The Billionaire's Illicit Twins - Holly Rayner Page 0,32

that meant she was going to do the best job possible for her client. She’d already beaten me in court—which I knew had given her a big boost, both emotionally and in her career. Beating me in the negotiation, while getting her client the best deal she possibly could, was probably just icing on the look-at-me-taking-my-career-more-seriously-than-you cake.

Well, we’d see about that. I needed to get her alone so I could apologize and work on starting… well I didn’t know, some sort of relationship with her—meaning that I would get a chance to get to know her, and she, me. Which was my new plan. My better plan.

My maybe-I-should-have-waited-for-the-second-idea-rather-than-jumping-at-the-first-one plan.

“We’re here,” Bella said, shuffling through her papers and keeping her eyes on the table, “to sort out the contract that will finalize not only the court decision but also your payment to my client, and the terms by which we all agree to abide afterward. Are there any questions about that? Any confusion about what our relative positions are here?”

Her gaze came up again, her eyes meeting mine, and a bolt of lightning shot through me. Because that was a loaded question if I’d ever heard one. And the ammunition didn’t have much to do with this case.

I cleared my throat. “No need to present it as being so black and white, Ms. Mayfair. I think there’s always room for some flexibility when it comes to negotiations. We’re here to make sure that we create a contract that works for both my company and your client.”

Return shot, fired. I mean not really shot so much as a veiled suggestion. A really veiled invitation. And the narrowing of her eyes told me that she’d heard it loud and clear. But wasn’t yet convinced.

“The judge has already ruled in our favor, Mr. Parker,” she said sharply. “That means your company’s comfort isn’t really my problem anymore.”

I didn’t back down, though. “As far as I can see, your client is more likely to get a deal he likes if it’s one that also works for us. Playing to only one side isn’t the way to make us agreeable. It’s not the way to satisfy anyone.”

She bit her lip and narrowed those dark eyes even further, but I could see the wheels turning in her head. See her considering what I’d been saying—on both professional and personal levels—and thinking about whether it was something she wanted to run with.

Whether I was telling her the truth, there… or lying.

And I got that. Believe me, I did. Our dealings with each other so far hadn’t exactly been aboveboard. I mean, I’d never lied to her, but I had managed to get her pregnant in our one night of sleeping together, and then thrown a somewhat ridiculous deal at her where I offered to actually buy her baby. Yeah, it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but that didn’t change the fact that it probably looked really, really skeevy.

So I didn’t blame her for thinking twice about giving me another chance.

Then she nodded once, sharply, and I knew I had the opening I’d been waiting for. We just needed to get through this negotiation, with me playing fairly, and she’d give me the chance to talk to her afterward. And at the end of the day, that was really all I needed. Just a shot. Just an opening.

Just a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. One foot in the door of her heart, so to speak.

By the time we got to the end of the negotiation, I was exhausted at the double talk and the effort it had taken to keep my mouth shut. Intentionally playing fair—and undermining my own position in the process—did not come naturally to me. I was the CEO of the biggest name in the record industry, and I hadn’t gotten there by lobbing out softballs or giving in when someone pushed me.

But that was exactly what I’d been doing all day. Every time my lawyer tried to cut something out of the contract as too advantageous to Bella and her client, I stopped him. Every time he tried to stop me from accepting something she said, I shushed him. He probably thought I was absolutely insane.

But I was the CEO. And Joseph was paid very well to keep his mouth shut and let me do what I wanted, when it came down to it.

We didn’t end the day with a finished contract, but we were well on