Seth knew taking Charlene with him was a mistake. At first he thought it would be her lack of control during the meeting but that wasn’t the case. She honored his request, and for the most part she let him do the talking. The questions she did bring up to the client needed some translation because she spoke in layman’s terms, but they were appropriate.
What he found disturbing was how his client reacted to Charlene. Seth was trying to present the data Mr. Sheen had requested, but his client wasn’t giving Seth his full attention. Charlene could be flirty, but not once did he notice that behavior during the meeting. It was Mr. Sheen who didn’t even try to be discreet when checking her out. He could tell by Charlene’s demeanor that Mr. Sheen was making her uncomfortable, as it should. He was looking at her as though she was there to give him a lap dance. Seth wanted to grab the asshole by his collar and pound him in the face. That would make a point, but Seth opted to hurt him in another way.
Closing his laptop, Seth announced, “Mr. Sheen, Lawson Steel is not the vendor for you.”
That got the man’s attention. Mr. Sheen turned to him and said, “I don’t understand. I thought you said your steel was top of the line, and that you can’t get anything better.”
“It is.” Seth stated standing up and waving for Charlene to do the same.
Mr. Sheen looked baffled and asked, “I don’t understand. I’ve agreed to your pricing.”
Seth put his hand on the curve of Charlene’s back and escorted her out of the conference room. “Mr. Sheen, face it. Lawson Steel is not interested in doing any business with you.”
As they walked down the hallway and past security, he could tell Charlene was completely stunned. Yet she must’ve sensed how pissed off he was right now, because she didn’t utter a word. Not even when they got back inside his car. If anything, she even seemed to avoid looking at him.
He peeled out of the parking lot and he noticed Charlene grip the handle on the door. “Sorry.” She nodded but didn’t let go. He slowed his speed. “I don’t believe I’m going to have time for that lunch I promised you.”
“That’s fine,” she replied softly.
Seth needed to tell her something, but he didn’t want her to think this was her fault in any way. Hell, he still couldn’t believe he just walked out of a major deal without giving it a second thought. All because he couldn’t stand the way the guy was looking at Charlene. He’d been in many meetings, all over the world, and seen women treated with even more disrespect than what Sheen had done.
But they weren’t Charlene.
“Not every meeting goes like this one,” he said.
“I figured as much. If they did, Lawson Steel wouldn’t be in business. Mr. Sheen seemed quite upset with your decision.”
He’d have been a lot more upset if told him what I thought of him.
“That’s his problem, not mine.”
Charlene turned to him and asked, “Did I do…something to…something wrong? You seem…angry with me.”
“No. ” He tried to cover his anger, but obviously it had been too late. “You did fine.”
“May I ask what happened?”
“I don’t want to do business with him. It’s that simple.” Of course, explaining that to his brothers wasn’t going to be simple. Dylan had worked long hours getting Mr. Sheen to even meet with them. And then Ethan had negotiated pricing that was in Lawson Steel’s best interest. This could’ve been a long-term, lucrative business relationship.
Charlene sighed. “I guess I better get back to the office then. And hopefully my voice mail doesn’t contain any more weird messages.”
Damn it.He hadn’t even told her that her phone line was being auto transferred to his office. Of course those were all going to a newly set up general voicemail which he’d deal with later.
“If you recall, I told you not to answer the phone until we sorted out what was wrong.”
“Oh yes, that’s right. So if I can’t answer the phone and I have no meetings, what exactly is it I can do for the rest of the day?”
“Take it off,” he said.
“You mean go home?” she asked.
“Yes. Or go shopping or visit Sofia. Whatever you like.”
Charlene glared at him. “Why don’t you want me at the office Seth?”
“It’s not that,” he replied. But of course he wasn’t exactly sure why he’d suggest that in the first place. Maybe it was because he needed his space to think and that wasn’t so easy with her around.
“I’m just adding up all the facts. You’re angry. You cancel our lunch. And now you don’t want me to return to work. You can tell me this has nothing to do with me, but I seem to be the one common denominator in it all.”