Page 2 of Irresistible

Chapter 2

Richard Grant ran his large hand over the leather upholstery in the back seat of the luxury sedan transporting him to the Mainsport branch of Local Citizens Bank. He went on regional tours of local branches to get an “on the ground” sense of how the business was operating. It was usually fairly boring work, but it needed to be done. John Jansen, his predecessor as CEO, started the tradition of grassroots branch visits, and Richard would be damned if he would go against Jansen’s norms so soon after taking over.

It was the crowning achievement of his life to date, becoming CEO of Local Citizens. He started as a lowly analyst eighteen years prior, soon after graduating from college. Richard Grant could only be described as tenacious and driven. Those two words were always present in every friend’s characterization of him and his personality. He sacrificed everything to get ahead. Only seeing his family once or twice a year and shunning anyone and anything that could take time away from his goal of advancing within Local Citizens Bank, Richard was truly married to his work. He couldn’t remember the last time he took a day off. A few weeks earlier, he took a client to a football game. But he went back to the office to work for the rest of the day afterward.

The leather felt smooth under his firm, muscular palm. He let out a deep sigh as he looked out the window, watching the snow flutter from the sky to the streets. In times of quiet reflection, he wondered if he had given up too much for his career. A few coworkers had set him up on dates with various high-society types, including models and actresses, especially as he scaled the corporate ladder. These relationships almost always went the same way. There would be the initial whirlwind of romance and lust followed by the woman’s reasonable expectation that Richard spend more time with her. As soon as he detected a whiff of this sentiment, Richard would quickly cut things off. The cycle continued a few times until he ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth it. Work was to become his sole focus, as opposed to his primary focus. He would stop at nothing to become CEO.

He achieved his goal almost two years before the day he visited the Mainsport branch. The youngest CEO in the company’s history, Richard was the recipient of heaping praise from Jansen and the remaining executives. Everyone spoke of his work ethic, about how he stayed at the office for almost 72 hours straight to close a crucial deal, and how he had made the sacrifices that no one else would make in order to get to the top of the mountain. Richard Grant was the corporate dream. He was a handsome, successful person who eschewed any hope of a real life in order to serve the aims of the company he worked for. It was no wonder he was so highly respected. But he still had yet to fully respect himself.

Richard was working harder than he ever had been before. Before becoming CEO, someone else always took care of the big-picture stuff. Even during his time as an executive, he didn’t have to trot out in front of cameras every time the bank posted a loss for the quarter. But now that was all on him. Ten thousand people worked for the bank, and he was responsible for making sure that they could all bring home a decent living for their families. The pressure got to him sometimes, although he never let himself show it. That was the hardest part of the job for him. He could never let his guard down. Richard Grant could never afford to look vulnerable in front of anyone. If he did, people would question his leadership, and a business without a strong leader is no business at all.

He was fresh off the heels of signing a two-year contract with the board of FirstPlace. Originally, he was on a probational, one-year arrangement. Richard was far too young to be given any more of a leash at that point. But then Richard was able to take the bank public, listing it on a major stock exchange, within his first year as CEO. That cemented his clout in the eyes of the board of directors. He was their man now, and they all knew that they could count on him.

The pressure was starting to take a toll on him, though. As the driver took him into Mainsport, he took a quick nap for about an hour. He was fresh off a near all-nighter the night before. The bank was working on putting together a set of compliance documents that was needed to ensure that it could remain on the stock exchange with no legal issues. The bank was new to the exchange, and everyone was looking to Richard to make sure that it could make the transition smoothly. With this came 18 and 20-hour workdays, almost every day. He had hard days as an executive, but this last year blew them all out of the water. He did his best to keep a brave face, but there were times when he wondered if he could keep it all together.

The nap helped, and he knew that it would take him through the end of the day. It would have to, as he had meetings booked until at least 9:00pm. He specifically requested that monitors be set up in his hotel room, as he knew that he would have to work more after his last meeting. That request was easily fulfilled. He was the head of the most successful banking organization in the region, and he was on pace to be a billionaire in his own right within a few years. He got almost everything he wanted. Yet he never had any time to savor it. He had no one to share his good fortune with. There was barely any time to spend his own money. Richard still lived in the colonial he purchased when he was promoted to vice president. The same used Japanese import car remained parked in the garage. He had no time to shop for these things.

“Driver, how far are we from the Mainsport branch?” Richard asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“We’re about twenty minutes out, sir,” the driver replied dutifully.

“Thank you. Could you let me know when we’re about five minutes out? I should text a few people to let them know I’m close.”

“Absolutely, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?” the driver asked with a genuine tone in his voice. Richard always treated his employees well, and they would do anything to help him.

“No, thanks, Cody. You’ve already been a huge help.”

The sedan wove through the backstreets of the sleepy New England suburb, crunching fresh snow beneath its tires. Richard remained transfixed on the still-falling flakes. Ever since he was a kid, he had always loved watching the snowfall. As he grew up, he just had fewer and fewer people to do it with. People moved on, got married, had kids, and generally took on what most would consider to be normal lives. They turned out to be happy and fulfilled individuals who were not obsessed with work and generally had more to live for than some insane rat race. Richard realized a long time ago that he was not that kind of person. The idea of a wife, kids, and a 9 to 5 work schedule seemed entirely alien to him. In many ways, he thought he was still figuring himself out. But work was always his respite, his refuge from the brutal and uncaring nature of the world.

Work and success was what made people stand up and take notice, in Richard’s eyes. To him, love and affection were fickle and temporary. He would always cite the fifty percent divorce rate and large numbers of unsatisfied and resentful spouses as evidence that the whole thing was just a fruitless endeavor. If you were valuable to someone, they would always need you, and nowhere was this truer than in the workplace. He made sure that certain aspects of the bank could not work without him there. All the way from his time as an analyst, his superiors would always tell anyone who would listen that Richard was their most valuable employee. He was an exacting perfectionist and he would not let anyone stand in the way of his ladder to success, and no one ever did. He was seemingly unobstructed in his ascent. All he left behind was everything else that goes into making a well-adjusted person.

“We’re approximately two minutes from the Mainsport branch, sir. We’ve alerted the manager and everyone will be awaiting your arrival,” the driver called back to Richard.

“Thank you again, John. Something for your trouble,” Richard replied, passing a twenty dollar bill over the seat to Cody, who accepted quickly and politely.

Cody pulled into the large parking lot of FirstPlace-Mainsport. The branch was largely empty, as would have been expected first thing on a Wednesday morning. Richard was ready to put on his professional demeanor, as everyone would be awaiting the arrival of their leader. The new CEO had purchased and read as many books on leadership and success in business as he could find in anticipation of taking the reins at Local Citizens. He studied the concepts obsessively, and managed to converse about them with a level of fluency that shocked even his predecessor. There was little that he couldn’t handle.

Richard exited the vehicle and nodded to Cody, who was holding the door open for him. Cody scampered to the front doors of the branch to hold the doors leading to the lobby. A burst of warm air greeted the pair as they entered the lobby, seeing a set of artificially smiling faces waiting for them. Richard’s height was enough to announce his presence in almost any room. He stood almost six feet, three inches tall with an impressive head of jet black hair, always well-coiffed. Richard waved as he made his way across the lobby to do his customary set of handshakes before getting down to business. One by one, he extended his hand and waited for each employee to give a standard, courteous greeting, to which he gave a standard, courteous reply. It was all formulaic.

“Mr. Grant, it’s an honor to meet you sir. Thank you for choosing to visit our branch today. I know you must be incredibly busy,” Jim said, shaking Richard’s hand entirely too hard. “I’m Jim, the manager of the branch. I believe we spoke on the phone briefly.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s great to put a face to the name, Jim. Believe me, the honor is all mine. It’s the great people running branches like this that make our entire organization work like a well-oiled machine. I’m just here to watch it all in action. Believe me, I won’t be in your way. If I am, please tell me. I’m just here to see how you all do such fantastic work day in and day out,” Richard responded, flashing his perfect smile and nearly blinding Jim in the process.

Richard knew that Jim was gay, and he knew that he wouldn’t have to do much to ingratiate himself with the leader of the branch he would be observing for the next few days. Even though Richard was genuine and hardworking, he was also incredibly intelligent, and it was easy to use his looks to win over one of his employees. He was nothing if not diligent.

“Thank you, sir. If there’s anything I can do for you today, just say the word. Your wish is my command,” Jim said, trying to stifle a flirtatious tone.

“I appreciate that. You almost make my job too easy,” Richard said, leaving a blushing Jim behind as he moved on to the next person in line.

There were only a few more employees left in the line, and Richard was already preparing the next part of his visit in his head. He intended to make a short speech to the entire branch, and then retire to a back office to get some work done before a branch-wide presentation. It was largely the same schtick from branch to branch. That said, he always went over each step in his mind even though it all felt second-nature. There was no such thing as over-preparation in his mind. A few more handshakes and basic greetings stood between Richard and the end of the line. They came and passed before he reached the last person in the line.

“Hi, Mr. Grant. I’m Scarlet. I’m a teller here. It’s really great to meet you,” Scarlet said sheepishly. It was difficult to mask her instinctive attraction to him, but she promised herself that she would stay out of trouble.

“Scar-Scarlet. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Richard stammered. It was harder for him to mask his feelings. He always had a staunch stance against falling for co-workers, but on rare occasions, it was difficult for him to disguise his attraction. Apparently all that preparation hadn’t readied him for this.

“Sir, is something wrong?” Scarlet asked, noticing his sudden shift in demeanor.

“N-no. Not at all. I think I just have something caught in my throat. Again, it was great to meet you, Scarlet. I’m going to go ahead and get ready for the rest of the day,” Richard said quickly before shaking her hand one last time. He had to get away from her and get on with the rest of his planned activities. He had to maintain his professionalism, after all.

“You too!” Scarlet called after the rapidly-leaving Richard. “I guess there was no way he was going to be into me, anyway. Did you see how quickly he left?” Scarlet whispered to Jim as the line dissolved.

“Oh, honey. Maybe you just made him nervous. Always look at the glass as half-full,” he responded.

“That hasn’t always worked out so well for me in the past,” Scarlet told herself as she walked back to her spot at the teller’s desk.