12. Theo
12
THEO
“ I thought I’d find you out here.”
I recognized the voice immediately. Damn it , what the hell was Pam doing tracking me down here, now, out on the dock? It was the end of a long day filled with engine problems and know-it-all mechanics, and the absolute last thing I wanted to deal with was the woman holding my business hostage. I’d stepped off the boat to take a few minutes to breathe in the salt air as my form of meditation, but Pam was going to make it impossible.
“Well, hello,” I said, finally turning to greet her. “Any chance you’ve got a contract in that purse of yours?”
She laughed more cheerfully than she should’ve considering I was still waiting for the damn thing. “Work, work, work. Is that all you ever think of?”
Pam was in her usual flowy floral print silk duster and high-heeled sandals. I couldn’t figure out how she walked down the uneven dock in the things without falling into the water.
“Yeah, honestly, it is all I ever think of.”
The image of Max popped into my head.
Fine, there was something else I was thinking about besides work these days. Not that anyone else needed to know that.
I craned my neck to glance behind her. “Ford with you?”
She shook her head and pouted at me as she closed the distance between us. “No, sir, just little old me. Disappointed?”
Fuck yes, I was disappointed. I was in no mood to deal with her solo. I ran through my options in my head, trying to decide if it was more of a professional risk to bluntly shut her down or suck it up and deal with whatever she wanted. “What can I do for you, Pam?”
“I was hoping we can talk. Can we board and have a little chat?” She pointed up at the yacht in front of us, the Vivant .
Not a chance I was going to let her on it.
“Sorry, we just redid the teak, can’t let anyone on until tomorrow earliest,” I lied.
“Oh boo,” she pouted. “Well, can we go to your office then?”
My patience snapped. “Pam, can I ask what this is about?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, just this side of peevish. “A couple of things, including the contract. But I don’t want to talk about it here in the open. It’s … sensitive.”
My gut said she was bullshitting me, but if there was even a chance that I could finally close this deal today… “Fine, I have a few minutes before I have to leave for my plans tonight.”
“Wonderful,” she cheered as we started back down the dock. “If I’m lucky maybe I can get you to change your mind about those plans.”
I tried to hide my grimace. “Unless you’re calling Ford to sign, I doubt it.” I was unsuccessful at keeping the frustration out of my voice. “My plans are a business dinner with a VIP client, but I could be persuaded to push it back for the contract.”
Another lie.
“We’ll see,” Pam said cryptically.
When we got back to my office, I unlocked the door and flipped on all of the lights, to drive home the point that I wasn’t going to stand for any flirty bullshit. I headed for the captain’s chairs in the lobby.
“Please, have a seat.”
Pam hovered a few feet away. She looked irritated. “Not here. Your office.”
She pointed toward it as if reminding me where I sat every day.
“Why?”
She made a frustrated noise. “Because that’s my preference. I told you that this is a private matter,” she explained. She pointed at the bank of windows along the front of the office. “Anyone could walk by and see us here.”
“See what , exactly?” The tension in my temples ratcheted up a few notches.
Pam’s bottom lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears. “Are you really going to make me air my personal business in front of anyone who might be walking by?”
Wait, was she not here to seduce me? Were there actual problems—maybe something with Ford she thought I needed to know?
I thought of the way Ford tended to interrupt and dismiss Pam. I’d chalked it up as yet another case of a man who had a good professional life and a bad marriage. But if the wounded pride and insecurity he displayed in his personal life led him to make decisions that affected his professional life, I needed to know.
“I didn’t realize something was wrong,” I told Pam. “Let’s go to my office.”
She sniffled and raised her chin in victory. “Thank you.”
I’d left the blinds on the windows facing outside closed, so once we entered my office, we were in a cocoon. If she needed privacy to tell me something that needed to be kept under wraps, then she had it now.
“Please sit,” I pointed to the couch. “Can I get you a water? A seltzer, maybe?”
“Do you have anything a little stronger?”
I pursed my lips as I walked to the little wet bar in the corner of my office. Of course I did, and she knew it since we’d toasted the pending partnership the first time I’d met both her and Ford. But adding alcohol to the situation seemed like a bad idea. I certainly didn’t want her inhibitions lowered. On the other hand, if that was what she needed to give me a straight answer about why her husband was dragging his feet on our deal…
“Whiskey. Vodka. Gin,” I offered. “What’ll it be?”
“Vodka rocks,” she purred from behind me.
I shot a glance over my shoulder at her. What happened to the tears? She was looking way too comfortable splayed out on my couch with her sandals kicked off and her ankles crossed.
I fixed her drink and took a bottle of water for myself. “Okay, what’s going on?” I asked as I sat down in the farthest chair from her.
She shrugged one shoulder as she took a gulp. “I just wanted to talk.”
I frowned at her, pointing toward the window. “Talk about what ? Outside, you were upset,” I could hear that I sounded harsh, so I tried to moderate my tone. “What’s going on, Pam? And what does it have to do with my deal with Ford?”
It was as if a switch flipped in her. Pam’s eyes went watery again and her lower lip trembled. “Okay, okay .” She took a shuddery breath. “Fine, if we can’t have a few minutes of pleasant conversation then I’ll get right to it.”
She stared off into the distance dramatically.
“I’m ready when you are,” I said flatly.
Pam put her drink down and ran her fingers beneath her eyes to wipe away tears that hadn’t actually spilled. “Ford and I …”
My heartbeat slowed. If something was going on between Pam and Ford, it could impact my business. This was big.
“We’re just not getting each other these days,” she said, finally letting a few tears fall down her cheeks. “All he does is work, and part of me wonders if he’s doing it to stay away from me.”
She dropped her head and sobbed, her shoulders shaking. As little as I wanted to be anywhere near her, I could still hear my mother’s voice in my head telling me that I had a responsibility to at least try to comfort a crying woman. After all, even I could tell Ford was a jerk to her sometimes.
I moved over to the couch, seating myself on the arm of it rather than next to her so I could pat her back without giving her the opportunity to turn and press herself into my arms. Maybe I was being unfair. Maybe she was genuinely upset, and this wasn’t the latest iteration of her attempts to seduce me.
But I didn’t want to take any chances.
“And I wonder if …” she hiccupped, “… if there’s another woman .”
I’d worked with my fair share of cheaters. Like it or not, the money required to be a part of the yachting lifestyle meant that the men involved in it were power players who were used to getting whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. My assistants had been asked to book escorts for excursions filled with married men, and I’d witnessed guys take off their rings to hit on fellow passengers. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I wasn’t in the morality policing business. What those men got up to was their private concern. As long as everyone involved was a consenting adult, I stayed out of it.
With Ford, I just didn’t see it. He saw Pam as a status symbol. If he had a newer, shinier status symbol, he would have brought that woman on the day cruise, not Pam. Besides, if he was cheating on Pam, why would he be including her in negotiations for a business contract that didn’t have a single damn thing to do with her?
“Pam, no, I don’t think?—”
She let out a wail and threw herself at me. I dodged, quickly standing, and she ended up falling off the couch and onto the floor.
“ Ow . Fuck. What the hell, Theo?” She glared up at me.
“As I was about to say,” I began, crouching to offer her a hand up, “I really don’t think Ford is interested in anyone but you. He adores you, Pam.”
She reluctantly accepted my hand and let me pull her to her feet. “I don’t know what to believe. All I know is I’m so lonely .” The waterworks turned up like she had them on a dial.
“Let me get you some tissues.” I yanked my hand out of her grasp. “And then call you a cab. I’m sure you have a close friend you’d be more comfortable talking about this with. Or maybe a couples therapist?”
Pam stopped me with a hand on my arm, as her expression shifted from unhappiness to … hunger. Damn it.
You could make a bad drinking game out of this woman’s seduction attempts.
“Theo,” she sighed without a hint of sadness. “Just kiss me.”
“No,” I said firmly.
She glared at me. “But I want this. Ford always gets what he wants. Men like you get whatever you want. Why don’t I get what I want? For once? ” Her voice rang with broken, frustrated bitterness.
It was possibly the most real thing she’d ever said to me.
But it didn’t change a fucking thing between us.
“I wouldn’t dream of taking advantage of a business associate in such a vulnerable moment,” I said, reminding us both of our roles. I took a step back, “Now if you’ll just excuse me for a second, I’ll just go and get some tissues for you, and then we can sit down and talk this out.”
“I’ll be waiting,” she said in a low, sultry tone that made it clear she was not yet willing to give up.
You had to admire her determination, if nothing else.
Unfortunately, if Ford ever found out his wife had tried to seduce me, our partnership would be dead in the water. He was far too jealous to ever forgive me for being his wife’s unwilling target.
If there was any chance of saving this deal, I needed to get Pam out of my office now, and I needed to do it without offending her. Which meant I needed her to think it was her idea to leave.
It was time to outflank her. Luckily, I had the perfect ally on call.
I’d get Pam tissues, I’d get her a drink…and while I was out of the room, I’d call Max and give her an opportunity to earn back the thousands I’d spent on her dress.