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“Where’s the line? At some point, you’ll get taken advantage of because they’ll think of you more as a friend than as someone who could fire them.”
“I’d rather be nice than overbearing.” Piper shook her head. “I’m not in it for a power trip like you are.”
“Power trip?” Leo laughed. “I want to create something. So, I might be a hardass, but it’s what needs to happen to get the work done. You have all these pens and highlighters telling you to stay on track. I don’t need that because I’m already on track. I’m not here to make friends. With what I want to do, I won’t get anywhere by palling around. I can elevate people by showcasing their talent. I don’t need to be their best friend, I need to be their boss. No one will listen to me if I’m not sure of myself.”
“Isn’t Sam your best friend?” Piper pointed out. “He seemed to have no problem telling you what he thought the other night.”
“Sam knows the second we’re in work mode, I’m not there for fun and games. That’s why our friendship works. It’s about respect. And, sure, the other night, he gave me his opinion on you, but ultimately, what I say goes. If I decided that we weren’t going to entertain the conversation, he wouldn’t have even spoken to you about the role at all. I told him he could try.”
“You sound like a pompous ass,” Piper scoffed.
“And you sound like someone without a backbone,” Leo shot back.
“Guess we’ll find out which one of us is more successful later,” Piper taunted him.
“Ah, yes, and we’ll judge this success off of what, exactly? The fact that your parents left you a Fortune 500 company, and I have to build my way up from the ground?”
“Well, you seem to think I’ll run my parents’ business into the ground, so if that happens, you win.”
“I don’t think that. I just think you’ll make it further if you stop caring so much about what everyone thinks of you.”
“That’s bold coming from the guy who constantly judges me.” Piper pointed at Leo’s chest. “You want me to stop caring about what people think? Fine. I don’t care what you think.”
Leo hummed introspectively. “See, I think you do care what I think. And I think it bugs you that you care.”
“And I think you get off on making people feel small, and that’s disgusting,” Piper snapped.
“You make yourself feel small,” Leo enunciated, his black-rimmed eyes staring directly into hers. “I just point out the obvious. You won’t stand up for yourself, and eventually, other people will eat you alive.”
“I stand up to you just fine.” Piper lifted her chin. He might have been right about her when it came to other people, but for some reason, she never had a hard time going on the attack with Leo.
He massaged his knuckles like he was contemplating something and then shook his head. “That, we can agree on. It’s probably why I can’t get you to agree to the show. I’m usually pretty persuasive.” The please note in Piper’s back pocket suddenly felt like a dead weight. “Any chance your answer has changed?”
If there was one thing Leo was good at, it was having the balls to ask for something, even after he’d just torn apart her managerial tactics. “It’s still a no,” Piper said. He practically deflated in front of her, so much so that she wanted to take it back before she reminded herself that he was a dick, and a singular moment of humanity didn’t change that.
“Can you just think about it a little more?” He took the apatite rock from her inspiration box, still on the table, and sighed deeply as he ran his thumb over it. He must have watched her do the same thing before he’d sat down at the table for their study session, or the action would have felt strangely personal. A little color returned to his face when he looked from the rock to Piper. “You’re good at acting. I can still tell when it’s not real, but I’m an expert at telling the difference between fiction and reality.” She gave him one of those smiles that children did when their parents told them to smile for a photo: exaggerated and toothier than necessary. Leo chuckled, set the rock back in the box, and picked up the sunflower. He tapped it on the table as if he were testing its durability, then put it back in the box before he folded his hands on the table, business-like. “What do I have to do to get you to agree to the show, Piper? Beg?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Piper snickered. “I’d love to see that.”
Before she could even grasp what was happening, Leo had pulled his chair out and risen right behind her seat. She turned her chair just in time to watch him drop to his knees.
“This work for you?” Leo assumed a begging position, lacing his hands and holding them up in prayer. Her eyes blew wide as she gaped at him. “Please, Piper. I need this opportunity. I’m desperate. I will do literally anything you ask me to.”
Piper’s cheeks were flaming as she jerked her head back and forth to scan the library. People were staring. Not only staring, but pointing and whispering. Leo didn’t take his dark eyes off her, his chin held sturdy like he couldn’t give two shits that he was degrading himself in front of her. By the time someone wolf-whistled in their direction, her entire body felt like it was on fire. But her body’s reaction wasn’t entirely due to embarrassment, either. How could it be when an objectively attractive guy was practically bowing at her feet?
“Isn’t this embarrassing to you?” Piper asked, keeping her voice low.
“Only if you say no.” Leo cocked his head and grinned. “Say yes, Piper. You know you want to.” Those words did something even worse to her body, and she swallowed hard, shifting her eyes anywhere but Leo’s face. Her gaze landed on her inspiration box. And that was when the idea hit her like a slap to the face.
“I want to design the set.”
Leo’s smirk faltered. “What?”
“If I can design the set, I’ll be in the show.”
“We already have a set designer.” He got up from the floor and shook his head as he dusted off his knees.
“You don’t have anything without me,” Piper rebutted. “I’ll use my own supplies, I’ll pay for it, and I’ll collaborate with whoever’s in charge now. I want this in my portfolio.”
