I sat back down, stabbing a little too viciously at my tablet as I entered the pin. ‘Thank you for the toast. Go away.’
The door closed. I didn’t let myself look up to see which side of it she was on.
The press of her thumbs into my occipitals nearly made me moan.
‘Head back.’
I didn’t move.
She fisted her left hand in my hair and pulled my head back, digging her right thumb so hard into the muscle at the base of my skull it would probably bruise. ‘Let me help you, Murray.’
‘Lily,’ I said, ‘let go.’
She pulled my hair harder, pressing her thumb in deeper – and god, it felt good, it felt so fucking good that I couldn’t let myself process it, not if I wanted to keep my concentration. ‘The daddy voice doesn’t work on me. You’re going to let me help you.’
I pretended to consider it.
‘If I give you a task, will you leave me alone so I can work?’
‘We can come to some sort of arrangement.’
I pretended to consider it again – then gestured to the seat across the conference table.
She let go of my hair, but she didn’t move. ‘I have a condition.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Lily.’
‘Eat.’
I exhaled, pulled the plate towards me, picked up a piece of toast, and took a bite. ‘Happy?’
‘Yes. Thank you.’
She sat down, lacing her hands together demurely in front of her. ‘What do you want me to do?’
I rubbed my left thumb across the base of my ring finger, an old thinking tic of mine from when I wore a wedding ring that I knew she’d recognise. ‘I need Belinda gone.’
‘All right,’ Lily said. ‘Too many blondes?’
‘And she’s not very dynamic television. But getting Dylan JM to eliminate her after she had her tooth knocked out is going to be tough, so if you can take that off my plate, I would appreciate it.’
‘Take that off your plate—’ she gestured at the toast, ‘—and we have a deal.’
I waited a beat, then took another bite.
The smile that spread across her face was pure Lily Ong. ‘That wasn’t so hard, was it?’
‘Don’t push it.’
Her smile only deepened. ‘What else?’
I let the silence hang for a long moment.
Then I exhaled, as if in surrender. ‘Have you got any ideas on how to make the Dylans come across like they’re actually into each other?’
Something sparked behind her eyes. ‘Are you finally admitting I’m right about that?’
‘Forget it. I’ll figure it out myself.’
