Page 53 of Power

“And what protections would you like to see in that document, Scarlett?” The way he said it was seductive.

“You own a multibillion-dollar company. You didn’t get there by having to ask people what belongs in an NDA.” I repeated part of what he’d said before. “But if you need specifics, I want it in writing that I can’t be terminated, passed over for promotions, or face any other professional repercussions because of what happened between us. I want assurance that any complaints I make about harassment or misconduct will be taken seriously and investigated properly, regardless of whom the complaint is against. And I want a clause that prevents either party from using this weekend as leverage against the other. Personally or professionally.”

“You’re immensely intriguing, you know that?” I hated the heart in his eyes and the way that his lips continued to curl slightly in apparent admiration. “I will have my lawyer send it to you by the end of the day, but before I do …” He rubbed the side of his face. Which I totally ignored how sexy that looked. Nope. “As far as what happened between us, I suppose I’m curious what your thoughts are.”

Even his word choices this morning were totallydifferent. I guess your tone was very different when you were holding someone’s sex to your face versus, you know, whatever this was.

“What my thoughts are?”

He looked at me. Guarded, apprehensive. “If there wasn’t a policy against it, would you want this weekend to never be spoken of again?”

“It’s the most professional course of action. In fact, after this meeting, we shouldn’t be seen together again. Someone could get the wrong idea and cause a lot of trouble.”

That part about us not seeing each other made his face tighten. “Is that what you want?”

This was exactly what I was talking about. This was what I wanted to avoid. Every conversation, every word was a power play.

“There is no good way for me to answer that question. If I tell you that I want to continue, that’s inappropriate and violates company policies.”And puts the ball in your court to potentially reject me.“If I tell you that I want to move on and never think of it again, your ego could get bruised. So, respectfully, I choose not to answer that question.”

“In my presence, I prefer you to be unfiltered.”

“That’s unfortunate since you’re the boss of the entire company. Every word I speak needs to be filtered.”

“I disagree. I want you to be at ease around me.”

“All right then. Consider me at ease.”

But he looked displeased, sensing the wall that had come up around me. “You needn’t be worried around me, Scarlett.”

Needn’t. The fact that this dude was someone who used the wordneedn’tin a sentence told me I absolutely needed to be worried about him.

“Sure. Okay then.” I smiled.

Again, he looked annoyed. It was like he could hear my professional words but was frustrated that he couldn’t decipher what I was really thinking in my head.

“Is that all?” I asked in a very polite and friendly tone. “Because I have a meeting I need to attend to.”

“Your meeting with HR.”

I tried to keep my smile, but, goddammit, the blood decided to drop from my face. “How do you know about that?”

“I took the liberty of looking at your calendar.”

“For what purpose?” I demanded.

“I wanted to see who you had meetings with today.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t strike me as the type of woman who backs down from a fight. And after what you confided in me this weekend, I figured you would come in Monday morning swinging.”

I wanted to tell him that he knew nothing about me. I had given little crumbs, that was it, and even that felt like a violation now. How dare he think he knew me well enough to know what I would do today about Grabby Hands?

It pissed me off even more that he was completely right.

“You’re nervous about the meeting,” he sensed.

“I’m not,” I lied.