“Okay, well, we’ll talk about that,” I said. “I need to think a bit, but my feeling is that we’ll have a hard time selling a brand that has already contracted with other brands which might not be what the investor in question is after.”
His eyebrows rose. “Shit. I didn’t even think about that.”
Allowing myself a tiny internal smile, I shrugged and shook my head. “Like I said, I need to think about it. It’s just one potential problem that I’m foreseeing. Tell me about your equipment. You said it was all state of the art, but will a person be able to set up every gym the exact same way? What about if you want to sell franchises to people with smaller locations or larger ones? If we want to present an investor with all the different possibilities for further expansion, we need to have answers to questions like those.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll put it on my list. Before we carry on, though, I need to ask you a question.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
He flashed me a smile that was designed to make panties melt right off. “Will you be my Yoda?”
“Your Yoda?”
He nodded. “My Yoda. Obviously, I need your help. You’ve pointed out things that I haven’t even come close to considering and you’ve only been here for thirty minutes. We’ve talked about a lot, but you haven’t actually even said if you’re accepting the job yet. Nash said this was just a meeting. No promises.”
“Are you going to call me your Yoda again?” I asked. “Because if so, I’m not sure I can accept.”
“Why not?” He stared deeply into my eyes, making me feel the faint need to fan myself. “It’s a compliment.”
“Sure. If you say so, but it doesn’t change anything.”
“Again, why not?”
I sighed. “Okay, I’ll level with you. Truth be told, I’m inclined to pass because you don’t seem to have the focus I usually require, but I’m not going to back down from a challenge.”
He fist-pumped the air in victory but then dropped his arm again when I held up my hand to show him I wasn’t done yet. Once he’d settled down again, I sent up a quick prayer that I was about to do the right thing.
“I’ll take you on as a client,” I said finally. “If you agree to follow my rules. If you don’t, I’ll walk and you wouldn’t be able to get the deal you want anyway.”
Crossing his heart, he nodded solemnly. “I’ll try, but I should warn you, I’m a bit of a rebel.”
When he flashed me that charming smile again, I got the sudden sense that he’d progressed from joking around to flirting with me.Yep. That needs to be shut down. Immediately.
Abruptly standing up, I retrieved my purse and laptop bag from the floor. Then I stashed my notebook inside and looked back at him. “I’ll send the contract over, but once you sign it, there’s no flirting and goofing off. I’ll be here to work, and you better be ready for it.”
Looking appropriately chastised, he nodded and crossed his heart again. “I promise that I really will try. You might have to deal with some rebellion, though. Joking and goofing around is part of who I am.”
“Not for the next few months,” I said. “At least, not if you’re serious about getting this sale in that amount of time.”
Because Icouldget it for him. Excitement was already swirling around in my belly when I thought about what this would mean for us both.
But first, I needed to get him to focus. I refused to miss my shot at the top tier just because he was incapable of hunkering down and doing what we had to do. It was going to be a challenge to get him to set that part of him aside, but I’d never been afraid of a good challenge. I wasn’t afraid of it now, but I’d have to be very careful with him.
I got the feeling that he wouldn’t be making it easy on me, and if I didn’t watch myself, the way I would be looking at him wouldn’t help things much. So first, before I started this job, I needed to get my own head right. Once that was done, I could turn my attention on doing the same for him.
Time to buckle up, Iz. This might just be a bumpy ride.