Though, she had to shake any other thoughts out of her head. What was she supposed to think, that he was there just to see her, tracked her down and all? None of that made sense, either. Sarah didn’t know what to think. Even though it was odd that he was there, of all places, she figured that it was just the way it was. The alternative idea, that he had tracked her down, was almost laughable. Why would a guy like Harold track her down? And what did he want to talk to her about?
Harold had definitely peaked her attention and her attraction. She would have agreed to about anything at the moment.
Chapter 8
Harold
Harold had known somewhere deep down that he was supposed to meet Sarah. He hadn’t known how it would turn out, what she would look like, but she was definitely ‘his type’, as Steven would say. Harold had tried to imagine her for a long time, all of the time in the last six months when she had run through his mind. It was hard for him to realize what was going on, but he tried his best to do so. Sarah was finally right in front of him. The chance that he had longed for was now upon him.
Sarah was smoking hot. She had blonde hair, big tits, and long legs. He couldn’t get over those particular attributes and when he’d seen her from across the room, after she’d been pointed out by another, Harold was sure that they were supposed to meet. As he got closer, saw the brilliance of her blue eyes, nothing else seemed to matter but her.
She had a tinkling laugh that he heard as she flirted with the bartender. Harold had felt a surge of jealousy inside of him. It was unwarranted, of course, but that didn’t matter. It had filled him up so quickly that it had taken his breath away. He didn’t know how he was supposed to respond to it, but he’d done everything in his power to rein it back in. He didn’t want to scare her away. She already had a wild look in her eyes, and she was running from him.
Harold had followed because he was not going to let her slip through his fingers. While he was there for legitimate business reasons, the personal side of him didn’t want that. He wanted her in his bed, screaming out his name, in that beautiful voice of hers that he had grown to like so much. It was all he had thought about while he plowed nameless other women. It was Sarah’s voice that he had heard whispering in his ear.
She asked him what he had wanted to talk about, and Harold had to pull it together. He was imagining her naked, on her knees. Hell, he would have taken her any way she would let him. But that wasn’t what he was there for. It was her brain that he wanted to hire, her body he just wanted to use for his own pleasure. Harold told himself that there would be plenty of time for that later. He always got what he wanted, no one told him no, so why was he worried about her being any different than everyone else?
“I saw your work that you did for EBTKS. I liked it. A lot. I thought that you had great ideas for money-saving implementations, though I didn’t see any of them come to fruition. I took out some of the redundances that you saw in accounting because of your report, and we are already saving even more than you projected.”
Sarah was shocked that he had seen her work. She was one of many managers, and maybe he wouldn’t have looked at it as closely as he had, if he hadn’t known that it was Sarah that had come up with it. Harold didn’t know why her old boss hadn’t listened to her. She had several more changes that she had started to get into, but she’d left the company and moved on. Harold wanted her to work for him. He wanted her to go through all of his companies in the same way. He would start with one, but Harold knew talent when he saw it, and Sarah was it. He just hadn’t been prepared for her to be so desirable. Why had he always thought that brains and beauty were exclusive? They obviously weren’t when it came to Sarah. She was both, and he was realizing even more how dangerous she was.
“You really made the changes I suggested?”
Harold smiled and agreed. He couldn’t stop smiling. He had been waiting to see her for a long time, and he still wasn’t sure that he could believe that she was right in front of him, fine as hell.
He handed her the drink and told her that he liked how she worked, and the creative ways that she had found to make and save money.
“A lot of people think that businesses run on the big idea. I mean, it’s true that it starts out that way, but a good business is healthy, constantly getting checkups to make it even more so. That is where someone like you can come in. I think you could do good for my company.”
Sarah agreed, saying that the devil was in the details. “That is why I went into efficiency. I have seen great ideas that never made it, simply because the business that was selling it couldn’t keep up. I don’t want that to happen to a good company.”
“Well, what about my company?”
“Which one, Harold? I hear you have many.”
He chuckled and asked her if she had been looking him up.
“I did a long time ago, when we first started working together. I wanted to know who that rude guy was that was always telling me how to do my job. You were the bane of my existence in the beginning.”
Harold didn’t like hearing that. He wanted the two of them to work closely together, and that wasn’t going to happen if she was not happy with the idea of working with him. She needed to be. She needed to be excited and give him her all. He had seen what she had done when she had applied herself. Harold would take advantage of her great ideas. From a business standpoint, he knew that Sarah was going to make him money and that was all he needed to know.
“I hope your feelings for me have changed.”
Sarah agreed that they had. She was flush in the face, and Harold asked her if she needed anything.
“No, I am fine. I am just not used to drinking. The bartender was making them pretty strong.”
Harold brought her to a bench that was nearby, and she immediately sat down, talking about how dizzy she was. Harold could see that it wasn’t the right time for a real conversation, but he had done so much to get there, to see her. He didn’t want all of it to be for nothing. He had the plan to poach her and bring her to his employ. That wouldn’t work if she was three sheets to the wind.
“Why don’t we get out of here and have a real conversation, get some coffee to sober you up?”
Sarah looked embarrassed and said that she was supposed to be picking up information and networking for her current job.
“You’re not going to work there anymore, Sarah, so you don’t have to worry about what they are going to say or think.”
Sarah told him that he was being a bit presumptuous.
“No, not all, Sarah. I know what you are worth, they don’t. I value what you are going to bring to the table, because I know that it is an awful lot. Trust me, this is worth your time. I’m worth your time.”
