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We cab to the meeting in complete silence, both on opposite ends of the backseat. The fact that he gazes out the window gives me a minute to appreciate the view.
The man was born to wear suits.
At our destination, he takes long strides ahead of me, and I try to keep up, constantly wishing I could rock sneakers to keep pace. He’s doing it on purpose... doing everything to keep me at arm’s length.
I ignore Damon in the elevator. Maybe I’m being immature, but I need to regain focus, some perspective as to why I even care for him.
The front desk assistant of the tenth floor leads us to a boardroom, where Damon holds the glass door for me as we enter.
We’re meeting with the CEO and chief advisor of The Burkett Estate, a prominent real estate company with offices in New York, LA, and Dallas.
They’re hoping to build five condominium towers inVancouver, Canada, which wouldn’t usually pose an issue. Except they’re building around a protected and conserved area. Which is why the case is presently being argued in court.
Our job is to make recommendations as to how they can meet their goal while lessening the environmental impacts to the best of their abilities and threading inside the realms of the law.
This is where our own legal advisors come in.
“Mr. Dreygon, you’ve spoken to my chief advisor, Cora Smith.” The CEO, Bernie Burkett, offers by way of introduction. The older lady with golden hair greets both of us before Damon tells them my name.
We all have a seat, and I sense from one swift look at the CEO that he isn’t thrilled about this meeting whatsoever.
“You’re wasting my time, Dreygon. Wasting it. And it’s costing money. The city’s hounding my ass to see me implementyour report. One I’ve yet to see.”
“It’s being finalized as we speak. You’ll get the report by end of day tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you cut me a deal?” Burkett looks to Smith, then to Damon. “It won’t be the first time. Go easy on your report. I don’t need the court slowing down my project any more than it already fuckin’ has!”
I’m looking down at Damon’s iPad, trying to avoid being in the middle of this confrontation. Trying to forget the fact that he mentioned Damon accepts deals.
Was Damon lying when he said we were a neutral party? I’m not naïve. I know he can’t always do much between multi-billion-dollar industry and government entities, but I’d at least expect a fight from him.
“Bernie, that’s not my problem.” Damon inches closer in his chair. “Frankly, I’m appalled that you’d waste my time over a meeting that could’ve been done on the phone. You’re just repeating yourself. You told my previous assistant the same thing the last time you called ten times in a day.”
He gives Damon a crooked smile, eyeing me. “What’s the matter? She wasn’t as pretty and good in bed as this one?”
I swallow, not having expectedthatkind of meeting.
God, was it that obvious to others that we both wanted to get into each other’s pants? Or was he being a stereotypical asshole?
For the first time I hear Damon’s laugh.
It’s vicious and dark.
He leans over the table, seeming ready to grab Burkett and throw him out the glass window.
“One word—one word aboutanyof my employees—and I will gut your fucking plans for the next decade to come.”
Burkett snickers, eyeing Smith, who warns her boss with a stare. Clearly, he doesn’t listen. Reminds me ofsomeone. Perhaps he’s looking for a fight today.
“You don’t have that much power.”
Damon tsks. “Correction. I don’tusethat power. But you know I have it tucked away.”
Burkett rolls his eyes and looks to me. I stopped writing notes since clearly none of this is pertinent for the report.
“I apologize, Ms. Ackerman.” He faces Damon again. “This project has been a dream of mine since I can remember. I’m just trying to make that happen.”
Damon nods. “And I can’t stop you.”
