All That She Wants(7)

She paused the tiniest bit as Klaus kept up his unhinged rant… and then gave in. I think she knew what I had in mind. One corner of her mouth turned up wryly as she handed over the phone.

Attagirl.

Of course, what she didn’t know was that I had ulterior motives, too.

I glanced at the cell as I raised it to my ear. ‘KLAUS CELL’ and a 310 area code showed on the screen.

Click, like a camera shutter going off in my mind –

Now I had his number memorized.

“KLAUS!” I shouted into the phone, exactly as though I had just encountered my long-lost best bud in a packed bar in Chelsea. “Connor – ”

For a split second I fumbled. What did I tell Stanley?

“ – Brooks here from LMGK. How’s it going?”

I’m fantastic with numbers.

Not nearly as good with made-up names.

So sue me.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

Then, finally:

“…hello…”

He used exactly the tone of voice you’d expect from a cowardly burglar if you walked in on him in the middle of robbing your house.

Fuckin’ twit.

“Here’s the thing, Klaus – I’d like to call you back on my phone so I can conference in somebody else,” I said. “He’s expecting my call. You okay with that?”

“Uh – who exactly are you planning to conference in?” he said in that tight-sphinctered voice of his. “I have a very important dinner meeting to attend – ”

“Thirty seconds, Klaus, and I’ll get right back to you,” I assured him. “Be sure to pick up, bud – you’re gonna wanna hear this!”

“I don’t have time for this – ”

I didn’t care to debate, so I just hung up on the little bastard.

I forgot that the little bastard was Lily’s boss until I looked over and saw her face.

She looked like a five-year-old who had just learned where babies came from, and was horrified to hear the details.

I laughed – I couldn’t help myself. She was just too cute. “You should see what you look like right now.”

“You did not just hang up on my boss,” she said, her voice rising a good twenty decibels.

Huh – not a pushover at all.

I was really starting to like this girl.

I held out the phone to her. “You’re adorable when you’re angry, you know that?”

She snatched the cell out of my hand. “How are you even going to call him when you – ”

And then she stopped, as though she’d figured it out.

She closed her eyes like DAMN it.

When she opened them again, I winked at her and pulled out my own phone. “Yes, I saw it – and yes, I remember it. I have a good head for numbers – 3.1415926, 186,000 miles per second…”

Should I?

Why the hell not.

I gave her body a look from head to toe, just for effect.

“…34, 24, 35.”

I’d dated a woman years ago who had roughly the same measurements as her. I always remembered what they were because she’d been heavily into BDSM, and we’d ordered her a very elaborate corset at a high-end leather shop.

I quickly found out I didn’t care much for hardcore BDSM, and we parted ways.

But I always remembered the corset. The best part of that relationship was seeing her wear it the first time.

It brought back pleasant memories, and I winked at Lily again.

She blushed red as a tomato.

It was funny, but I felt a tiny bit bad about embarrassing her. Apparently she was a little conservative.

Of course, women who act all conservative on the outside tend to be better in bed, in my experience. That is, if you give them sufficient reason to come out of their shell. They’re holding it all in, about to go crazy from the repression… until you push just the right button.

Still waters run deep.

Quit thinking about sex, Templeton – you don’t think about sex for months, and now you can’t stop?

I decided to give her a second to regain her composure, so I found the number I needed on my phone and hit CALL.

It took about two seconds for Westerholtz to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hi there, Dave, it’s Connor. Can you hold one sec?”

“Hey, Connor! Sure.”

“Thanks.”

I quickly put him on hold and tapped out Klaus’s number.

While it was ringing, I realized Lily might enjoy hearing this.

I looked over at her. She was still pink, but not quite as flustered.

I grinned at her and tapped the screen.

She gave me a quizzical look – until she heard Klaus’s irate voice burst out over the speakerphone. Then she understood.

“Hello?!”

“Heeey, Klaus! Connor again. I’ve got Dave Westerholtz on the line,” I said nonchalantly.