All That She Wants (Connor's Point of View Part 1) Read online

  “Till midnight.”

  “Ugh. Sorry to hear it.”

  “Ah, well. It’s a livin’.”

  That was one thing I never could understand about people on the lower rungs of the ladder. Granted, I would be working all evening and then taking a redeye back to New York for a business meeting in the morning – but I was amply rewarded for it. More than amply rewarded. This guy probably got kicked and abused by everybody in the chain above him, and shared in none of the spoils. He was a cog in the machine, and yet I could tell even from our brief interaction that he had a lot going for him. He was personable, he was at least pretty intelligent, he was affable – he might have made a great elite-level customer service contact or a low-key, no-pressure salesman. But he was selling himself short working long, boring hours down here for a company that didn’t appreciate him.

  I wanted to tell him all that, but… unless they knew my family’s name, nobody ever listened to me. They just thought I was some rich asshole lecturing them. And I wanted to keep a low profile, so I kept my opinion to myself.

  “True, true,” I agreed. “Look, could you do me a favor and check in on him? If you could save me, uh, having to talk to him… I’d really appreciate it.”

  He chuckled and nodded. “You got it.”

  6

  He picked up the phone and dialed an extension… waited a second… and then said, “Hey, Lily.”

  Lily.

  A slightly old-fashioned name. I was picturing an older woman, 50-plus.

  If that was the case, no problem, I could charm the pants off her.

  “Mr. Zimmerman there?” Stanley asked.

  There was an answer on the other end, and Stanley winced. He mouthed silently, He’s here.

  I grimaced and clicked my fingers, like Damn it!

  Stanley grinned – then looked at the phone as though he’d just heard some new information.

  He covered the receiver. “But he’s leaving,” he whispered.

  Leaving… that’s good, I thought. He’s probably on his way out to dinner. He’s definitely not going to want to talk to ME… which I can use to my advantage.

  “Tell him I need to speak with him,” I said, giving Stanley my friendliest ‘commanding’ voice.

  He looked a little surprised at my change in tone, but he relayed the message dutifully. “There’s, uh… there’s this gentleman here who wants to speak to him.”

  The 50-year-old woman said something, and I could tell from Stanley’s expression that he wasn’t getting any traction.

  “Tell her I’m from LMGK,” I instructed.

  “Uhhh… he says he’s from LMGK,” Stanley said, clearly uncomfortable at being caught in the middle.

  There was a long pause. Then Stanley asked me, “What’s your name again, sir?”

  “Connor Brooks.”

  “A Mr. Brooks,” Stanley said into the phone. “Mr. Connor Brooks.”

  There was another long pause. Then Stanley said, “Sure thing, Lily,” and held out the receiver to me. “She wants to talk to you.”

  Great.

  Probably an OFFICIOUS 50-year-old woman, about to talk down to me…

  Go on the offensive?

  Yeah, why not.

  I nodded at Stanley, grabbed the receiver, and said, “This is Connor Brooks from LMGK. Please put Klaus Zimmerman on.”

  No answer.

  Just dead air.

  I thought she might have accidentally hung up on me.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?” I asked.

  And then I heard her voice.

  “Uh… I’m sorry, Mr. Brooks, but Mr. Zimmerman left just a few minutes ago…”

  Whoa.

  Definitely not a 50-year-old.

  Very young, very pretty-sounding voice. Mellifluous, if that’s not too overwrought a way to describe it. Very slight Southern accent, just around the edges.

  Things just got a lot more interesting.

  She continued, “I can make an appointment with him if you – ”

  She sounded a little befuddled. I decided to take advantage of it.

  “Who’s this? What’s your name?” I interrupted, even though I knew exactly what her name was.

  There was a slight pause.

  “Lily. Lily Ross.”

  “And you’re his secretary, Lily?”

  “Yes sir.”

  That killed me. ‘Yes sir.’ It was the Southern upbringing, had to be. She was probably really young.

  How young, exactly? I wondered.

  “Ahhh, ‘yes sir,’ I like that,” I chuckled, teasing her a little. Then I used the tone I reserve for women I’ve dated when they’re being naughty and think they’re getting away with it. “Lily, you have his cell number, don’t you?”

  The ‘you naughty, naughty girl who needs to be spanked’ tone of voice worked. She sounded even more flustered now.

  “Uh… yes, but – ”

  “I’m going to need that number, Lily.”

  “I’m really sorry, Mr. Brooks, but I can’t give out Mr. Zimmerman’s cell number – ”

  “We’re wasting time, Lily. You and I both know Klaus is still in the building. I need his cell before he drives off to whatever frou-frou wine bar he’s going to tonight.”

  She sounded as though she liked my dig at her boss, but she still wouldn’t give an inch. “I’m sorry, Mr. Brooks, I can’t.”

  Hmmm. Interesting. She had a little backbone to her.

  “Discretion. I like that. Then I need you to come down here, Lily. And bring your cell phone.”

  “…excuse me?”

  “Come on, Lily, daylight’s burning. Stanley will be here to chaperone, and I promise I won’t bite. But I need to talk to Klaus. Immediately.”

  “I’m… not sure I’m comfortable – ”

  We were wasting time, and I hate wasting time.

  I decided to let her have it with both barrels.

  “Lily.”

  I paused, then said as seductively as I could:

  “…please?”

  There was a long pause.

  I heard her catch her breath.

  “…I – I’ll be down in two minutes,” she finally stammered.

  “Good,” I smiled, then hung up.

  7

  I chatted it up with Stanley as I waited. Turns out he was a big Lakers fan and had recently gone to one of their home games. I told him about going to see the Knicks (I didn’t mention the box seats, just that I’d seen them recently at Madison Square Garden) and he kidded me about their dismal track record this season. We traded good-natured barbs back and forth until Lily showed up.

  I decided I would let her be the one to initiate contact. She would have to come to me, which was good psychology – she’d already given up a large amount of control just by coming down here to the lobby. I figured I could talk her into anything else I needed… although she’d shown a certain amount of resistance that I found intriguing. Basically, nothing had worked except full-on sex appeal.

  That was even better, though.

  I love a challenge.

  I saw Stanley’s eyes flicker over to the side, and I realized she was right behind me – so I turned around and got a nice surprise.

  She was cute – very ‘girl next door.’ I put her at about twenty-two, twenty-three. Short, maybe 5’3” in bare feet. Long, thick, luxurious brown hair – not the best cut, but she probably couldn’t afford to waste the money on a secretary’s salary. Clear, radiant skin, with just a hint of makeup.

  Huge brown eyes. I’m a sucker for big, expressive eyes, and hers were absolutely captivating.

  She was on the slightly curvy side, which I like. I’ve dated too many runway-model waifs with no breasts or asses whatsoever. Nothing against thin women, but the ultra- stick-figures that filled the New York fashion world these days had lost their appeal for me a long time ago.

  She was dressed simply but well. A blouse and skirt that flattered her figure… mmmm.

  Damn. I real
ly had spent too many Friday nights locked up alone.

  I might have come there that night to fool a random stranger into helping me, but my smile was absolutely genuine as I held out my hand. “You must be Lily.”

  She was staring at me, and I figured I knew why. I’m not vain – well, I certainly don’t think I’m vain – but I’d be a fool or falsely modest not to know the effect I have on most women. And I apparently had it on her, too.

  She looked over at Stanley, probably for some sort of indication as to the kind of guy I was. I didn’t see his reaction, but she relaxed the tiniest bit and then reached out to take hold of my hand.

  Her skin was so soft… and cool to the touch…

  I wondered how it would be to touch the rest of her.

  “M-Mr. Brooks?” she stuttered.

  She was nervous.

  Rather than wanting to take advantage, I just wanted to soothe her.

  It’s okay, I wanted to say. I won’t hurt you.

  But that would have been a little weird.

  “Good to put a face to the voice,” I said instead, and hung onto her hand a bit longer than I needed to. Part of it was to put a little sexual charge on our interaction, which I figured could only help me talk her into what I needed.

  But the other part was I didn’t want to stop touching her.

  “Yes,” she said, staring at me with those huge brown eyes.

  Okay, Templeton, get it together.

  I dropped her hand and put on my ‘friendly but commanding’ voice again. “Okay. Call your boss for me.”

  She was obviously not comfortable with that prospect. She shifted her weight from foot to foot and crinkled up her forehead.

  It was adorable.

  “Ohhhh… I don’t really know if – ”

  “Relax, Lily, you’ll talk to him first, and it’ll be on your phone, so I won’t even see the number,” I said, lying through my teeth. “Besides, he’s probably not even out of the parking deck yet, is he?”

  She sighed. I’d hit all of her objections, and there wasn’t much she could say otherwise. She pulled a cell phone out of a small black purse, tapped at the screen, and then put it to her ear.

  Before she could even say hello, I heard Zimmerman’s pissed-off voice. “What.”

  8

  I have to interject something here.

  This Lily woman was seriously cute. Definitely desirable. Her eyes, her hair, her face, her body –

  There was just one problem:

  She might be stupid.

  I wasn’t inferring that from anything she’d said or done directly. In fact, from every outward indication I had, she was actually quite intelligent.

  But she worked for Klaus Zimmerman.

  And Klaus Zimmerman was loathsome to me. He was arrogant with nothing to back it up. He was overbearing and insufferable. I was betting he was incompetent in his area of expertise, yet he acted like he was the Preeminent Authority on Earth. He was rude, he was an asshole, and I was pretty sure that when the chips were down, he was spineless, too. A conniving little shit who kissed asses to get ahead even as he stomped across the backs of his underlings.

  That was my general impression of him, anyway. I was pretty good at pegging people within seconds of meeting them – and I’d had 45 interminable minutes of listening to his snide remarks and empty boasts on that conference call.

  So what kind of person would choose to work for Klaus Zimmerman?

  Rather, what kind of idiot would choose to work for Klaus Zimmerman?

  Maybe she was a sweet kid without an ounce of self-esteem.

  But even if that were the case, she was still an idiot.

  Still, I felt bad for her. She had chosen to live in hell, and she probably didn’t even know it.

  As soon as Klaus’s voice came over the phone, it was like fingernails grating across a chalkboard.

  Maybe a better analogy would be a flint sparking across stone.

  If he’d been nice to her – hell, if he’d even been curt but civil – I probably would have left him alone.

  But he wasn’t.

  He was a Grade A Asshole.

  Which meant he was just throwing gasoline on the spark.

  Something primal kicked in deep down inside me: the urge to protect this woman…

  … and the bloodlust to take Klaus down.

  9

  Lily glanced at me nervously. “Um… I have Mr. Brooks here, and he’s pretty insistent about – ”

  Even though Klaus wasn’t on speakerphone, he might as well have been, he was so loud.

  “WHAT THE HELL?! What part of your brain shut down when I left, Lily?!”

  From there it was a blistering series of ‘fucking idiot’ this and ‘fucking moron’ that.

  I watched her carefully as it went on – and immediately thought, I might have been wrong about her.

  She didn’t shrink down or wilt.

  No: she got angry.

  I could see she was fighting to keep it in.

  But if she said anything, she was going to pay for it ten-fold. With a boss like Zimmerman, that much was assured.

  I decided to do her a favor, and treat myself in the process.

  I put out my hand for the phone.

  She glanced up at me in shock with those gorgeous-as-hell eyes.

  “May I?” I said, and gave her the type of smile that usually gets me my way with women.

  She paused the tiniest bit as Klaus kept up his unhinged rant… and then gave in. I think she knew what I had in mind. One corner of her mouth turned up wryly as she handed over the phone.

  Attagirl.

  Of course, what she didn’t know was that I had ulterior motives, too.

  I glanced at the cell as I raised it to my ear. ‘KLAUS CELL’ and a 310 area code showed on the screen.

  Click, like a camera shutter going off in my mind –

  Now I had his number memorized.

  “KLAUS!” I shouted into the phone, exactly as though I had just encountered my long-lost best bud in a packed bar in Chelsea. “Connor – ”

  For a split second I fumbled. What did I tell Stanley?

  “ – Brooks here from LMGK. How’s it going?”

  I’m fantastic with numbers.

  Not nearly as good with made-up names.

  So sue me.

  There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

  Then, finally:

  “…hello…”

  He used exactly the tone of voice you’d expect from a cowardly burglar if you walked in on him in the middle of robbing your house.

  Fuckin’ twit.

  “Here’s the thing, Klaus – I’d like to call you back on my phone so I can conference in somebody else,” I said. “He’s expecting my call. You okay with that?”

  “Uh – who exactly are you planning to conference in?” he said in that tight-sphinctered voice of his. “I have a very important dinner meeting to attend – ”

  “Thirty seconds, Klaus, and I’ll get right back to you,” I assured him. “Be sure to pick up, bud – you’re gonna wanna hear this!”

  “I don’t have time for this – ”

  I didn’t care to debate, so I just hung up on the little bastard.

  I forgot that the little bastard was Lily’s boss until I looked over and saw her face.

  She looked like a five-year-old who had just learned where babies came from, and was horrified to hear the details.

  I laughed – I couldn’t help myself. She was just too cute. “You should see what you look like right now.”

  “You did not just hang up on my boss,” she said, her voice rising a good twenty decibels.

  Huh – not a pushover at all.

  I was really starting to like this girl.

  I held out the phone to her. “You’re adorable when you’re angry, you know that?”

  She snatched the cell out of my hand. “How are you even going to call him when you – ”

  And then she stopped, as
though she’d figured it out.

  She closed her eyes like DAMN it.

  When she opened them again, I winked at her and pulled out my own phone. “Yes, I saw it – and yes, I remember it. I have a good head for numbers – 3.1415926, 186,000 miles per second…”

  Should I?

  Why the hell not.

  I gave her body a look from head to toe, just for effect.

  “…34, 24, 35.”

  I’d dated a woman years ago who had roughly the same measurements as her. I always remembered what they were because she’d been heavily into BDSM, and we’d ordered her a very elaborate corset at a high-end leather shop.

  I quickly found out I didn’t care much for hardcore BDSM, and we parted ways.

  But I always remembered the corset. The best part of that relationship was seeing her wear it the first time.

  It brought back pleasant memories, and I winked at Lily again.

  She blushed red as a tomato.

  It was funny, but I felt a tiny bit bad about embarrassing her. Apparently she was a little conservative.

  Of course, women who act all conservative on the outside tend to be better in bed, in my experience. That is, if you give them sufficient reason to come out of their shell. They’re holding it all in, about to go crazy from the repression… until you push just the right button.

  Still waters run deep.

  Quit thinking about sex, Templeton – you don’t think about sex for months, and now you can’t stop?

  I decided to give her a second to regain her composure, so I found the number I needed on my phone and hit CALL.

  It took about two seconds for Westerholtz to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi there, Dave, it’s Connor. Can you hold one sec?”

  “Hey, Connor! Sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  I quickly put him on hold and tapped out Klaus’s number.

  While it was ringing, I realized Lily might enjoy hearing this.

  I looked over at her. She was still pink, but not quite as flustered.

  I grinned at her and tapped the screen.

  She gave me a quizzical look – until she heard Klaus’s irate voice burst out over the speakerphone. Then she understood.