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“And…?” He knew there was more. She was bullshitting him. That was not in doubt.
It just required zeroing in on what it was really about.
“And… to remind you that it’s Tuesday.” She beamed. “Happy Tuesday!”
“Other than it’s the day that comes before Wednesday, what does Tuesday have to do with why you’re here?”
“It’s three days until Friday.”
He didn’t know where she was going with this. “Friday… and that’s important why?”
She giggled. “Silly. Friday is when I have to get the final list of names for the auction. You remember that, don’t you? I just need to confirm you’ll be there…”
Now it all made sense. “I didn’t say I’d be in the auction. If you recall, I said something quite the opposite.”
Her smile faded just the slightest bit. “You said you’d think about it.”
“I have—and I’m not doing it.”
She frowned for a moment, then her eyes brightened once more. “I know! A negotiation. You’re negotiating with me, aren’t you?”
“Kels, I never—”
“You need something to… make it worth your while? An inducement. Is that the word? Like, a bonus!”
“Kelsey, I’m not negotiating.”
“Of course you are—and the best negotiators make it seem like they’re not negotiating at all. You’re good, Uncle Max.”
“Quit calling me that.”
“Sorry.” She stood up, smoothing her ridiculously short black skirt down the front of her legs, which seemed more an excuse to draw his eye than anything remotely necessary.
It worked.
“But you’ve still got three days. You said you’d think about it. So… just keep thinking about it. Okay?”
He shrugged. “Sure, Kels… I’ll think about it. But you know what the answer’s going to be.”
She bent over the desk slightly, meeting his gaze. “The answer’s going to be… yes! Ha!”
“Okay, okay, you’ve had your fun.” He waved toward the door. “Time to go do whatever it was you were doing before you decided to barge into my office.”
She walked back around the chair, much more slowly than she needed to.
A better man, a decent man wouldn’t have noticed her exaggerating the sway of her round hips, nor the way she peeked back at him over her shoulder, her fingers trailing along the upper edge of the chair she’d just been sitting in.
But apparently, he wasn’t better, or decent.
You’re an asshole. Get her out of here.
She spun around, leaning on the chair back, a hand on her hip, one ankle crossed in front of the other.
The mischief was back in her eyes. “You know, if you advertised stern lectures and other, uh, penalties for clients that didn’t follow your advice? You’d have a line of women at this office stretching all the way around the block.”
“Oh, Lord…” He rubbed his face. “I can think of a few people who would benefit from that, but it sure isn’t one of my clients.”
She laughed at that, drifting toward the door and opening it. Just as the door was about to close behind her, she peeked back around it. “Can I ask you something?”
