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“What do you mean?”
“It seems to me that the woman has been feathering her own nest. She’s been spreading rumors that won’t help you get new work.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That Lissa Edwards hasn’t been the same since she got out of rehab.”
“Rehab?”
“It’s a sad story, of a brilliant but unstable woman who got all strung out on drugs. When she found out she was pregnant, she assumed her kid sister’s identity and went into rehab. After that, you went into the hospital.” The look on his face told her that she was showing her shock.
“That’s the Cliff Notes version. The full story is probably in ebook format on Amazon.”
Lissa felt more sad than shocked. “She pieced together a few true things, added some twists, and put it out as an alternative to the party line. People believe this?”
“Some. The ones that are switching their consulting work to a brand new player—Tina.”
“But the dates…”
“No one will check, and she isn’t trying to fool anyone who will bother. She used the opportunity to plant seeds of doubt while letting them realize that she was able to carry the load. So when she starts her own business…”
“So it’s all about poaching clients?”
“And dragging you through the mud to give her time to set up a powerful competition—mostly on your dime, my dear.” He sighed. “It’s a truly nasty business, poisoning the waters that way. The people who know their asses from a hole in the ground won’t fall for it, but you do need to know what the odd looks you are going to get in some quarters are about.”
“Is there anything else she’s done that I should know about?”
Tyler grinned. “I have no real idea, but I would go over your books carefully and review any deals she’s working on. Tom Acker seems to like her. She’s making sure of that.”
“How catty,” she teased.
“And obvious. It’s hard to fault him. At his age, having Tina play up to him makes doing business more pleasant. And he isn’t in it for the money anymore. He likes the challenge, and the challenge of bedding a lovely woman adds zest even if he understands the attached strings.”
“She’s taking it that far?”
“So the gossips have it.”
The conversation drifted to more pleasant things, but the idea of Tina taking advantage of her ran like a continuous tape loop behind it all.
When Tyler called for the bill, he put his elbows on the table and stared at her. “What’s that about?” she asked.
“I’ve spilled my guts to you and now I’m dying to know what you’ll do about Tina.”
“I need to take your advice and have the books audited right away. Then I need to either find a reason to fire her, or get her to quit.”
“No matter why you fire her, she’ll spin it as revenge for not keeping your dirty secret.”
Lissa put her elbows on the table and stared back. “I know. So what do I do?”
“Short of throwing her out the window? Hope the accountants find something that the police will consider white-collar crime. Then it will be public record.”
“Or buy a lottery ticket, win big, and never work again?”
“That might work. But then you’d just be a wealthy stay-at-home mom, and I don’t see that working long term. And you might get fat. Never get fat, Lissa.”
“The window, then. First opportunity, out she goes.”
“That’s probably the best.”
# # #
“So what exactly do you want, Tina?”
The question made her smile. Tom was no fool, and even though it didn’t seem that way to outsiders, the business world had its rules of conduct. One of the basic rules was the old adage “You don’t get something for nothing.” He knew she expected their new relationship to give her something. It was only reasonable. Especially under the circumstances.
They were naked in his bed. She’d encouraged him when he flirted with her. When he suggested coming back to his place, it was a victory. Men were easy that way. They were barely inside the door before he had his hands all over her. She didn’t have to put up with his attentions because she actually found him sexy. A sexy older man, who was a good lover. That made it easy to let him undress her, and she did everything she could to arouse him, wanting to spend the night in his bed. Slowing him only enough to put a condom on his hard cock before he moved over her on his big bed, moving between her thighs and taking her, she responded to him, making sure he knew she thought he was a hot lover.
After he spent in her, they rested and talked, and when her naked body began to excite him again, she stroked him hard, then took him in her mouth and gave him pleasure that way too. She wanted him to feel that she held nothing back from him. That was the key.
And now, in the morning, knowing that nothing was free, he wanted to know what she expected. This taste of her was to set the trap. If he wanted more, he needed to settle things.
What did she want?
That was easy.
“I want to be in on the Milan deal—on my own, not as Lissa’s flunky.”
He sighed. “You think you can compete with Lissa Edwards? She’s coming back into the game.”
“I don’t need to compete with her, not one on one. She provides analysis and insights that you use to put together a proposal. I can hire people to do it.”
He shrugged. “I could hire those people myself.”
“Then you’d have to ride herd on them, give them direction. And you’d bear the entire cost of their salaries and the overhead. If I have those costs spread over several clients, that will make things most cost effective.”
“You realize that walking into the meeting with Lissa gives a person an advantage, don’t you? She has the information at her fingertips. The people in the consortium know her and will listen to her. You are an unknown.”
“They’ll get to know me, and if our bid is good, then we will be on our way.”
Tom pulled the covers off her and ran a hand over her breasts, and then down her belly. He was touching her differently now, and that pleased her. He was touching her possessively, as if they had a deal. “I can work with you, but havin
g Lissa out there, working for someone else, worries me. If you can solve that problem for me…”
Tina gave him a wicked smile. “I know a way to do exactly that. I can make sure she doesn’t help Julio Torres steal the contract.”
The scowl on Tom’s face told her she’d hit a nerve.
“That bastard. He’s the only one who worries me, and he got close to Edwards.”
“But on his own…”
“You are sure your idea will work?”
She took his hand and slid it down so that his fingers were warm on her pussy. “Let me tell you what we can do to keep them from working together,” she said.
He toyed with her, slipping his fingers into her as she talked, and when she’d explained her idea, he laughed. “You’re a sneaky bitch.”
“Your sneaky bitch.” She reached for his cock and found it hard. “Now fuck me, you bastard.”
# # #
For the first time since Lissa had come back to work, Tina felt herself in control of her career. Lissa had smothered her, making her work on some small accounts, subcontracting analysis to economists at the universities, and admin work. Her vision of her place in all this was sitting in boardrooms with wealthy men and women, planning grand projects.
Like the one in Milan.
She’d never do more in Lissa’s employ, never get more responsibility, because she was weak when it came to econometric modeling. Lissa didn’t understand that modeling, number stuff, was just grunt work.
Not long after she started with Lissa, she decided that once she had some experience and saved some money, she’d start her own company, a different kind of company. She would play to her strengths and emphasize her creative side, pay more attention to the vision. She wanted to provide inspiration to the planning phase, then her backroom monkeys would crunch the numbers to support her ideas and she’d present their data. High-profile jobs should be glamorous, not about tedious economic studies. In her heart she knew clients would find her approach irresistible.
But launching a company was difficult, expensive, and a huge risk. She wasn’t about to quit a high-paying job—that did make her visible, at least—for a gamble. No, before she quit she needed money and clients of her own, clients that saw her role as she did. Unfortunately, Tina found saving money hard. Representing a vision required keeping up appearances, and her apartment, her car, her clothes, her lifestyle, were all expensive.
