Negotiating Skills (9 page)

“
You’re a pervert,” she said
with a small tired smile stretching her lips.

“
You can’t blame a man for
trying,” he said returning her smile.

“
Like I said,
pervert.”

“
Well this pervert is going
to get you some more aspirin and see about turning on some heat,”
he said as he turned and left the room.

Watching him walk away a strange
thought flickered through Veronica’s mind. That even an arrogant,
manipulative, pervert could be the sweetest nursemaid.

When he returned with the aspirin, she
still had a smile on her face.

“
Unfortunately, you’re a/c
doesn’t have a heating option so the best I could do was to just
turn it off, so at least you’re not getting a draft of cool air,”
he said as he helped her sit up in the bed.

Testing his resolve, Veronica let the
blanket slip slightly to expose the upper swell of her breasts. She
hid her smirk behind the mug Victor hastily handed her along with
some aspirin.

“
Thanks,” she said and
handed him back the mug.

“
What time is it,” she
asked.

She didn’t know how long she’d slept
and she found the idea of Victor roaming around her apartment for
hours a little jarring.

“
It’s just past two a.m.,”
he said.

“
Are you serious,” she
exclaimed.

“
I can’t believe you’ve
stayed here all this time,” she said.

Victor just shrugged his shoulders and
joined her on the bed. He swung his feet up on the bed and leaned
his head against the headboard. He crossed his arms across his
chest and yawned loudly.

“
It’s no big deal. I got
some work done, channel surfed, ate all of your rocky road and fell
asleep on your couch,” he said.

“
You’re lucky I’m so weak,
or you’d be maimed by now. I take my ice cream very seriously,” she
said sending him a mock scowl.

“
I’ll count myself blessed
then,” he said drowsily.

He reached an arm over her shoulders
and dragged her close to his chest.

“
Get some sleep, you’ll feel
better in the morning,” he said as he rested his chin on top of her
heard.

Veronica heard him release another
loud yawn. He felt so solid and warm she was reluctant to move. She
knew she should tell him to go home and get some rest of his own,
but she wanted to feel his warmth just a little while longer. After
a few minutes she heard him release a muffled snore and she smiled
snuggling into him more. There was no harm in letting him get a few
more minutes sleep she thought as her eyes drifted
closed.

Victor drifted awake slowly,
not wanting to leave the depths of the best sleep he’d had in ages.
He was on the verge of falling back to sleep when his senses
gradually registered the feel of soft skin beneath his palms and a
warm body curled into his. He inhaled deeply and the heady scent of
honey and coconut filled his senses.
Veronica
.

He opened his eyes and felt a moment
of complete contentment. Veronica was sleeping facing him and
curled up into his chest. Her hands were fisted in his shirt and
her face was relaxed in sleep with her soft lips slightly parted.
The sight made him sigh in pleasure.

He lifted a hand to her
smooth face. It felt cool against his palm. Her fever had finally
broken. He smiled slightly when he recalled how irritably she was
yesterday. Staring down into her face Victor felt a puzzle piece
fall into place. Veronica wasn’t just a woman he wanted to spend
time with. She wasn’t just a woman that enticed him and filled him
with lust. She wasn’t just a woman he wanted to call his. She
was
the
woman. The
woman he spent years avoiding and running from. She was the woman
he would fall in love with. If he was completely honest with
himself, he was already more than half way there. He already felt
his heart tightening at the thought of her not wanting
him.

No wonder love drove people crazy he
thought. The feelings that were rumbling through his mind and heart
had driven him to desperate measures with Veronica. They were what
drove him to propose his outrageous contract with
Veronica.

Looking back now he could see now it
was a mistake.

Veronica was a strong woman and
contrary as hell. He should have known that the way to win her was
not to back her into a corner. Her stubborn nature pretty much
guaranteed him a fight. He knew she felt the same attraction he
did, but as for any deeper feelings his current method of pursuit
would not be able to ferret out.

He was going to have to change
tactics.

If he wanted a real relationship with
Veronica he would have to let her come to him out of her own need
to be with him. He tightened his arms around Veronica and breathed
in her scent one more time before slowly disentangling his body
from hers. He refused to believe that his feelings were one
sided.

He walked out of the bedroom with firm
resolve. He paused in Veronica’s living room and scrawled a
succinct note. He returned to the bedroom and left the note on his
abandoned pillow. He stared down into her sleeping face one last
time before turning leave her apartment hoping with every step that
he was making the right decision.

VERONICA FOUGHT AGAINST A PRESSING
SENSE of déjà vous. She was sitting in Victor’s waiting room at
Nile Enterprises once again waiting for the always running late CEO
to appear for a meeting. For once she wasn’t alone.

The four VP’s of the company along
with its junior group of programmers sat along with her. The group
was assembled for the final presentation to the board and CLEO’s
official launch. Unlike all of the other times she sat waiting for
Victor, Veronica felt an odd sense of calm.

Ever since he left his note for her
last week Veronica had been waiting for the moment when she would
be face him again.

She had woken up that morning to find
his brief note on her pillow. In one short note he had turned her
world upside down.

Veronica,

Our contract arrangement
is now null and void. Consider the playing field even. Your
retainer contract is still valid and expected to be
maintained.

~Victor

Veronica shook her head as she recited
the letter cynically in her head. With three short sentences he had
thrown the ball completely in her court and she was forced to face
some very annoying truths. The first truth being that she was more
than a little sad to have not woken in his arms that morning. The
second truth was even more difficult to admit, she didn’t just want
Victor in a physical sense. She wanted him because she felt an
emotional draw to him that she knew warranted more than just a
brief sexual encounter. The third and worst truth was the knowledge
that she had been running from that emotional draw like a big fat
baby for weeks.

She had used her rule of not mixing
business with pleasure as a shield to prevent her from
acknowledging her real feelings. She was even grown enough to admit
that she always had. For years she had preferred casual
relationships that provided physical satisfaction and basic comfort
over anything deeper. She hadn’t wanted anything to interfere with
her drive for success and she had to admit she had never met a man
worth breaking any rules for until Victor. Unfortunately, instead
of taking a chance, she had held stubbornly to the idea that her
attraction was purely physical and could be tamped down. All she
had to show for her stubbornness was loneliness and what felt
suspiciously like a bruised heart.

Thankfully, as her college g.p.a.
could attest to, Veronica was no fool. After moping around her
apartment for the better part of two days, she finally came up with
what she thought was the perfect solution to her problem. She was
going to get her man in the only way that gave them both the
advantage. Veronica smiled to herself and looked down at the pile
of presentation folios in her lap. She couldn’t wait to begin the
negotiations.

“
Mr. Rossi is ready to see
you all,” said Marie’s soft calm voice.

Veronica took a deep breath and stood
with the rest of the group. As she walked calmly into his office
she couldn’t keep a small smile of anticipation from spreading
across her face.

Victor watched as Veronica and made
her way into his office. He made brief greetings to the rest of the
group but could not keep his eyes off of Veronica. She was wearing
the same sexy suit she had worn several weeks ago when he had made
his panty proposition to her. He drank in the sight of her. He had
missed her.

The past few days had been difficult.
He reconsidered his decision to let her come to him about a million
times a day. Just that morning he had woken from yet another heated
dream of her and he was quickly reaching his breaking
point.

If Veronica didn’t give him any
indication of softening her stance soon he would have to come up
with a new game plan.

Just being in the same room with her
again had his skin tightening and his dick stirring to
life.

Veronica spared him only a brief
glance and a smooth “Good Morning,” before turning to the large
monitor to set up in front of his conference table.

Victor fought back a frown as he
exchanged brief pleasantries with the rest of the group as they all
gathered around the conference table and took their
seats.

He took his place at the head of the
long table and spoke across to Veronica.

“
We’re ready when you are
Ms. James. We’re all eager to see the final product.”

“
I think you’ll be more than
satisfied with the end result,” she said smiling to the group at
large and her eyes touching on each person and making
contact.

When her eyes met his he thought he
saw them soften somewhat but she quickly glanced away.

“
We’ve incorporated all of
your must have requirements and most of the items on your wish list
so let’s get started,” she said.

Victor nodded his head at her
statement. She picked up a stack of presentation folios and reached
over pressed the switch to dim the lights.

The overhead lights dimmed completely
and small individual reading lamps switched on the table with soft
focus. Each lamp cast a small, soft light in front of each person
seated at the table providing just enough light to view the papers
in front of them.

Veronica began to walk around the
table placing a blue folio in front of each person seated as she
passed by.

“
Along with today’s
presentation, I’ve put together some metrics from the feedback we
received from the pilot testing group along with suggestions for
some possible expansions for the future,” she said.

When she reached his side and placed a
red folio in front of him. Victor noticed the difference from the
other folios in the group. He raised his gaze and gave her a
questioning look. She smiled and leaned towards him
slightly.

“
I’ve included some
additional in-depth analysis for you to review,” she said softly
before straightening and continuing around the rest of the
table.

He opened the folio and flipped
through the first few pages and nodded his head in understanding.
He wasn’t surprised that Veronica went above and beyond as usual.
She really was damn good at what she did.

He watched as she made her way back
around to the end of the table and lifted a small remote into her
hand. She pointed the remote towards the large monitor and the
first image of CLEO flickered then sharpened into clarity on the
screen.

“
Ladies and gentlemen, we
present to you CLEO,” she said proudly with a wide smile spreading
across her lips.

A short round of applause followed her
statement and there was no denying her pride in the
project.

She began pointing out different
features of the finished application. As she spoke Victor couldn’t
help but feeling a swell of pride for her himself. She had worked
hard on the software and she spoke so smoothly and confidently that
a person couldn’t help but be caught up in her
excitement.

“
This is a big improvement
over the original barebones application,” she stated.

Victor noticed her falter slightly
before continuing.

“
If you turn to page six of
your folios you’ll see comparison metrics of this new version
versus the original.”

She paused briefly as everyone around
the table began flipping through their folios.

She stared pointedly at Victor and he
gave himself a mental shake. He had been so wrapped up in watching
her that he hadn’t wanted to take his eyes away from
her.

He looked down at his own report and
began to flip through the pages. When he reached the sixth page his
breath caught in his throat.

Sweet
Jesus
, he thought before lifting the folio
and tilting it in towards his chest, effectively blocking anyone’s
view of the page.