I already knew the answer, but it was a great rhetorical question.
“I’m not going to take this from – ” he sputtered.
“I think I might call Dave back,” I mused aloud. “I know he’s very nice to his personal secretary Amanda. I think he’d be interested to know how you kiss up and kick down.”
Lily looked sick.
I wanted to pat her on the shoulder and say, It’s okay… I do this all the time. I ‘read’ people. I can pick out what they want, what they fear, what their strengths are, where they’re weak. I have to, in order to know where I can press for advantage, and where I need to tread lightly. Trust me – I know what I’m doing.
Actually, I wanted to do a little bit more than pat her on the shoulder…
Keep your mind on business, Templeton.
Klaus took his sweet time on the apology.
“…sorry,” he finally mumbled, so not sorry.
“What was that? Couldn’t hear you!” I shouted.
“SORRY, Lily,” Klaus seethed, then turned his anger back on me. “Is that all, Misssster Brooksss?”
No, it’s not – I’d LOVE to get you fired, you incompetent asshole, but that’ll have to wait.
Though maybe just till Monday.
“It’ll do, I suppose. Have a good night, Klaus!” I said jovially, then reached over, took my phone back from Lily, and hung up the call.
10
Lily was staring at me like I’d suddenly started barking like a dog.
“…what?” I asked.
Then she let me have it.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? What the hell was that?!” she yelled.
“My only entertainment on a boring Friday night,” I grinned. I turned and offered my hand to Stanley. “Stan, a pleasure. Good to meet you.”
I hadn’t looked back at him the entire time, but he seemed just as shell-shocked as Lily had been a minute ago.
Apparently nobody ever challenged Klaus around here.
Stanley shook my hand, and then I turned back to Lily.
“Shall we?” I asked as I gestured to the elevators…
…and put my other hand on the small of Lily’s back.
Unnh.
I’d been wanting to do that for the last couple of minutes.
Just touching her made me want to touch her more…
…so I did.
My hand slipped down her back the slightest bit… but I stopped myself before I went any further than what was proper.
I wanted to, though.
Apparently she liked it well enough, because her voice sounded a little flustered again when she said, “…okay.”
I pulled my hand away as we walked toward the elevators. I needed to keep my head in the game, and touching her was working against that.
I pushed the UP button, the door opened immediately, and we stepped inside.
“What floor?” I asked.
“23rd.”
I hit the button and the doors closed.
As the elevator began to ascend, I watched her from the corner of my eye. The way the light was shining on her thick, lustrous hair… her soft skin… the pull of her clothes over her curves…
Mmm.
And I could smell her perfume now – something nice and feminine, but subtle.
Mmmmmmmm.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she suddenly blurted out.
I looked over in surprise. Where the hell had that come from?
“What?”
“I said, who the hell do you think you are?” she demanded.
I broke into a grin. I couldn’t help it – she looked like she might start stomping on the ground any second. “Did I tell you before how adorable you are when – ”
“ – I’m angry, yeah, yeah,” she snapped dismissively. “Do you realize you might have just lost me my job back there?”
I’d already pondered the question before – but now I wanted an answer.
A truthful answer.
I stared into her eyes. “Tell me something, Lily.”
“What?” she asked, clearly annoyed at me dodging her question.
“Do you like Klaus as a boss?”
She flinched a little. “What?”
“I said, do you like Klaus as a boss?”
She paused. I could see the wheels turning in her head, weighing her options, wondering if she should be truthful or politically smart –
She decided on the right path. Maybe not the ‘smart’ one… but definitely the right one.
“Not really,” she said quietly. “Actually, no. Not at all.”
I felt a strange sense of relief. “Good.”
She frowned. “Why ‘good’?”
The elevator was slowing down. Any second the door would open.
Now it was time for me to decide if I should be truthful, or politically smart.
She had decided on the right thing… so the least I could do was return the favor.