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“Then why are you doing this?” She studied him. “It’s clear you’re attracted to her.”
“I suppose I am. To her mind.”
“Her mind?”
“Yes.” That wasn’t a lie. Alison was the most intelligent woman he’d ever met, and she was more logical than most, not prone to making decisions on emotions.
“Then tell her.”
“I plan to.”
“When?”
He shrugged. “When it’s time.” He had to play his cards right because he didn’t want to start this new project with an angry and unwilling partner. He’d get Alison to agree to his deal one way or another, but he preferred bribery over blackmail.
“The right time is now. The poor woman hasn’t done anything but work for almost a year.”
“Obviously, that’s incorrect because she found time to video chat with Randy.” He couldn’t keep the venom from his voice.
“Harker tell her how you feel. Take her to dinner or a movie.”
“I don’t want to date her.”
“Then what do you want?”
“That’s between me and her.” He was in no mood to hear Merri’s opinion on his plan. She wouldn’t be a fan.
“If you’re too stubborn to tell her how you feel about her—”
“I feel nothing for her except admiration for her brain.” He’d always been drawn to smart women. Usually, they were more physically attractive than Alison, but he never argued with his dick. He just gave it what it wanted.
“Then you and your admiration will have to accept the fact that she’s going to date other men.”
“She isn’t.” He couldn’t allow that.
“She is and you’re not going to fire her over it.”
“Of course not.”
Merri sighed in relief and he wanted to laugh.
“That would be unethical. I am, however, going to fire her if she doesn’t work this weekend, including tonight.”
“I have no idea why I waste my time with you about anything that has to do with feelings.”
“Me either. You’ve known me for over twenty-five years. You should know I’m never swayed by emotions.”
“That’s right.” Merri smiled and Harker’s instincts screamed a warning. “Let me speak to your logical side. You can’t fire her because without her, your application won’t get finished and you’ll have no product for all those investors.”
“I’ll hire someone else.”
“That didn’t work before.”
“You were in the meeting. She’s solved most of the issues with performance. The facial recognition is the next big hurdle and she’s having some problems getting that to work. I already have a few candidates in mind.”
“You’d fire her and hand this over to someone else? After all the work she’s done?” Merri stared at him with disbelief. “I know you can be ruthless, but until now you’ve always been fair.”
“And I’ll be fair to her too.” He was going to be more than fair. He was going to offer her the one thing she wanted most in the world and all it’d cost her was the use of her womb.
