“So let me get this straight,” she said. “You want to rebrand yourself?”

        “In a manner of speaking, yes. We’re trying to land a new client whose business could catapult Langley Enterprises into a whole new realm of operations. I have until the end of the month to demonstrate I’m prepared to take us there.”

        “The end of the month?” Holly swallowed and glanced at her calendar. Nothing like a deadline to really up the stakes. “What’s happening at the end of the month?”

        “The biggest sales presentation we’ve ever done, preceded by a whole lot of wining and dining between now and then.”

        “I see.”

        “Look, I’m confident I have the brain to be a CEO,” Ben said. “I just lack the charisma. The ability to speak my mind and make people listen to what I say. But my father is insistent the time has come for me to take the helm of the family business now that he’s shifting to a new role.”

        “Langley Enterprises is your family business?”

        “My great-grandfather started it. My grandpa became president after him, and then my father, and now…”

        He trailed off there, his voice sounding a bit glum, and Holly ached to ask for details, but she bit her tongue. It wasn’t any of her business.

        “The men in my family are charismatic leaders,” he said. “My grandfather probably invented the word hobnob. I, on the other hand, graduated from Yale at eighteen with honors and with the dubious distinction of never having kissed a girl.”

        “Ah,” Holly said, the memory of his kiss prompting her to lick her lips. “Apparently you’ve had time to hone your skills since then.”