She was extremely bright and focused. He would be a fool to not recognize such obvious talent. However, Veronica didn’t seem to see that. Thinking he could use this to his advantage, he held up a hand to silence her and chose his words carefully.
“Tomorrow’s meeting is cancelled,” he said sternly.
“But…”Veronica rushed to interrupt.
“I won’t end your contract just yet,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“The company has waited this long for the application we can wait and additional week. I need some time to decide whether I still want to move forward with having you lead the team,” he said as he turned to walk back to his desk.
He sat down and stared at Veronica from across the room. She seemed rooted to the floor with a look of pure panic on her face.
“I don’t appreciate being spied on Ms. James,” he said when it looked like she would speak again.
He watched as she firmed her lips into a tight line. He could see a spark of anger flare in her eyes as she clenched her fists at her side. Fuck, but she is hot when she’s angry, he thought to himself resisting the urge to stroke himself through his pants.
“I need to decide if this working relationship can be salvaged,” he said gathering his papers and leaning down to grab his briefcase.
“Until then I suggest you make yourself scarce and try to curb your voyeur tendencies,” he said as he strode toward the door.
He paused in front of Veronica and slowly ran his free hand up her arm and gently moved her to the side.
“I’ll be in touch regarding the status of your contract,” he said as he opened the door and strode out of the office.
CHAPTER SIX
Veronica woke the next morning groggy, disoriented, and horny as hell. She struggled to hold onto a dream that featured Victor Rossi and a bowl of ice cream.
She snuggled a pillow to her stomach hoping to return to the fantasy when the events of the prior night crashed through her psyche.
“Shit,” she yelped out as she shot up to a sitting position.
She whimpered as the room began to swim around her and the contents of her stomach began to roll around in earnest. Clutching her aching head she glanced around the room and saw an empty bottle of rum sitting on her nightstand alongside several empty beer bottles and empty chocolate bar wrappers.
Looking down she saw that she was still dressed in her clothes from the previous day. They were rumpled and stained with what looked like streaks of chocolate. She wiggled her toes and felt a lone shoe dangling from her right foot.
“Shit,” she repeated as she lay her head back down gingerly on her pillow. She wanted to pull her covers over her head as the events of the prior night played through her head over and over again.
She barely recalled collecting her things and making her way home, but she vividly remembered Rossi pleasuring himself, and the disastrous end to her presence in his office.
She couldn’t believe that she had let her stupid attraction to Rossi jeopardize the project. Even now, knowing that it would take her months to recover financially from the loss of his account, she was aroused by what she had seen.
“You’re pathetic,” she mumbled into the empty room. She slowly sat back up and swung her legs over the side of her queen sized bed.
She toed off her remaining shoe and stood carefully. Bracing herself mentally, she made her way to the bathroom removing her clothes along the way. She wobbled into the shower stall and turned the cold water on blast.
She stood shivering under the stinging spray of water waiting for her head to stop spinning and her jumbled thoughts to settle. I need a game plan, she thought as her brain eventually stopped its chaotic panic.
She reached to turn on the hot water and let the growing steam in the shower relax her tense muscles.
She’d dealt with bad situations before when she was in New York. Admittedly, none of them involved her watching a colleague or superior in a compromising position, but she had survived. In the end her work had always spoken for itself. She just needed to convince Rossi that regardless of the situation, she was the best person to complete the project.
She shook her head and admitted to herself that the chances of Rossi choosing to keep her contract were slim to none. Best case scenario was that even if she couldn’t count on him as a reference in the future, she could still use her work with him in her portfolio. She groaned softly into the steamed enclosure.
She needed to concentrate on being solvent, which meant nixing her plans to hire a junior developer. She would have to put her hear to the ground and pick up several smaller accounts to just even things out to from the loss of Rossi’s business. There was no telling when she’d be able to land another account as large as his.
Firming her lips in determination, she reached out and turned off the water. She reached for a towel and began to briskly rub herself down.
“It’s not the end of the world,” she said bravely as she stepped out of the shower.
She walked back into her bedroom feeling a little more human and a little more prepared to deal with the situation. She was dressed and sitting at her computer updating her portfolio when she heard the light chime notifying her that an email just hit her inbox. She glanced at the edge of her monitor and her breath caught when she saw Rossi’s name in the message box.
She hesitated before clicking on the blinking icon. The effects of the pep talk she gave herself earlier quickly disappeared.
It was one thing to plan for the worse and another thing to actually have to live through it. Taking a deep breath she clicked on the message. It consisted of only three lines.
The presentation is back on for today. Meet me briefly at 3:30 prior to the presentation to discuss the new terms of your contract.
~Victor
Veronica released a huge sigh of relief. It looked like she wasn’t going to lose the account after all. She crinkled her brow briefly as she read the message again.
“New terms,” she mumbled out loud.
“What the hell does that mean,” she said into the empty room.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Victor sat in his office waiting for Veronica to arrive. He spent most of the night devising the perfect plan.
He thought of just asking her out, which was the sane and rational thing to do he admitted. However, whenever he thought of the look of lust on her face and the weeks of the hands off signals she had thrown his way, he thought a few more drastic measures were called for.
After weeks of fantasizing about her, he wanted Veronica to admit her attraction to him and if he got to live out a few of his own fantasies along the way, so be it he thought smugly. He felt himself get hard at the possibilities.
“Down boy,” he muttered to his crotch.
He needed this meeting with Veronica to go smoothly. He couldn’t reveal any hint of attraction, especially considering the “new terms” he planned on negotiating.
The soft beep of his intercom interrupted his thoughts and his assistant’s smooth voice filled the air.
“Ms. James is here to see you.”
Victor took a quick breath and reached for his intercom.
“Send her in,” he said. Time to play, he thought and he schooled his features into a blank mask.
He leaned back in his chair with his hands steepled and waited as Marie ushered Veronica into the room and closed the door.
When he got his first glimpse of her he struggled not to let his surprise or lust show on his face. During the weeks that they’d worked together he had never seen her in anything remotely considered figure hugging let alone in any colors other than black, gray and white but today was a different story.
She strode into his office wearing a long purple pencil skirt that ended just past her knees and white scoop necked shirt that molded her breasts and ended just at her hips with a slim purple belt cinched in at her waist. He fought down a groan as his gaze reached her feet.
As usual her choice of
shoes didn’t disappoint. They were constructed with a black stiletto heel with a multitude of thin black and purple straps crisscrossing across her feet and ending with a purple bow at her ankle.
He could come just watching her walk around in those shoes he thought. The woman was turning him into a freak and he loved every minute of it.
“Have a seat,” he said briskly leaning forward, “We have a lot to cover.”
Veronica struggled not to look nervous. She took a lot of care that morning dressing for this meeting, deciding to wear what she deemed her “power suit”. She usually preferred her more comfortable pant suits but she kept this particular outfit for the times she needed to feel an extra boost of confidence. If ever there was a day that she needed that confidence it was today.
She walked briskly to Rossi’s desk and sat down. She tried to gauge his mood but his features were a blank mask. Crap, she thought cringing inwardly. Over the last few weeks she had gotten used to him looking at her with a friendly smile or quirky grin. The blank look he was giving her now was disconcerting. She knew that it was to be expected considering the situation, but a part of her couldn’t help but feel hurt by his expression.
“I’m glad to hear you re-thought the decision to cancel the meeting today. I promise, you won’t be disappointed,” she began briskly.
“Oh I know I won’t be,” Rossi replied as he pushed a stack of paper towards her.
“This is a contract for permanent retainer services with Nile Enterprises. You will be free to take on as many side accounts as you’d like, but when dealing with our projects there will be complete exclusivity,” he continued.
Veronica was speechless. She sat silent for a moment letting his words sink in as she stared down at the dollar amount in the contract. It was enough for her to stay in the black for the rest of the year and hire two junior developers not just one.
“Mr. Rossi, I…” she finally managed to sputter out.
“Please, call me Victor,” he interrupted.
“I think after last night we can at least be on a first name basis,” he explained.
“Umm okay …Victor,” she said trying hard to contain her blush at the mention of the previous night.
“Last night is already forgotten. I can’t wait to move forward on this project with you,” she said smiling brightly at him.
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” said Rossi.
“The events from last night are far from forgotten and I seriously doubt they ever will be,” he stated flatly, his mouth thinning into a grim line.
Veronica’s smile dimmed. She looked down at the retainer contract he placed in front of her.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“If you’re not willing to forget, than why offer me a retainer contract,” she asked, her confusion showing plainly on her face.
“I consider myself a damn good business man,” responded Victor, “I learned a long time ago to not overlook talent and you’re a very talented woman Veronica. I would be fool to let you go when your skill is an obvious asset to me and my company.”
Veronica released a silent breath as relief slowly worked its way through her system.
“Thank you. I’ll take this home with me and look it over. From what you’ve said it sounds more than fair,” she said tapping the contract in front of her, trying to look cool.
“I think you may want to hear the rest of my terms before taking that home,” said Rossi.
“I’m sure that whatever they are we can negotiate something amicable for both of us,” said Veronica, smiling again and feeling much more confident.
This meeting was turning out much better than she ever could have expected.
For the amount of money Rossi…Victor was willing to pay her for a retainer, she was sure that she could work with any additional terms he wanted to set. It was just so hard to read him. His expression was still closed off despite his praise of her talent.
“One of the first lesson’s I learned in business is that when I walk into any meeting or any type of negotiation, that I need to have the upper hand before even stepping into the room. Without that upper hand I would always be forced to settle for a compromise beyond my comfort zone,” he said before pausing to stare at her expectantly.
“I could see how that would be important,” she said quickly to fill the silence.
“Good,” he said cracking the barest of smiles at her.
“So you can understand how what happened last night would distress me on more than one level.”
“I don’t see…”
“You saw me in a vulnerable position,” he said cutting into her response, “At this moment, just knowing that gives you the upper hand and the only way I plan on continuing our relationship is to take it back.”
Veronica chose her words carefully. There was a gleam that shone through his eyes when he spoke now that was beginning to make her uneasy.
It was obvious that there was nothing she could say to convince him that what happened last night could be forgotten. She even agreed with him, but she couldn’t tell him that. With a retainer contract on the line she had too much to lose. She took a calm breath, licked her dry lips, and cleared her throat before speaking.
“How exactly, do you plan on doing that,” she asked.
“By tilting the odds back in my favor,” he said leaning back in his chair and giving her his first genuine smile since she walked into the room.
“To be perfectly blunt Veronica, last night you saw mine, now it’s time for you to show me yours.”
Veronica was pretty sure she was doing a damn good impersonation of a gold fish at that moment. There was no way that she could have heard him right. Victor Rossi did not just ask her to show him hers. No way no how.
“Excuse me,” she asked. The question sounded lame even to her ears. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“You can’t be serious,” she said.
“Oh I’m definitely serious,” he said.
“This isn’t grade school. You can’t just ask me to drop my pants just because I got a look at you in a compromising position,” she exclaimed.
“Oh, I’m not asking you to drop your pants,” he said.
“You’re not,” she asked. Veronica had another moment of relief before Victor leaned forward and spoke again.
“I want you to pull up your skirt, take off your panties and hand them over to me,” he said holding her shocked gaze.
“And I want you to do that every time you meet with me. I want the knowledge that you’re as laid bare as I was last night.”
“You’re crazy,” she exclaimed. She didn’t bother trying to hide her anger. What type of person went around demanding panties as retribution?
“I’m not going to hand anything over to you except my foot up your,”
“Think really hard before you refuse this contract. You saw me in more than just a compromising position last night Veronica. Just be glad that I’m not asking you to put on a reciprocal show,” he interrupted harshly.
“This is blackmail,” she spat out.
“Semantics,” he responded coolly.
Veronica sat in angry silence for several minutes just staring at Victor. The man was completely insane. She dropped her gaze to the retainer contract.
She wanted badly to just get up and walk away, but he was right. The money from the contract was hard to ignore. The retainer alone was a big boon, but to have a company as large as Nile Enterprises in her portfolio was a huge deal. It gave her business a level of legitimacy that would otherwise have taken her several years to obtain.
She stared down at the contract a few minutes more before she made her final decision. In the end it all came down to how badly she wanted her business to succeed. She would agree to Victor’s insane demand, but not without stating some ground rules of her own.
With her decision made, she straightened her back and locked her gaze firmly onto Victor’s cold green eyes.
“I won’t sleep
with you,” she said calmly.
“I don’t believe I asked for that pleasure,” he replied, quirking his eyebrow in a way that Veronica was finding increasingly annoying.
She pressed her lips together firmly. He was behaving like a jackass. She couldn’t believe that she had spent all that time fantasizing about such a ruthless jerk.
“And no one else will be aware of this…arrangement except the two of us,” she continued.
“I’ve never been one to discuss private business matters with outside parties,” he said with a slight smile playing across his lips.
“Fine,” she said as she dropped her gaze from his and reached into her purse to pull out a pen. She pulled the contract forward and signed the bottom page with hands she fought to keep steady from shaking. After she placed the pen down, she couldn’t prevent her hands from clutching tightly on the cool glass top of Victor’s desk.
She pulled in a shaky breath and raised her gaze back to his. She kept her eyes steady on him as she pushed back her chair and began to raise her skirt.
“Not so fast,” he said harshly, his words halting her movement.
Veronica let her skirt fall back down to her knees. For a split second, Veronica again thought that Victor had changed his mind, but his eyes remained cold and she knew that wasn’t the case.
“The deal is that you would show me yours, so come here,” he said gesturing to his side of the desk.
If it weren’t for his cold gaze Veronica almost believed that his voice had grown huskier. She locked her knees to keep them from trembling as she made her way around his desk.
“Continue,” he said when she reached his chair. She watched and struggled hard not to reach out and slap his smirking face as he leaned back in his chair and rested his folded hands across his flat stomach.
Veronica felt her knees tremble and her stomach quaver at his focused stare and tried not to let her surprise at her body’s reaction show.
Negotiating Skills Page 3