6. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Madison
A ngry steps thudded in my direction, and I tried to hide my smile.
“What the fuck?” was his greeting.
So easy to rattle.
“I don’t understand your question. You’ll have to rephrase it.”
“You’re not here on vacation, Madison. So what the fuck are you doing?”
I rested my head back and glanced at him. “Debating on how to break it to you.”
“Break what to me?” There was a tick in his jaw that signaled me I was doing a good job of pissing him off.
“That contract you gave me? Quite boring.”
“That’s a legal document. It’s not supposed to be entertaining. It’s supposed to keep you in line. ”
“True. But I would still have to ask you to make it a bit more…alluring.”
“Alluring how?”
I stood up from the lounge chair and walked over to him.
“You need me more than I need you. I could plan Annie’s wedding anywhere. She has the funds and the popularity.”
“Sold,” Parker said, a feline grin stretched across his face. “I’ve been waiting for you to come to your senses.”
“What?” I panicked. “You didn’t let me finish.” As much as I hated to admit it, I needed Parker and his clients. It was pure luck that Annie reached out to me when I needed it the most, but I wouldn’t let that luck run out. Not even if I had to hold on to it with bloodied fingernails.
“When are you leaving?” He pressed.
“I’m not leaving. Annie wants to get married here.” I maintained the facade of a cold-blooded bitch, because allowing Parker to see my desperation wasn’t an option. “Think of me as the fairy godmother of brides. I work my magic and make all their wishes come true.”
“Your modesty is admirable,” he grumbled. “Why don’t you make my wish come true? I only have one.”
“Why offer me a job if you want me gone?”
Parker hated my guts and wouldn’t trust me with a spoon. But his good manners didn’t allow him to say it to my face, so I continued. “We both want Annie pleased. Except I could please her in a lot of ways and locations, while you are quite limited.”
“Are we still talking about weddings, or you’re writing a porn script?” He shot me a stern look. “If you’re not leaving, move on to discussing the contract. I don’t want this conversation dragging a minute longer than it needs to. ”
Desperation wouldn’t lead me anywhere good, so I had to resort to the thing that made people bend over backwards to get me what I wanted. Aggressiveness. And what was the most important rule of negotiating a price? Always start with a ridiculous number.
“I don’t want to be on your payroll. I want a percentage of the profits.”
He laughed in my face, just like I expected. So far, so good.
“You’re insane, Madison. You’re getting a salary like everyone else around here.”
“I’m the one who will do all the work. You don’t know the first thing about weddings. I’ll also have to deal with your stoner staff.”
“My staff is fine.”
“They’re a bunch of crybabies.” I deliberately used that word, referring to an incident we had an hour before my sister’s wedding reception last year.
“You almost stabbed the man,” Parker said through gritted teeth. “Over a misplaced water glass.”
“I was using a steak knife to point at the table I had arranged as an example. He made a big deal out of nothing.”
“You were swinging a steak knife left and right until I came and took it out of your hand.”
“Let’s forget about my sister’s wedding, shall we?” I said, annoyance clear in my tone. “I want twenty percent of the profits.”
“No,” he shook his head.
“Okay. Then make your staff plan Annie’s wedding. See if she still wants to have it at The Gem after she finds out you refused to meet me halfway.”
“Percentage of the profits isn’t halfway. It’s outrageous.”
“Ten percent.”
“No. ”
It was time for the killer shot. “If you want me to work for a salary, you have to toss in some perks.”
The slight squint of his eyes signaled me he knew I was playing him, but went with it anyway. “What do you want?”
Why he played along and hadn’t cut the conversation short wasn’t clear to me, but I had my own agenda to worry about right now. “I will need a place to sleep.”
“Okay,” he said, suspicion lacing his tone.
“I want to move in there.” I pointed to the villa behind him.
“Excuse me?”
I shrugged and started walking back inside, with him following me. “I looked around. It has everything I need. And I tried the bed. It’s comfortable enough.”
“Comfortable enough?” He asked, and I stopped by the couch, turning to face him. And speaking of faces, his was beet red. “That‘s a six-thousand-dollar mattress.” He pointed at the bedroom door.
“Yes. And it goes with housekeeping and free room service, right?”
“For our guests. The people that pay thousands of dollars a night.”
“Since you refused to share the profits with me, it’s only fair for you to find me a place to live.”
“I don’t think so. Your entire family lives here. They can take turns in putting up with you.”
“You either accept my conditions or you will have to explain to Annie that you’re a Scrooge who refuses to pay a little extra to get her the wedding planner of her dreams.”
“You think way too highly of yourself, Madison. No one is that special.”
That last one stung. I didn’t do mediocrity. I was better than the rest in everything I did. That’s how I got Annie Forster as a client. “The way I see it, you need a professional wedding planner now. I could always go back to New York.”
“Yeah, that’s the other thing. You are entertaining this idea of moving here and working for me with little to no resistance. I wonder why.”
“What do you mean?” Even I heard the change in my voice, and by the smirk on his face, I assumed he noticed it, too.
“You’re hiding something,” he accused.
Men were simple creatures. Deflection worked like a charm with them. So I flashed him a smile, then took a step closer and narrowed my eyes. “What’s with the vein right above your eye? It looks like it’s trying to communicate something in Morse code without your knowledge.”
“Maybe it’s telling you to shut up before I lose my patience and wrap my hands around your skinny neck.”
I lifted a finger in the air. “Touching is forbidden. No hookups with bosses, clients, or even delivery boys. That’s my number one rule.”
“As if I would want to put my dick anywhere near you. It would fall off from all the venom coursing through your body.”
I made a disgusted face and put a hand on my stomach. “Please stop. I might vomit and ruin this beautiful carpet.”
“Do that, and you’ll be the one cleaning it,” he paused. “Why are you here? What happened in New York?”
I smiled. “Nice try.” Then I bent down, took the contract from the couch and slapped it across his chest. “Are you going to revise this, or should I call Annie?”
“I’ll revise it alright.”
That sounded like a threat, but I had to ignore it for now. “You know how to find me when it’s ready for my signature.”
I walked out of there, confident that I had won. I didn’t want a new boss. No way he would agree to my terms and bind himself to me with a contract. But then the next day, Katie sent it to me revised, ready for my approval.
Parker had added everything I asked for in the contract. The clauses sounded like restrictions, not perks. I couldn’t eat at the restaurant. Room service was mandatory. The horror. If this was his revenge, I could take it and ask for more.
The only problem was I really didn’t want another boss. I was good enough to work on my own. Annie freaking Foster hired me to plan her wedding. That was an opportunity I wouldn’t miss, nor would I ruin by petty fights with Parker Wilson.
Did I want to be his employee and obey his orders? No.
Did I want to live with my mother and obey hers? Also no.
Who was the biggest threat to my sanity? Parker or Sylvia?
As much as I wanted to say it was Parker, I would be lying.
Besides, for me, this was all about the weddings. I always loved creating something beautiful. Something that took people’s breaths away when they saw it. I helped people have their perfect day. Their gratitude and genuine happiness were the source of my satisfaction in life? Was that pathetic? Depends on how you look at it.
And I chose to draw gratification from my work. I had invested the last ten years of my life in it. I had control. People needed me. People appreciated me. Starting a family wasn’t for me. I didn’t thrive in the family setting. I thrived at work.
So I signed my contract and the next day I arrived at The Gem. Unfortunately for me, it turned out that Parker had tricked me after all. Because he wasn’t giving me The Pink Diamond.