“Thank you,” she gritted out, thinking over and over again that she had to be nice or risk losing her job. Tyler knew this and was thoroughly enjoying himself.
“I figured out a lot of things about you in the last month. You should be impressed with yourself. You managed to intrigue me, and that’s more than I can say about most people.”
“Such a self-absorbed remark, Tyler. Is that what I should be impressed about?” she asked. “And I wasn’t trying to intrigue you.”
“What were you trying to do, then, Elena?”
He sat down in the chair across from her. His legs brushed against hers beneath the table and she scooted back. He just smiled and extended his leg, and his foot was now toying with hers. She was going to be gritting her teeth a lot during this meal.
“It doesn’t matter what I was trying to do,” she said before taking a breath. This wasn’t going to get them anywhere. “Can we get directly to business?”
“Tsk, tsk, Elena. You aren’t being very hospitable right now,” he said. “Especially since we know each other quite … intimately.”
Elena took a few deep breaths and unclenched her teeth before responding. “This is a business meeting. Let’s be professionals, and focus on business only,” she said in her best prim voice.
“Yes, business. How is Timothy?”
“My boss?” she said somewhat confused by the quick change in conversation. He nodded. “He’s fine. Though, I don’t know how you managed to convince him not to give me your name. If I’d been better prepared, then we wouldn’t be wasting your time at six hundred dollars an hour.”
“I’m the client. If I tell your boss I want to keep my name anonymous until I’m ready to give it, then that’s exactly what he’ll do,” Tyler said before leaning forward. “As a matter of fact, he will do anything I ask of him because he’s a smart man and knows not to upset me.”
Elena gasped at his audacity. “Who in the hell do you think you are?” Screw this job!
“I thought you knew exactly who I am, Elena. Isn’t that why you decided to come after me with everything you had?”
The gleam in his eyes reminded her of a hungry tiger. And Elena had no doubt that she was now his prey.
“You’re clearly not a very savvy businessman. Do you even need an attorney, Tyler?”
Her shoulders back, Elena didn’t break eye contact. If she showed him an ounce of weakness right now, he’d go right for the jugular. There was no use in making his kill any easier by exposing her throat to him.
“Yes, I have a number of attorneys for a number of purposes. I need a new one now.”
“For what exactly?” she asked.
“You will find out, won’t you?”
“This is about payback, isn’t it? I played a game with you, and now it’s your turn,” Elena said.
He was quiet for several moments and then he smiled, though the expression didn’t quite make it to his eyes. He was certainly playing with her, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it. When he spoke next, she could barely keep up with his change in voice or topic.
“I’ve had a very good day so far. I went to a job site with my brother Blake, had a nice lunch, and met with your boss. I’m feeling very relaxed. You don’t want to ruin my day now by making unfounded accusations, do you, Elena?”
Oh, he was so damn smooth, so cocky. How had she ever thought she’d be able to go up against a man like him and win? It was impossible. The world was made up of the haves and have-nots. She was a have-not. He was most certainly a have. So she was screwed from the get-go.
“I apologize if anything I’ve said or done tonight has somehow made you uncomfortable,” she said, though it took a lot out of her to say the words. Did she really like her job? She could work somewhere else, surely.
Then again, he was the sort of man who would just follow her wherever she went. She’d ticked the man off and he was bound and determined to work up his own revenge plot. So she might as well accept it and hope he grew bored before he made too much of her life go up in smoke.
“You know that you and I will become lovers, don’t you?”
He said the words so casually that it took a moment for her brain to process them. When they did, her cheeks flushed, partly with anger and partly with excitement. She’d had a taste of what being Tyler Knight’s lover felt like, and that taste hadn’t been unpleasant. In fact, it had been too damn good.
“No, Mr. Knight, we will not be lovers,” she told him in ringing tones — right before the waiter approached. Not again, she added silently.
How mortifying — the waiter had to have heard her unfortunate comment. She couldn’t look him in the eyes, so she stared down at the menu instead.
“What’s your preference in wine?”
That Tyler had bothered to ask surprised Elena. She’d just assumed he was the type of man to make all the decisions. Or to try to, anyway.
“I like light white wines,” she told him. She didn’t add, however, that the bottles she bought always cost less than ten dollars. “Though isn’t it taboo to choose a wine before you know what dish it’s to be paired with? Doesn’t that count as an extreme crime against social order?”
Tyler laughed at her words. “Then I guess we’ll rebel against the rules tonight.” He made his choice from the wine menu and sent the waiter on his way to find the bottle.
“Mr. Knight —”
He interrupted her with his patented quirk of the eyebrows. “I’m Mr. Knight now?”