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“Your protectiveness is one of your best qualities. Although you realize I would not behave inappropriately toward her.”
Jason gave him a hooded look. “I don’t think you’d be inappropriate, no. But you can be brutal all the same. She’s new here, Michel. She’s impetuous, and in some way, I don’t think she lives in the same world as the rest of us.”
“I know she doesn’t. I intend to redirect her more troublesome behaviors, that’s all.”
Jason gave a skeptical grunt Michel chose not to analyze, and the two men headed down the hall after the fuming young artist.
Chapter Three: Singed
Once in his office, Jason sat in one of the leather chairs in front of the desk and Michel sat in the other. Both of them watched her stalk back and forth across the room.
“Will she stop?” asked Michel. “Or should I make her stop?”
Jason raised a brow. “You can’t make her do anything.”
Michel believed he could, but his methods might upset Jason. Or Valentina, for that matter. He held out a hand to get her attention. “My dear, I need to talk to you. If you won’t sit, then at least stop pacing.”
She spun on him. “Why do you call me ‘my dear’? I am not dear to you, that is obvious.”
“If you were not dear to me, you’d be packing your bags right now.”
“I’m upset, you know. Very upset.”
“I sense that.”
“I have a vision for the act. I’ve been working hard. Working, working, working, and you storm in, and you complain because I fell? It was Adei’s fault. I need more time, more practice. How can you come in after only a few weeks and say, ‘Show me something perfect’? How can you make me have spotters who will distract and get in the way? You are unreasonable, unfair. You do not listen, only give orders. Do this, do that, blah blah blah,” she barked, giving an exaggerated imitation of his stony critique face.
Michel ignored Jason’s chuckle, steepling his fingers and studying her. His whip hand twitched. “Are you finished?”
“Will you answer my questions?”
“When you address me with the respect of an employee for her superior, I will answer your questions.”
She turned to storm away. His hand shot out to catch her wrist. “Mademoiselle, I don’t remember granting you permission to go.”
The look she gave him could have melted rock. Blood rushed to his cock, a reaction to being challenged. If you were mine, ma chère, the punishments I would deal you for this display... But she was not his submissive, not his slave or plaything or anything.
Not yet, anyway.
The words whispered in his brain, and for the first time he admitted to himself that he wanted her. And it was terrible to want her, this hot-headed girl, because she would burn up both of them in a fire impossible to control.
He frowned and let her go. “I’m going to make you add to your act, Valentina. Three more men, Andrew and a couple others.”
She looked devastated. “But...why?”
“It cannot remain as it is. Don’t misunderstand me. Your skill is amazing and the work you’ve done so far is exemplary, but it isn’t fair to Adei to shoulder such responsibility. More men—not spotters, but partners, like Adei—can expand the emotional interest of the act. More tricks, more possibilities, and the need for spotters disappears. Four strong men will make a beautiful visual, and you, their flyer, soaring across the sky.”
“Four men?” He saw her consider this, saw her realize that more men could only increase the spectacle of her performance.
“But no more women,” she said sharply. “Only me.”
Michel spread his hands in a gesture of capitulation. “I don’t know where you believe we could find another woman capable of doing what you do. Well?”
She bit her lip, thinking, dreaming, perhaps, of the possibilities. He waited a full two minutes with Jason silent at his side. “I guess it’s okay,” she finally said. “I guess it might work.”
After a muted smile to reward her for her conciliatory tone, he hardened his expression and infused his voice with all the displeasure he felt. “Now, Miss Sancia, I would like to explain something to you. Here at the Cirque, we work as a team. We have no divas here, no rock stars, no supreme, inflated egos. No one lords over others here.” He paused. “No one except me.”
“I only spoke out for my craft,” she protested. “My art.”
“We are all making art here. That’s no excuse for your unhinged and childish display. At Cirque, we consider multiple viewpoints and collaborate. I will always consider your point of view, but I will require you to also listen to mine because I’m your boss. I’ll expect you to listen without raging and ranting. Do you understand?”
“What if I disagree with your viewpoint?”
“Do you understand?” he repeated, sharpening his already-taut voice.
“Yes, I understand.” She made a face and rolled her eyes. “I speak English.”
Oh, to be in a position to punish her as she deserved. He felt Jason shift restlessly at his side. His whip hand probably ached too. “Further, I will expect you to address me, your directors and coaches, your performance partners, in fact, everyone in this organization with professionalism and respect.”
“But—”
Michel held up a hand before
she could go off. “I’m not saying you have to bow down to anyone, or be falsely polite or solicitous, or any of those things. I expect you to speak to others as you would wish to be spoken to, and treat others as you’d wish to be treated. Would you like Adei to push you and hit you when you fall off balance in rehearsals and make a mistake?”
After a moment, she shook her head.
“What? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your answer.”
“No,” she said sullenly.
“I would prefer ‘No, sir,’ and in a respectful tone.”
She squirmed, suffering. He was sorry for it, but she needed to understand that artistic license only stretched so far, especially with him.
“No, sir,” she finally managed. “If Adei hit me I would probably kill him.”
Again, Jason’s inappropriate chuckling. Michel pressed his point, wrapping up his lecture with a rigid rat-a-tat of words. “If Adei cannot mistreat you, you cannot mistreat Adei. You will offer him an apology as soon as you leave my office. If you can’t find him, you’ll keep looking until you do. You will never, ever put your hand on another artist in violence from this time forward. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she said, adding the “sir” when his frown deepened. “It’s only that I was upset.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“I don’t like to do things wrong. I don’t like to mess up.” Her clear hazel eyes went liquid and her jaw tensed.
“Not many here do.” If he kept her much longer, she’d begin to cry, and he couldn’t handle that. “Go find Adei. Mend your fences. Tomorrow’s another day.”
She nodded and flew out of his office. He waited for the door to close before he turned to Jason and released a sigh. How unsatisfying, to only flay her with words.
Jason grimaced at him in sympathy. “Well done, Michel. I thought you showed admirable restraint.”
“She exhausts me. I don’t know how you cope with her day in and day out.” He stood to get a bottle of vodka from a small refrigerator.
