Downgrading Miss CEO

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A week had passed and Allison and have been practically mulled up into my office looking at different charts and other documents that contained the outcomes of the marketing research. Things would have an easy fix if there was just one obvious problem. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the problems that Harrington Inc. had, weren't that simple. Allison and I were thinking about a strategy that we could use to fix this. No solution was too crazy, but we just had to pinpoint the exact problem. People thought the hotels of the Harrington chain, weren't accessible enough. Could they be any vaguer?

"Hold on a minute," said Allison as she walked out of my office to answer the phone ringing on her desk. "This is Allison for Ms Harrington's office, how can I help you?" I looked over to Allison and it was a good thing that I did. There she stood, trying to signal me over and making weird faces. This couldn't be good.

I walked over there and she immediately put the phone in my hand and made some weird signals with her hands pointing to me and then back to her. I just rolled my eyes at her, used to her frantic. Although, she seemed to go a little overboard this time.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other side of the line immediately explained Allison's weird behaviour. This was a close call. But Julian was a smart guy. "Allison? Are you okay? Your voice sounded a little weird just there. I tried to call you on your cell, but it went straight to Voicemail so I figured your battery died or something."

In reality, I had turned my phone off. I didn't want to be distracted by Julian's texts or whatsoever. Fair was fair, she needed to figure this all out is she wanted a real chance for her and Julian to maybe have something for in the long haul. "Yeah, sorry. It has been a long day at the office and I forgot to bring my charger. Is there anything I can do for you? Not to brush you off," said she, slightly getting nervous and feeling guilty for her lie. "But there is a lot that has to be done before we call it a night."

Of course, he didn't give up that easily. That was one thing I had learnt about him in the short time I've known him. "Oh, come on. Even if there is a lot that has to be done, you still need to eat. The same counts for that boss of yours. Luckily for the both of you, I am outside the entrance of your building carrying more Thai food than one can possibly eat. Please, let me come up so I can make sure you eat something and not starve yourself to death. Besides, I would love to meet the person responsible for keeping you away from me this past week."

As if on cue, my stomach started to growl and I sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll be right down to let you in," and with that, I hung up the phone. "Allison, we may have a little problem. He's downstairs and he brought us food. Can you please just pretend like you are me? I know this is a mess, but I can't really send him away now, can I."

Allison stood there with an amused smile on her face. "Does this mean I am finally meeting Mr Baker? The guy that made you smile, the guy that made sure you finally got laid and cleaned out the spider web down there?" I shoved her in the shoulder playfully, and then went downstairs with a smile on my face. The thing I asked Allison to do was unorthodox for an employer to ask her employee, but there was never a doubt in her mind that Allison would refuse. The connection they had on a business level, as well as on a friendship level was what the long hours bearable.

Once I stepped into the elevator I was slightly nervous yet excited. It was true, 'the boss' kept 'Allison' away this past week and I hadn't seen Julian as much as I wanted to but, figuring out the problem and finding a solution had been my biggest priority. A lot of nights I sent Allison home and stayed for a little longer trying to point out the exact problem but with little success. The elevator touched the ground floor and the doors were open. I immediately stepped out and made a beeline to the entrance. Once there, I pressed a button to open the doors from the inside out.

There was Julian, indeed holding a bag full of take-out that would have been enough for at least four adults. I guess he had a little trouble choosing the right dish. I, despite the growling of my stomach, didn't really care for the food. I was just happy to see him. Before I could greet him, he wrapped his free arm around my waist and pulled me close for a kiss. All was in that kiss. How he was happy to see me and promise of what was to come if we really were alone, preferably in a bed.

To all good things must come to an end. The same applied to this kiss. Julian stepped away and looked at me with a boyish grin portrayed on his face. "Hey there, beautiful. Ready to get this show on the road?"

Without any word, I grabbed his hand and led him to the elevator. It surprised me how comfortable and at ease I felt around him. "Promise me you won't start about me working thee late hours? Like I said before, I am not obliged to stay, I want to stay." It was a little white lie to prevent him from going after Allison about my long work hours. It was not her fault and it wouldn't be fair for her to be on the receiving end of a possible rant.

When the elevator doors opened at the top floor of the building, Allison was back in my office, looking through papers. "I smell food!" She called out as a not so subtle warning that she was going to show herself. When she did, she immediately walked toward Julian, her hand stretched out for him to shake. "Lucy Harrington, it's nice to meet you. And I am sorry for keeping your girl hostage in here. You must be Julian right? I heard quite a lot about you."

Julian glanced at me with an amused look in his eyes. Then he focused his attention on my supposedly boss and held up the bag of take-out food he had been carrying. "I hope this is okay but I figured the two of can't skip out of meal while working this hard. So I figured I would bring you something to eat." He then looked around the office and was greeted by folders and document spread over the desk and some kind of strategy board on the wall. A strategy board without a strategy, now that was something you could be proud off, right?

"Just leave the mess," said Allison. "Let's move to one of the conference rooms to have some of that Thai. Maybe taking a step back from searching for the problem will actually help us figure it out. It's not healthy to stare at it for the entire day." Wow, she truly sounded like the boss at this moment. I should not forget to thank her for all that she's done in the past week on top of her usual work.

Julian, however, was far too interested in what he was seeing to hear her. "What is it that you are working on here exactly?" He asked, holding one of the research reports. "Because if you are looking for a problem to fix, I would recommend you to look into making the hotels more accessible for families and for recreative stays rather than only aim for the businessmen that are usually staying in your hotels. That is what Harrington Inc. was originally founded for right? For those who wanted all the comfort and class they could afford while on their business trips."

Allison and I looked at him in awe. "How did you get all that form just starting at those reports?" I asked him.

"Because that is what I do. That's how I bring in money to buy food and pay the bills. You can't advertise something that you know nothing off and you need to know what audience to target."

I walked up to him and kissed him. "You're a lifesaver. Now let's have that take out you brought. I am starving!"

-