having babies to write brilliant campaigns for me anymore. That’s how it always goes. Right, Mark?”
Mark was floored. People still talked like that? In an office? It was a miracle this guy hadn’t been slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit yet. Or, judging from the fury flashing in Becky’s eyes, murdered.
“I don’t know about that, David. I know plenty of working mothers who—”
David cut him off. “Right, right. I know. Girls can do anything men can—blah, blah, blah. None of that matters right now, because my brilliant little sparrow is as single as they come...and I’m going to be keeping you both too busy for her to change matters any.”
Becky sucked in a breath and seemed about to say something, but she never got the chance.
“All right. Enough of this chitchat. Let’s get down to business, shall we? You two are among the most talented creatives this business has to offer,” David said. “And I’m going to need every bit of juice you’ve got. We’ve been asked to take part in the agency search for Eden. You both know what that is?”
Becky nodded. “The yogurt company?”
“You got it,” David said. “They’re coming out with a new line of low-fat, all-natural Greek yogurt flavors designed to get all those pretty hipster ladies hot and bothered. Our job is to figure out how to do that. And, since their advertising budget is a quarter of a billion dollars, we damn well better nail it.”
Becky practically bounced up and down in her chair. “Oh, I’d love to get my hands on that one,” she said.
“Oh, those pretty little hands are going to be all over it. So are yours, Mark. Just...er...hopefully not on the same spot at the same time!” he said.
Mark laughed uncomfortably. “No chance of that happening, sir.” At least not that David needed to know about.
“Good. Now, the Eden people tell me they don’t want any ‘suits’ working on their account. They want something young and fresh...something none of our existing creative directors are. That means you two have the opportunity of a lifetime.”
David got up from his chair and started to pace.
“So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to break the agency into two creative teams. Becky, you’re going to head up one. Mark, you’ll be in charge of the other. Whichever one of you comes up with the winning concept and sells it to the client will win a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus—and become the youngest creative director this agency has ever had.”
Mark blinked slowly, trying to wrap his head around this new twist. David had never said anything about a competition.
“You’re making me compete for the creative director position?” asked Becky, her eyes sparking angrily in an otherwise pale face. “But you told me that when I came back from AdWorld the job was as good as mine!”
“It is,” David said. “All you have to do is win the Eden account.”
Mark watched as Becky sprang up from her chair. There was no doubt that murder was on her mind.
“I will,” she said from between clenched teeth. Then she turned to glare at Mark. “And don’t you dare think for a second that you’ve got a shot!”
With that, she strode from the room, controlled fury in every movement. Good thing he had no problem with beating a sexy woman at her own game, because there was no way he was losing this job.
Turning to David, he said, “This competition’s going to be quite a challenge.”
“I’m counting on you to win,” David said. “Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t.”
* * *
Becky slammed her office door so hard the wall shook.
“Wow. What’s up your butt?” Jessie asked.
“David,” Becky said.
“Ewww, that sounds uncomfortable!” Jessie giggled.
Becky glared at her. “It’s not funny,” she said. “That stupid blowhard is trying to give away my promotion again.”
“The one he swore would be yours after you got back from Vegas?”
“The one and the same.” Becky sighed, her heels tapping a staccato tune across the cement floor as she paced.
Jessie grabbed Becky’s coat. “All right, you’re going to tell me what’s happened. But not here. A discussion like this calls for hot-fudge sundaes.”
* * *
“You don’t have to win this by yourself! You’ve got your whole team behind you,” Jessie said between bites of hot fudge.
“I don’t know who’s on my team yet,” Becky said, picking up her spoon, watching as the melting ice cream dripped back into her bowl. “I could get stuck with anyone.”
“Did David lay out any rules when he said the creative department was going to be split in half?”
Becky shook her head.
“Then I vote we make the rules for him,” Jessie said, grabbing a pen and paper out of her green velvet purse. “All right. No thinking allowed. Tell me who would be on your dream team.”
“You,” Becky said slowly.
“Yeah, well, obviously. Who else?”
Becky fell silent and looked out of the window at the busy street outside. Three girls walked arm in arm, laughing and talking as they went. Just then one lone man broke through their line, forcing their arms apart. They let him through, but shot up their middle fingers at him after he passed.
“I know what we need,” she said, excitement zinging through her pores. “Jessie, we need girl power. Let’s make this a battle of the sexes.”
“Wait—what?”
“David thinks women creatives don’t have it in them to be as good as men. Let’s prove him wrong. Let’s gather all the women in the department on our team and let Mark have the men.”
“But there are more guys than girls in our department. It won’t be an even match,” Jessie said.
“Numbers aren’t everything,” Becky said. “Especially since the product in question is aimed squarely at women our age.’”
Jessie put down her spoon. “You, my dear, are brilliant.”
“Well, yeah,” Becky said. “Haven’t you seen my awards shelf?”
“I have.” Jessie snorted. “You think it’s bigger than Mark’s?”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” Becky said, her mind showing her wicked images of Mark’s thick penis twitching in her palm as she kissed his muscled chest. “I honestly don’t know much about him at all.
