My CEO Boyfriend Kept Me Secret and Gave My Promotion Away novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Director Whitby

Tobias Reeve hires her as Director of Client Strategy under one rule, no touching at the office, and tells her Marlowe Foods has moved its meeting to noon today and asked for her.

Reeve Partners took up the whole thirty-first floor and had no receptionist.

A man in a navy suit with no tie was sitting on the edge of a desk by the elevators, reading a printout, and he didn't look up when the doors opened.

"You're early," he said.

"You said eight."

"It's seven fifty-two." He turned a page. "I like that. Tobias Reeve."

"Tamara Whitby."

"I know. I've watched you put a badge on a cake about forty times."

"That's a lot of times."

"It's a good cake."

I didn't laugh.

I wanted to, and that annoyed me.

He walked me into a glass office with one chair on his side of the desk and one on mine, and he sat down without offering coffee.

"Here is what I know," he said. "Hollister Group's top account renews on Friday."

"You built it."

"Your name is on none of the documents."

"Every contract goes out under the CEO's signature or a vice president's."

"Your clients know your name anyway. Two of them have called me this week to ask if you'd landed anywhere."

"Which two?"

"One is Marlowe Foods."

My mouth went dry.

"Their chief financial officer said, and I'm quoting, 'If Tamara's not on the call, we don't have a call.'"

"That's flattering."

"That's leverage," Tobias said. "I'm not hiring you to be flattered."

"What are you hiring me to do?"

"Run client strategy for Reeve Partners. Director level."

"That's the title they gave her this morning, except you'd get the work that goes with it."

"You'd also get a seat at my leadership table and twenty percent more than Hollister paid you."

I looked at him for a long moment.

"This is a revenge hire."

"It's a smart hire," he said. "Revenge is a side effect."

"What's the catch?"

"One rule." He leaned back. "No touching in the office. Not me, not the staff, not the clients."

"I've had a company come apart over a hallway hug once, and I'm not doing it again."

"People shake hands in a conference room, and that's it."

"I wasn't planning on hugging you."

"Good."

"I wasn't planning on hugging anyone."

"Good," he said again, but the corner of his mouth moved.

He slid a folder across the desk.

"Offer letter. It's four pages."

I picked it up.

I thought of Porter's page, with the pen lying on top of it.

I thought of twelve Augusts of signing without reading.

I read every word of this one.

It took a while, and Tobias sat across from me and waited without checking his phone.

I found one clause I didn't like, about a non-compete that covered all of Illinois.

"This should be two years, not five," I said. "And it should only cover direct competitors, not any firm that does client work."

He took the pen from his breast pocket and made the change in the margin himself.

"Two years, direct competitors," he said. "Anything else?"

"Why me?"

He considered that.

"You were the only person in that video who didn't raise her voice," he said.

"Forty people stood there gawking, and you gave them the date of a meeting and told them where the files were."

"You quit angry, and you still protected the client."

"I want that person across from me when I'm in trouble."

My throat got tight.

Nobody at Hollister had ever said anything like that to me.

Porter had said I was the only person he trusted, and then he had given the title to someone else.

I signed.

Tobias didn't offer his hand across the desk, because of his own rule.

He just tipped his head and said, "Welcome to Reeve Partners, Director Whitby."

I let the words sit in my chest for a moment.

Director Whitby.

It was only a title, and it was the first time anyone had said it to me and meant it.

"Your first assignment is the Marlowe renewal," he said. "Hollister will be in the room, because they hold the current contract. Ms. Rutledge will be leading their side."

"Kylie."

"Kylie," he agreed. "And Mr. Hollister."

"Porter will be there?"

Tobias watched me carefully.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

I thought about the lipstick on his collar.

I thought about how his shoulders had dropped when I said I'd told no one anything.

"No," I said. "I'd like to see his face."

"Good." He pushed a second folder toward me. "Because the Marlowe CFO just emailed me. They've moved the meeting up. It's today at noon, in our conference room, with both firms pitching, and she asked for you to lead ours."

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend