All That She Wants (Connor's Point of View Part 1) (4 page)

“If you want him to come in, you’ve got to be
nice and
ask
him,” she whispered. She’d just seen me put the
phone on hold, though I figured it was her boss’s psychological
hold over her that made her so timid. Or maybe she didn’t trust me
entirely… which, if it was the case, impressed me even more. “I
know what Mr. Westerholtz said, but if you order Klaus around,
he’ll turn it into a… a pissing contest.”

I grinned. She said ‘pissing contest’ like a
sixty year-old nun.

Plus, she’d just given me the best ammunition
possible. And the path to the perfect endgame.

I took the phone off hold and crowed,
“Alright, Klaus, you heard your boss, get your ass back here right
now.
”

It was worth it just to see Lily’s eyes bug
out.

It was doubly worth it to hear the outrage in
Klaus’s voice.

“
W-well, ABOUT that – what EXACTLY is it
you need me for?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head
about that, Klaus. You just get back over here pronto.”

“
I don’t like your tone!”

“Yeah? Well
I
don’t like your
attitude
. Dave basically – oh, that’s right, that’s Mr.
Westerholtz to
you,
” I said mockingly.

I was having the best Friday night in
months.

Lily looked she was watching a movie, and she
couldn’t decide if it was
The Hangover
or
The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre.

I kept going. “Anyway, Dave basically said
that when
I
say ‘Jump,’
you
ask, ‘How high.’ And
you’re not asking ‘how high’ yet, Klaus.”

“
This is – this – Mr. Westerholtz wouldn’t
– ”
Klaus sputtered.

“Of course, if you want your assistant Lily
to handle what I need, we could do that, too,” I said in as
appeasing a tone as I could muster.

Now Lily looked like she was
definitely
watching
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
.

At the mention of his secretary’s name, Klaus
went silent.

“…
is Lily there?”
he finally
asked.

I could smell the fear through the phone.

I winked at Lily, who was white as a sheet.
“She’s over by the elevators. You want me to go over and let you
talk to her?”

“…
yyyyyyes. Yes, why don’t you do
that,”
Klaus agreed in relief.

The dumbass thought he hadn’t just made a
fool of himself in front of his secretary.

Too bad she already KNOWS you’re a fool,
Klaus.

“Okay, hold on,” I agreed, then held up a
finger to my lips as I grinned at Lily.

She nodded numbly, like she was now a guest
star in the horror movie.

I counted out about how long it would take to
walk over to the elevators, then said, “Here she is,” and handed
the phone over.

“
Lily?”

“Uh, hi, Kl – Mr. Zimmerman,” she said,
catching herself.

She almost gave the game away.

Of course, I had, too, back with the ‘Connor
Brooks’ moment.

Klaus was too dense to notice, though.

“
Thanks for NOTHING, Lily!”

Seriously?

What a prick.

“
Now this little – ”

“Still on speakerphone, Klaus,” I said
loudly.

There was a pause as Klaus suddenly found his
manners.

“…
ah, situation is a bit more pressing
than I originally thought. I need you to take the gentleman back to
the office and show him whatever he needs.”

Lily looked astounded – as well she should
have been.

“Uh… anything?”

So far, she was smarter than either Zimmerman
or Westerholtz.

“
Well, I don’t know about ‘anything’ –
”

“‘How high,’ Klaus,” I said. “I’m not hearing
‘how high’ yet.”

I had to clamp my teeth shut to keep from
laughing.

Klaus surprised me the tiniest bit.
“There
are too many confidential files, too many sensitive – ”

But I was banking on him being a craven, lazy
little twit… so I bet hard.

“We can call Dave again,” I offered. “Or…
you
can come in and get the files for me yourself.”

Aaaaaaand…

I won the bet.

He folded. Immediately.

“
The CEO has instructed me to give Mr.
Brooks whatever help he requires, Lily. So do whatever he
asks.”

“Anything?” Lily asked, just to clarify – and
she said it in a tone of disbelief.

Smart.

As fast as my opinion of Klaus and
Westerholtz was dropping, my opinion of her was rising.

“…
anything,”
Klaus said, obviously
just trying to get off the phone.

Lily looked unnerved, but still remained
pleasant to the end. “Okay. Have a nice – ”

And then the prick ignored her and cut her
off, all at the same time.
“Is that all, Connor?”

You… fucking… douchebag.

“No, it’s not,” I growled. “That was very
rude what you just did to Lily.”

Lily looked at me in shock, like
No… oh
no, no no no NO –

“
W– what?”
Klaus asked, equally
astounded.

“Apologize to her,” I demanded.

“That’s really not necessary,” Lily
squeaked.

Come on, Lily, don’t wuss out now.

“Yes – it IS,” I insisted. “Klaus?”

“
This is ridiculous – I’m not – ”

“Are you always that rude to everyone, Klaus,
or just to the people you can get away with it? Employees, waiters,
people you can abuse your power over?”

I already knew the answer, but it was a great
rhetorical question.

“
I’m not going to take this from – ”
he sputtered.

“I think I might call Dave back,” I mused
aloud. “I know he’s very nice to his personal secretary Amanda. I
think he’d be interested to know how you kiss
up
and kick
down
.”

Lily looked sick.

I wanted to pat her on the shoulder and say,
It’s okay… I do this all the time. I ‘read’ people. I can pick
out what they want, what they fear, what their strengths are, where
they’re weak. I have to, in order to know where I can press for
advantage, and where I need to tread lightly. Trust me – I know
what I’m doing.

Actually, I wanted to do a little bit more
than pat her on the shoulder…

Keep your mind on business, Templeton.

Klaus took his sweet time on the apology.

“…
sorry,”
he finally mumbled,
so
not sorry.

“What was that? Couldn’t hear you!” I
shouted.

“
SORRY, Lily,”
Klaus seethed, then
turned his anger back on me.
“Is that all, Misssster
Brooksss?”

No, it’s not – I’d LOVE to get you fired, you
incompetent asshole, but that’ll have to wait.

Though maybe just till Monday.

“It’ll do, I suppose. Have a good night,
Klaus!” I said jovially, then reached over, took my phone back from
Lily, and hung up the call.

Lily was staring at me like I’d suddenly
started barking like a dog.

“…what?” I asked.

Then she let me have it.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? What the hell was
that?!” she yelled.

“My only entertainment on a boring Friday
night,” I grinned. I turned and offered my hand to Stanley. “Stan,
a pleasure. Good to meet you.”

I hadn’t looked back at him the entire time,
but he seemed just as shell-shocked as Lily had been a minute
ago.

Apparently nobody ever challenged Klaus
around here.

Stanley shook my hand, and then I turned back
to Lily.

“Shall we?” I asked as I gestured to the
elevators…

…and put my other hand on the small of Lily’s
back.

Unnh.

I’d been wanting to do that for the last
couple of minutes.

Just touching her made me want to touch her
more…

…so I did.

My hand slipped down her back the slightest
bit… but I stopped myself before I went any further than what was
proper.

I wanted to, though.

Apparently she liked it well enough, because
her voice sounded a little flustered again when she said,
“…okay.”

I pulled my hand away as we walked toward the
elevators. I needed to keep my head in the game, and touching her
was working against that.

I pushed the UP button, the door opened
immediately, and we stepped inside.

“What floor?” I asked.

“23rd.”

I hit the button and the doors closed.

As the elevator began to ascend, I watched
her from the corner of my eye. The way the light was shining on her
thick, lustrous hair… her soft skin… the pull of her clothes over
her curves…

Mmm.

And I could smell her perfume now – something
nice and feminine, but subtle.

Mmmmmmmm.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” she
suddenly blurted out.

I looked over in surprise. Where the hell had
that
come from?

“What?”

“I said, who the hell do you think you are?”
she demanded.

I broke into a grin. I couldn’t help it – she
looked like she might start stomping on the ground any second. “Did
I tell you before how adorable you are when – ”

“ – I’m angry, yeah, yeah,” she snapped
dismissively. “Do you realize you might have just lost me my job
back there?”

I’d already pondered the question before –
but now I wanted an answer.

A truthful answer.

I stared into her eyes. “Tell me something,
Lily.”

“What?” she asked, clearly annoyed at me
dodging her question.

“Do you like Klaus as a boss?”

She flinched a little. “What?”

“I said, do you like Klaus as a boss?”

She paused. I could see the wheels turning in
her head, weighing her options, wondering if she should be truthful
or politically smart –

She decided on the right path. Maybe not the
‘smart’ one… but definitely the right one.

“Not really,” she said quietly. “Actually,
no. Not at all.”

I felt a strange sense of relief. “Good.”

She frowned. “Why ‘good’?”

The elevator was slowing down. Any second the
door would open.

Now it was time for me to decide if I should
be truthful, or politically smart.

She had decided on the right thing… so the
least I could do was return the favor.

“Because you seem way too smart, talented,
and interesting to be working for a jackass like that.”

The doors opened with a chime. I walked out
of the elevator, leaving her behind me to think about what I’d
said.

She didn’t wait long, though.

She followed me into the empty lobby, then
passed me and swiped a badge across the magnetic reader. The locked
door clicked loudly, and I opened it and gestured for her to walk
on through.

“You sure do have it in for Klaus,” she said
as we entered the Land of Deserted Cubicles.

“And you don’t?”

“I have to work with him every day. What did
he ever do to you?”

“I had to suffer through a couple of
conference calls with him.” I shook my head theatrically.
“Forty-five minutes of my life I’ll never get back.”

“Forty-five minutes?!” she exclaimed. “Try
six months.”

Jesus.

Six months of her life… gone.

Working for an asshole like
that.

“Which you’ll
never get back,
” I said,
launching into rich-guy lecturing mode. “You really shouldn’t be
wasting your time as his punching bag, Lily.”

She looked unhappy to hear me say it.

“That’s all very nice, but a girl’s got to
eat.”

That was always the standard reply.

I’ve got to eat.

I’ve got to pay my rent.

I’ve got to (Insert Reason Here).

I suppose it was true – but going on food
stamps and sleeping on a buddy’s couch while you build your own
business would be a thousand times preferable to working for Klaus
Zimmerman.

And there would be a hell of a lot more honor
in it, too.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against
working for other people. Not everybody is cut out to be an
entrepreneur or a CEO. Not everybody would want that life,
either.

I need Johnny and Sebastian. I depend on
them. Maybe I’m a dick occasionally – but most of the time I’m
really, really good to them. In a way, they’re the only real family
I have anymore.

Not to mention I pay them
extremely
well.

All I’m saying is, if it’s a choice between
working for a Klaus Zimmerman and suffering some other way… choose
the other way.

Now what did she say? ‘A girl’s got to eat –
’

“That she does,” I conceded, just to avoid a
fight. “But never take bread scraps when you could – and
should
– be dining out on lobster.”

She drew herself up huffily. “I don’t know
what world
you
live in, Mr. Brooks – ”

Oh GOD.

I’m only thirty years old. I didn’t want her
thinking I was some old codger with grey hair.

Although there wasn’t any reason I should
care what she thought of me, as long as I got my hands on the exec
comp reports.

I mean, it’s not like I was going to try to
sleep with her or anything.

…right?

And at that moment, things shifted.

My
perspective
shifted.

Because I decided I wanted to keep my options
open.

“It’s Connor,” I said. “My friends call me
Connor.
Klaus
calls me Mr. Brooks.”

She smiled at that.

Ha!

“Ah, I knew I could make you laugh,” I teased
her.

She immediately clamped down and got all
serious again.
Adorably
serious.

“That was a smile, not a laugh,” she
insisted.

“I’ll get there,” I said with a grin.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what world
you
live in, Connor, but in mine, bread scraps are sometimes
all you get.”