Stripped Down. Kelli Ireland

17

       18

       Extract

       Copyright

       1

      FEET PROPPED ON the low windowsill and ankles crossed, Cass Jameson focused on her toes. Rather, the polish on her toenails. The electric blue polish, “Ogre the Top Blue” courtesy of OPI, was the only color in her otherwise staid corporate attire. She loved the color with an unholy passion, but it also served a purpose.

      After her environmental engineering firm, Preservations, celebrated its first full year of operating in the black, Cass had treated herself to three indulgent days at a luxury spa. She’d purchased the nail polish before she left as a constant reminder she could, would, make Preservations a success. That trip had been the first time she’d allowed herself to breathe in more than three years. Now, eleven months later, she was holding her breath again.

      So much hinged on the incoming email from the Environmental Protection Agency. Preservations had been awarded the contracts for establishing rainwater runoff and soil erosion at the proposed site of the elite Chok Resort on Lake Washington. She and her team had busted their asses for months to create long-term, environmentally sound solutions. They were due to present their plan to the resort’s builder, Sovereign Developments, in under a week. Sovereign’s board of directors, made up of old men with even older money, wanted a cheap fix to the runoff and erosion problems, but they also wanted the project endorsed as green construction for tax purposes and public support. She couldn’t deliver on the former. The latter? She had it covered in spades.

      But only if the EPA signed off on Preservations’ plans. If it did, Sovereign would be hard-pressed to reject her proposal. She’d have the backing she needed to persuade the tight-assed CEO to move forward. Probably. Maybe. God, she hoped so.

      A kernel of dread, her constant companion as this deal had been negotiated, threatened to erupt. Pressing her fist into her diaphragm, she forced her breathing to slow. Just once she’d be the emotionless Ice Princess her competitors accused her of being. Ironic that her father, David Jameson, was heralded for his cold-blooded business dealings while her peers and competing engineering firms lobbed it at her as an insult.

      A seagull rode a thermal by the fourth-floor window, drawing her attention. Low-hanging clouds shrouded the Seattle skyline and blanketed pedestrians below in heavy mist. Behind her, her laptop chimed.

      Such a soft, innocuous sound, that, the herald of her fate. Her fingers curled around the armrests of her chair, but she didn’t drop her feet or face the monitor. Not yet.

      She’d known securing this location had been a good strategy. It hadn’t come cheap, but it positioned Preservations close to the downtown business district and near contractors. Signing the five-year lease had been a calculated risk.

      “Greater the risk, greater the reward,” she murmured. Provided the risk pays out. Her father’s baritone echoed through her head, unwelcome. Particularly now.

      Muffled voices hummed as the hive of employees gathered outside her door.

      Her office door handle rattled as the door opened. She should really call maintenance, have them fix that.

      “You didn’t read it, did you?” Gwen’s tone was neutral, guarded even.

      Shoving her feet into her high heels, Cass swiveled toward her business partner and best friend. Everything they’d worked for—all the long nights studying, the family expectations, the sexist remarks of her peers, the casually exchanged conversation between competitors that she and Gwen were destined to fail as women in a man’s world—it all came down to this. “Tell me the EPA cleared us to move forward with the Sovereign project. Tell me Preservations is going to be solvent for years to come because our proposal was accepted. Tell me we can hold Sovereign’s board to their agreement to move forward with our solutions if we could get absolute EPA support. Say the words, Gwennie.”

      The stunning petite blonde propped a hip on the corner of Cass’s desk. “You need to breathe.”

      She shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet. You know how I get.”

      “You’re right. I do. Here’s a news flash, Cass. Your biggest character flaw? You’re always expecting the worst. Negative Nancies aren’t attractive.”

      “Negative Nancies?” One corner of her mouth curled up. “This is business. Being an emotionally reserved pessimist has kept us afloat.”

      Gwen’s brows drew together in a fierce scowl. “You sound like your father.”

      A small hitch in Cass’s chest made her words raspy. “I’m not my father.”

      “Then don’t be so afraid to express a little emotion. You’re not an automaton.”

      But a lifetime as the oldest child of business magnate David Jameson, a man who valued control above all else, had taught her to smother her reactions. He’d hammered home one thing above all else: to reveal emotion was to reveal weakness, and any opponent worth his salt would use that weakness against her. He’d proved it by using her emotions against her again and again, until all that was left between them was undisguised resentment and, at least on her part, more than a little paranoia.

      When she’d founded Preservations, she’d been so concerned about being singled out as Jameson’s daughter she’d gone into business under her mother’s maiden name—Wheeler. She’d also kept her name buried in the company directory, not touting her partial ownership. Distancing herself from both his name and his expectations had been a matter of self-preservation. She hated him for making it a necessity. She hated him more for continuing to steal moments like this from her.

      “Cass?”

      Running a hand around the back of her neck, she took a deep breath before looking at Gwen. “I’m working on it.”

      “You need to have fun, let your hair down, dance on a few tabletops now and then. You’re not fooling me.”

      “I know. Just...update my online dating profile after you tell me what the email says, okay?”

      “Oh! Can I really update your profile?” Gwen grinned and did a little hip shimmy on the desk.

      Cass sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes for a second. “Why do women who are about to get married always want to hook their friends up?”

      “Because it makes us happy to think said friend, singular, is not destined to end up alone with subscriptions to multiple trashy tabloids that she reads aloud to the twenty-seven cats she lives with in an apartment that smells like tuna salad and vapor rub.” Gwen never stopped smiling. “Now, if you promise me I can update your profile, I’ll tell you what you want to know, since you’re not brave enough to read it yourself.”

      “I promise,” Cass said between gritted teeth.

      “Deal. The EPA cleared us straight across the board. We’re green-lighted to present the solutions to Sovereign Developments and its backers.”

      “Straight across the board. They accepted everything.” Cass whispered the questions, but her intrepid spirit wound through the words so they came out with concrete assurance. Clearing her throat, she rose to her full height and squared her shoulders. The invisible fist that had been strangling her instinctive emotional response relaxed and, without warning, she erupted in a hip-shaking boogie dance, pumping her fists in the air with a scream. Yanking Gwen off the desk, she spun the woman in circles. Shouts and cheers rose outside the office door. Months of hard work and long hours had paid off. “Grab your partners and—”

      “If she cries out ‘do-si-do,’