Page 21 of I Choose You

His smile fell, and I could have grinned at how good it felt to shoot him down. Maybe now he’d understand this was about business. He didn’t speak again as I addressed each of his flagged comments on the draft. I doubted they were his. He probably had a lackey to do the grunt work for him, in which case, I wondered if I could find a way to avoid dealing with Kaden and instead just speak with his assistant.

“No.”

I looked up and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Typically no means the opposite of yes.”

“I am aware. I’ve used a dictionary before.”

“And aced English. Or was that your friend? What was her name? I thought I read somewhere that she’s an author.”

Paige. She’d sent me a copy of her first novel, but I was never into horror.

“Mr. Wagner,” I tried again.

“Kaden.” His brows dipped as he regarded me, annoyed. “You know my name.”

“Mr. Wagner, this discussion has been scheduled to discuss—”

He pointed. “You said the same word twice.”

I slapped my pen to the table. “Are you trying to piss me off? Or does it come naturally for you?”

A colleague did a double-take as they walked down the hall, shooting me an oh shit expression at my open door.

Real professional there, Brooke. I pursed my lips and steadied my breaths. He was not going to do this to me. I’d busted my butt to get to where I was and his presence wouldn’t knock me back a step.

“Easy, easy.” He lowered his hand in a simmer down motion. “I’ll admit, you’ve thrown me off. I’m not sure what to say here.”

While I was glad to have thrown him off, I wasn’t sure what other option he was looking for here. “Business.” I tapped my finger on the papers old-fashioned Todd insisted on printing out. “We’re here to talk about this contract, this deal.”

Not this bickering and bantering nonsense you’re trying for.

He lowered his foot and scooted to the edge of his seat. No longer looking relaxed and easygoing, he seemed driven, narrowing his eyes at me. He was intrigued. “I’d rather catch up. It’s been years.”

I shrugged.

“How’ve you been? Come on, it won’t kill you to make small talk, will it?”

“As I said, the timeline for this product cannot be—”

He groaned, and as he dropped his head back, I watched the cords of the muscles in his neck flex. “I’m curious. Okay?”

“—amended to suit the specifications you’ve set forth here.”

Staring at me mulishly, he waited for me to finish.

“While Halden Inc. strives to accommodate all projects, that date simply won’t work,” I said.

I expected him to try to goad me again. “What date would work?” he asked.

Well, that was easy. I told him, leaning in to show the dates I’d scribbled on the margin of the paper.

“Okay,” he conceded.

“Okay?” Again, I was counting on an argument.

“Okay,” he repeated. “I trust what you say. If my proposed timeline isn’t possible for justifiable reasons, then it isn’t.”