A Business Love

chapter 9.1

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When Jessie was back at her desk, Mariana was surprised that she didn't storm into her office as she usually did after big meetings. Mariana immediately chatted with her on Teams asking how it went.

Jessie got up and walked straight to Mariana's office which made her smirk because she knew Jessie couldn't stop herself from unpacking what was on her mind all the time.

"Julian approved. Massimo and him are gonna present the project to Mauro without me," she said with a sad face as she sat down in front of Mariana.

"Okay...?" said Mariana not seeing why this bothered her.

"They excluded me at the finish line!"

"Jess, you've presented your project to the executive leaders and then again to the COO. I think that's good enough."

Jessie shrugged with a downcast look.

"What's wrong?" asked Mariana.

"My brain is fuming right now. Julian challenged me so much during that meeting. I feel like I was just not good enough."

"If you weren't good enough, he wouldn't have approved it."

"I don't know..." said Jessie pensively. For some reason, she felt like she had failed. She kept thinking of how Julian was mercilessly asking her all those questions and how she seemed all over the place with her answers. She had never in her life been this destabilized while presenting and she was bummed out that it had to happen in front of the one guy she wanted to impress.

"So! Finally, you freaked out for no reason. He didn't notice that all of this was for him," said Mariana pointing at her while circling with her hand.

"I don't know if he knew this was for him, but he was definitely not indifferent to it."

Mariana's eyes widened. "What?! What happened?"

"You know when you look at something that's surprising, and you kind of look twice really quick? That's what he did when I entered his office."

"No!" screamed Mariana in disbelief. "Do you think he likes you!?"

"Dude, relax!" exclaimed Jessie, appalled at how fast Mariana had jumped to conclusions.

"Mah, who knows! Why aren't you more excited about this?" she asked, her eyes brilliant with excitement.

"Mar, no. There is absolutely no possible way this guy could like me. He is so intelligent and sharp. Ugh. I can't even explain. The way his brain functions baffles me. He's so freaking sexy when he talks business. But then whenever he's not talking business, he's so sweet, and kind, and humble. And I probably made a fool of myself in front of him. That's why he excluded me to the last meeting," she said on the verge of fainting.

"Girl, stop. I'm sure you nailed it. You're a beautiful smart ass," said Mariana rolling her eyes.

Jessie was the girl who had everything for herself in Mariana's eyes; beauty, brain, and charisma. She had no doubt that Julian had been able to notice not only Jessie's beauty, but all of the rest that made her the incredible woman that she was.

***

About a week later, Julian, Massimo and Sylvia were meeting with Mauro to briefly present the digital marketing strategy and get his approval on it.

Mauro was immediately pleased with the project. Apart from its website, the Moretti Group had no online presence and he was eager to get more exposure.