From Boardroom to Bedroom

Chapter 11

No, she wouldn’t lose sight of why she was here. Her job was to find what she needed to secure her and her brothers’ family legacy. Nothing more.

If maintaining her cover meant that her business ideas helped Nigel and she assisted in making any part of his team stronger, that would just be extra.

Sophie figured by the end of this charade everyone would win.

* * *

Nigel was still smiling when Roslyn arrived at the penthouse suite. He should’ve kept this meeting in his office, all professional, but that was not what had come out of his mouth, so here they were.

The woman was quite intriguing. He didn’t know her well, but everything he’d uncovered so far seemed so fascinating. The fact she’d basically called his staff incompetent both irked and amused him. He couldn’t wait to see what she thought she knew that could beat the carefully crafted plans from the well- educated, experienced team he’d personally vetted for these positions.

Maybe her ideas held merit or maybe she was just full of herself. Either way, he admired her for having the confidence to speak up...as if he needed more reasons to find her attractive.

Today she wore a fitted pair of black ankle pants with a black jacket and red pumps. Those damn pumps matched her lips. She looked like a ’50s pinup come to life and, like an idiot, he’d purposely put himself alone with her. But he had a feeling she could have shown up wearing sweats and sneakers and he’d still have found her just as striking because his attraction wasn’t just to the exterior... She was damn smart and bold. Qualities he couldn’t ignore.

And that was not smart of him. Not if he wanted to retain control over his emotions. He had to push aside his desires and the way his body responded when she looked at him. He already had one mess

on his hands with the rankings of Secret Lives, he didn’t need a scandal by having a fling with his consultant.

“I had lunch brought up,” he told her as she stepped from the elevator. “There’s quite a variety. I assume you don’t eat sushi all the time.”

“I do like other things, you know.” She carried her laptop and cell and walked to the chrome-and-glass desk in the corner to put her things down. “But I skipped breakfast, so anything sounds great at this point.”

While they made their plates, he took note of things she liked, things she overlooked. He found he wanted to know everything about her...and please her with this knowledge in the days to come.

“So, tell me, what do you know that my very well-trained staff doesn’t? This is what I needed when I searched for a consultant. I need that fresh look on things from someone who isn’t in the industry, but who still pays attention to all details.”

They took a seat at the desk across from each other. Instead of starting on her lunch, Roslyn pulled up her computer and swiveled it around to show him a graph she’d created.

“This is fairly rough, but I plugged in a few numbers to give you an example of what I’m about to explain.”

Intrigued, he ignored his lunch, as well. He watched as she pointed from one colored area to the next. She’d clearly pulled numbers from the latest rankings that had been just discussed at the meeting. How the hell had she been so fast?

“You can see that the targeted viewers are mainly on social media during these times. But your posts are going up during different times and missing their mark.” She noted the difference, then clicked onto another screen and another graph. “The posts are good—but most of them are getting lost in everyonNôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

e’s feeds.” She pointed out a few posts that had come the closest to hitting the time slots she’d highlighted. “Look at the difference in engagement—the uptick in likes, retweets, responses. If you put up the juicier posts—the ones with more exciting content—in these time slots, I think you’d see huge results.”

Nigel stared at the screen and listened to everything she said. All of her thoughts made perfect sense...which made him wonder why his very well-paid team hadn’t considered this strategy before. This was the first he’d seen anything like this.

“You did all of this in the few minutes since we spoke?” he asked, turning his attention back to her.

“Well, I admit I jotted most everything down, but I also made some mental notes, so I may have missed a few of the opinions,” she admitted. “But, it was merely a matter of plugging numbers in. I’ve taken quite a few online marketing classes, so I just used what I’ve learned. It’s a rough draft, like I said, but I can get more concrete examples before the next meeting if you’d like.”

Sexy, sophisticated and smart. He was in a hell of a lot of trouble here.

“You’ve taken marketing classes?” he questioned after a moment.

She nodded and shifted her computer aside, then pulled her plate and bottled water in front of her. “I love design but I knew I wouldn’t be able to grow and reach more clients if I didn’t understand how the whole social media system works. I needed to know how to interpret all the ins and outs. No matter how good I believe my ideas are for decor, I won’t get anywhere without understanding the dynamics of every aspect of business.”

The more she talked, the sexier she became. She adjusted her glasses, not in a coy flirty way, but out of necessity as they started to slip. A wayward strand of blond hair landed across her forehead and she swiped it back, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“So basically you want to practice the 20/20/20 method, as well,” she went on, oblivious to the fact the more she discussed business, the more turned on he became. “Not only posting during the right times, but also actively engaging with various followers. The rule is twenty new followers, twenty new comments, twenty new likes. Now, with Secret Lives being so successful, we can bump that number up. Viewers want to feel important, like they have that personal relationship or connection to the ladies.”

She plucked a juicy strawberry from the plate, studied it and popped it in her mouth. Nigel had never been so jealous of a piece of fruit.

“I would recommend the cast of the show following the same method,” she added. “They’re your ticket to new viewers. If they aren’t hyping up the show, nobody else will.”

“They post quite a bit during the season,” he replied.

“But what do they do in the off seasons? And are they posting the right content?” she countered. “Are they getting viewers intrigued for another episode? Hinting at scandal or something teasing to pull more people into watching the new shows?”