All That She Wants (Connor's Point of View Part 1) (3 page)

Rather than wanting to take advantage, I just
wanted to soothe her.

It’s okay,
I wanted to say.
I won’t
hurt you.

But that would have been a little weird.

“Good to put a face to the voice,” I said
instead, and hung onto her hand a bit longer than I needed to. Part
of it was to put a little sexual charge on our interaction, which I
figured could only help me talk her into what I needed.

But the other part was I didn’t want to stop
touching her.

“Yes,” she said, staring at me with those
huge brown eyes.

Okay, Templeton, get it together.

I dropped her hand and put on my ‘friendly
but commanding’ voice again. “Okay. Call your boss for me.”

She was obviously
not
comfortable with
that prospect. She shifted her weight from foot to foot and
crinkled up her forehead.

It was adorable.

“Ohhhh… I don’t really know if – ”

“Relax, Lily,
you’ll
talk to him
first, and it’ll be on
your
phone, so I won’t even see the
number,” I said, lying through my teeth. “Besides, he’s probably
not even out of the parking deck yet, is he?”

She sighed. I’d hit all of her objections,
and there wasn’t much she could say otherwise. She pulled a cell
phone out of a small black purse, tapped at the screen, and then
put it to her ear.

Before she could even say hello, I heard
Zimmerman’s pissed-off voice.
“What.”

I have to interject something here.

This Lily woman was seriously cute.
Definitely desirable. Her eyes, her hair, her face, her body –

There was just one problem:

She might be stupid.

I wasn’t inferring that from anything she’d
said or done directly. In fact, from every outward indication I
had, she was actually quite intelligent.

But she worked for Klaus Zimmerman.

And Klaus Zimmerman was loathsome to me. He
was arrogant with nothing to back it up. He was overbearing and
insufferable. I was betting he was incompetent in his area of
expertise, yet he acted like he was the Preeminent Authority on
Earth. He was rude, he was an asshole, and I was pretty sure that
when the chips were down, he was spineless, too. A conniving little
shit who kissed asses to get ahead even as he stomped across the
backs of his underlings.

That was my general impression of him,
anyway. I was pretty good at pegging people within seconds of
meeting them – and I’d had 45 interminable minutes of listening to
his snide remarks and empty boasts on that conference call.

So what kind of person would choose to work
for Klaus Zimmerman?

Rather, what kind of
idiot
would
choose to work for Klaus Zimmerman?

Maybe she was a sweet kid without an ounce of
self-esteem.

But even if that were the case, she was still
an idiot.

Still, I felt bad for her. She had chosen to
live in hell, and she probably didn’t even know it.

As soon as Klaus’s voice came over the phone,
it was like fingernails grating across a chalkboard.

Maybe a better analogy would be a flint
sparking across stone.

If he’d been nice to her – hell, if he’d even
been curt but civil – I probably would have left him alone.

But he wasn’t.

He was a Grade A Asshole.

Which meant he was just throwing gasoline on
the spark.

Something primal kicked in deep down inside
me: the urge to protect this woman…

… and the bloodlust to take Klaus down.

Lily glanced at me nervously. “Um… I have Mr.
Brooks here, and he’s pretty insistent about – ”

Even though Klaus wasn’t on speakerphone, he
might as well have been, he was so loud.

“
WHAT THE HELL?! What part of your brain
shut down when I left, Lily?!”

From there it was a blistering series of
‘fucking idiot’ this and ‘fucking moron’ that.

I watched her carefully as it went on – and
immediately thought,
I might have been wrong about her.

She didn’t shrink down or wilt.

No: she got angry.

I could see she was fighting to keep it
in.

But if she said anything, she was going to
pay for it ten-fold. With a boss like Zimmerman, that much was
assured.

I decided to do her a favor, and treat myself
in the process.

I put out my hand for the phone.

She glanced up at me in shock with those
gorgeous-as-hell eyes.

“May I?” I said, and gave her the type of
smile that usually gets me my way with women.

She paused the tiniest bit as Klaus kept up
his unhinged rant… and then gave in. I think she knew what I had in
mind. One corner of her mouth turned up wryly as she handed over
the phone.

Attagirl.

Of course, what she
didn’t
know was
that I had ulterior motives, too.

I glanced at the cell as I raised it to my
ear. ‘KLAUS CELL’ and a 310 area code showed on the screen.

Click,
like a camera shutter going off
in my mind –

Now I had his number memorized.

“KLAUS!” I shouted into the phone, exactly as
though I had just encountered my long-lost best bud in a packed bar
in Chelsea. “Connor – ”

For a split second I fumbled.
What did I
tell Stanley?

“ – Brooks here from LMGK. How’s it
going?”

I’m fantastic with numbers.

Not nearly as good with made-up names.

So sue me.

There was a long silence on the other end of
the line.

Then, finally:

“…
hello…”

He used exactly the tone of voice you’d
expect from a cowardly burglar if you walked in on him in the
middle of robbing your house.

Fuckin’ twit.

“Here’s the thing, Klaus – I’d like to call
you back on my phone so I can conference in somebody else,” I said.
“He’s expecting my call. You okay with that?”

“
Uh – who exactly are you planning to
conference in?”
he said in that tight-sphinctered voice of his.
“I have a very important dinner meeting to attend – ”

“Thirty seconds, Klaus, and I’ll get right
back to you,” I assured him. “Be sure to pick up, bud – you’re
gonna wanna hear this!”

“
I don’t have time for this – ”

I didn’t care to debate, so I just hung up on
the little bastard.

I forgot that the little bastard was Lily’s
boss until I looked over and saw her face.

She looked like a five-year-old who had just
learned where babies came from, and was horrified to hear the
details.

I laughed – I couldn’t help myself. She was
just too cute. “You should see what you look like right now.”

“You did
not
just hang up on my boss,”
she said, her voice rising a good twenty decibels.

Huh – not a pushover at
all.   

I was really starting to like this girl.

I held out the phone to her. “You’re adorable
when you’re angry, you know that?”

She snatched the cell out of my hand. “How
are you even going to call him when you – ”

And then she stopped, as though she’d figured
it out.

She closed her eyes like
DAMN it.

When she opened them again, I winked at her
and pulled out my own phone. “Yes, I saw it – and yes, I remember
it. I have a good head for numbers – 3.1415926, 186,000 miles per
second…”

Should I?

Why the hell not.

I gave her body a look from head to toe, just
for effect.

“…34, 24, 35.”

I’d dated a woman years ago who had roughly
the same measurements as her. I always remembered what they were
because she’d been heavily into BDSM, and we’d ordered her a very
elaborate corset at a high-end leather shop.

I quickly found out I didn’t care much for
hardcore BDSM, and we parted ways.

But I always remembered the corset. The best
part of that relationship was seeing her wear it the first
time.

It brought back pleasant memories, and I
winked at Lily again.

She blushed red as a tomato.

It was funny, but I felt a tiny bit bad about
embarrassing her. Apparently she was a little conservative.

Of course, women who act all conservative on
the outside tend to be better in bed, in my experience. That is,
if
you give them sufficient reason to come out of their
shell. They’re holding it all in, about to go crazy from the
repression… until you push just the right button.

Still waters run deep.

Quit thinking about sex, Templeton – you
don’t think about sex for months, and now you can’t stop?

I decided to give her a second to regain her
composure, so I found the number I needed on my phone and hit
CALL.

It took about two seconds for Westerholtz to
answer.

“
Hello?”

“Hi there, Dave, it’s Connor. Can you hold
one sec?”

“
Hey, Connor! Sure.”

“Thanks.”

I quickly put him on hold and tapped out
Klaus’s number.

While it was ringing, I realized Lily might
enjoy hearing this.

I looked over at her. She was still pink, but
not quite as flustered.

I grinned at her and tapped the screen.

She gave me a quizzical look – until she
heard Klaus’s irate voice burst out over the speakerphone. Then she
understood.

“
Hello?!”

“Heeey, Klaus! Connor again. I’ve got Dave
Westerholtz on the line,” I said nonchalantly.

Lily about had a heart attack on the
spot.

So she knew who the CEO of Exerton was.

Good, she’ll REALLY enjoy this, then.

Klaus was appropriately chastened, too.
“M-Mr. Westerholtz – h-hello,”
he stammered.

“I’ve got you both on speakerphone, hope you
don’t mind, but my hands are occupied at the moment,” I lied, and
winked again at Lily.

Westerholtz wasn’t fazed in the least.
“No
problem. Klaus, I want you to give Mr. – ”

Oh shit –

“Connor,” I interrupted forcefully, just as
he was about to say my real last name. “Just call me Connor,
Dave.”

Westerholtz was quite pleased at our
new-found familiarity.
“Sure, Connor. I want you to give Connor
any help he needs, Klaus – anything he asks for.
Understood?”

As expected, Klaus whined like a little
bitch.
“Well, Dave, I – ”

“
Mr. WESTERholtz,”
Dave
interrupted.

Niiiiiiice.

Good one, Dave.

I looked over at Lily. She looked like she
was taking this
waaaay
too seriously, so I gave her a fake
OH MY GOD, NO HE DIDN’T!
face.

She seemed to like that, and had to put her
hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Klaus went on whining.
“Yes, Mr.
Westerholtz, sir, you see, I’m actually out of the office –
”

“
Then go BACK to the office, Klaus.
Whatever Mr. – ”

Dammit –

“Connor,” I reminded Westerholtz.

“
Right – whatever Connor needs, you make
sure he gets it. Is that clear?”

There was a long silence on Klaus’s end.

“
Of course,”
he finally said, when
what he really meant was
Fuck the both of you.

The best way to needle someone with that
mindset is to be as upbeat as possible.

“Fantastic!” I said. “Well, Dave, I know it’s
late there in New York, so I don’t want to keep you too long, but
thanks for your help.”

“
It’s my pleasure, Mr. – ”

“Connor, Dave, it’s Connor!” I said, and
forced myself to laugh like we were all just the best o’
pals
.

Westerholtz took it all at face value – which
he should not have. Not as the CEO of a competing company with the
option of a buyout on the table.

As a CEO, your first priority is to protect
the company at all costs – within the bounds of the law, of course,
and taking into account your duty to your shareholders, your
employees, and your customers. And that meant distrusting everybody
outside of the company – especially anyone who might not have the
company’s best interests at heart.

Like me.

As bad as he was, Klaus was much lower on the
totem pole than Westerholtz, and his fuck-ups weren’t going to sink
the company.

Westerholtz’s just might.

Like on Monday morning.

“
You got it, Connor. It was a real
pleasure talking to you this afternoon, and I’m looking forward to
working together in the future!”

“Absolutely, Dave,” I said, with the
slightest twinge of guilt. If I found what I was looking for
tonight, Westerholtz would probably never speak to me again.

I enjoy taking down ruthless competitors.
What I
don’t
enjoy is hurting people who are basically
good-natured at heart.

But some good-natured people bumble their way
into positions that are way over their heads. That’s not my fault.
Business at Westerholtz’s and my level is a cutthroat affair. You
don’t walk around in our world with your chin up and your guard
down.

Besides, there’s that quote: a man is judged
by the quality of his enemies. And I had a feeling, after this was
all over, I’d be looking over my shoulder for Westerholtz for the
rest of my life.

“Take care!” I finished up, wanting to get
off this phone call.

“
You too!”

Klaus tried kissing ass one last
time.
“Goodbye, Mr. Wester– ”

But Westerholtz hung up on him.

Too bad, Klaus.

I was about to say something to my new
butt-boy when Lily suddenly raised her finger tentatively, like she
was back in first grade.

“Hold on one sec, Klaus – don’t go anywhere!”
I said, and put him on mute. Then I gave her my full attention.
“What’s up?”