"So you're reconsidering?"
"If I'm going to become your business manager, then we'd have to keep things perfectly professional between us. That means I need total honesty from you, and there will be no flirting."
He suddenly fingers the hem of my skirt.
"Is that what we're doing? Flirting?" he teases in a voice that's heavy and thick.
I clear my throat.
"And no discussing Jason unless it's in reference to something purely professional," I demand.
"Professional," his deep voice echoes back.
Damn he's distracting.
That voice.
That body.
That face.
And that smell. A subtle mixture of natural elements: water, earth and musk. Smells expensive and also very distinct. It's a scent that lets every woman know for miles around that a man is in the vicinity. A real man that chops wood, scares away burglars, and nails you hard in the shower.
Oh dear God. I'm losing it.
"Yes."
"Like you and the short dude are strictly professional."
What is his obsession with Jason?
"Exactly like that," I respond exasperated.
"You seem to have a lot of conditions in regards to me paying you and your company to take care of all of my money."
"Let's not forget that I didn't ask for the job."
"Ungrateful little–"
"And it may seem like a lot of conditions to someone like you, but in the real world it's not."
He scoots his chair even closer to the table and closer to me. The castors on the bottom of his chair squeaking as if they're not used to someone as heavy as him putting them to work.
"Someone like me? Oh, so I don't live in the real world?"
"I worded that poorly," I thinly apologize. "I meant in the average person's world."
"You've got me there, Miss White, because I'm definitely far from fucking average."
I barely hold back a snicker in reaction to that arrogant comment.
"I have a condition of my own," he announces.
I look up and firmly hold his eyes with my own in anticipation of whatever this is.
"And what could that possibly be?"
"If you're going to manage my money, and make me more money, then I want you to learn all about what I do for a living."
