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“Fine,” she huffed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

“If you’re a lawyer, why do you have a lawyer?” Ivy asked.

“I’m doing a favor for her grandfather.” Much to my reluctance, I promised Abe Sloane that I would take his granddaughter under my wing like he had done for me during law school. “He was my mentor. I owe him.”

“She doesn’t like me.” She strolled over to the window and took in the view. “You can see Central Park from here.”

“That’s one of the reasons I chose this location.” I joined her by the window. “There’s a cafe across the street if you’d like to get lunch after we’re done.”

“Done what?” She looked up at me. “When I agreed to this meeting, I specifically told the person on the phone that I wasn’t making any decisions today.”

“I’m aware, but it’s my job to change your mind.”

“I didn’t know who you were last night,” she said. “I hope you believe that.”

“I know.”

“Did you know who I was?” she asked.

“Wasn’t it you who bumped into me and spilled champagne all over my shoes? If either of us was the target, it would have been me. I had no reason to seek you out.”

“You had no problem inviting me to your bed.”

“I’m not going to apologize for that,” I said.

“You have nothing to apologize for. Well, except for the fact that I’m a little sore and that’s totally your fault.” She shrugged. “But I’m not complaining.”

“That right there is how I know you didn’t know who I was when we met.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have a deceptive bone in your body.”

“I’ve never had a reason to deceive anyone before, and you’ve been nothing but kind to me.”

Her innocence awakened something inside me. Our immediate future may look a little messy, especially if I had to go at her hard for her property, but I had to figure out a way to keep her close to me.

“After this meeting, I had every intention of tracking you down,” I said.

“Why?”

“I have a few reasons.” I motioned toward the conference table. “Why don’t you have a seat and you can tell me why you’re here.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She looked over her shoulder at me as she sat down. “You want to buy my house for your development project. You requested this meeting.”

“You came here without an attorney or another representative to handle a million-dollar deal.” I sat across from her. “This is the inheritance you were talking about? The one you don’t want to lose? You must have had some expectation as to how this meeting would go down.”

“My grandmother left me the house,” she said. “It’s been in our family for over fifty years. It has a lot of sentimental value. I thought maybe you could work around my house and still do what you want with the other properties.”

It’s all or nothing for me.

“I’ll give you two million for it.” I had no desire to play bidding games with her. “That’s enough money for you to never have to borrow someone else’s shoes again.”

“It’s my home.”

“With that money, you can find another home.”

“As I said last night, I’m not ready to part with it.”