“Are you okay? You look tired.”
“I’m fine,” I say.
She sits down on the chair opposite my desk, clutching a binder to her chest. “All right, then. I have a lot to share with you today.”
“Go right ahead.”
Cecilia launches into a refined elevator pitch, and I listen, humming occasionally. Her idea sounds like many of the hundreds of start-ups I’ve heard about over the years. Unease grows in my stomach when I realize she also sounds like many of the start-ups that fail within their first year.
She hands me an overview of costs and an expansion plan. “This is where I’m heading,” she says. “The overhead is considerable, but with a quick enough expansion, I should hit my numbers.”
I tap my pen against the paper. It’s neat and orderly, like all the reports she prepared for me. In truth, the plan she’s drawn up is impressive. She’s thinking far ahead. She has her company’s story brand nailed down. But.
“Your figures are too high.”
She leans across the desk, and the neckline of the T-shirt she’s wearing swings low. I can see the tops of smooth breasts.
Throbbing, aching pain.
“Have I miscalculated?”
“No, I’m sure you’ve done it correctly. But the figures are too high from a risk perspective.”
Her wide, soft lips turn down at the corners. They’d been wrapped around my dick just three days ago. The image of her sinking to her knees, pressing me against the front door… taking command. Looking up at me.Christ, St. Clair.
“From a risk perspective,” she repeats, voice turning hard. “I want to take risk. I’ve seen you, and your business partners, take risks all the time. It’s always been rewarded.”
I brush the back of my hand over my mouth to hide a smile. “Not always. I’ve made tons of deals that fell through.”
Her eyes flicker up to mine. “You have?”
“Of course. I’m thirty-four, Myers. What do you think I did until I was twenty-five?”
“You made mistakes?” she asks. Her voice is so full of skepticism I want to laugh.
“Yes. You have to do things wrong to learn how to do them right. The sooner you make the mistake, the sooner you’ll learn.”
“Right.”
I tap the paper in front of us. “With this overhead, so soon into starting the business, you have no room for error. No room for unexpected losses. One rough wind, and you fall. And there will be rough winds. There always are.”
She blows out a breath. “If I cut this, I won’t grow as fast.”
“If you don’t, you might not grow at all.”
Cecilia snatches up the papers and sits back in her chair. She reads them over with a frown, looking like an angry kitten. But she’d asked for my advice and I gave it.
I run a hand through my hair. Not once had I cared if I offended the people I critiqued before. I’d given them hard truths and cold facts, letting the chips fall where they might. I’d certainly not been as measured as I am with her.
Fucking her has definitely messed with my head.
“Damn it,” she says. “You’re right. You can say I told you so.”
“There’d be little point in doing that.”
She sighs, putting her papers down. “I’ll start over with my calculations, then.”
“Once you’ve changed them, send your plan to me and I’ll take a look.”