Sun Kissed (Crane Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

boards?”
    “Best-made boards in the world,” a young male voice piped up.
    “Can you back up that claim?” She’d read all the product literature that the Crane people had sent her, but she wanted to know how the people making the products felt.
    “Too right. I’m the chief engineer, I should know. We design and build for speed, planing, maneuverability, and sensitivity. I was a surfboard glasser when I met Cam, and he was the shaper. We’re best known for our longboards, but we build a full range of long and short boards, knee boards, and learner boards. They’re tops.”
    The kid didn’t look old enough to shave and he was the chief engineer, and had obviously worked with Cam for quite a while. She’d read up enough to know that a shaper actually shaped the surfboards, sometimes to the specific requirements of a particular surfer, and a glasser applied the covering and finish.
    “How do you know your boards are the best in the world?” she challenged him.
    The kid gave her a smile so broad she wanted to laugh. “’Cause I’ve tried ’em all.”
    She blinked. “You have personally surfed on every surfboard in the world?”
    “Yeah, I reckon. Every competitor’s, anyway. Their top-of-the-line boards, and usually a few others. After I test them, I let the others ’round the office have a go.” There was more nodding. “We’re all surfers.”
    Of course they were. Well, it was an unorthodox way to choose staff, but who was she to argue with success?
    “Okay, so you’ve got a quality product. Give me another reason for your success.”
    “We’ve got great colors,” said a twenty-something woman with long dirty-blond hair who ought to be modeling. She reminded Jen of a young Naomi Watts.
    “Would you come off it with the colors?” the chief engineer scoffed.
    “Color is important, especially for girls,” the Naomi clone informed him. Her name was Bronwyn Spencer, Jen remembered from the introductions.
    “She likes her surfboards to match her nail polish.”
    There was general laughter, but the young woman merely tossed her cascade of wavy hair over her shoulder. “Not just surfboards, but wet suits, board bags, even wax and sunscreens. Sure, we only sell the best, but why shouldn’t the best have some decent color to it?”
    “She’s my little sister. I have to give her something to do,” Cam teased.
    The girl didn’t get huffy, merely tossed that mane of sun-licked hair once more and reminded him that without her, there would be no clothing line and hadn’t Crane Casuals boosted their profits by eighteen percent last year? Jen assumed Bronwyn was used to the teasing and full enough of self-esteem that it didn’t bother her. She couldn’t imagine a woman that gorgeous not oozing self-esteem. So she was Cameron Crane’s younger sister. They had the same hair color, she saw, and a similar arrogant sexuality.
    Pulling herself back to the discussion at hand, she nodded. “Great. We’ve got quality, designer colors, what else?”
    “We can go in at a competitive price point, especially with the Australian dollar so weak against the greenback,” said another young man with a goatee and sun- or wind- reddened cheeks.
    By the end of an hour, she had a great deal of information, but better, a sense of who these people were and how they operated. Cam himself hadn’t contributed a lot, but he’d listened and he’d watched. Mostly, he’d watched her. She tried not to let her gaze get caught up with his—even across a packed boardroom table, the impact was too much of a jolt.
    “Good,” she said when things wound down.
    “I think you’ve hit our strengths very well. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a real challenge, but I think we can have a lot of fun, especially based on the energy and commitment in this room.” She smiled. “I’ve got a temporary office here, so please drop in any time if you have any ideas. We’re going to design a marketing strategy, an