Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 111414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
I approve.
“Mr. Steen, I’m Jayme Rice. Nice to meet you.” I hold my hand out, stepping forward. But as soon as Mr. Steen stands and takes my hand, we’re interrupted.
“Dad, we’re in the middle of something. Can you do whatever this is later?” The other man in the room sounds bored and put out by my presence. I cut my eyes to him, recognizing Carson Steen, the middle child of Ben Steen and his heir apparent. Unbidden, it occurs to me that the online photos, while showing an attractive man, did him zero justice. Online, he’s handsome, but in a relatively normal way.
In person, with thunder storming in his blue eyes and the hard set of his jaw, he’s absolutely magnetic. If I met him at a club or saw him from across a crowded room, I’d be instantly intrigued. But we’re not out at a meat market with EDM music providing a backdrop, and given the way he’s dismissing me to focus on the senior Steen, I think he’d probably ignore me to go get another drink from the bar in any case.
“Mr. Steen,” I greet Carson, offering a handshake to him in order to say I will not be denied, “nice to meet you as well.”
He looks at my outstretched hand a beat too long but does stand to shake.
“Ms. Rice?” he questions, letting me know he didn’t even listen to my name. I don’t know if it’s a power move or if he genuinely didn’t listen, but I play it level.
“Yes. Jayme Rice, from Compass Public Relations. Nice to meet—”
I’m cut off once again when Carson whirls on his father. “An outside public relations firm? Are you fucking serious? I’m handling this.”
Ben Steen sighs as he leans back in his leather chair. Pulling his reading glasses off, he closes his eyes for a moment and rubs the bridge of his nose.
Though he requested help from our company, there’s always an outside chance that he’ll dismiss me before even hearing me out. But I know my value and the skills I bring to the table, so I hold my tongue and don’t give away my plan to help Americana Land recover from the social media shitstorm Carson stirred up with ‘shoplifting McKenzie’, as he called her.
Three million shares across social media have divided the Twitter and TikTok-verse. And the Steens don’t want to alienate their customer base any more than things have already gotten.
“Please sit down, Ms. Rice,” Ben Steen says, obviously feeling the same way I do. I lower myself gracefully to one of the chairs in front of Ben’s desk. Much harsher, he says, “You too, Carson.”
Carson doesn’t want to. It’s obvious that he wants to either stomp out the door or argue with his father. But he’s got a lot at stake here, and with a witness, he’s unwilling to publicly engage in a family battle. That tells me there’s hope for him and a possibility of fixing this situation.
If he’ll listen to me.
Satisfied that his son isn’t going to create another incident, Ben looks at me, effectively giving me the floor. Only then do I begin my pitch, knowing who I need to sell to since Ben contacted Compass in the first place. He’s on board. Now I need to bring Carson into the fold.
“Carson, in the short time that you’ve been with the company, you’ve quickly become an effective Chief Marketing Officer,” I start, knowing a man like Carson is probably used to compliments. But at the same time, he can’t help but notice that I sort of damned him with faint praise. ‘Effective’ is not a word normally used for someone like him. “However, the situation Americana Land finds itself in now is quite different from a successful summer ad campaign. Would you agree?”
It’s a test of his honesty and a test of him as someone I can work with. I need to know if he’s willing to actually listen.
Reluctantly, a growl vibrates in his throat, surprising me with its sexiness. He nods once. “Yes.”
His agreement is hard-won, but still given, so I’m taking the win.
“Good. And that’s why I’m here. While you specialize in marketing, and I’d never try and tell you how to do that part of your job, my specialty is quite different. Public relations. In particular, I work with people or companies that need crisis intervention after a PR mishap.”
“PR mishap?” Carson questions. “You say that like I did something wrong.” His eyes coldly pin me in place as he accuses me of blaming him.
“Much like Americana Land is going through right now,” I continue as if he didn’t just try and defend himself. “Self-inflicted or a result of outside forces beyond your control. And at last check, the video had been watched 17.4 million times in less than forty-eight hours.”