Page 46 of Square Deal

“And if I accept them, I will owe you,” she clipped, steeling hervoice. “I will not be indebted to you, and I sure as hell won’t be bribed into sex with nice gifts.”

“This has nothing to do with that,” I growled through clenched teeth, nearly strangling myself as I tied my necktie. “Can’t I just do something nice for you?”

“Not without ulterior motives.”

“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I snapped. “It was a thank you. You know—for letting me crash at your place.”

“It’s what?”

“Look,” I said as I pulled on my watch and toed on my shoes. I grabbed the file of reports to finish looking over on my way to the board meeting. “I know the concept of me doing something nice must blow your mind, but I have a meeting to get to. I don’t exactly have time to argue with you about a damn pair of shoes, Hannah.”

The alert that my driver was waiting for me downstairs chimed, and I hurried toward the door.

“You want the truth?” I shouted into the phone. “I don’t like owing people either. That’s why I wanted to square up and be even after I stayed at your place. And on an unrelated note, all I’ve been able to think about was you standing in that fucking hotel room in nothing but those red-soled heels and your pearl necklace. Is that what you want to hear? That I want to fuck you again to get you out of my system? Because I can’t get you out of my head, and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do about it.”

There was a long pause on her end of the line. I knew I was on a time crunch with traffic and my driver would be getting antsy, but I wasn’t leaving the lobby of my building until I closed this deal.

She let out a breath and waited another beat just to make me sweat. “Thank you for the shoes. That was far too generous.”

“Truce?” I asked.

“Truce.” She laughed softly. Was she nervous?

I looked at my watch and knew I was out of time. I hurried to the waiting car on the curb and slid in. My driver, Alice, shut thedoor and rushed to pull out into the street. Rather than looking at the reports that were calling my name, I pressed the phone to my ear. “I do have to go, but I’ll call you tonight. You know—to talk likeinsignificant others.”

Hannah laughed, “You gonna go hang out with Zuckerberg and Bezos?”

“Nothing that exciting,” I said, chuckling as I fastened my seatbelt.

“I’ll be home around six,” she said. “And Imightanswer if you happen to call.”

“I hope your day is terrible, Princess.” I smirked as I thumbed through the file folder.

Hannah laughed, and it brought a smile to my face. “I hope your day is terrible too.”

I grinned from ear to ear. “Give ‘em hell, ma’am.”

It had been a day.A long-ass, never-ending day.

I was running on thirty-six hours of power naps and caffeine. But not even the desire to crash in my bed and sleep through the rest of the week could sully my high.

“Going out tonight, Mr. Lawson?” Alice asked as she pulled into traffic and headed toward my penthouse.

“Nah,” I said as I fired off a text to my assistant with my dinner order. “You can head home, Al.”

Alice looked surprised but said nothing. She gave me a curt nod and a polite smile. “Have a good evening then.”

I hurried into the building, giving the doorman a nod as I took long strides toward the elevator.

5:58 P.M.

The apartment door closed behind me. I loosened my tie andfound Hannah’s name in my phone as soon as six o’clock rolled around. It took only two rings before her voice filled the line.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s punctual,” Hannah said. “I barely got in the door before my phone went off.”

“Need me to give you a minute?” I asked, toeing my shoes off and beelining for the liquor shelf.

“I’m good,” she said. “Just getting settled for the night. You?”

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