closed the case and smiled up at him. “Something wrong…Robby?”
That was it—Elana was dead meat. “Why did you lie to me?”
She smiled, the picture of innocence. “When did I lie to you?”
“We agreed that in light of what happened, working together would be a bad idea.”
“No, you said working together would be bad, and I commented on how you enjoy being right. I never said you were right.”
“So you were just screwing with me?”
She propped her hands on the conference table, leaning in. “Not unlike the way you were screwing with me.”
She definitely had him there. And he had best be going, before he told her what he really thought of her. “I’ll see you Monday.”
She smiled brightly. “Sure thing, Robby. Oh, and by the way, the first step will be analyzing your marketing data. I’ll need a few things from you.”
Gathering his patience, he said, “All right.”
“I’ll need all the data you have for the past twenty years.”
He blinked. “Twenty years?”
“That’s right.”
He wondered if she really needed to go that far back, or if she was trying to make his life a living hell. Probably the latter, and could he blame her if she was? But that, she should realize, was a two-way street.
“It could take some time to compile everything. We’ve been in the process of digitizing our older files. Some of it might still be in hard copy.”
“That’s fine. Just have it on my desk Monday morning.”
“If you hadn’t noticed, there’s no one here. Everyone is on holiday vacation until Monday.”
“Well,” she said, the sweet smile not wavering a fraction. “Who better to do it than the director himself. Which reminds me, I’ll need you available, and at my disposal at all times in case I have any questions.”
Gritting his teeth, he nodded, then turned and walked to the door.
“Hey, Robby?”
Jaw tense, he turned back to her.
“I’m not the enemy. This will be as productive or as difficult as you make it. I think you’ll find that I can be very pleasant to work with.”
“So I noticed,” he said, his eyes raking over her. “Will we be meeting for a quickie in my office daily, or just once or twice a week?” He didn’t even like her, but his libido didn’t seem to notice or care. It was telling him to rip that shapeless, ugly suit from her body, to pluck the pins from her granny hairstyle so he could watch her silky blond curls cascade down her shoulders.
She sighed and shook her head, as if she felt sorry for him. “Robby, is that the best you can do? You think I haven’t heard worse? During the course of my career I’ve been called sweetie and sugar and pumpkin. I’ve been groped and fondled, objectified and demoralized. I’ve seen it all, and in the end I always get the job done, and I manage to do it with dignity.”
She slung her case strap over her shoulder and said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you think you’d like to take me on, by all means give it your best shot. But I should warn you, I always get what I want, and I’m not above fighting dirty.”
He should have anticipated that. No one got as far as she had in the business world without being tough as nails. And shame on him for underestimating her.
She walked out, the heels of her shoes clicking as she marched down the hall. He had no plan to demoralize or objectify her, or to call her condescending names. And the only physical contact they might have would be totally at her discretion. He had every intention of treating her with the utmost respect, because he didn’t doubt that she had earned it. His cooperation, however, was another matter altogether.
Rob walked to his office and sat down at his computer to send his staff and his secretary an email dictating what Carrie would need—one they would see Monday when they returned to work. He refused to make his people work a weekend they had been promised as vacation.
There was a knock on his door, and he looked up to see Tony and Nick standing there.
“Hey.” He motioned them in, and Nick shut the door.
“So what was that all about?” Tony asked him.
“Yeah,” Nick said, “what the heck did you say to her when you two left the conference room?”
“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Rob could barely believe it himself. “Do you think my dad noticed?”
“Dude, everyone noticed,” Nick said. “You looked as if either you wanted to kill each other, or tear each other’s clothes off.”
It was a little bit of both. “Remember the woman I told you about? The blonde from the bar?”
Tony nodded. “What about her?”
Nick being Nick, he was way ahead of Tony. He started to laugh. “No way. No one’s luck could be that bad.”
“Apparently it can.”
Tony looked from Nick to Rob, and then he laughed. “Are you saying that Caroline Taylor is Carrie from the bar?”
He glared at them both. “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
“More ironic than amusing,” Tony said.
“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “But still funny as hell.”
If it were happening to anyone but him, Rob probably would have thought so, too.
“So what are you going to do?” Tony asked.
“What can I do? I already asked her to leave, said it would be a conflict of interest for her to stay, and you can see how well that went.”
“Did you see how much we’re paying her?” Tony said. “Can you blame her for not walking away?”
“Well, I’m going to make sure that she earns every penny.”
Tony shook his head, like he thought that was a bad idea. “You know that if you screw with her, your dad will be pissed.”
“Not if he doesn’t find out.”
“You don’t think she’ll rat you out?” Nick asked.
“Only if she wants the entire family to know how she and I first met. If it gets around that she picks up men in bars for one-night stands, her credibility will be in the toilet. Every potential future client will believe that a bedroom romp is included in the contract.”
“You don’t think that’s a little harsh?” Nick said.
