Page 9 of Her Intense Protector

It took a few moments, and a few bites of cake before her friend answered. “First, I’d take some management classes. If you don’t have the time, read some books on leadership. I can recommend some. But right now, this is how you handle Pam. You take her aside, preferably off-site for coffee. You tell her how much you enjoy having her on the team. You start asking her leading questions, like; ‘do you want this project to succeed?’, ‘do you want to see the team succeed?’ She’ll say yes. Then you convince her that as a leader your job is to make your team look good. Really work hard on this point. Drive it home. So, tell her that you’re going to tell everyone it was a joint effort between the two of you to come up with the color scheme.”

Sam was beginning to understand. “You’re right, I don’t care who gets credit for the color scheme, as long as the project is a success. My job is to make the client happy and to lead a cohesive team. But I hate lying.”

“You’re not lying. Pam’s ugly-ass color scheme inspired you to come up with something good, therefore it was a team effort. Let Pam have this win. Then work to teach her how you came up with this. It’ll help as you specify the rest of the areas in the hotel.”

Sam sat back. She felt like a rock had been lifted off of her shoulders. “You’re an evil genius.”

“Nope, I had a mentor who taught me this shit. Now he was an evil genius. He’d been a diplomat for forty years before he retired.”

“Do you two still keep in touch?” Sam wanted to know.

“Absolutely. I’m still in training. He lives in D.C. When Asher was on this last mission I went and visited him. I could tell he was still elbow-deep in foreign affairs. Retired, my ass.”

Sam laughed.

“So, about Ezio,” Eden started.

“What about him? It’s great he’s asking about me, but in my opinion the ball is in his court.”

“Well, you should be expecting it to come flying over the net pretty damn soon.”

Sam thought about the man who had starred in some of her most erotic fantasies. “Yeah sure, Eden. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Eden laughed.

“What’s so darned funny?”

“I bet Asher that his pretty-boy friend was going to have an uphill climb with you, and it would serve him right. My guess is that he’s had it pretty easy with the opposite sex for far too long.”

“He’s not a pretty-boy,” Samantha protested. She thought about Ezio’s intense green eyes, and how his big body had made her feel safe out on the dance floor. He was all man.

“Ah shit. You mean you’re not going to make it hard for him? This is a big bet for Asher and me—you have to, Samantha,” she wailed.

“What’s the bet?”

“It’s how we’re going to spend an entire weekend. He wants to go camping, I want a five-star hotel.”

“I thought you liked camping?” Samantha was confused.

“Over a five-star hotel? You’ve got to be kidding me. I camped for years with my family, I want luxury. I know he’ll bring an air mattress, but I would prefer a king-sized bed for what I have planned.”

“TMI.”

“So, you have to play hard-to-get. Promise me.”

“I think you’re so wrong in the head about this, that neither of you are going to win the bet.” Which was too bad, because she really would have liked to have spent some more time with Ezio.

“Fine. If you’re not going to give me that pleasure, at least give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to block Kevin’s number.”

Sam giggled.

“You don’t need to do it. But you can watch me as I do it. Yep, he was over the top when he said he wanted to come visit me.” Sam snagged her phone off the coffee table and called up Kevin’s contact information, then blocked his number.

“How do you feel?” Eden wanted to know.