He grabbed a chair from nearby and sat down with a smirk on his face. He was looking back and forth between me and August. It was a very uncomfortable silence. He was waiting for us to say something.
We continued to talk about the weather or anything else that came to mind. It was our way of sticking it to him. It was a dangerous game and could easily blow up in our faces. I could see that Michael’s father was a time bomb ready to go off.
“I have to give my compliments to the chef. I think that we will be making that place a regular haunt for some time to come. That is if we can get past this pesky business of you wanting things your way. Your son was very forthright, but I believe that the words that he spoke come from you. He was just a puppet and you didn’t want to dirty your hands with this kind of business. I’m sure that you weren’t very happy when he came back and told you of the way that we reacted.” The plates were pushed aside and now they were both facing off like adversaries.
“I will not allow you to talk to my…” Michael was cut off by a hand gesture that had him cowering and bowing his head in servitude to his father.
“I don’t know why we are arguing about this. You either do what we say, or all of this will disappear and you can expect a battle that will stretch years in court. We take breach of contract very seriously in my culture.” He was laying down the law like he was the sheriff and we were lonely peasants.
“I have something to show you. It gives me great pleasure to do so.” He retrieved the portion of the contract that was going to leave him speechless and stunned. “If you would look at section five, paragraph seven, I think that you’ll find that everything is in order. This contract supersedes the one that I signed to come here to work. You really should know your enemy before you go casting stones at glass houses.” His facial expression changed from mild amusement to outright contempt.
“I see that we have come to an impasse. How do you suppose that we get past this? I’m open to ideas, but don’t think that you have me where you want me. I could easily just rip up the contract. I don’t want to and that is going to be my last resort.” Michael’s father was dressed impeccably with not a hair out of place. His fingers were manicured and I had no doubt that the rest of his body was summarily taken care of.
“You think that it’s a threat that you can tear up the contract but it’s not. You came to us and not the other way around. With that being said, you and your son have not even mentioned my partner’s name. That stops now. I don’t care how you feel about women in general and I won’t have you treating her like she’s nothing. I have more than enough money. Losing this contract would be unfortunate, but not life changing” It was time that I said something or they would just continue to use me as a doormat.
“August isn’t the only one in this room that has something to say. You can either agree to our terms to get the best from us or you can turn your attention to somebody else that you can have your thumb on. The one thing that I do know is that you will never have a design for a building that will have people in awe of the Nakamura enterprise. We’ve already proven ourselves time and time again. One client, in particular, is the measuring stick that you should be using.” I felt his glaring eyes, but I stood strong and did not cower like his son did.
“I know that things are changing. I won’t be conducting day to day business with you. That role will fall on my son. I will instruct him to make every allowance. I won’t dignify what you say with a response. As long as you both stay out of my way then maybe we can work together. I do find myself curious to find out what you will come up with. I doubt that I’m going to like it and that’s just a risk that the three of us are going to have to take.” He got up with a refined gesture and then he stepped towards the front door like he was still the master of all things.
“I almost forgot to mention an old friend of yours that wanted to say hello. Tanner Young is a name that I know that you know all too well. He was very talkative about certain things. If they were to come to light, then I don’t think that I have to tell you what would happen.” August had found out that there was a skeleton in the Nakamura closet. Tanner only alluded to something that would be a black eye to the Nakamura image. He didn’t say anything concrete, but the only thing that August needed was something to keep these people from breaking their word.
Michael’s father turned swiftly and he pointed at the both of us like he was chastising a little child after he had broken something of great value to his family. “Well played. I won’t forget about this. I’m just glad that I don’t have to see either one of you ever again. Any conversation will go through my son first. I might have underestimated you and I don’t think that I’ll be doing that again. You can tell Tanner from me that I won’t be causing any more problems. That’s not to say that I will automatically agree with any design that you come up with.” He walked out with Michael standing there not believing what he was seeing with his own eyes.
“I don’t know what that was about, but you actually scared him. Let me shake your hand. I’ve been trying to get his respect all of my life. I’m sorry that I gave you a hard time. I was just following orders like a good soldier. You don’t know how much I want this to work out. Working with the both of you is going to be my pleasure. Anybody that can take my father down a peg is OK in my books.” He bowed politely and then followed his father like a dutiful son.
“You know that bluffing at cards only leads to trouble. We don’t know anything about that skeleton in his closet. It’s a good thing that he thinks that we do. I think that we have a reason to celebrate. We’re going to have a good time tonight. You said all of that with a straight face. I’m not sure that I should be impressed or scared that you can lie through your teeth so easily.” I did enjoy the way that they had no choice but acknowledge my existence. I could see that it was easier for Michael than it was for his father. That was a man that had a certain way about him. He was used to using intimidation tactics like fine print in a contract.
“I’ve never been so turned on in my life. That was great, but what fueled my sexual appetite, even more, was putting that old man in his place. There was a crack in his stoic façade that I couldn’t stop smiling about.” He lifted me from th
e chair and placed my ample posterior on the table. He sat down and placed his head in my lap with my fingers moving through his short hair.
“It was interesting to see that switch turn on and off. This is not going to be easy, but in life, anything that is worth doing is worth doing the right way. I can only speak for myself, but I have this hunger that needs to be fed. Breakfast was good, but I’m sure that there is something that you can give me to wet my appetite.” I was alluding to the long and packed sausage in his pants. “We don’t have to be to work until tomorrow. We have all day and I think that we can make good use of that time in a constructive way.” He raised his head and lifted me once again into his arms.
“I think that you are a dirty girl in need of a good scrubbing. Let’s go see what we can do about using that sunken tub.” I had a feeling that there was going to be water everywhere.
I found out later that I was pregnant with his child. I was going to keep that to myself until there was a more advantageous time to spring this on him. We had spoken about children in the past and I knew that he wanted a big family. That was one thing that we had in common amongst others.
As he bounded up the stairs two steps at a time, I knew that the fire that we had for one another was never going to be contained. It didn’t matter what country we were in or what kind of workload we had. We would always have special moments just for us. I was looking forward to a bright future with the man that I loved.
Mia’s Hot Seller - Fair Play (Complete Story)
BLURB
Sean Donovan runs like the wind and parties like a hurricane. How do I get a hot stud like him to notice a simple girl like me? Easy, by pretending to be the kind of girl I know he can’t resist...
Kate Asher: Don’t tell me to play fair. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get an interview with hard-partying football star Sean Donovan, even if it means dressing up like a hooker and playing bump-and-grind with him on the dancefloor.
Sean Donovan: On the field, I play fair, but in life, it’s anybody’s game. The second I saw her red hair and red lips I knew that I’d be making a forward pass. And when she flashed that cleavage, whew man, it was game over!
She wants to get inside my head and I want to get inside her pants. I think it’s time we talk about a trade…
Kate Asher
“Forget it, Kate, he’ll never talk to you,” Walter said, shaking his bald head slowly and making the squinty face that reminded me of that old cartoon character, Mr. Magoo.
I was doing my best to keep the whine out of my voice. Walter hated whiny women. I said, “But I don’t understand why I couldn’t at least try to contact Sean Donovan and—“
He gave me a dismissive wave, like he was shooing away a bad smell. Walter was in his late fifties and had drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney for decades. His voice was gruff and irritating, especially when he was dealing with what he considered to be overeager young journalists who were pitching him silly story ideas.