Too late to call, though. A text might be an acceptable form of communication, however. She typed out what she hoped would break any possible tension.

  So it turns out, I’m in advertising.—J.

  She waited a few moments, staring at the screen for any sort of reply. But there was nothing. It was deflating, she had to admit. She shook herself out of the land of rejection and headed to the kitchen to rinse out her cup.

  It had probably been a dumb move to contact Brooklyn, one she was already regretting big-time. She hated feeling like a loser, and this was shaping up to be one of those times.

  That is, until she heard her phone vibrate on the table. Whoa. Not yet a loser. She strolled back to the couch at a carefully controlled pace, because, come on, she was an adult and didn’t get a rush of excitement from a text message. She glanced at the readout as casually as she could muster.

  Was my next guess.

  She exhaled slowly as she typed her response, fighting the smile that threatened. This was a tactical move.

  Just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings.

  Question first. Did you know who I was?

  Not a clue. Honest truth.

  She wondered if Brooklyn would believe her and if it even mattered. She exhaled. Yeah, it kind of did.

  It’s cool. We can be adults about this.

  Agreed.

  But probably no more kissing.