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“Is it really safe?” Washington asked. “I’ve heard it referred to as the mother of all bubbles. I’ve watched the dramatic gains and the equally dramatic falls. It’s exceedingly volatile, to say the least.”
“You need to choose your cryptocurrency carefully. Mine is pretty much fire rated,” Halsey said.
“It is simply not suitable for a young nation,” said Baiba. “And frankly, no one knows how safe the blockchain system is. I believe you’re pumping and dumping, as you high-flying finance types do, Mr. Sherwood.”
Halsey disagreed. Reeled off a bunch of stats. Baiba scoffed. Tyrell Washington tried to keep up, and Cookie Jar waved away a distraction to eavesdrop. So far so good.
As they paused to eat, Baiba muttered, “I am enjoying being objectionable, but I don’t understand how that helps.”
“Isn’t it true that in politics the greatest hostilities are reserved for those on your own side?”
She laughed and then spoke to her plate. “It is indeed, and I see that you are positioning yourself as not on my side so that my enemy might see you as a friend.”
Halsey dabbed his mouth with his napkin. “Do you think it’s working?”
“More wine please,” Baiba said to a waiter, and Halsey had his answer.
He turned to Lenny. “Has Ida totally warned you off me?”
Lenny smiled around a forkful of food. After she swallowed she said, “Ida is a role model.”
He raised a brow at her. “Not looking good for me, then.”
“Oh, I think Excel Boy is acquitting himself nicely.” She patted his shoulder like he’d seen Ida pat her hand. It was a there-there gesture, but since her gaze was mischief incarnate, he was well and truly encouraged. Right now, there wasn’t time to do more than play at boyfriend.
“I’m going to stretch my legs a moment.” The plan was to absent himself from the table to increase his scarcity and hopefully his value, like DeBeers and its stockpile of diamonds. He leaned in to Lenny and spoke quietly. “Then I’m going to go say hi to Ketija and turn that into a conversation with Cookie Jar. I need you to interrupt me when I give you a cue.”
Her eyes went wide. “What kind of a cue?”
“I’ll rub my forehead as if I have a headache. Come and interrupt and find a way to drag me off.”
She nodded, and he moved to stand. “Want me to come with you? You’ve hardly eaten a thing,” she said.
Nerves. “I’ll be starving later.” He stood, and she followed him.
“Wait.” She put her hand to his face and whispered, “You can do this.” Then she kissed his lips.
The temptation to wrap her close, take the kiss from reassurance to reclamation, was enormous. It was a wrench to pull away, and it meant something that she watched him leave.
Goddamn, she was probably worried he’d short-circuit. He hoped the smile he shot back at her had swagger.
He found his way out of the ballroom, stood on a balcony overlooking the city with the smokers, and worked at settling his thoughts. Then he went back to the table to find dessert waiting. He put his hand on Lenny’s shoulder briefly for the comfort of the contact before moving across to Ketija.
His heart was beating loudly in his ears, and though they weren’t, it felt like his hands were shaking. He engaged Ketija, asked how long she was staying in New York, and listened to her answer while her date ate his praline bread pudding somewhat aggressively. He might’ve played being standoffish too hard. Cookie Jar wouldn’t look around, and if Halsey had to start a conversation with him, he’d already lost some of his mystique.
Lenny rescued him by appearing at his side. “I’m going to steal you,” she said to Ketija, gesturing across the table to Ida. “We thought we’d have a glamour shot together.” She made eye contact with Cookie Jar. “You gentlemen will have to play nicely while we’re away.”
Damn, she was marvelous.
She moved off with the princess, and Cookie Jar said, “Baiba is a fiscal conservative. She does not have the final decision. I heard your argument about cryptocurrency. I am interested in what you were saying. I believ
e it is fitting for a young nation like Ossovia to be at the forefront of new ideas. Please sit.”
When they were alone and there were no more interruptions, Halsey was going to thank PowerPoint Girl with all the calculation he had. He would chart a course to her pleasure, graph her reactions, and make a 3D model from her responses. He’d do it again and again until she was sated and saved and mathematically exhausted from the way he wanted to love her.
For now, he sat beside the despotic prime minister of Ossovia and got on with the business of conning him.
Twenty minutes later, Lenny and Ida returned to the table, and Halsey had infuriated Cookie Jar by refusing to sign his country up to his special investment round, on the basis of not wanting to be responsible for any potential losses. “It would be irresponsible of me. You’re not an ordinary investor who can afford to lose big.”
