One Night Standards by Cathy Yardley

sales. “We’ll set up something tomorrow to touch base, would that be all right? Then get all the details ironed out.”
    â€œAll right,” she said, although she finally sounded a lot less sure of herself. Then she walked away.
    Mark gathered his papers together, and Simone walked up beside him. “You are amazing.”
    He paused, picking up his pen. “How’s that?”
    â€œI didn’t think anybody could chill out Warrior Princess Carol,” she responded, with a light chuckle in her voice. “But if anybody could, it would be you, huh?”
    He chose to ignore that. Simone was his boss, and sort of a friend, but her sense of business ethics could get somewhat hazy. “Thanks for standing up for me with Roger,” he said instead, focusing on her kindness.
    â€œIt’s time. I know you’re smart, Mark,” she said. “You just need a chance, that’s all. So—what else do you know about Diva Nation?”
    â€œNot as much as I’d like,” he admitted. “They’re not very big, but their products are amazing—really outside the box.” He smiled slightly, remembering. “I know that they’ve got a perfumed body lotion that is practically hallucinogenic.”
    â€œReally,” she said, her voice ripe with speculation. “I probably don’t want to know how you know that.”
    He realized he was letting something slip, and quickly clammed up. “I’ll buy their entire product line before I meet with Carol. And I’ll know a ton more by tomorrow.”
    â€œYou know,” Simone said carefully, “I couldn’t help but notice you had a bit of a connection with that Diva Nation woman—Sophie, her name was. Right?”
    â€œShe’s a nice woman,” Mark said carefully. “And just because we’re competitors doesn’t mean I need to hate her on sight, does it?”
    â€œI’m merely saying,” Simone continued. “She seemed to like you, too. Maybe you could see what you could find out. I’m sure she’d be happy to talk to you on some kind of neutral ground.”
    Mark felt it again—that dirty, unethical, icky feeling. “Trust me, she’s not the type.”
    â€œAlready tried, huh?” Simone laughed, and in that moment, Mark wished he were anywhere but here. “I might’ve guessed. You’re going to be a great marketing guy, and you’re going to knock this one out of the park. You’ll be one of the best.”
    He smiled weakly, then fled. If being one of the best meant using a sweet person like Sophie…
    He shook his head. It wasn’t as if he had anything with Sophie, and even if he did…well, he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that, he promised himself. He just wouldn’t.

3
    S OPHIE GLANCED AT THE CLOCK by her bed. Ten o’clock. Early, by a lot of people’s standards. Unfortunately, she knew that sleep would evade her for another three hours, at least. She felt wired, even though she’d deliberately only drunk decaf all day. She’d gotten a good chunk of work done: she had most of the slides ready for the Marion & Co. presentation. She was a little nervous, but more excited—the sign that it was going to go very, very well.
    But right now, she wasn’t thinking of the presentation. She was thinking, as usual, about Mark McMann.
    She pushed her face down into her foam pillow. They’d agreed not to have any contact other than professional—after all, they were in competition, their paths would cross. But they had to be very, very careful, so no one would suspect how close they’d come to…well, getting very, very close. No friendly chats in elevators, no random “bump-into” exchanges in the lobby. Certainly no drinks in the hotel bar.
    It also meant she sure as hell shouldn’t call him.
    She sighed heavily. Even without the competition, she knew they