Chapter Sixteen

 

Scottie could not stop thinking about Anisette. She’d gotten engaged? Did that mean Konrad had lost a woman? Needed a replacement? Oh God, she would not be that replacement!

Even knowing the reality of the situation, why did she still want him?

“Are you okay?”

“Uhh … yes.” She glanced at Jeff, offering a forced smile. They’d taken a later lunch than expected. La Carotte, a small French restaurant, was in walking distance of the office.  

“This is beautiful!” She scanned the tiny space. Only twelve tables lined the walls facing outside the massive windows onto the street on all four sides.

“I got us a reservation earlier. I hope we can still get a seat since we’re an hour late.” He pressed his hand on her lower back.

Her first instinct was to jump away from his touch, but the approaching host made it impossible.

“Bienvenue. Bonne après-midi.” The host, an older man wearing faded black jeans and a long-sleeved gray shirt, greeted them. He had a modern haircut, short on the sides, long on top and a graying beard.

“Bonjour, Etienne,” Jeff said with a bad accent.

“Ahh, you’ve brought a date this time.” Etienne winked, patting him on the arm.

Jeff laughed. “This is Scottie.”

Etienne bowed his head. “Pleasure.”

“I’m his coworker,” Scottie said, refusing to look at Jeff. She didn’t like the insinuation. They were not on a date. “This is such a beautiful restaurant.”

“Wait until you taste the food,” Jeff said from behind her.

“This guy is too much, mademoiselle.” Etienne laughed. “Follow me.”

Agreed. It was all too much. Had Konrad not forced her to accept, she’d be at her desk eating a sandwich from one of the first-floor kiosks.

At their corner table, Scottie sipped her iced water and stared out of the window. Images of Konrad infiltrated her mind. His touch. His smell. His mouth. If only Jeff could read her thoughts, he wouldn’t have asked her to this fancy French lunch.

“How do you like working for Konrad?” Jeff’s voice pulled her out of her reverie.

Not a single word came forth. How did she like working for Konrad? She wasn’t sure anymore. “It’s fine.”

“Really?” His dark eyebrows lifted.

She shrugged. Play it cool. “I mean, the work is whatever. Copying, setting appointments—” Having sex on his desk. Oh God.

“Sending flowers to his women.” Jeff laughed.

A wave of energy spiked through her. She didn’t like that. “Doing personal errands for him.”

“So how many women does he have? I heard seven regular women.” He sipped from his glass Coke bottle, leaving the empty glass filled with ice the waitress brought to sweat.

Seven regular women? When was that? She sighed. This should be more evidence that it was a mistake to hook up with him. It was over. No harm, no foul. Why was that so hard to believe?

“I don’t know. I don’t ask questions.” Scottie rubbed the cold water drops running down her glass. “I’m just a temp.”

He leaned back in his chair. “I gotcha. I guess it’s best to stay professional with him.”

Too late. How was Scottie supposed to enjoy the rest of lunch?

“How does he feel about employees dating?” She didn’t look at him when she posed the question.

“It’s against policy.”

Scottie looked up to Jeff, his eyes sparkling. “Well, I guess I’m not going to date anyone at Korr Corp.” She had no idea why she asked him that question. It only seemed to fuel some fire Jeff had been building since she met him on the grand tour of Korr Solutions.

Without missing a beat, Jeff said, “You’re not a Korr Corp employee, though.”

No, she most certainly was not. She also was most certainly done with the conversation.

After the awkward lunch, Scottie returned to the office only when she’d made a detour to Space City Pawn, without Jeff. She counted the twelve hundred dollars she got for the pin, which was an insult. She should have gotten three times that much for it, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. She swore she’d never be a beggar again. She couriered her portion of the rent in cash to Tara. What was done was done.

Konrad came back to the office around three, holding a small bag with handles. He stood in her cube, commanding her complete attention, which wasn’t hard to give. Every nerve ending sparked at the sight of him. Distressed jeans, chambray button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows and Converse sneakers. Sunglasses were perched on top of his head, and his bergamot scent made her quiver deep inside. She liked his casual style as much as she liked him in a suit.

“I need you in my office for the rest of the afternoon.” He pointed in the direction of his office. “We need to work on a major presentation for Monday afternoon.”

Scottie stood, promptly grabbing a notepad and purple ink pen, trying to hide the exhilaration that ran through her. “No problem.”

Denying her continued attraction to him was impossible.

Stoic, and with no indication he shared her thoughts, he simply said, “Come.”

Come. The one word sounded obscene from his lips, and it made her remember everything he’d done to her. On that same desk were the residual images of them succumbing to desire—the desire that was clearly still there for her, despite the fact he’d called it a mistake that morning. She’d agreed with him. Correction, her brain had. Her body had come to a different conclusion.

Scottie followed Konrad into his office. How was she supposed to act around him? Let him lead. The only person she could control was herself.

Konrad met her at the round conference table at the far end of his vast office. “How was your lunch?”

The words sounded nonchalant, but the clench in his jaw suggested he was jealous. Was he jealous like he’d been last night on his desk, when they…

Stop it.

“It was fine.” With her fingertips, she skimmed the pile of folders he’d set down.

“Glad to hear it. I hope Jeff was a gentleman.” The folders had his attention as he said the words.

“He was.”

Then he lifted his eyes to her, pinning her gaze. “Good. I’ll fire him if he wasn’t.”

The breath hitched in her throat. Oh God. That stare. Eyes shifting down, she busied herself with the folders. “What’s this meeting for?”

“Ortho-Sync, the medical device manufacturing company, is interested in making a bid for the EaDo property.” He pulled out two chairs next to each other. “I want them to buy the property.”

Scottie’s gaze danced over his fingers, which were curled over the backs of the slate-gray ergonomic chairs. Those fingers… “Okay.”

Two hours later at five o’clock, when the other employees were calling it a day, Scottie continued to type on Konrad’s laptop as he spoke. She’d created the presentation live, feeding off his energy. But one thing came to mind. “This is the same property that Bayou Sling Brewery bid on.”

He’d run his fingers through his hair multiple times by that point. “Correct. But they can’t compete with Ortho-Sync. They don’t have enough investors to pull in the two million. Close, but not close enough.”

Scottie glanced back at the computer screen in quiet contemplation. “You won’t consider it?”

Suddenly, Konrad moved across the room fast and opened a drawer in his desk to rummage through it. Then he emptied out all three drawers and reassembled them again. “God, I thought I remembered where I’d left my Richard Mille watch. But no … I guess not.”

“You lost it?”

His hand gripped the back of his neck. “I have no idea where I left it.” He walked back to the round table. “It’s such a sad shame because it’s my favorite watch.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for it.”

His lips slightly curled up in a smile. “Thank you.” As he sat next to her again, the skin on his arm touched hers, singeing her, but she didn’t pull away.

What were they talking about? With Konrad so close to her, she couldn’t focus. All she wanted to do was lean in, kiss him as she had when they were last alone in his office. When he’d had her naked.

Konrad cleared his throat, startling her from her reverie. “No, I can’t.”

Scottie averted her gaze to the laptop keyboard, her mind on their conversation they’d had in the morning. Had he read her mind? Embarrassed, she said in haste, “Yeah, I know you can’t. You don’t have to say it again”

The moment he touched her wrist, she stopped typing. “What do you mean, again? I know for a fact the property can get much more. So no, I can’t consider it.”

Warming with even more embarrassment, she remembered her question about Bayou Sling Brewery. I’m such an idiot.

“Oh. Sorry. I was thinking of something else. Sorry.” Changing the subject, she continued, “Will you let them try to outbid Ortho-Sync if they can get more investors?”

“Of course. This is business after all. But I know they’ve tapped out and won’t get the capital.”

Scottie looked him square in the eyes when she’d contained herself. “Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate them.” She might have been thinking about herself, and not just the Bayou Sling Brewery.