Chapter 12 #4
“Yes, EcoSphere Conservation Alliance. My mother is a conservation biologist, and my father is a campaign strategist for them. It’s why I’ve never eaten fish in my life or had a glass of wine,” she said with a charming smile but with that same timid voice.
Was it her family that had hurt her and caused her to flinch?
“You’ve never had fish or wine? Ever? Why on earth not?” I asked, internally on the edge of my seat even though outwardly I was reclined and relaxed.
“Microplastics,” John said in mock shame. “You’re dining with the enemy. I think I preferred you as a landscaper.” He chuckled.
Eliza stabbed her fork into a piece of the fish and lifted it. All eyes were on her. I bet she was used to that, though.
“Did you know that over 90 percent of seafood worldwide is estimated to contain microplastics? Fish and shellfish ingest the tiny plastic particles from polluted waters, and then when humans consume seafood, they can unintentionally ingest microplastics as well.” She placed the bite of fish in her mouth nonchalantly with a quick look at me as if she were gauging if I was upset.
I wasn’t and gave a small nod as I felt the corner of my mouth lift slightly, silently giving her encouragement to go on.
Would she? Somehow, I knew her polite persona would take back over.
Shame. She was something when she held her own power.
Omar and John shifted in their seats uncomfortably while I sat back and watched with fascination. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been more entertained at a business dinner in my life.
“Did you know that it takes an average of eighteen hundred liters of water to produce just one bottle of wine with irrigation and vineyard maintenance being accounted for? And don’t get me started on large-scale mono-cropping, which depletes the soil quality and biodiversity.
” She grinned at me and drained the rest of her wine as the two men squirmed awkwardly.
She held herself like a rose surrounded by bees, completely in control.
I was quite certain I’d never wanted a woman more in my life than I wanted Eliza Arnold suddenly. I cleared my throat and threw back the rest of my scotch, nodding quickly for Leah to refill my glass.
Though highly entertaining, this dinner was going all types of sideways, none of which boded well for my business deal or my personal endeavors. Things were getting out of hand, and if there was one thing I hated, it was not being in complete control.
“But don’t worry,” she said with a bright, perky tone.
“As Bo Burnham once said, you say the ocean’s rising like I give a shit.
” She held her wineglass up, and a beaming Leah rushed over to fill her glass like a proud mother.
Eliza thanked her and then moved the glass up to her lips.
Her eyes snagged mine, and I caught a soft murmur of her finishing the song, “You say the whole world’s ending, honey, it already did.
” She took another drink and looked at me as if we had just plotted a bank heist together. Good Lord.
“Then you forgive us?” John said with a laugh as he rested his hand on the back of her chair.
She answered something in her polite, charming tone. I don’t know what it was; I was too focused on his hand to hear what she said.
A little later in the conversation, he moved it to her arm for a beat. Something I learned I didn’t like. A prickle of annoyance sparked through me.
“So when do you expect products to roll out?” Omar asked at my side.
I leaned back in my chair and continued to watch Jonathan try to get laid.
When Eliza started giggling and touching his arm back, I felt obligated to make sure nothing stupid happened.
If she’d never drank before, how was she to know it would make her flirty with the peevish businessman?
A foreign pulse of protectiveness made me tense—I’d be sure he kept his plastic-loving hands to him-fucking-self.
I’d have done the same if it were Katya or Leah. I was sure of it. I checked the time on my watch, ready for this dinner to be over with.
“April of next year,” I replied flatly, not taking my hard eyes off the pair giggling across the table from me.
Without warning, they both stood from the table. I realized coffee had already been served and dinner was over.
I was standing immediately, ready to push these two men out of the door before I did or said something idiotic to make them pull out of the contract. I could feel my loss of control sparking like a fuse trying to stay away from a bomb.
“Well, boys, it’s been a pleas—” I started, but Johnathan cut me off.
“Actually, Eliza was going to show me her progress on the conservatory and where you’ve been hiding her. If that’s all right?” he said with a mischievous glint to his deep-set blue eyes.
When I said nothing and ground my jaw from side to side with a flat stare, he added, “I’m so glad you brought Eliza to dinner tonight; things would have been so dull without her by my side.
I’m not sure I’d have stayed awake long enough to sign the contracts without her.
” It was a veiled threat and soft claim on Eliza.
This. Fucking. Prick.
I turned my head and cracked my neck, needing some of the tension in my body to leave. This was stupid. Let him have her; she was an adult.
I needed this deal, and I didn’t care about Eliza. I didn’t. She was interesting and comfortable, and that was it.
“Speaking of, you haven’t signed the contract yet,” I replied flatly as I reached for the forgotten papers at the head of the table and slid them in front of where he stood, clicking the pen and making a clear statement.
He took me in for a moment, and I must’ve given a read he hadn’t expected because a sinister curve took over the side of his mouth.
“I think I’d like a little bit of alone time with Eliza before I sign.” His eyes pinned me against the wall, daring me to say something. She had moved out of earshot, a few feet away, and was laughing with Leah.
“I think it’s late. Eliza has a lot of work to do tomorrow and is probably exhausted and wanting to go to her bed.” Our eyes held in a challenge. “Her bed in my house.”
John smirked. I’d let too much show with my last statement.
He thought he had me by the balls. That’s one thing about most CEOs that I’d met—they were all power-hungry.
They’d all grown so accustomed to manipulating the buttoned-up corporate world and bending company policies that they’d gotten big heads.
They thought they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it—because most of the time they did.
I was as domineering and cocky as the next man, but most were all talk and chose weak targets that couldn’t fight back.
That was the difference between me and someone like Johnathan; I preferred not to talk at all, and I enjoyed the fight.
Violence coursed through my veins, and I enjoyed finding ways to blood let.
“Does your cook make a good breakfast?” He turned his head and trailed his hungry eyes up Eliza’s body slowly. “Maybe I’ll sign the contract in the morning.”
“I’ve already signed. I’m going to go outside to make some phone calls,” Omar mumbled, wisely excusing himself from the tension.
I wasn’t stupid; I knew how I was looked at, with my scars.
And I knew the things I’d done to earn my icy reputation.
The only room in this whole fucking house I was in more than my office was the gym—to let out my anger, which, believe me, I had a whole fuckin’ lot of.
At six foot three, I was generally perceived as a big, intimidating motherfucker and I relished it.
If this fucking gremlin thought he was gonna come in my house and disrespect me, then he would learn quickly what a horrible idea that was.
“I think it would be in your best interest to leave Eliza Arnold alone and sign this contract now, before this whole deal gets soured,” I said calmly, letting my eyes do most of the talking.
“Is that a threat?” he pushed back.
“Of course not.”
“You and her aren’t…?” he asked smugly.
I glared at him and took my time as I imagined how hard I’d actually have to pull to remove his head from his body as I shook my head once.
He grinned again and left me to walk over to Eliza, making certain he glanced back at me as they left the dining room together.
I let out a slow, calculated breath as I watched them. I folded and tucked the unsigned contract into my pocket before leaving the room, nearly running straight into Sowerby as I moved down the hallway.
“Is everything all right? You look murderous. I just got a car for Mr. Omar. Where is the other one? Has the deal fallen through?” he asked with pinched brows.
“Get my twenty-gauge shotgun from the weapons room, would you?”
“Oh, good heavens, Jasper.” His mouth fell open.