Page 3 of Irresistible

Chapter 3

Richard had to calm himself in the back office before going back out to the lobby to make his speech. Originally, he had planned to make the speech right after greeting everyone. But that was no longer an option since he lost his composure. He was incredibly angry at himself for acting the way he had. Richard always prided himself on his cool and calm demeanor. In his mind, leaders needed to be immune to outside influence. Business executives who allowed themselves to be tempted by sexual impropriety, drugs, and illegal financial activities were weak individuals in his mind. He always told himself that he would never become one of those people. Richard Grant wanted to be a different kind of CEO for a new generation. His ideal set of values consisted of integrity, dependability, independence, competence, and perseverance. Anything less than that was not acceptable.

“Get it together, Richard. What the hell is wrong with you?!” Richard whispered to himself in his office, smacking himself in the face in a vain attempt to come to his senses.

He turned to the mirror on the back of the office door and noticed that he left a small red mark on his face. That would be fun to explain if anyone asked. These feelings were entirely foreign to Richard. He had been in several relationships within the last few years, but he had never experienced this level of attraction to his one of his own employees. He knew that he had to regain his cool before giving his speech to the branch. The only person he felt he could talk to was his therapist. Somehow he felt that Dr. Kim could make time to talk to the CEO of Local Citizens Bank on a moment’s notice. After all, he did agree to an increased rate of $475 per hour in exchange for the privilege of calling Dr. Kim whenever he wanted. Richard ripped his phone out of his pocket and hesitated before dialing the number.

“Cody!” Richard called out to his assistant for the day.

“Yes, Mr. Grant?” Cody said, approaching the cracked door.

“Go ahead and tell them I’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes. Tell them I’ll give a short speech, and then we’ll break until lunch. Ask everyone to have their presentation materials ready to go by noon, and apologize for the delay,” Richard replied quietly.

Cody nodded and turned around to execute Richard’s instructions. Cody started off as Richard’s driver, but evolved into so much more than that. Richard negotiated with the Board of Directors to have two dedicated personal assistants at the salary of $100,000 per year, each. That way, he had leeway to hire highly qualified people and ask them to do whatever he needed them to do, and it would be justified by their high salary. Cody was always more than eager to prove himself. He swore himself to always be at Richard’s beck and call, and it paid off handsomely for him.

Richard closed the door and turned back to the phone, scrolling through his recent calls list to find Dr. Kim. It took several scrolls, not because it had been so long since he had called her, but because he was constantly on the phone during an average business day. It had only been about a week since his last frantic call to her. That time, it was to help him work through a business problem and ensure that he was being objective. Richard had a resolution to depend on Dr. Kim less for affirmation and advice as time went on. He wanted to personify the “independence” part of his ideal set of values. But that would have to wait another day. The phone rang and Richard waited nervously for an answer.

“Richard?” Dr. Kim answered, sounding somewhat shocked to hear him calling.

“Yes. Hi, Dr. Kim. I’m terribly sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you had a minute to talk,” Richard responded.

“Yeah, I have a few minutes. But I have an appointment in about ten minutes. Is that enough time?” Dr. Kim asked. Richard knew she was asking not because she intended on cutting their conversation short if Richard needed more time, but because she needed to know whether she needed to have her assistant tell her next patient that she would be running late. Even Dr. Kim knew where her bread was buttered.

“Absolutely. This shouldn’t be too long. I’ve hit another point where I’m worried that I’m losing my objectivity.”

“Tell me what happened,” Dr. Kim replied, trying to sound interested in another one of her client’s harried but overstated concerns.

“I met one of my subordinates today and I was instantly attracted to her. Like, my brain stopped and I could barely speak. It was totally unprofessional and I came off like a complete dunce.”

“You know that’s a normal reaction to finding someone attractive, right? Some romantics might even call it ‘love at first sight’,” Dr. Kim responded slowly.

“I know, but I’m not supposed to feel this way about my employees. I’m supposed to be in charge and I’m supposed to be independent. How can I do my job if I know this can happen when I meet someone? I have to be able to do my job without having this fear in the back of my mind.”

“Take a deep breath. Nobody’s perfect, and these things are easily managed. If you feel that emotion coming on, just process it in the moment. You can let it happen and not let it overcome you. You’ve done way harder things in life, Richard. You can definitely manage a little crush now and again,” Dr. Kim explained.

“So, I don’t have anything to worry about, even though I just made a complete ass out of myself in front of a branch full of my employees?”

“You’re being too hard on yourself. You just blanked for a minute? You didn’t make an ass out of yourself. All you did was exhibit a mild imperfection, which I know is the end of the world for you. Just take a deep breath and remember that everyone’s going to forget about it in twenty minutes.”

Richard thanked Dr. Kim for her help and hung up the phone. He took several deep breaths and looked at himself in the mirror on the back of the door. He felt better, although he was still apprehensive about going back into the lobby and facing the staff. But he knew he had to be their fearless leader, even though most of them were just looking to get through the day and get on with their lives as soon as he was gone.

“Deep breaths taken. They’ll forget about it in twenty minutes. Let’s go back out there,” Richard said to himself in the mirror. He rarely needed pep talks, but this was not a normal day.

Richard opened the door slowly to see Cody standing dutifully in front of it like a bodyguard. There was truly nothing that Cody wouldn’t do for him. The two nodded at each other as Richard made his way to the lobby.

“Everyone, if you could just gather around for a minute!” Cody called out, prompting everyone to stop what they were doing to heed his call.

“Thank you all so much. I promise this will be short and then I’ll let you all get back to work. I just wanted to give you a heads-up about what I’ll be doing here over the next few days. Obviously, today I’ll be listening to your presentations regarding the branch’s data and revenue in the current fiscal year. But beyond that, I’m really just here to be a fly on the wall. I’m here to see what works and maybe help to change what doesn’t. I want you to do everything the way that you would usually do it, and I want you to be completely honest with me. We’re not firing anyone. We’re not making making cuts. This is purely a chance to grow and to learn. With all that being said, does anyone have any questions?”

It was a standard speech, and almost no one ever had any questions. Asking questions after one of these speeches was the workplace equivalent of a kid raising his hand at the end of class to ask if there is any homework. It wasn’t helpful and everyone else shot dirty looks across the room at the unfortunate soul that dared to ask the question.

But this was no normal day. Just as he was about to give the typical close to his speech, Richard saw a pale, slender hand shoot into the air. Scarlet had a question, and she wanted to make sure it would be answered.

“Y-yes, Scarlet,” Richard stammered. Apparently those deep breaths hadn’t fixed everything.

“I’ve compiled all my data into a Power Point. Will that be enough, or do I need to print out copies for everyone?” Scarlet asked playfully, running her hand through her hair.

Even if he wasn’t interested, there was no rule that said she couldn’t be flirtatious. She was a free woman, after all.