Tempting the New Boss(13)
But to just ask her like that, straight-faced, as if it was okay to put her in that position?
On her first fucking day!
She didn’t know in which capacity she was more horrified, as a twenty-first century product of decades of feminism and member of an extremely girl-powered family…or as his lawyer.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a string of sexual harassment suits against you a mile long,” she muttered, retrieving his magazine and flinging it back at him. He took it with a disinterested glance her way and set back to reading as she resumed her seat.
“And you can’t fire me as a result of this,” she added fast. “You know at least that much, don’t you?”
“I never fire anyone,” he said without looking up. “Sometimes I tell Marcia to make sure I don’t see somebody again, but I think she just transfers them. Or doesn’t. I haven’t wanted to see Shreeman for quite some time, but he kept showing up.”
“Well, let me be clear, Mr. Talbot, that you can’t fire a woman for turning down sex with you.”
“Why would I?”
He was still not looking up, talking in that same disinterested tone.
She scoffed. “Because your ego’s bruised, that’s why.”
He raised his head finally and gave her a bewildered look. “What does my ego have to do with it?” Then he continued reading.
“Do you have a string of sexual harassment suits against you?” She didn’t see anything mentioned when she did the Google search on him, but she supposed with his money he could hush it up. Hard to believe Shreeman would’ve passed up the opportunity to throw that into his diatribe, but maybe he took his non-disparagement agreement more seriously than she thought. “I need to be prepared from a litigation perspective at the very least. Is this quid pro quo part of your regular working atmosphere? Because if so, it’s going to stop right now and we’re going to settle—generously, I might add—with any woman who has a claim against you.”
“Mr. Talbot,” she prompted when he didn’t respond.
“Hmmm? Oh, a claim for what?”
“Sexual harassment,” she said as calmly as she could. She felt as if she had wandered into a John Grisham novel and the reputable place she’d come to practice law was suddenly revealed to be a den of iniquity.
He put down his magazine finally. “Are we still talking about this?”
“We are.”
“So tell me again. What is it? It’s sexual harassment to ask a woman to have sex with you? Because I think I have done that before. Usually at some excruciatingly boring function I have to go to. Although what if it’s them asking?”
It was hard to tell if he was being purposefully obtuse. She had known smart people who couldn’t change a light bulb. Maybe he was challenged like that.
“No,” she explained patiently. “It’s sexual harassment to ask an employee to have sex with you.”
“For money, right?”
“No. At all.”
“Where does the money figure in?”
“Forget about the money. How many times have you asked an employee to have sex with you? How many potential claimants are we talking about?”
“Once. One.”
“What?”
“You. Right now. Remember when I—”
“I remember!” she said. “But are you trying to tell me I’m the first employee you ever asked to have sex with you?”
“I’m not trying to tell you that. I am telling you that because you asked me.”
Well, that was good. From a litigation perspective. If he was telling the truth. But bad, too.
Like she needed this. She had student loans to pay off. “If you don’t mind me probing a little further here, why did you suddenly ask me?”
“Didn’t we go through this before? I find you attractive. Whatever. It was only a thought.”
“Well, you’ve made it very awkward for me.”
“Why?” he said in an exasperated tone and dropped the magazine on his lap.
“Because now I know you’re thinking about having sex with me.”
“Not anymore.”
“This is some kind of weird mind-game shit, isn’t it?”
“No, but you’re acting very oddly.”
“I’m acting oddly?”
“Didn’t I just say that?”
She did a quick mental inventory of her outstanding loans, the sheer size of the remaining principal helping her regain her equilibrium.
She could put up with a lot. And he wasn’t attacking her or anything. In fact, he seemed to have lost interest in the whole subject. Maybe this was just the female equivalent of screaming at Shreeman, which wasn’t fair, but hey, that was life. Kind of like having an idiot savant for a boss.