Chapter 2 #3
I fold my arms. ‘I mean you’re going to have to convince me that you’re the best person to nurture and grow my father’s business. It meant a lot to him personally and I know he’d hate to think I was selling it to just anyone. Especially after what your father did to his first company.’
For just a moment, she lets down her guard and I see a hint of panic flash across her face.
‘That was years ago. Surely you recognise that the business world can be cut-throat and not every company survives? At that point I believe there was only room for one of us to provide that particular service and it so happened my father managed to take the crown.’
‘He did everything he could to sabotage my father’s company until he was forced to file for bankruptcy,’ I point out.
She shifts on the spot and I notice she’s bunched her hands into fists. ‘You need to understand that he was in a very dark place after my mother died and wasn’t as considerate in his business dealings as he could have been.’
‘He’s never considered other people in his life,’ I counter, interested by the fact she suddenly looks so uncomfortable.
But I know now isn’t the right time to bring up the questions surrounding her mother’s death.
I need to bide my time. But at least I have a way into that conversation now, given she was the one to bring it up.
But later. When she’s relaxed and off-guard.
Her hackles are up now, though, I can tell, but she knows she’s in a tricky position here.
If she keeps arguing for her father’s past actions, this meeting’s going to be over before it’s begun and she’ll be travelling back to England with her tail between her legs, which I’m sure her father won’t be at all pleased about.
It seems I’m right because she forces her mouth into a strained smile and says, ‘I can assure you, this time the integration of your father’s business will be treated with the respect it deserves.
It’ll become an integral part of our portfolio.
I promise you, it has a strong and profitable future with us. ’
‘Is that right?’
‘Yes. It is. I accept that your father and mine have had their differences in the past, as have you and I, but we can’t let that get in the way of a deal that’ll benefit both families in the long run.
Anyway, I think your father would have liked the idea of you fleecing my family for every penny you can get.
’ She flashes me a conspiratorial grin, as if we’re in on a joke together.
I can see why she’s so good at her job. She has a way of putting real conviction behind her words that instinctively makes you believe she’s going to make whatever needs to happen bloody well happen. It’s actually pretty arousing.
She takes a couple of careful steps towards me, her hands raised and her palms towards me, as if trying to show me there are no tricks up her sleeve. That she’s as genuine as they come.
Yeah, right.
‘Okay, look, Jamie, just tell me what I can do to persuade you to sell to DH Worldwide and I’ll do it. Let’s find a way to make everyone happy.’
I take great pleasure in leaving a long, thoughtful pause hanging in the air before I speak again, seeing the tension mount in her shoulders as I draw this out for as long as I can.
‘You can let me make you come,’ I say finally.
She stares at me, obviously wondering whether she’s misheard me, her hands jerkily returning to her sides.
I suppress the grin that’s pushing like mad at the corners of my mouth. I need her to believe I’m deadly serious about this.
‘I’m sorry, did you really just say I have to have an orgasm in order for you to sell your father’s company to me?’
‘I did. And it has to be me that gives it to you.’
She lets out a broken laugh and shakes her head. ‘Wow. I had no idea you could stoop this low just to try and prove a point.’
‘Okay, well, if that’s the way you feel then there’s nothing left to discuss,’ I say, walking away from her, over to my desk. ‘I’ll happily sell to your biggest rival instead. I know they’d be delighted to have De Montfort Software for their portfolio.’
Her hands shoot up again. ‘No. Wait. I didn’t refuse the deal, did I? I was just surprised by it.’
‘So is that a yes?’
She looks properly confused now. ‘Why, though, Jamie? Why on earth would you want something like that?’
I shrug, as if it’s of no real consequence. ‘Let’s just call it closure, shall we?’
‘Is this because of what I said at the fundraiser? About you never being able to make me come?’
‘If that’s what you want to believe.’
She gives me another smile, which she probably thinks is warm but actually comes across as beleaguered. ‘Because I was only messing with you, you know.’
I lean back against the edge of my desk and take a moment to thoroughly assess her. ‘I’m not sure I believe you. In fact, I’m not sure you’re actually capable of letting go enough to orgasm.’
‘Well, I am!’ I can see I’m making her angry now but she’s desperately trying to fight it to keep this meeting on a businesslike footing.
Satisfaction surges through me, but I know I need to keep my triumph under wraps if I’m going to gain her trust so she’ll tell me the secret she’s been keeping from me all these years.
I think at this point she’d tell me any old pack of lies if she thought it would help close this deal and that’s exactly what I don’t want to happen.
I need to get her to a point where she’s emotionally compromised and weak enough to let me back into her good graces.
I want to turn her upside down and inside out with lust, to make her so befuddled by desire she’ll happily tell me anything I want to know.
So she’ll tell me the truth.
I push away from the desk and walk over to the window, pretending to stare out at the view, though all I can see is the image of her confused face blazed across my vision like a light trail. I force down a sting of unease, which comes at me from out of nowhere.
‘I’ll let you have a few minutes on your own,’ I say, gesturing outside towards the path from my house that leads down to the cove, as if I’m thinking of taking a stroll there. ‘Give you some time to think it over.’
I turn back to see she’s standing ramrod-straight in the middle of my library, as if turned to stone. She’s paralysed with confusion and frustration.
Just the way I hoped she’d be.