“Will either one of them be leaving their furniture?” Jack inquired.
“Both, in fact,” Laurel revealed. “Why don’t you come by around 10 am? Does that work for you?”
“Ten would be perfect,” he answered. “Sandra, how about you? Would you like to come?”
“I’d like to come very much,” I responded. “This office is so important. I hope I’ll be coming multiple times.”
“Me too,” he responded knowingly, with a twinkle in his eye.
The next day, Jack and I met for breakfast in his office. We went over some of the significant points of the merger contract. To him, it looked to be standard. Unfortunately, I knew some of the flack Cam Tech was likely to throw at us. It wasn’t going to be as smooth sailing as he thought.
He remembered our appointment with Laurel, and we went to the Cam Tech building ASAP. The next office was in shambles. It had been rented by the New York City government in a stupid attempt to reign in police corruption. The government workers left the place strewn with trash, and they had literally just left.
“I’ll get my people to clean up,” assured Laurel. “But you can have the furniture.”
“No,” Jack dismissed. “Absolutely not. We can’t work in this dump. I’d rather have the poles.”
“Well, with a little time,” began Laurel.
“Not to pressure you, but we don’t have a lot of time,” Jack explained. “This merger is happening over the next few weeks. We’re only going to be here for a short time anyway.”
“You’re renting month to month?” asked Laurel, shocked. “That’s quite expensive.”
“Our clients don’t care,” Jack assured. “They have bottomless pockets, as the saying goes.”
Jack’s commanding tone made me excited. I wanted to follow him to the ends of the Earth for the way he talked. He commanded a room with his presence. It was like he was daring all newcomers to challenge his position or get the hell out of his way.
So sexy!
The next day, we visited the office on the 69th floor. It had just been vacated by an insurance company. The décor seemed acceptable, and the furniture was intact. Most of the infrastructure for the computer network was left behind too. All we’d need to do was plug in our computers and set up the software.
“This seems acceptable,” Jack noted.
“Great!” beamed Laurel. “I’ll get our maintenance people in here to clean it up top to bottom, Mr. Harris.”
Laurel stepped out of the room to make calls on her phone. Jack and I roamed the offices, peeking inside.
“You like this corner office?” he offered. “It has a decent view.”
“It should for being on the 69th floor,” I noted.
“Yeah, 69 is good for that. Can’t go wrong with 69, right?”
“I’d agree,” I nodded. “Where are you going to sit?”
“This office here,” he said, moving over to the one next door. “Right behind you. I think it would be a good position to be right behind you.”
“Yes,” I blushed. “Sounds like a perfect positioning. Exciting even.”
Wow, he just really like to wind me up. I was giddy, like a teenager. I half expected Mr. Harris to start making out with me right then and there. But then, what would my cousins think? Surely, they would have something to say if Jack and I hooked up. Jeez, they could end up firing him.
Jack, of course, didn’t seem to care. This dangerous course was part of the fun for him, I suspected. That’s the kind of man I anticipated reading about his exploits. Besides, you can’t tell a lion not to hunt any more than you could tell Jack Harris not to go after what he wants.
I hoped what he wanted was me, but then again, was this some kind of ploy? My God! Did he do this to all his lawyer rivals? Get them all hot and bothered so he could win his court cases and get one over on the companies they represented?
“Jack, excuse me a second,” I said. “I have to hit the restroom. I wanted to check them out anyway.”
“Of course.”
The restrooms were elegant. Sparkling even. I checked myself in the mirror and splashed a little cold water in my face. While I dried off and touched up my makeup, I tried to compose myself. I needed a clear head if I was going to do this.
Was Jack Harris really interested in me? Probably not. I was just an associate. He had his pick of the women of Manhattan and going with me, well, I guess I’d be convenient. Close by. But you can’t form a relationship based on that.
Don’t get me wrong, it would be exciting to date Jack Harris, but I had to keep things in perspective. Maybe this was just his way of being friendly. Did he flirt with Laurel like this? I don’t think so.
Checking my hair in the mirror, I came to the conclusion that I just had to give it time. I shouldn’t rush into anything with him. Sure, he was handsome, brilliant, and successful. Heck, maybe I was so smitten I was just reading into everything he was doing without realizing it.