industry’s growth from five years ago to the present—to approximate how many new accounts At Your Service would obtain and the percentage she would earn from each of her vendors once the app had successfully accessorized each customer. It would bring her more than enough to pay for her father to move into an assisted-living facility and remain there for at least two years. In that time, she would land more clients. King Designs, RGF’s biggest rival, was next on her list to approach, and there were others. All of which would be impressed by her work with RGF and would pay her even more for the use of her app.
“Good morning, Ms. Fuller,” Maurice was the first to speak when she entered the boardroom.
“Good morning. Please call me Nina,” she said and watched as he stood and walked to her. When he extended his hand, Nina accepted it for a quick shake.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us again on such short notice,” he said.
“It was no problem,” she lied. She was going to miss her train and the ticket was nonrefundable.
“Yes. Thank you very much for coming back. Now, let’s get down to business. We don’t have a lot of time before our first event.”
The woman who talked while entering the room hadn’t been in the meeting yesterday. She wasn’t as tall as Nina’s five-foot-eight height, but she was dressed just as sharply. Probably sharper since Nina was certain the woman’s skirt and jacket were RGF originals from their Make the Woman professional-wear line. The outfit was a bold royal blue and she wore a pale yellow blouse beneath the fitted jacket and patent leather slingback pumps. The blond-frosted tips of her black hair fell in big curls to her shoulders as she gave Nina a quick look and then closed the door behind her.
“This is Desta Henner, our marketing director,” Major said.
Nina looked from the focused woman to Major. He wore another black suit today—this one with a more casual jacket that zipped—and in place of a dress shirt and tie he was wearing a butter-colored pullover that molded against his muscled chest.
“Our legal department worked double-time to get these two contracts drawn up,” Desta announced. “Have a seat, please, and we’ll go over everything.”
Maurice had returned to his seat and this time Major was the one to stand, pulling out the chair next to him.
Nina took the seat, dropping her purse into the empty chair to the other side. “Yes,” she said in a voice she knew sounded as levelheaded and professional as Desta’s. “Let’s go over everything.”
* * *
She’d signed both contracts.
A part of Major hadn’t thought she would.
Nina Fuller was an entrepreneur. She’d graduated top of her class from the Harrisburg Area Community College in York, and had taken additional online classes to obtain her master’s in computer technology and engineering. She’d used those degrees to build a sophisticated app that could be groundbreaking in the fashion industry. That is, if it didn’t almost mimic some of Brand Integrated Technologies’ functions, a fact that could potentially become a conflict of interest between them. Initially, he’d felt the urge to be honest with her about the possible overlap of their companies, but then he considered that by the time this fake engagement and her trial period at RGF were over, they could go their separate ways and their companies could exist as a form of healthy competition. At least, that’s what he was telling himself.
Major had spent most of last night going through her app as a user, easily figuring out every step she’d taken from coding to debugging and creating the user interface. It was intricate, but Major had a master’s degree in computer technology and engineering, as well. A degree he’d also used to help keep RGF three steps ahead of their competitors where technology was concerned.
“Well, that’s done,” he said when they were the only two remaining in the conference room.
“Yes, it is.” She’d stored her copies of the contracts in her case and now stood a few feet away from him. “So, are we heading to the tech department to get started on the integration now?”
He couldn’t help but notice that the suit she wore fit her nicely. The pants flawlessly molded the natural curve of her hips, accentuating thighs that were thicker than the models he was used to seeing. The jacket was an acceptable fit, the wrap blouse beneath hugging her full breasts tightly. But it wasn’t an