He flashed a winning smile. “You say that now...”
“Just stop.” I giggled, smacking him on the shoulder.
“Fine,” he frowned, “but only until you re-hydrate. It’s not fair seducing you like this. I don’t want to give myself any unfair advantages.”
He snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye, two coconut waters appeared on a tray in front of us. By the time I looked up, the attendant was already gone. I stared around in wonder as Michael took a long sip. My gym had attendants? I was almost tempted to snap my fingers and see what happened, but Michael was staring at me again, and I went back on guard.
“So...you really held your own during the presentation today.”
I flashed him a quick look, unsure as to whether he was messing with me, and he threw back his head and laughed.
“I’m serious—not many people could go toe to toe with Tom like that. You really know your stuff.”
I sank my face into my hands, pushing back my bangs. “It was a nightmare. I had no idea what was even going on...”
He nodded understandingly. “I feel that way about staff meetings all the time.”
I laughed again and cast him another sideways look. “Yeah, your last name aside, you don’t really strike me as...the businessman type.”
He flashed me a quirky smile. “Contrary to public belief, not every small child actually wants to grow up in a conference room. Tom was born in a suit. That’s...that’s not me.”
I cocked my head, genuinely interested. “So why do it?”
“Dad.” He shrugged simply. “It’s my name on the side of the building. I don’t really have a choice. If I did...well, I wouldn’t have picked finance.”
I mulled this over for a moment, running through what I knew about him in my head. Both boys had gone to Oxford, and Michael had followed it up with Princeton, just like me. In fact, I think I’d only missed him by a year. He made the Dean’s list every semester and graduated from both schools with honors. It seemed like a lot to do...just for dad.
Then again...his dad was Abe Larchwood.
“And to think,” I sighed wistfully, “that Ivy League education could have gone to waste.”
“Hey,” he grinned sharply, “I never said I was stupid. I’m bored. And I don’t give a shit about China. There’s a difference.”
I grinned as well before my mind traveled back to the presentation and the smile faded.
“You seem to be the only one in your family to feel that way.”
He gave me a quick once-over before laughing shortly. “Yeah, not like Tom. Tom lives for work. But you probably figured that out today.”
I looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“You’re an impossibly attractive woman and the only thing he noticed about you were your notes.”
* * *
I was still mulling over those words when I went to bed that night. Still mulling them over as I brushed my teeth the next morning. Still turning them over in my head when my phone screamed at me from the counter. I spat out a mouthful of foam and snatched it up in the same second. It was my ringtone for work.
“Hello?”
“Miss Harks?”
I nearly choked—it was my supervisor. At last, here was the tongue-lashing for yesterday’s bizarre performance. If my luck held, I might actually get fired.
“Ms. Macer,” I started nervously, “what can I—”
“Harks, there’s no time. Do you remember when I promised Trask we’d give him the first draft of the formal proposal on Wednesday, and he bumped it up to Tuesday?”
A tangible feeling of dread began hardening in my stomach. “Yes...”
“Well, he just bumped it up to Monday.”
My eyes widened, and I held the phone with both hands. “You’re kidding me.”
It was impossible. It quite simply couldn’t be done. There weren’t enough hours between now and Monday to even attempt it.
“Miss Harks, I know you’re new, but if there’s one thing you’ll learn about me, it’s that I’m never kidding. I’m going to need you to get started on this right away.”
“Of—of course!” I raced back to my bedroom and started one-handed stripping, simultaneously fumbling around in my closet for work clothes. “What do you need me to do?”