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“Really? Are you going to?”
I nod, sipping my coffee. “I am. I told them to remove all contingencies and I’d sign it. That simple, that’s all they had to do from the jump.”
“So how did everything go down?”
I take in a deep breath. “You sure you want to hear about all this bullshit?”
“Absolutely.”
We sit on the couch, and she tucks her feet up beneath her as I tell her every gritty detail, including the photo of us in the elevator.
“What?” She leans forward, her eyes huge.
“Don’t worry, I took care of Nelson.”
“So, wait, you had those files on all those people from day one of negotiations? You could have just laid it all out then, told them that you had all their skeletons, and this is how this deal was going to play out.”
“Yup.”
“Why didn’t you then?”
“One thing I learned, among others, over the years in business is if you give your enemies enough rope, they’ll hang themselves… every time. If I had come in to those negotiations like that, I’d have been the bad guy once again. The reality is, that’s how I always play it. I never come in making demands and blackmailing people. I let them make their moves, paint themselves into a corner, and then I offer them a way out by means of agreeing to my terms or a simple threat of what information I have on them.”
“Would you have leaked all of that?”
I shake my head. “No. I’ve never once had to act on a single threat. They’re too scared. If I did, they’d blame me for ruining their lives. I’d be the scapegoat even though it’s just them not wanting to take responsibility for their actions. But if I just show them that I know who they really are, all the little dirty secrets they think they’ve kept hidden… they’ll bend over backward to keep that private.”
She stares at me, smiling.
“What?”
“You really are smart. Sneaky, but smart as hell. You’re the kind of person who is good at calling people’s bluff.”
“I’m glad you recognize who I am, the kind of man you fell in love with.”
“Not a very nice man,” she teases, referring back to the night we met.
“And you’re such a good girl. Only fitting that we’d end up together.”
“Are we—together?”
“Forever, baby.” I lean over and kiss her. “Now, you get to tell me what you meant the night we ended things when you said I made you want things you didn’t want before.”
“Yeah, that.” She looks down at her coffee cup. “I think we’ve kind of talked about it before, at that coffee shop.”
“Mm-hmm. Look at me, Presley.” She lifts her head. “Is that what you want, for me to get you pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After a year?”
“After a year,” I repeat back to her, reaching over to run my hand over her hair.
“Is that—what about you? What do you want?”
“I'd knock you up right now if you’d let me.” I lean forward and place my coffee cup on the table. Hers too. I grab her and pull her onto my lap, her legs on either side of my waist. “But I’d like to meet your parents first and marry you.”
