Aaron

---

The sun had long gone down when I finally stood up. I wasn’t ready to call it a night, but I had reached the point where staying longer wouldn’t have helped me any.

I felt good about the work I’d done, but there was still more to do yet if I planned to win.

Of course, work had done little to keep my mind off Cree and what to do about her. As I folded my jacket over my arm, grabbed my briefcase, and headed toward the elevators, I finally let my mind begin to turn around that particular puzzle.

I knew I had options at my disposal. I could subtly, something that I was surprisingly good at though it didn’t come naturally, suggest that my winning would be in the firm’s best interests.

The firm put up a valiant effort to make sure it didn’t play favorites, but I never doubted that if I pushed a particular issue, I would get my way.

That knowledge made me want to vomit. I was okay with people sucking up to me, but the level of bullshit was sickening. And even if I did get my way, the idea of playing on my name and title to get rid of Cree didn’t sit well with me. I handled my own problems, including her, and when I beat her, it would be on my own merits.

The elevator dinged, telling me that I had reached another floor, but rather than the garage, the doors opened on a floor of offices, and the woman who had been doing her best to preoccupy my thoughts sauntered in.

I was standing in the far corner of the elevator, and though Cree kept her head down, I knew she recognized me.

She didn’t bother to speak, and I didn’t either, at least not initially.

Instead I watched her, saw the way her shoulders slumped, telling me that she was a little bit tired. Saw that her jacket was unbuttoned, giving quite a nice view of her chest, something she didn’t do very often.

She’d also pulled her hair back and tucked it into a little ball at the back of her head.

For some reason, I found that fascinating. It was a simple thing, probably something she had done for her comfort more than anything else, especially since the firm turned off the heat and AC after six thirty. Which was ridiculous, because I was the only one out of the office by six thirty, but no one ever made a fuss about it.

Still, though I knew she had done so out of necessity, the change was startling, something I decided I liked. It gave her a little hint of vulnerability, a softness that was so uncommon under the armor that she wore without fail.

It also gave a view of her soft jawline, the smooth-looking, golden skin there more than catching my eye, despite my wish that it was otherwise.

“Stop staring at me,” she muttered.

Though I could hear the exhaustion in her voice, I also heard her annoyance.

“What makes you think I was staring at you?” I asked.

A lame comeback but the best I could think of on such short notice. Cree didn’t bother to give an answer, and instead stood rigid until the elevator reached the bottom floor. When the doors opened, she stepped off without a backward glance.

Some part of me was grateful, but the rest of me wouldn’t stand for being dismissed.

I couldn’t put my finger on why, but to have her ignore me like that, even though her doing so was probably in my best interests, was something I couldn’t abide.

“You know, just because I’m going to beat you doesn’t mean you have to be rude. After all, we’re still colleagues, so you’re going to have to talk to me,” I said, mostly to push her buttons, though there was more than a grain of truth in it.

That got her attention.

“Thanks for reminding me,” she muttered before she continued on toward her car.

I laughed, the sound again drawing her attention.

“Like you forgot. You’ve probably been sitting in your office all this time trying to plot how you’re going to put one over on me,” I said.

Cree smiled back, the expression surprisingly genuine.

“Wow, I’m so shocked that someone as brilliant as you could make such an obvious oversight,” she said, her sarcasm and humor warring for dominance.

“And what oversight would that be?” I asked, coming to a stop next to her small silver sedan.

She didn’t respond immediately, and instead opened the back door and deposited her briefcase and jacket on the backseat. Then she closed the door, and turned to me, her keys clutched in her hand.

I was struck by the difference in this interaction. Hours ago, we’d been contentious, on the verge of a full-blown argument. Now, we were almost…collegial. It was strange how things had shifted so quickly, but I could admit I much preferred this friendly exchange. Though I couldn’t discount the possibility that this was all some ploy, I found this conversation interesting. Cree should have been anything but interesting, but seeing her this way, little hints of the human who lay underneath her stern exterior were intriguing. Mostly because I prided myself on being able to charm anyone. Arrogant, sure, but I knew the truth of the matter.

Her imperviousness to my charm annoyed the shit out of me, so anything that gave me an opportunity to better understand her, perhaps eventually get her on my side, though I knew that was a tall order, was one I would take.

“You were saying about my mistake?” I asked.

“Your mistake is assuming that I’m like you,” she said.

“Meaning?”

I had a hunch, more than, as to exactly what she meant, but I was more than content to force her to say the words.

“Unlike you, Aaron, I don’t scheme, I don’t snipe, and I don’t plan. I show up, I do my job, and I get rewarded accordingly,” she said.

“Is that how you see me?” I asked.

I kept my voice light, but inside I felt my gut start to twist.

That was how she saw me. I’d suspected as much, but to have her confirm it was something I didn’t think I was quite ready for. And besides, if that was the way Cree saw me, I wondered how many others did as well. It’s not like any of them, save her, were brave enough to say so out loud. Though I hated it, I had a moment of deep insecurity, one that was beneath me, one I knew instinctively Cree wouldn’t do anything to make better.

“Sad but true,” she said. Then she sighed, shifted slightly, softening her posture and looking at me with something like pleading in her eyes.

“It’s obvious that this is not ideal for either of us, Aaron. But, I’m going for this, and you’re going for this, so we’re going to have to make the best of it, no matter how difficult that might be,” she said, her expression souring as she trailed off.

“Don’t try to bowl me over with your excitement,” I said drily.

Cree smiled, the expression making her eyes crinkle at the corners, and giving her face a brightness that looked good on her. “I’m just being honest.”

“Oh, you call cutting me down any chance you get honesty?” I asked.

“I call them like I see them, and this is no exception. We’re competing with each other and stuck with this, but let’s just agree to stay out of each other’s way,” she said.

“How is that going to work? We might be competitors, but you know the executive committee is going to expect us to work together to some extent. Congeniality and all that,” I said, not keeping the disgust out of my voice.

She scoffed, and I found myself smiling at yet another honest expression of what she was thinking.

“Very funny, Aaron. You know as well as I do that the executive committee couldn’t give two shits about collaboration, especially not with a two billion dollar contract on the table.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I responded, not surprised but still impressed that she could see through the bullshit.

“Then you know all that matters is the result. Whether we work together or kill each other in a knife fight doesn’t matter to them. What matters is that the deal gets closed and I make partner,” she said.

“Let’s hope things don’t get that dire,” I said.

“That’s up to you,” she answered, her expression serious.

I admired her passion, but knew I wouldn’t run away from the challenge.

“I see you’re dead set on this. But you know I might have a shot too,” I said, mostly to needle her.

“You have more than a shot, which is why I’m not screwing around. So just stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”

Four hours ago, I would have leaped at that opportunity. But now, when confronted with her standing there, looking like her real self, one so different than the face she portrayed at the office, one so intriguing, I was torn.

Agreeing would make my life easier. We were competitors, and she’d made how she felt about me more than clear. And yet I couldn’t force myself to say the words. Maybe there was something about her delivery, calm, like she had come up with a solution that was perfect, one that involved having absolutely nothing to do with me, that made accepting it so difficult.

I wasn’t sure, but whatever the reason, I dismissed the idea out of hand. I was determined to work with her, and even more determined to make her work with me.

My oldest brother would say it was simply a symptom of me wanting to exert myself and being more than a bit of a control freak, but whatever the reason, I knew I wouldn’t agree to her deal, especially not when she was being so calm and reasonable about it.

I wouldn’t let her off the hook, either.

She looked at me, her eyes not giving much away, but I could see the hint of eagerness in her expression. She was certain she had latched onto the perfect solution to this issue, and she was even more confident that she had found an angle that would make me agree.

Something made it impossible for me to walk away that easily. And while it was kind of a dick move, seeing her sweat a little made it more than worthwhile.

“We’ll see,” I said.

She frowned, her reaction instant and intense.

“We’ll see?” she repeated.

“That’s what I said,” I responded.

“What the hell is that? I’m not a kid asking for a Christmas present. I’m trying to present a reasonable solution to both of our problems. So what kind of answer is ‘We’ll see’?”

Her eyes were narrowed at me, her expression practically screaming her displeasure.

“The only answer you’re getting from me. You have a good night, Cree,” I said.

As I walked toward my own car on the opposite side of the parking lot, I could feel Cree’s eyes like daggers in my back.

I couldn’t help but smile. I even added in a little whistle, when I heard her frustrated groan.

---

Cree

---

The day had been intense, but when I’d finally decided to head home, I’d thought I’d seen light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, when Aaron had shown up, I’d known that light was a train.

As I pulled out of the almost empty garage, something I did more nights than I cared to admit, I wasn’t feeling the calm I had been expecting. Aaron always left me shaken up, but that feeling was worse than usual tonight.

I’d spent several hours mapping out a plan to win the competition, but my mind had kept turning back to him and this predicament.

Yes, competing against Aaron put me at a disadvantage, but overcoming disadvantages was in my DNA. And besides, this was my chance, an opportunity that would make or break my career. I wouldn’t let anything get in my way. I knew that Aaron and me agreeing to stay out of each other’s way was the perfect solution. And besides, it wasn’t like he was eager to spend time with me either. He was just being stubborn.

He didn’t care about the deal, and didn’t want to deal with me, so once I presented the idea to him, it should have been a done deal.

Except Aaron, being Aaron, which meant that he lived to throw me off my game, had not given me an answer, and instead decided to tease this out.

We’ll see.

Even thinking the words pissed me off, and I gripped the wheel tighter, knowing that I shouldn’t allow myself to react to Aaron’s ribbing, but unable to stop myself.

And to think that before all that I had been feeling a little guilty about the way I had treated him earlier. Thank goodness that guilt had been completely alleviated by the way he had withheld the decision on my question, had left me twisting in the wind.

Something that was intentional I decided.

He probably liked to see me sweat. It didn’t matter. The bottom line was nothing was going to stand in my way. Not having to deal with Aaron would have made that easier, but that was okay.

I could handle it, handle him, when it came time to pitch myself, explain to the firm why they wanted me to be in their partnership, being pitted against Aaron would only help me.

Or I told myself that.

Deep down, I suspected Aaron’s status gave him more than a leg up and would be a huge issue for me to overcome. But I couldn’t change that, so I’d just have to deal with it.

I came up on my favorite sandwich stand, then frowned as I watched the owner flip the Open sign off.

Oh well, another popcorn and white wine dinner.

My mind kept turning over the problem of Aaron as I drove home, and in about fifteen minutes, I pulled into my driveway, parked in the garage, and got out of my car.

I’d known I was tired, but the exhaustion didn’t really hit me until I walked inside. But when it did, it was almost instantaneous. I might have to skip popcorn tonight, take a rain check on that and everything else by going directly to bed.

I stepped out of my shoes, my feet singing their relief. I looked down at the serviceable loafers, feeling a moment’s disdain.

Deep down, I loved to wear heels, but knew they weren’t practical for the office, and even more, that I wasn’t the woman who could pull them off. I mastered walking in them after years of practice, and when I was alone or feeling especially brave, I loved the way they made me feel. But on most days, they just made me feel conspicuous, like I was trying to be something I wasn’t.

And besides, fancy footwear had no place in my life of documents and business.

Still, though I recognized that such frivolities had no place in my life, accepted it at least usually, that didn’t mean I didn’t still wonder.

Sometimes I feared that wonder was the source of some of my issue with Aaron.

Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t deserve the scorn I heaped on him. He was pushy, arrogant, entitled, all things that I despised.

But there was also a little kernel of something else.

Something I envied.

He knew exactly what he wanted, and what he didn’t want, and at least on the surface, knew how to get it.

That was a skill I had never quite mastered.

I knew what I wanted, or at least I thought I did, but deep down, I wondered if I had the balls to go after it.

Suspected I didn’t, which was part of the reason I seldom dared to even ask the question.

The answer scared me, scared me more than almost anything.

I set my briefcase on the kitchen table, and then headed for my bedroom without stopping for a late dinner. It would just give me indigestion anyway.

Instead I peeled off my clothes, cringing as I worked to pull the skintight pants off my thick thighs. I loved these pants, mostly because of the dream of a different, smaller me that they represented, but I’d have to make sure I never found myself in a position to wear them in the office again.

I hadn’t anticipated that Aaron would find me on all fours, but that had been too close of a call for me to dare risk again.

I tossed them, my jacket, and my shirt in the laundry bag, and then made my way to the shower, all without pausing to look at the mirror.

Looking wasn’t necessary.

I knew exactly what I would see.

Average Cree, except when it came to the scale.

It wasn’t that I felt bad about myself. I didn’t. And even more, I accepted who I was, what I looked like, and sometimes even managed to be happy about it.

But what I could never quite square, something that never quite sat right, was how utterly unremarkable I was.

Sure, I was bright, and to hear my parents tell it, I was born under a special star.

But I knew that was just the perspective of a couple who’d found themselves blessed with a dearly wanted child in late life. So of course they thought I hung the moon, that I was the most special, most capable girl there was.

But the truth was, I didn’t and I wasn’t. I could try so hard, want so much to be something more than I was, and I feared I would never get there. Didn’t even really know where there was.

And unfortunately, acknowledging that made me think of Aaron.

I didn’t envy him his position.

I had seen up close and personal how being a prince changed the way people interacted with him. And though I would never admit it, I sometimes felt a pang of sympathy for him.

To never be taken on his own merits, to always have to question whether people wanted to get to know him or the prince was something I definitely didn’t envy.

But other things…

There was no way Aaron would ever do anything like this, stand in the shower contemplating how inadequate he was.

I hated myself for doing it, but I didn’t know what else to do.

It occurred to me then, and not for the first time, that this competition was my answer. When I finally won that partnership, I’d prove to everyone, myself included, that I was good, smart.

That I was worthy.

As I finished my shower, I felt energized.

Dealing with whatever crap Aaron brought would be a challenge, but I knew I was up to it, more than, especially when I considered what it would bring me. A chance to finally, definitively prove myself.

I’d do anything for that chance, even deal with Aaron Sarda. And for the first time all day, I looked forward to trying.