by Tasha Fawkes
I stand up and extend my hand. He takes it, frowning at me as his blue eyes penetrate mine.
“You’re leaving?” he asks, surprised. “What about lunch?”
“You didn’t ask me here for lunch, Rex,” I remind him. “You asked me here to get me on your side, and I’ve given you my response. I don’t see any point in hanging around and wasting either of our time.”
He nods, still struggling with the idea that I haven’t fallen at his feet. I hide a smile. I get the feeling that Rex doesn’t get knocked back too often.
“Fine, think it over,” he mumbles. “But this is a one-time offer.”
“Goodbye, Rex,” I say.
I turn on my heel and stalk outside, refusing to look back. I don’t stop until I reach my car and climb inside. I close the door and place my hands on the wheel, leaning my head against my arms. As much as I don’t want them to, the tears are threatening to fall. I’m so angry at myself. When will I learn that men just aren’t interested in women like me? I’m so stupid. Stupid, stupid.
I’m so embarrassed that I thought that was anything other than a way to get to my father.
Five
Rex
Well, that went pretty damn well.
Not that I’m all that surprised. I mean, what woman can resist my charm?
All I have to do now is sit back and wait.
With a satisfied smile on my face, I walk out of the restaurant and over to my car. When I get inside, I try calling Matt, but not surprisingly, there's no answer. I frown. He probably saw my name pop up and decided not to answer. I head over to his office, because he can't ignore me if I'm right in front of him.
The whole drive I think about how different my life has changed in the space of a week. Everything has changed, and as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing. I was so angry sitting in that meeting last week when Henry told us what I had to do in order to free this inheritance. He had tricked me into thinking that this last step was something small, something I could do in a day that would alter my life, but it would of those around me. In that moment, I wanted to kill somebody—mainly Henry—for ruining my life. I thought I loved my life just the way it was. I didn’t want work or my family coming in between what I had going on. But the more time I spend with Matt, working on this takeover, I have to admit, I’m enjoying it.
Who knows, maybe this was Grandfather’s plan all along, to make me realize that what I think I want isn’t always the case. He did the same thing with Matt, and now look at him. He loves being a father and a husband. That life was something he never would've had if he wasn’t backed into it by these stipulations. Is this just Grandfather’s way of teaching us a final life lesson? Probably not, considering hindsight and learning from your mistakes weren’t exactly his forte.
I pull up out to the front of the Harris building, not bothered by the fact that it’s a no parking zone. I’ll only be a few minutes. I get out and slam the door shut, then walk inside, taking the elevator up to the top floor, where Matt's office occupies the whole space.
I shift impatiently on my feet as I wait for the doors to open, and when they do, I march past his receptionist and over to his office door. I don't worry about knocking. I never knocked before, so why bother starting now?
Matt glances up as I walk in. He double takes when he sees it’s me, his frown deepening. A rush of annoyance surges through me. I thought we were slowly moving past him not having time for me, but then I catch a glimpse of an expression like that one and I realize he’s just the same rude asshole who has no time for me. He’s only being nice to me to make sure I play the game.
“Are you ever going to learn to knock?” he asks.
I just shrug and walk over to his desk, taking a seat. I don’t let on how much his response to me being here gets to me, because what’s the point? I don’t want him to be nicer to me out of sympathy. I want him to be nice because that’s the response seeing me evokes.
“What do you want, Rex?” he asks. He sounds tired as he leans back in his chair and studies me. “Can't you see that I'm busy?”
“I just wanted to talk to you for a moment about the takeover and Shana,” I say.
I keep the usual defensives and aggression out of my voice, and I think he notices. This is my attempt to show him that I’m serious about changing who I am. The first step of that is not reacting when he treats me like shit.
“What about?” he says, distracted.
I stare at him for a moment as he all but ignores me and goes back to reading the papers in front of him. My resolve to remain calm and professional is faltering, until I crack it. Is he even listening to me? Probably not. I reach over and snatch up the file he's looking at.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” he growls at me. Anger flashes through his eyes, but I stare right back at him.
“I’m making you understand how rude it is for you to barely acknowledge me when I’ve come to discuss something with you,” I retort. “I’m not asking you what size hot tub to order. I’m asking you to talk to me about a takeover relating to your company, because I thought you’d want me to keep you informed and ask for advice, rather than go off on my own and end up doing God knows what.”
I close the file and toss it back down on his desk. He sits back in his chair and glares at me, but then folds his arms over his chest and exhales a big sigh. I stare at him, amazed that I got through to him. I hide my amusement. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten through to him like that in my life.
“Fine. What do you want to talk about?” he says, pretending to be interested. I don’t care, because at least he’s trying.
“I told you, Shana. We just finished up our lunch together.”
Matt laughs. “You took her to lunch?”
I nod, waiting for the look of admiration to flash in his eyes. “I called her up and asked her out. She said yes, of course.”
“Okay, so what happened?” Matt asks. I frown at the tiny smirk on his lips.
“It went even better than I thought it would,” I say.
“Let me guess—you ended up boning her in the back of your car, didn't you?” Matt says, his smirk growing. I frown, annoyed that he’s finding this so funny.
“No. Your suggestion was to ask her out and sleep with her, but I decided that a better approach would be to ask her out and make her see how good this would be for her career. I offered her something she couldn't refuse.”
“Well, I know you don’t mean you because you're definitely something that she could refuse.” Matt chuckles. “So what did you offer her?”
“I just came right out and asked her if she would consider helping us get the board form the inside and help us seal this merger.” I shrug. “I said we wanted her help and she’d be rewarded adequately.”
Matt stares at me in disbelief. He laughs and runs his hand through his hair, shaking his head.
“What?” I ask with a frown.
“You can’t just straight out ask her that, Rex,” he groans. He buries his head face down on the desk, then sits back up. “The whole idea was that you were supposed to schmooze her. Then make her like you. Then subconsciously make her see that helping you is the best thing she can do for her career.”
I frown at Matt, resisting the urge to fly off the handle yet again. My fists clench tightly by my side. Fucking idiot. What does he know about women? Certainly not as much as me. Matt sighs and looks at me. His expression reads like I’m the silly little brother who fucks up everything he touches. He wasn’t at that meeting so he has no fucking clue how it went.
I’ll fucking show him when Shana comes crawling to me, begging me to use her.
“Look,” I growl. “How about you just stick to getting the board inside and I'll work on Shana.”
Matt rolls his eyes. “If I thought you could manage it, then I would be fine with that. She said yes to lunch, right? Why do you think she said yes?” he asks me.
I shrug, not getting where he’s going
with this.
“Because she probably likes you, God knows why. She probably thought you were asking her out on a date.” He shakes his head and laughs. “How did she react when you asked her if she was interested in helping us?”
“Not well,” I admit. “But she'll come around. She's just concerned that the board won’t go for it. They’re too solidified.”
Matt chuckles again, his laughter beginning to grate on my nerves.
“Rex, the company is falling apart. That board would be all over the place with their loyalty. They’re just waiting to be presented with an alternative to Denton. Shana would know that,” he says. “She’s not going to go against her daddy without good reason.”
“She has plenty of good reasons,” I argue. “And I helped her see that.”
“You would’ve been better making you the reason,” Matt says. “Let's just hope you haven't fucked this up completely.” He laughs and shakes his head at me. “I have to hand it to you, Rex. You’re the only man I know who could pass up a casual hook up because he couldn’t read the signals.”
I glare at him. If there is one thing I do well, it’s pick up on when I’m being flirted with. Shana wasn’t into me like that at all. If she was, I’d have gone there in a second.
“Okay,” Matt murmurs after a moment. “You keep working Shana, and I'll work on the board to get them on our side.”
I really want to point out that, that was exactly what I'd said a few minutes ago.
“Now can I get back to work if that's alright with you?” he asks.
“By all means,” I say as I stand up.
“Oh, and, Rex?” he calls out as I’m leaving. I stop long enough to hear what he has to say. “Go with the large hot tub,” he adds when I give him an odd look.
I walk out of his office, trying to diffuse my foul mood as I think about what he said. Maybe I should stop feeling angry and think about whether he’s right? I shake my head. No. I'm confident that what I'm doing is right. Besides, I’ve never listened to my brother before, so why would I start now?
Parking my car in the garage, I walk inside and slam the door shut with my foot. I toss my keys and my briefcase down on the kitchen counter and then wander over to pour myself a glass of scotch. I move out onto the balcony to drink it, leaning against the railing. I look up at the sky, my mind a mess of thoughts about Matt, my grandfather, Shana and Denton industries.
I hope I can pull this off.
I glance down at my phone and frown. I know it's only been a few hours, but I haven't heard from her yet and I've got to say I'm a little bit surprised. Give her a chance. Once she thinks about how much this will benefit her, she’ll come around. I'm confident that I’ve convinced her that helping us is the right move for her professionally. She just needs time to process that.
I know Matt had wanted me to focus on sweet talking my way into her bed, but I was sure that this was a better approach. She is so work focused that appealing to that side of her makes more sense. She's going nowhere in that company and she knows it.
It really comes down to whether she's too loyal to jump ship or not.
I yawn, stretching my whole body in the process, and stumble into the railing. I straighten myself up, barely able to keep awake. It's been a long day. Hell, it’s been a long week. I never knew it was possible to feel so exhausted and be still functional. All I want to do is curl up in bed and go to sleep. I drink the rest of my scotch and then head to bed, and I'm snoring the moment my head hits the pillow.
I stand out the front of Henry Burns' office with Matt, waiting for nine o'clock to click over. I shift on my feet impatiently, surprised at how nervous I’m feeling. And annoyed. I’m annoyed at having to meet with Henry. I glance at Matt, and he looks cool, calm, and collected just like he always does.
“Tell me again why we need his permission to get this done?” I ask with a scowl on my face.
Matt smirks at me. “Because he’s controlling this game. You know that.”
“And remind me again why you seem to enjoy that fact? Besides, what if he doesn't agree?” I say.
Matt shrugs. “He has no reason to refuse, and he'll know that.” He smiles. “As for why I’m enjoying it, because it makes it even more fun when the power shifts again. You need to keep yourself calm, Rex. No flying off the handle, okay?”
I nod and then glance at my watch again. It's been a week since we last sat in Henry Burns’ office and we learned the news that not only was this this not over, the games had, in fact, only just begun.
The last few days had been a whirlwind of meetings, preparation, and trying to figure out the best way to approach this. I think I've done more work in this past week than I’d done in my whole entire life. I need a vacation already, and as soon as I got this done I plan to take a very long one. Henry appears out of nowhere and motions us to follow him back into his office.
“Finally,” I mutter under my breath. I roll my eyes when Matt shoots me a look. What do I care if the old codger hears me?
Matt walks in first, with me at his heels. We sit down, waiting impatiently for Henry to slowly walk back around his desk to his seat. He takes his sweet time, probably hoping that we’re sweating. I am, but he's not about to know that. Finally, he sits down and smiles at us.
“How can I help you two gentlemen today?” he asks, as if we’re old friends. “Have you figured out your approach to taking over Denton Industries?” he asks me. I frown at the look of amusement in his eyes. He’s really expecting me to fail at this.
“He has,” Matt responds for me. Henry glances at Matt and nods.
“Okay. How does he plan to approach this?”
“We’ve put a lot of thought into this. I'm going to be working on getting the board members on our side and agree that this takeover is a great opportunity. While I'm doing that, Rex will be convincing James Denton's daughter, Shana, to help us. She will do that by getting Denton Industries board onside with this takeover too.”
Henry smiles and nods. “I'm impressed with how you’re thinking,” he says. “But his daughter? The same one who has been sitting loyally at her father’s company for the last eight years?”
“Who has held the same position, with no chance at advancing. The same woman who has been living in her father’s shadow,” Matt says.
“I see your point. Whose idea was this?” Henry asks. “I’m guessing it wasn’t yours?” he says to me.
I clench my fists. Matt puts his hand out to stop me. I take a deep breath and compose myself.
“It doesn't matter whose idea it was, so long as this gets done,” I respond, my voice cold.
Henry nods. “Fine. I’ll sign this off, but you only have one month to get this takeover completed.”
I glare at him. “Why did Matt get a year to get what he needed done?”
“Really, Rex?” Matt growls. He glares at me. “Think about what I had to achieve. How was I supposed to marry, impregnate? and pop a baby out in a month?”
He frowns at me as he gets to his feet. I frown, also getting up as Henry all but boots us out.
“Fine,” I mutter. Though I still don’t think it’s fair.
We walk outside, and while Matt goes back to work, I head home. On my way back to my car, I check my email, just in case Shana’s tried contacting me that way. There’s no email, of course, which has me wondering what the hell is going on. It's been nearly a week since we met, since I put my offer on the table, and I've heard nothing from her. I'm genuinely shocked. She's had plenty of time to think about it, to reconsider her position, so why hasn't she called me?
Well I’m not going to sit around and wait for her to call me. I’ll call her instead.
She doesn't answer, so I call her office, telling her receptionist that I’m one of her clients. I'm surprised when my plan works and I'm forwarded through to Shana.
“Hello,” she says. Her voice stirs something inside me, which I wasn’t expecting. “Who is this?”
“It's Rex Harris,
” I say, a smile spreading across my lips. Silence greets me, and my confidence slowly begins to evaporate.
“What do you want, and why are you calling me at work?” she asks, sounding less than impressed to hear from me. “Do you know how risky this is?”
“It was the only way I could get you to answer me,” I say, defending my actions.
“Answer what?” she asks.
“The proposition,” I remind her.
“But I already gave you an answer,” she says, sounding confused.
“Maybe, but I was confident that once you had time to consider it, you would change your mind.” I swallow and think back to the conversation I had with Matt.
Was he right? Is she into me and I have no idea?
“Okay, cards on the table? This phone call to follow up on what I asked you is all just an excuse for me to see you again,” I say, my voice smooth. I wait for her to tell me where to go, but instead, she hesitates. I can’t believe it. She’s actually thinking about saying yes.
“Fine. Meet me at The Rose Bar on Fifth at nine o'clock,” she finally says.
Holy shit, Matt was right.
Then again, I shouldn’t be so surprised, because who can resist all of this?
Six
Shana
I stare at the phone in my hand, my heart pounding, immediately regretting whatever the hell it was I just agreed to. What was I thinking, saying yes? My initial reaction to his proposal hasn’t changed, so I don't know what he expects to get out of this meeting. And I don’t know what I expect.
The way he said that it was about getting to know me this time was such an obvious lie. So why did I agree to go then? Because I'm still attracted to him, and when he made it sound like he wanted to see me, I caved. I shake my head, annoyed at myself.
