“It should be enough that I don’t leave the house in the same clothes I slept in.”
“Don’t tell me you’re a charlatan on top of everything else.”
“I’m good at what I do regardless of what you think. If you care suddenly about whether I’m equipped for the job, you can look at my past record of satisfied clients. This is probably a game to you, and you might think that you are being cute, but your non-compliance is frankly annoying.”
“Oh, noncompliance? What are you going to do? Tell on me again?”
“We’re going to settle this like adults. I can only help you and do my job if you let me. If this is a waste of my time and yours, then neither of us needs to be here.”
“You’re leaving? Finally.” He laughed again. I stared at him honestly bewildered. I had never dealt with a person like him before. I had never met somebody who delighted in frustrating other people who are trying to help him so much. There was honestly no reason for his obstinance. He was just having me on. He was being forced to do something he did not want to do and instead of sucking it up for a few weeks, he had decided that if he wasn’t having fun, nobody got to have fun.
“Do you know what?”
“What?” He asked. He was standing with his shoulders squared and his jaw set like he was ready to fight. I should’ve said no. This was my fault. I should have seen the writing on the wall after the first meeting failure. My anger rose even higher when I thought about how Easton had probably never intended to cooperate with me from the beginning and made the concession in order to make Toby happy.
“You are an asshole.” He chose the most absurd reaction to that accusation possible. He laughed at me. He threw his head back and laughed. I didn’t think I could get any angrier at him than I already was, but I was wrong. I wished I had less breeding, so I could swing at him and not feel guilty. I cleared my throat. “Is something funny?”
“You are, sweetheart. How about we cut this meeting short and you leave just like you threatened to do a moment to go.”
“You know, I don’t usually wish ill on anybody, but dammit, you deserve it. In a year or two from now, when all your contracts have dried up and your company has been run into the ground by nothing other than your unwillingness to do the right thing, you are going to wish that you swallowed your pride and just wore a damn suit.” He reached for me and got a hold of my arm before I could back away.
“Let go of me.” He didn’t. He pulled me in so sharply that my body collided with his.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t come in here telling me what to do or what the hell you think could happen to my business in the future.” I tried to move back but he didn’t let me. We were pressed together. His body was just as hard as I thought it was under his clothes. I didn’t want to just stand there but I was at a loss for words looking up at him.
He was more attractive up close. I didn’t know how I had never noticed before; his complexion was healthy and tanned. I despised beards on most men and his was an example of the worst kind. No upkeep or grooming whatsoever, but his mouth, his lips were bee-stung and plump. How a man with the most disagreeable personality I had ever come across managed to look like that was one of the great injustices of our world. His green eyes were hard to look into. As if he could tell me what I was thinking if I opened my mouth to speak to him.
He was still trying to intimidate me. He thought he had me cornered, literally, and he was going to use his body to gain dominion over me. I was a little tired of the game, to be honest.
“After all that time in the army, you should be good at taking orders.”
“Why do you think I left?” he asked.
“Well you don’t have to think of them as orders, they’re more like helpful fashion tips,” I said. His eyebrows went up and I knew that I had gotten ahead of him. I giggled and winked at him. It was kind of funny. It was his turn to laugh, but he didn’t.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath, and then his hands gripped my face and we were kissing. I instinctively held my breath. My body and brain seemed to flat line. This was not the attack that I was anticipating.
Don’t let him win Missy. Don’t. I inhaled sharply which just ended up giving him deeper access to my mouth. The hand that he had he had around my wrist dropped and relocated to my waist. He groaned and ran his hands up my back. The last time that the man had touched me like this had been… it had been…
My eyes flew open. I pushed him away with all of the force that I could muster, which wasn’t much. I sucked in large gulps of air to snap me out of the daze I was in. This wasn't normal. I was not attracted to him. No, no way.
He was standing there, looking at me like nothing had happened.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I snapped. I probably didn’t sound convincing enough because he smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. He ran a hand over his beard.
“Way to swing hot and cold. You weren’t complaining a second ago.”
“I’m a professional and I was brought here to fix your image. If those are the services you want, there are professionals you can hire for that too.” He laughed and nodded.
“I’m already paying you. Thought I could save a little money.”
“Your style is non-existent, and you seem allergic to taking this process seriously for even ten seconds. Anything else?”
“Nope. Sounds like you have it covered.”
“Right. I suppose we’re done here.” I turned and walked away. I heard him follow me. My whole body felt hot and sweat dripped down my back. He was winding me up and I couldn’t let him win. I knew that he hadn’t insinuated that I should sleep with him because he was giving me money. He was brazen, rude, and disrespectful. All those things should have made me less attracted to him, but they didn’t. I hit the button for the lift and walked in when it finally opened.
“My assistant will contact you with a shopping appointment.” He looked at me blankly from the loft and I feared that he would walk into the lift and trap us in the small space together. I counted the seconds the doors took to slide shut. Nine, nine excruciating seconds before I was alone again.