Score

by Jessica Ashe

  I walked in and breathed a sigh of relief as a cold wall of air hit me. This office had its own air-conditioning vent, and with the door having been shut the office was freezing cold. In a couple of minutes I’d want to put on a sweater, but right now this was my idea of heaven.

  The office was empty except for a few books the vice president had left behind on the bookshelf. He had one of the best offices on this floor which had never made much sense to me. Sam outranked him and had a much smaller office. It was something to do with Sam being a transfer from the parent company whereas the former vice president of marketing actually worked for New York United. I hated office politics.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” Sam said. “This is your new office.”

  “It’s my new office?” I parroted back to him.

  “I assume you prefer this to the cubicle?”

  “I don’t understand. Why are you giving me this office? I thought I was going to stay in the cubicle.”

  “You deserve an office,” Sam explained. “I’d have given you one straight away, but we didn’t have the space.”

  “But why this one? It’s one of the biggest on this floor.”

  “You need a big impressive office to negotiate the contract with Jaxon’s agent. You’re going to be the lead on this one.”

  I should have just nodded and kept my mouth shut at this point. I knew plenty of people from Harvard who went straight into jobs with a lot of responsibility, and for the most part they lapped it up. Admittedly that had more to do with the large egos of my fellow Harvard grads, who tended to think they could do any job in the world regardless of how little training they’d had. I, on the other hand, tended to shy away from responsibility I wasn’t ready for. Given my lack of experience, my responsibility here shouldn’t extend to much more than making the coffee and the occasional bouts of photocopying.

  “I’m not ready to be a lead on such a big contract,” I said honestly. “I’d love to work on it,” I lied, “but I need someone to oversee everything.”

  Sam smiled. “I’ll be the first to admit that you only got a foot in the door here because of a recommendation from Carrie, but I do love your attitude. Don’t worry, you won’t actually be the lead, but we need it to appear that way. Jaxon has agreed to speak to the club about a transfer, but only on the condition that everything goes through you.”

  At that point, Sam stepped aside as three men walked into the office carrying computer equipment and books. They quickly set about making the office ready for me and making it look like I’d been here for months. Someone even brought in a trashcan with screwed up bits of paper in it. Say what you want about New York United, but they paid attention to the details when it mattered.

  “Jaxon’s agent will be up in a minute,” Sam continued. “Just listen to what she has to say but don’t commit to anything. Her demands are going to be outrageous at this point anyway. We just want to get the conversation started.”

  Sam left me open-mouthed in my new office. I logged into my new computer and immediately found emails from in-house lawyers introducing themselves and letting me know they would be available when I needed them. When would I need them? I knew so little about what I was doing that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. This was going to be a disaster.

  I had just about stopped sweating when a young blonde woman in a power suit walked into my office without even bothering to knock.

  “Jennifer? I’m Daisy.”

  She thrust out her hand and squeezed mine in an aggressive handshake. She was so desperate to mark her territory that she might as well have just hitched up her skirt and peed around my desk.

  “Thank you for coming,” I said slowly. Daisy didn’t look like the type for smalltalk, but I needed to keep her occupied while I figured out what the hell I should be doing.

  “Let’s cut the crap shall we?” Daisy said. I recognized her accent; it was similar to that of the receptionist from the hotel in Liverpool. The receptionist had to repeat everything three times before I’d understood what she was saying, but Daisy spoke slightly slower so with any luck I’d be able to understand her.

  “Cut away,” I replied. It was supposed to be a joke, but Daisy didn’t laugh or smile.

  “This transfer isn’t happening,” Daisy said. “Liverpool United only accepted the bid because it wants to pretend Jaxon isn’t an important part of the team. That’s utter shite of course, but he has contract negotiations coming up and the club wants to screw him on the salary. We’re here to make it look like Jaxon is prepared to leave. But don’t kid yourself—this is just part of some bigger game and you people are just the pawns.”

  “Understood,” I said. Don’t get used to the big office, Jenny. You’ll be back in your cubicle within the week. “Did you enjoy your flight?” I asked, to break the silence that had fallen between us.

  Daisy huffed. “The flight was fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” I expected her to stand up and leave the office, but instead she pulled her phone out of her bag and started replying to emails. She needed this to look like a real negotiation otherwise word might get back to Jaxon’s club in England that this wasn’t serious.

  “Why don’t we talk numbers?” I asked. God help me if she asks me to make the first move on that front.

  “I told you, this is not a real thing. There’s no point in talking numbers.”

  “Isn’t it a good idea to get something official in writing from us that you can show to Liverpool United? I don’t want this deal to happen any more than you do.” Daisy frowned; I had her attention. “Let’s get this to the stage where we have a draft contract prepared and then you can use that as leverage back home. How does that sound?”

  Daisy murmured her assent. “You’re not as… inexperienced as you look.”

  “Jenny hasn’t been called inexperienced for many years,” Jaxon said, appearing in my doorway. I really wished people would stop sneaking up on me today.

  Jaxon stood there in a soccer jersey and shorts. He’d obviously come straight from a training session, because he still had the socks on as well. At least he’d changed out of his cleats. Looking at his muscular calfs and quads, I could see why some of my friends had taken an interest in soccer despite not being the sporty types.

  “So then,” Jaxon said with a grin. “What are we discussing?”

  “What are you doing here?” Daisy asked. “I told you I’d handle this.”

  I walked inside and closed the door. A more subservient agent than Daisy might have offered me the chair, but one of the reasons I liked having her as an agent was that she thought she was equally as important as me in the relationship. Frankly, that made her a complete bitch at times, but I had enough people kissing my ass already.

  Daisy had proven herself a good agent over the years, and had overseen my rise from a third tier club to one competing in the top half of the Premier league. That was in no small part due to my talents on the pitch, but to give Daisy her due, she had worked hard for me and set me up with some good clubs.

  I pulled a spare chair over from the corner of the room and sat next to Daisy, putting my feet up on Jenny’s desk. Jenny glared at my sneakers, but she didn’t say anything.

  “And I told you, I wanted to be a part of all the discussions,” I explained. “If we’re going to use this opportunity to get a better deal from Liverpool United then we need to handle this delicately.”

  “And that’s exactly what I was doing, before you waltzed in like you’ve come straight from the training pitch.”

  “From what I overheard, Jenny was the one handling the situation.”

  I turned to look at Jenny. She was sat back in her chair, playing with a pen in one hand while the fingers on the other drummed the table gently. She was trying to look relaxed, but I knew she couldn’t keep her hands still when she was nervous.

  I looked around the room to take in the sparseness of her office. She hadn’t been in here long. The bookcase held a mixture of old book
s that were far too worn to belong to a new employee, and new books that were still in their cellophane wrapping. There were no pictures on her desk or along the walls, so she hadn’t had much time to decorate. Unless she didn’t intend on staying here long.

  The office was cold, and even though I had been sticky with sweat just a few minutes before, I now found myself wanting to be back outside despite the humidity in the city. Daisy looked uncomfortably cold as well, although Jenny didn’t seem at all bothered by it.

  As usual, Daisy had gone for a full power suit, thinking that would help her get her own way. Jenny hadn’t made any such effort and looked much better for it. She wore just a plain white blouse on top, and from the doorway I had seen the hint of a black skirt. I could just about make out the bra underneath her blouse, and I cast my mind back to the view she had given me yesterday. What I wouldn’t give to take that blouse off and stare at her chest again.

  I caught Jenny staring at my legs and gave her a smile. Regardless of what she said the other day, she still wanted me, even if it was strictly a physical thing. Other than the window overlooking the city, there was no way for people to see into Jenny’s office. If Daisy weren’t here, I could just take her right now on her desk.

  “We have agreed on the best way to approach this,” Daisy said, trying to gloss over the fact that the whole thing had been Jenny’s idea. I’d been outside the office long enough to hear the gist of it. “Let’s take this whole thing seriously. We will enter into negotiations, and I’ll even do a detailed review of the contract. Once we have everything in place we will show that contract to Liverpool United. The chairman will shit himself when he sees it, and you can name your price.”

  “Good idea, Jenny,” I said, looking directly at Jenny as I spoke.

  “Let’s come up with a plan of action,” Daisy said. “Everything about this has to look real. We should spend lots of time in the city, and make sure we’re seen by as many people as possible.”

  “Okay,” I said, “but it should be Jenny who hangs out with me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Daisy said. “It would look odd for someone employed by New York United to hang out with you all the time. It’s much more natural if I go with you. Besides,” Daisy added, lowering her voice slightly but still loud enough for Jenny to hear. “I know what you like to do in your spare time.” She put her hand on the top of my thigh and squeezed lightly.

  Daisy flirting with me was no new thing. Usually I would grab her hand and throw it away, but that never discouraged her, and the look I got from Jenny when Daisy’s hand touched my leg was priceless. She’d sat there so quietly the entire time, but I heard a little gasp escape her lips when Daisy touched me. Jenny was the only woman I wanted right now, but it wouldn’t do any harm for her to think that she had a bit of competition.

  “I agree with Daisy,” Jenny said tersely. Her eyes flicked between Daisy and myself, as if she didn’t want to look at either of us for too long. “It wouldn’t be right for me to be with you all the time.”

  “It makes complete sense,” I said, determined not to give up the chance of extra time with Jenny. “You’re my stepsister. Part of the reason I’m considering coming here is to be closer to you. It would look even better if you were seen with me all the time.”

  “I suppose that makes some sense,” Daisy admitted. Jenny gave a quick nod, but she didn’t exactly look enthusiastic. “I’ll think of something for the two of you to do this afternoon.”

  “No,” I snapped. “I have a hospital appointment this afternoon, remember?”

  “I don’t have anything in my… oh yes,” Daisy said, remembering the hospital visit I had planned. We didn’t put those visits in the diary for added secrecy. I didn’t even want Daisy’s assistants knowing about them.

  “What hospital appointment this afternoon?” Jenny asked. “If you have an injury then we will need to know about it.”

  “You don’t need to know,” Daisy said loudly. “There will never be a medical because there will never be a transfer, remember?”

  Jesus Christ, Daisy, way to act cool. If Jenny didn’t suspect anything before, then she sure as hell would now.

  The possibility of spending more time with Jenny held a lot of appeal. If I moved here permanently then I would see her all the time. Such talk was stupid, of course. My club had only accepted the offer from New York United because the chairman wanted it to look like the club could make do without me. Similarly, I was only pretending to negotiate for the same reason. It was all part of the game.

  “Let’s talk numbers,” Jenny said. “Throw something out there so we have a starting point.”

  “Jaxon is currently paid around $100,000,” Daisy said. “We’re looking to get that up in the range of $150,000, if not more, so that’s the sort of offer we will need from you to make this work.”

  “I’ll need to convince the team that we’re getting a good deal on this as well,” Jenny said, scribbling some notes on the paper in front of her. “I’m going to pretend that you want $200,000 so that we can counter with $150,000. You can take it back to your club, and then sort out a new contract. With any luck you’ll have no reason to come back here.”

  Damn, she was good. She’d only been in the job a few weeks, and probably hadn’t handled a single transfer before, and yet she had an excellent grasp of basic negotiation tactics. More so than many chairmen I’d dealt with in the past. Even though soccer clubs are run by successful businessman, when it comes to signing players those businessmen often let their hearts rule their heads.

  A couple of years ago, an offer for me came in from a second-tier club and it marked a huge step up for me. I’d have signed for them on minimum wage if I had to, but Daisy went in there and pretended I didn’t want to make the move. I ended up being the best paid player at the club because the owner was married to an American woman, and desperately wanted to sign an American player in the hope it would help his failing marriage. It didn’t, but I got a great deal out of it and within a year I’d signed for Liverpool United.

  Jenny had only been put in this role because of her relationship to me, but she was quickly proving herself more adept than many people I’d dealt with previously. I was a sucker for brains combined with beauty. Hell, that was why I’d hired Daisy in the first place. Except with Daisy, I managed—just about—to keep the relationship professional, despite her almost daily attempts to seduce me.

  “Excellent,” Daisy said. “I’ll leave the plans up to you then, Jenny. Do remember who you’re dealing with here. Jaxon needs to be seen at all the trendy and expensive places; not the sorts of dives someone like you would hang out in.”

  “You mean someone with a degree from Harvard University?” I asked. I’d told Daisy how clever Jenny was on a number of occasions, but Daisy seemed to insist on treating Jenny like she was beneath her. That couldn’t have been much farther from the truth, but Jenny was too unassuming to point out Daisy’s error.

  Jenny should have more faith in her abilities, but my mom helping her get this job probably didn’t boost her confidence. Jenny thought she was only here because of her connections. While that might have been true, if it weren’t for my mom sticking her nose in her business, Jenny would likely be somewhere even better by now. She certainly deserved more than being a pawn in some scheme of my mom’s to bring me back to America.

  “I’ll make sure we only go to the hippest of hip places,” Jenny replied, with mock enthusiasm. She was handling Daisy remarkably well, probably because she wanted her out of her office as soon as possible. “I’m sure someone who’ll soon be earning $150,000 a month will want to eat at only the finest restaurants.”

  Damn it, Jenny. You were doing so well.

  “A month?” Daisy exclaimed. “Jaxon will be earning $150,000 a week, not a month. Jesus Christ, don’t you know anything about soccer? Jaxon wouldn’t get out of bed for $150,000 a month.”

  “Yes, sorry, slip of the tongue. I’ll get it sorted.”

&
nbsp; “Come on, Jaxon,” Daisy said, as she stood up still laughing at Jenny’s accidental faux pas. “Let’s leave the young girl to sort out this mess.”

  “Actually Daisy,” I said. “I have some family business I need to discuss with Jenny first. I’ll meet you at the hospital at three o’clock.”

  Daisy opened her mouth to argue, but decided against it. At least Daisy was now leaving in a good mood because of Jenny’s mistake. I could do without her being pissed at me later today. My appointment would be stressful enough as it was without having to deal with an irate agent who liked to stick her nose into my business more than was appropriate.

  Daisy had served a purpose here today though. Jenny had noticed Daisy flirt with me—it was hard to miss—so now would be the ideal time to try my luck again. Jenny was the only woman who’d ever put up much of a fight with me. Even before I was a famous soccer player, I’d been able to take my pick of women. Jenny, though, was not just any normal woman. For one thing, she was my stepsister, but she was so much more than that. She was beautiful, but unassuming. She was stunningly intelligent, but modest to a fault. And I couldn’t take my eyes off her. As Daisy left the office, Jenny leaned over pretending to make notes of our meeting, and I took the opportunity to peek down her blouse.

  The door closed leaving the two of us alone in her office. Jenny immediately stopped writing and looked up at me.

  “What do you want, Jaxon?”

  “You know what I want, Jenny. The question is, when am I going to get it?”

  So close. I’d come so close to getting through that meeting without making a fool of myself. My tactic of just sitting back and letting other people do the talking had worked until I went and opened my big mouth.

  It could have been worse. For a few moments, I’d assumed Jaxon’s salary was going to be $150,000 a year, but I quickly realized that wasn’t enough for an athlete who many consider to be one of America’s best soccer players. $150,000 a month sounded like too much, but $150,000 a week? That was just an insane amount of money.