Page 22 of Rude Boss 2

“How could you confidently say something like that, Essex, when you didn’t know him? Maybe the fact of the matter is, I just lost him. That it wasn’t the right time for us.”

“Maybe, or perhaps it was to make room for the person you were meant to be with.”

From the way he’s looking at me, he’s implying that person is him.

“You know what, Essex—I don’t know what game you’re playing, but if you think I’m going to be your latest conquest, you are terribly mistaken. I’m not one of those women you’re accustomed to.”

“What kind of woman is that?”

“The ones who hang on to your every word and do whatever you say. I’m notloose. I have morals and common decency.”

“I never said—”

“I wasn’t done speaking,” I tell him.

“Okay,Kamala,” he says, hands up. “The floor is yours.”

Ugh, this guy…

“As I was saying, I know how to treat people and I don’t use my money or influence to impress anyone. People like me forme—not because of what I have. Can you say the same?”

I was all prepared to end this lunch early, but I sit here and eat. To handle men like Essex, I suppose you must fight fire with fire. If he can hurl it at me, I can hurt it at him and then sit through lunch like nothing’s awry.

“This is not the way I expected this to go,” he says.

“Then you should watch how you talk to people. You’re making light of someone who was very dear to me.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. Now, can we talk without you going off the rails?”

“I didn’t go off the rails.”

“You basically told me I was no good to my face.”

If the shoe fits…

I respond, “Those words came out ofyourmouth—not mine.”

“Okay, then. Tell me one thing you like about me,” he requests.

“Uh…I like your beard.”

He grins. “My beard. That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, let me ask you another question. What do you think about me as a person?”

I take a sip of water then ask, “Why does my opinion about you matter when it shouldn’t?”

“If it didn’t, matter, I wouldn’t have asked you for it.”

After a long sigh, I say, “I think you have potential. If I’m giving this opinion in relation to relationships, I think you need to develop a level of compassion and understanding to have what it takes to keep a woman—and I’m not talking about these women who chase you for your black card, or just want to say they rode in your fancy cars. I’m talking about a real woman.”

“Like you.”

“Yeah. Like me. I couldn’t be with a man like you.”

“Wow. You’re just full of insults today.”

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