"No, I don't think we do, Sloan," I said moving her hand off of my chest and backing out of her reach. "I think you're running some kind of game. I just don't know what it is."
"I'm not, I swear I'm not," she said looking down as she bit her lip. "Jack, listen to me. I'm tired of having to maintain this ice queen image. I just want to prove that I can do something worthwhile. I want to earn my reputation separate from my father’s and succeed on my own terms. You can understand that, can't you?"
"Nice try. I'll give you an A for effort and acting," I said as I walked around the desk and picked up a stack of papers.
"I'm being honest, Jack," she said as she dropped down into the chair across from my desk and put her head in her hands. "I'm sick of this, Jack. I'm sick of always having to be the bitch or the attack dog. Can't I just be me and do what I do best? I know how to sell things. I know how to bring in new business. Can't I just do that?"
"Sure, you go right ahead, sweetheart," I said as I looked at her, trying to decide if she was being real or simply playing me again. "I just don't want to be your little lap dog, so let's keep this on the up and up and steer clear of all the sexual games you like to play, okay?"
"But you said you liked it!" she cried. "I keep pursuing you because you liked it!"
"No, you keep pursuing me because you know how to manipulate me," I said dryly. "And when it comes to you, unfortunately, I have little control over the physical response. You know that, and you use it to your advantage. I'm on to you, Sloan, and I'm done with this little push pull game you play."
"Jack, I do care about you," she said, standing up and coming around the desk. "I'm not lying about that. I do find you irresistibly attractive, and I do want things with you that I've never wanted with anyone else."
"You have a funny way of showing it, Sloan," I said, grabbing her wrists and pushing them down by her sides. The intoxicating scent of her perfume permeated the room, and as she moved closer to press her body against mine, I felt my resolve lessening. She was undeniably beautiful and drove me crazy like no woman I'd ever met, but I knew that to possess her would be more than I'd ever hoped for.
"Don't you want me, Jack?" she whispered into my neck as she brushed my skin with her lips. "Don't you want to own me? Just once?"
It was the last question that brought me crashing back to reality. Just once. I could own her, but it would only be once.
"Stop it, Sloan," I ordered as I shoved her a little more roughly than I'd intended. She stumbled but caught herself on my desk. "I don't want this. I told you. We're not meant to be together. You know it. I know it. Just leave me alone."
"What about our deal?" she said coolly. "You offered to service me any time I wanted. Are you going to back out of it now?"
"Not this morning, dear, I've got a headache," I said in a flat voice. Sloan narrowed her eyes, gathered herself, walked back around the desk, and picked up her purse before crossing the room.
"I would not fuck with me if I were you," she said quietly.
"Oh, I have zero plans to do that," I said without a smile. "But then I think that's been clear from the start."
She shot me a look that was so filled with hatred I felt it run down my spine. Then she turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard that two of my father's awards came crashing down off the wall.
"Jack! Are you okay, darlin?" Norma called from the front office. She came bustling through the door looking around as she declared, "What did you do, Jack? That woman left here madder than a wet hen!"
"It's okay, Norma," I said. "Sloan and I are old friends, and we were having a disagreement about the business. It'll all be fine by tomorrow."
"I sure hope so," Norma said. "No good comes from having a woman like that mad at you! Oh, and you need to get down to the warehouse. The construction crew showed up, and Leah is wondering what on earth she's going to do while they work on the renovation!"
"I'll go down and see her right now," I said as I gathered up the plans.
What I hadn't told Sloan, or maybe hadn't even admitted to myself, was that after kissing Leah, something had shifted. I had no idea what it meant, but I intended to find out.
*
"Who are you?" the thin girl asked as I walked into Leah's office.
"I'm Jack," I replied. "You don't look like Leah."
"Probably because I'm not," she said as she looked up from the papers spread out on the desk. She studied me. "What's your job around here?"
"I'm the guy in charge of stuff," I said. She did, in fact, look like Leah, in a family resemblance sort of way. She had short, brown hair that took off in different directions and looked like it would require some coaxing and lots of gel to lay flat. Her eyes were big and blue, and she had the same smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose as Leah. She didn't smile at me, but she did consider me carefully before nodding and returning to the work in front of her. I watched for a moment, and then asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Riley," she said as she carefully wrote something on the paper. "I'm Leah's niece."
"I see," I said, suddenly wondering where Leah was. "And what exactly are you doing here?"
"I got suspended," she said solemnly as she looked up at me. "I got in a fight with some girls who were bullying me, and I punched the biggest one. We all got suspended, so Leah said that if I'm not in school, then I need to be at work."