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“No, Samantha and I are co-owners, andshewon’t be joining us today.”
His face showed a brief moment of regret at his mistake before regaining his confidence. He nodded.
This was definitely no longer just another meeting. He had found all my weaknesses last night, and now I was supposed to negotiate our company’s future across the table from this man?
Opening my folder, I slid over copies of the two-page term sheet I had prepared. “I put together a quick summary of what we've been discussing.”
Martin appeared to study the sheet in some detail.
Liam merely glanced at it before holding me captive in his gaze again. His eyes were performing the same magic they had last night, freezing me in place without a syllable spoken. His mouth opened slightly, and he lazily licked his lips.
The simple gesture sent a rush of liquid heat to my lady parts. The memories of his stubble scraping my thighs and what he could do with his wicked tongue flashed in front of me.
This was ridiculous. I had fucked up my first and only one-night stand. The whole point of doing it was to never see the guy again, to have no regrets, and here he was the next day, throwing me off my game.
Liam set the term sheet down. “I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here.” He glanced between Grace and me.
“How so?” I managed to say, almost bumbling those two simple words.
“I’m not here to negotiate an investment in your company today.”
What the fuck?
It was exactly what I’d been afraid might happen. This was just a fucked-up negotiating ploy on their part, and it was pissing me off. They thought because we were women, they could take advantage of us.
“Well then maybe you should have sent somebody who actually has authority.” I gathered my papers and stood, ready to leave this joke of a meeting.
“Miss Hudson, please sit down for just a moment.”
I wasn't in his apartment anymore, but his voice carried the same determination as it had last night.
I took my chair again. “It's Ms. Hudson.”
“I meant no offense, Ms. Hudson,” he said in the most empathetic voice. “Let me clear up more than one misconception. My name is Quigley. My name is on the door of Quigley-Fulton. I assure you that as the CEO, I don't have to call anybody for authorization for anything.”
I felt myself blushing. I’d misjudged the situation.
“As I said earlier,” he continued, “I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I must apologize for my employee’s misleading you if you believed we intended to invest in your company at this meeting. It's just not the way we do business.”
He’d said it all. Quigley-Fulton was a dead end. We would have to look for money elsewhere.
He tapped the papers in front of him. “This does not go far enough. I think we should expand the discussion beyond a mere investment in your company. It looks to me as if you and Ms. Tiffany——and of course Grace here and all the others——have done a magnificent job building Tiffany's up so quickly.”
His words took me instantly from despair to simple bewilderment. I enjoyed having somebody appreciate what we had accomplished so far.
I closed the folder in front of me and concentrated on what I had just heard. “Expand in what way?”
He picked up the term sheet. “I see here that your offer——if I can call it an offer——was twenty million for one quarter share in Tiffany's? Is that right?”
Valuing our company at eighty-million dollars was a bit aggressive, actually quite aggressive. But it made a good place to start the negotiation.
I turned to the second page of our term sheet. “Yes, that's what we consider fair at this point in our growth. If you go to the second sheet, you'll see our historical numbers. Our growth rate quarter over quarter has been substantial and quite consistent.”
Both Liam and his assistant studied the page for a moment.
“Quite impressive for such a young company,” Liam offered.
I put my papers down and smiled. “Thank you. We are quite proud of it.”
