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‘Can’t you just not go out? You can’t possibly stay at home?’ she asked. ‘Not date at all? Be single like a normal person?’
‘I don’t think so, no.’ There seriously was a bunch of messages. Not that he’d prove it to her, because she’d accuse him of arrogance all over again, and he needed a break from the salty edge of her tongue. Otherwise, he’d end up silencing her with his, and that would be unwise. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to,’ he assured her. ‘People will see us and assume what they want to assume. It’s usually the worst. Or the best, depending on your perspective. Whatever. It’ll keep the heat off me.’
Skylar tried to calm down, not be stupidly flattered and actually say yes. This whole thing was vintage Zane deMarco outrageousness. ‘This is all about you. What’s in it for me?’
His smile came slow and wicked. ‘Whatever you want.’
‘Well now, there’s an offer.’ She paused for dramatic effect then batted her lashes at him. ‘Back off Helberg.’
‘Anything butthat.’ He shook his head. ‘No point in the bet at all if I just give it up because you asked.’ He stepped closer. ‘Seeing you’re still working for Helberg and they’re obviously not paying you enough, I’ll pay you.’
‘I donotwant your money,’ she said stiffly.
He chuckled. Of course he’d only offered that to wind her up.
‘I’m a danger to you,’ she said softly. ‘If they found out about this...’ She began to smile. ‘Youneedme.’
He stiffened. ‘I don’tneedanyone.’
‘Well, I certainly don’tneedto help you. Surely I’m better off seeing you date other people so either Cade or Adam could win. They might have better plans for Helberg.’
A fiery glint lit his eyes. ‘They’ll bevastlyworse.’
She’d waved a red rag in front of a bull and it felt good.
He was a danger toher. She just had to play this game well. She felt a shiver of anticipation at the prospect of pitting her wits against his.
‘Better the devil you know, surely. And you do know me.’ He paused and added softly, ‘Even better now.’
Well, she definitely knew him better than she knew either Cade or Adam or indeed any other man. And he was too close again. Making her brain operate too slowly. ‘I want time.’
He nodded, coming closer still. ‘For what?’
‘Not that,’ she muttered. She was not sleeping with him again. That had been a mistake. A marvellous but utterly unrepeatable mistake.
‘Then for what?’ he asked innocently.
‘I want to show you Helberg. What it was, what it is and what it could be.’
‘Like the Ghost of Christmas Past?’ He shook his head slowly. ‘You want to humanise me? Too late, Skylar.’
She held firm. ‘Time.’
‘You do realise that I’ll use everything you show me as part of my acquisition preparation.’
‘Of course you will, but I don’t consider it a risk because I won’t be showing you anything confidential. But I’ll get you inside the company corridors, which is closer than you’ve been in a while, right?’
His expression shuttered. ‘Skylar—’
‘Don’t patronise me.’ She stood in front of him. ‘You break companies up.’
‘Yes. So they survive in some form.’
‘Do they, though?’ she challenged. ‘More often than not companies go under once they’ve been stripped of their assets.’
‘Helberg is old and unwieldy. Reed overstretched and his model is no longer commercially viable. Think of it as lifesaving surgery. We cut out the rot—the parts of the company not performing.’
‘And sell that rot to someone else?’