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“The first six months will be the most complicated. We may need to adjust the number of employees. I need someone who understands strategy and tactics. I need your cooperation and your brain.”
“I’m already working enough hours for you as it is, David.”
“And that’s a hardship, is it, Maggie?”
A little thrill pulsed in her. At one time, it had been.
“As for your employment contract, it stays in place under the original terms.”
When she started to speak, he raised a hand to silence her. Snarling against his unspoken demand, she fell silent.
“Unless you agree to my new terms.”
“Which are?”
“The time remaining is unchanged.”
Beneath her desk, she worried one of her cuticles.
“Assuming you meet the goals I set for you here, your mother’s pay-out remains the same, but I’ll give you a hundred thousand dollar bonus, after taxes.”
She stared at him with open-mouthed shock.
“Interested yet? How about plus ten per cent of all profits of the combined companies?”
The offer was beyond anything she might have asked for. Still, if this worked, he would be the big winner. Of course, he was the one taking all the financial risk. “Gross profit,” she clarified.
“In that case, five per cent.”
“Ten.”
He sat back. “That’s not how negotiation works, Maggie. You give a little.”
“I learnt from the best.” She pretended her heart wasn’t racing. This wasn’t how she’d expected the day to begin. “Look, David, we both know you’ll be taking a loan to buy out AWEW. You could accelerate the debt servicing and take all the profits out of the business. If you want my help, knowing it will take a lot of hours and it will likely take months to get the deal done—time that I will not be paid for—then I need a cut of gross.”
“The bonus covers that,” he told her.
She took a gamble, ignoring the butterflies unfurling in her stomach. “No deal. I’m happy to stay under my original terms.”
He regarded her with those chilling blue eyes.
Since she was accustomed to it, the look shouldn’t have unnerved her as much as it did. But now that she’d been the focus of his complete attention on multiple levels, she knew the depths of his intent. He missed nothing, and he thought things through before acting.
“Seven per cent,” he told her.
Potentially, that was a lot of money for a year and a half’s worth of work. She should take it. But she wasn’t going to. “Nine. Final offer.”
“Eight.”
“Done. And I’ll expect this to be added to the contract by tomorrow.”
“Fuck,” he said.
She wasn’t sure she’d heard him use that word in a frustrated way before. In fact, she wasn’t sure she’d heard any real inflection in his tone before. She’d only seen him as controlled. This was new. Intriguing. “You were serious that you don’t like to lose.”
“I don’t. I’ll just have to make sure we both work hard enough to make it a win for each of us.” He crossed his leg over his knee again. “You’re going to be putting in a lot of time, Maggie.”
With him. That part remained unspoken.
“As for the other, I will have you again, Maggie.”
She froze.
No matter how insane the idea was, she very much wanted it, too.
“Have a glass of wine with me tonight.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Let me be honest with you.”
“Please.”
Ridiculously, as if someone might be watching, she glanced around. “Having a relationship with the boss is a stupid idea. You have rules regarding fraternising. If anyone found out, you could be suspected of manipulating me. I might be accused of sleeping with the enemy.”
“And?” he prompted when she trailed off. “There’s more,” he said with certainty.
She sighed. “If I meet you for a glass of wine, my inhibitions will be loosened. I’ll end up naked, and I will beg you to fuck me.”
“The scene…it worked for you?”
“I’ve thought of nothing else. So I’m doing the smart thing by turning down the invitation.”
