The Couple who Fooled the World

Ferro opened his door and got out, then rounded to her side, opening the passenger door for her. He leaned in and she caught the scent of him again. Her heart tripped over itself again. And then he offered her his hand.

“Stuff it, Calvaresi, this is a business meeting.” She got out of the car, avoiding his touch, and leaned past him, closing the door herself. “If you wouldn’t do that for a male business rival, don’t do it for me.”

“I shall make a note of the fact that my touch disturbs you.”

“Disturbs me? Your touch nothings me. But I won’t have you engaging in subtle power plays here. Tell me what it is you want so I can get back in the limo and make my way back down Fort Ferro and back into civilization. I’m in serious need of some wine at this point in the day.”

“Then come in and have some,” he said. “Because this isn’t going to be a brief meeting.”

“Oh, no, it is, because I can already tell I’m not going to like what you have to say.”

“You won’t like it, but you aren’t stupid. That means you’ll listen.”

“Does it?”

“Yes. My case is this. You have something I need, I have something you need. The only way we’re going to get this deal is by joining forces.”

“I would rather be thrown into the fires of Mount Doom.”

“Noble. But it isn’t going to get you your deal. Working with me will.”

“Wrong. It will get me half a deal.”

“It’s better than no deal. And it’s better than Hamlin getting the deal.”

“And why am I more okay with you getting the deal than Hamlin?” she asked. She knew Scott Hamlin was a big-time jerk, she wasn’t unobservant and the word about him that she heard was never good. She’d hired people who’d come from Hamlin Tech for low level positions and their view of their ex-boss was never flattering. But then, she imagined people who were let go at Anfalas had bad things to say about her and her executives.

She’d scalped a few of Ferro’s employees, too, and the word tyrant came up once or twice. And, if she was asked to sum up Ferro Calvaresi, nice guy wouldn’t be her words of choice.

But, neither of them had ever been accused of sexually harassing employees or female tech bloggers, either. Hamlin was a chauvinist pig with a capital oink, in addition to being generally unscrupulous. And if there was one thing she could not stand it was jackass men who thought they were entitled to a woman’s body just because they were men, or because they paid her wages, or whatever lame excuse they came up with to justify their behavior.

So, yeah, for that? She wanted Hamlin to fry. But she wasn’t going to come off as too eager to Ferro, either.

“The fact that you have to ask proves that you aren’t very familiar with Hamlin.”

“I’m pretty familiar with you and I’m not especially fond of you.” She looked down at her watch. An extravagant, custom-made piece with her patented OnePhone interface built into it, and started the stopwatch. “You have one minute to convince me to go in, Calvaresi, or I walk.”

“Sorry, cara mia, I don’t work that way.”

“So you aren’t even going to try?”

“I only have one thing to say on the subject. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

CHAPTER TWO

“IS THAT SUPPOSED to intrigue me?”

Annoyance coursed through Ferro’s veins and the blame rested squarely with Julia Anderson. But then, it often did. The woman was a menace.

And she was continuing the trend. No one spoke to him like this. No one treated him like this. But then, very few people were so close to being equal with him. Julia’s company had come up from nowhere five years ago and had fast gained worldwide popularity. Anfalas was dedicated to bringing the technology fantasies were made out of into reality.

Needless to say, her vision was a popular one. Creative vision combined with an aptitude for all things tech that came naturally to her in a way he hadn’t witnessed with anyone but…well, anyone but himself. It made her quite formidable.

Though she fancied herself more formidable than she was. She’d proven that without a doubt today. Acting as though she could turn his offer around on him? Assume the power in the situation?

Not likely.

“It was,” he said. “And it did.”

“Did it?” She crossed her arms beneath small, perfectly formed breasts and tilted her head to the side, blond hair cascading over her shoulder in a wave. She was dressed in all black, her signature look. Ridiculous when they lived on the California coast, but he imagined she thought it made her look like a badass.

In his estimation, it made her seem like a pale, spindly, wannabe-goth chick, but she hadn’t asked his opinion.

“There has to be a reason you’re breathing so hard,” he said. “It’s either interest in the project or in…me.” He flashed her his best smile, the one he knew for a fact made women melt in their overpriced shoes. He had the attraction game down to a fine art. He was an expert in enticement. Ironically the women he’d always worked to entice hadn’t truly needed it, but they liked to play like they did. Liked to be seduced. It made them feel desired, and when a man could make a woman feel desired…he ended up with all the power and no need to strong-arm.

“Well, it’s not interest in you, so we can check that off the list,” she said, her lips tight.

He’d honestly thought as much. Julia seemed to have a serious aversion to him. But he could use that against her just as effectively as he could use a feigned seduction. There was always an in with people. Always a vulnerability. A weakness.

Except with him. Not anymore. Eventually a weakness was hit at too many times and it healed over with scar tissue far too thick to penetrate again. Ironic, how a weakness could develop into the hardest point to breach. But it had happened in his life.

“So it must be interest in my plan. In which case, I would ask you to come inside where we might speak privately.”

“You have security that rivals the Pentagon, I’m pretty sure we’re private anywhere on your property.”

“I never take chances.”

“Is paranoia a cultural thing?”

“What?”

“Are all Italians similarly paranoid?”

“Perhaps if they grew up on the streets of Rome. That has a tendency to make you a little paranoid.” A little paranoid. A little lawless. It had a way of searing the conscience so that all the bad decisions just rolled off like water.

Well, not quite all of them. But that was all right, too. Because some lessons needed to be remembered.

“All right. Well. I can see how that might make you a bit more…cautious. More so than me because…the suburbs of Ohio aren’t exactly mean.”

“Now that we’ve gotten the basic information easily found in our bios out in the open, would you like to come in and hear what I have to say?”

She squinted, blue eyes glittering from behind a thick fringe of lashes. “Not especially. But I will.”

“So, I do intrigue you.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“This way.” He put his hand on her lower back and he felt her tense beneath his touch. She was certainly jumpy around him. No melting. No lingering looks. The woman didn’t respond in the way other women did. It would make her more difficult to manipulate. More difficult, but not impossible.