Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Chapter five
Carrie
Istare at the doorway where Reid has just exited, in disbelief. His office? My father’s office. Furious, I grab the folder and stand up, rounding my desk with the intent of telling him where to stick this contract, but right when I’m about to exit my office, Sallie appears in front of me. “He just went into your father’s office. Am I supposed to let him?”
I open my mouth to say about ten things I can’t say. Reid Maxwell is her new boss and it cuts so damn deep I might bleed out right here and now. “Yes,” I say. “You are. I’ll explain later. I need a few minutes.” I present those words as calmly as I delivered the news that the Waterbrook project had crashed and burned only three weeks ago, but just like then, I’m melting down inside. “I’ll get with you in a bit.”
“Okay.” She backs up and I charge forward, toward my father’s office, where that man is now sitting with the door shut, which he clearly did to push my buttons. I pass the empty secretarial desk, and when I reach the office, I don’t bother knocking. I open the door and enter, shutting it behind me and sure enough, Reid’s sitting behind my father’s massive mahogany desk, in the office where I’d played with Barbies as a child, when all I wanted was to grow up to be just like my father. Worse, he looks good behind it, which only pisses me off more.
He arches a brow in that arrogant way he does everything and then leans back in his chair. I move toward him, and he, of course, watches my every step with apt attention. I stop directly in front of him, between the visitor’s chair, and repeat his earlier actions. I toss the folder on the desk, and then lean on it, hands flat on the wood. “I’m not going to play your games with you and your loads of money and time to kill taunting me.”
He leans forward, and now we’re close, damn—really close, those blue eyes so ridiculously blue. “People with loads of money,” he says, “don’t have it because they waste time playing games.”
“And yet, here you are.”
“I don’t do anything that wastes my time,” he repeats. “And I’m going to say this one more time and never again. If the numbers weren’t doable, I wouldn’t be here.”
“You won’t say it again?” I demand incredulously. “Like I’m a child you’re reprimanding?”
“You do like to play with toys,” he comments dryly. “And not very nicely. You reeled me in and left me in that room wholly unsatisfied.”
“You have a hand,” I snap, shoving off the desk.
“But I’d rather use yours,” he says, never so much as blinking, his voice now a warm, silky taunt, “but that won’t happen. I don’t fuck where I work. I don’t mix business with pleasure. This is business.”
I laugh in disbelief. “Because you won’t let it happen? Like I would.”
“Do you really want to challenge me on that?”
“Apparently I couldn’t if I wanted to.”
His lips twitch but he changes the topic. “The investors behind this stock leverage want a return. I promised them that this,” he lifts the contract, “doubles what I predicted previously.” He drops the contract again. “Can or can’t,” he says. “Sign or don’t sign, but decide now.”
“You gave me an hour.”
“I changed my mind. Now or never.”
“I need to read it.”
“Read it now, here, with me. You’re an attorney and a good one from what I’ve studied. You’ll find it simple, precise, and clear. It guarantees your salary for six months which isn’t a small salary. Losing that would hurt.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
“One who hands out orgasms and paychecks.”
My lips purse but I grab the folder and walk to the black leather couch to my left and sit down, setting the folder in my lap to begin reading. Reid thankfully stays where he’s at, opening his MacBook to actually do his own work. I’m a few pages into the document, and I reluctantly admit that he’s right. I need my paycheck. I gave my savings to my father to start a new firm he’s off chasing. And everything in the contract is as Reid claimed; simple, precise, and clear, at least to someone used to reading the language, which I am. I buy back my father’s stock by way of that profit figure. That huge profit that sets me off again.
I shut the folder and walk back to the desk, setting it back in front of him. “Lower the number.”
“No,” he says simply. “Sign or don’t sign. Time’s up.” He sharpens his stare. “Your salary remains the same. Your bonuses remain the same, and we both know you cleaned out your savings to help your father leverage one of his side deals. You need this deal.”