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I could object.
    The gesture was sweet, but made me feel even more like a hopeless clusterfuck.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    “Mr. Brighton?” Kimberly was knocking on my door as she spoke.
    I looked up but she refused to meet my eyes. Things had been weird ever since she had tried to seduce me in my office, over a week ago.
    “Yes?” I said, grumpy at the interruption, and even more irritated that she wasn’t acting normal around me.
    “Mr. Lee is here to see you. He says it’s urgent. I told him he needed an app—”
    Before she could even finish, Parker Lee, the head of the Plush branch of Brighton Enterprises, stormed past her and stalked over to my desk. I stood and buttoned my jacket before dismissing Kimberly with a wave of my hand. She disappeared and I turned my gaze to Parker. He was a bit of a hot head, especially when under stress— which he currently was, due to the tight deadlines for the new fragrance launch.
    “Parker, what can I do for you?”
    “Have you seen these?” He tossed a folder down on my desk. My hands fisted together at his behavior. I’d been on edge for the past week and could feel myself sliding closer to the edge of my tether every day. I didn’t need anyone to push me…and that’s exactly what Parker was doing.
    It took a lot of strength, but I kept my face neutral and released my fists. I picked up the folder and flipped open the cover. The pictures inside were of the new fragrance line.
    The images were bad. The lighting, or something, was off and it made the bottles look a completely different color than they were in person.
    I resisted the urge to yell.
    “Are these from Spotlight?” I asked.
    “Yes. What the fuck is going on over there?” Parker started pacing in front of my desk. “It’s been a nightmare ever since that Rita woman took over the design department.”
    I nodded in agreement. My father had been contracted with Spotlight, an upscale ad agency, for over a decade. When I’d taken over the company, I’d assessed their past work and decided to continue the contracts. However, a lot had changed since then, and the quality had been slipping downhill at a rather startling pace.
    “I’ll handle this,” I said. I shuffled the images together and enclosed them back in the folder. “How is everything else?”
    “A disaster.”
    “Great.” My teeth were clenched. Parker wasn’t one to exaggerate. If he said it was a disaster, then he meant it was a disaster.
    “I’ll catch up with you when I get back,” I said. Parker took his leave and stalked out of my office.
    “Kimberly,” I called out as I shut down my email inbox.
    She poked her head into my office, not daring to step into the room, for whatever reason.
    “I’m going to Spotlight. The Plush ads are all fucked up.” I consulted my watch, silently calculating the time I would need to handle this. “I need you to reschedule my three o’clock and block out four o’clock for a meeting with Parker.”
    She nodded. “Got it.”
    “Thank you.” I offered her a strained smile and then swept past her as I left the office.
    Thanks to the ridiculous downtown LA traffic, it took me nearly half an hour to get over to Spotlight. By the time I reached the main reception desk, I was radiating anger.
    “Mr. Brighton,” the receptionist said as I approached the marble-topped desk. Her face looked like she had just seen a ghost.
    “I need to speak with Rita, immediately.”
    She opened her mouth as if to object, but quickly closed it and dialed an extension on her phone.
    I stared at her as she repeated my demand to whoever was on the other end of the line.
    “Brittany will be down to escort you shortly,” she said, hanging up the phone. She offered me a polite smile.
    “Thank you.” I pushed away from the counter and waited.
    I was about to go to the elevators and ride up without an escort, when Brittany popped into view. She rushed across the parquet floor, her sky-high heels clacking