Dark Horse: Bad Boy Cowboy Romance (24 page)

After all, given that he'd hired me in truth, it was clear that he was willing to do such a thing.

Now, I offered up my discoveries and information to Carlyle as a free agent, hoping to make a profit off of what I'd learned by accident. At first, Carlyle was suspicious, but I pushed hard, even sweetening the pot by also mentioning that I knew some of the other company's counter-attack plans, and that I was willing to share those with the man sitting across from me as well.

"Very well," Carlyle finally concluded, as he finished off the last of his plate of lobster pasta. "You've convinced me - but you haven't mentioned a price."

This was where it got tricky, I thought to myself. There had been some close conversational scrapes before this, but none of those compared to this moment of truth.

I opened my mouth, waited for half a beat, and then dropped my eyes down towards my lap and sighed. "To tell the truth, I'm not interested purely in a cash payoff," I said, only slowly raising my eyes back up to meet Carlyle's. The man had quite piercing blue eyes that seemed to glitter in the sunlight, but I tightly clamped down on my subconscious to prevent from being distracted. Focus, I said to myself!

Carlyle raised his eyebrows slightly, but he waited, allowing me to continue.

"I actually have, well, I've heard things about you," I went on. Almost unconsciously, one of my hands rose up, sliding through my hair and twirling one strand around a finger. "Things about you in, well, a less than professional capacity?"

I waited half a second longer, and then finally lifted my eyes back up to Carlyle's face - but this time, my smile was genuine, tinged with slight embarrassment. "I realize that this seems totally out of line," I apologized, letting the veil of professionalism drop, "but I kind of wanted to, well, maybe get to know you better?"

"And from what I've learned about you, you seem like a totally upright and stand-up sort of guy, in business as well as in your personal life," I rushed on, before Carlyle could reply. "And that's really rare in business - trust me, I know." Here, I gave a bitter little laugh, as if recalling some of the scumbags I'd worked with in the past.

For a moment, Carlyle just stared back at me. I held my breath for a moment, and then let it out in a sigh. I dropped my gaze down to the table in front of me.

"Yeah, I probably stepped way over the line," I said, shaking my head (and also letting my hair toss about my shoulders in a seductive manner, which I pretended to completely not notice). "I'm sorry, I guess I just kind of fantasized about-"

"No, that's okay!" Carlyle burst out, interrupting me.

I glanced up, widening my eyes.

The man sighed, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what he was saying - but he didn't close his mouth. "Maybe we can arrange a time for you to come by and speak with me in a more... private setting," he suggested. "How does your schedule look?"

"My schedule is open," I replied, breaking into a beaming smile. "It's totally open - whenever you want."

Of course, Carlyle was too much of a gentleman to send me away without offering to let me get some lunch on his dime, and I happily accepted, seeing it as a chance to get to chat and better bond with this powerful man who, barely into his thirties, had already succeeded in conquering most of the business world.

To my surprise, however, the conversation flowed naturally, without any of those awkward pauses that seem to arise so often whenever two people are first coming to know each other. I soon found myself laughing - true, genuine laughter - at some of Carlyle's sly jokes, and I made sure to do my best to at least reflect back his sparkling wit.

At one point, when I made a crack about some CEOs growing far too attached to their cars, the man snorted with his water glass to his lips, and he had to turn away for a moment as he wiped his face. My smile was completely genuine, happy to see that I'd managed to make this man crack at least once into laughter, as he'd been doing to me all throughout lunch.

"My goodness," he finally said, once he'd cleared his nose of any clinging drops of water. "Natalia, you certainly weren't what I was expecting!"

"And you weren't what I thought, either," I replied immediately, trying to not notice how my words rang more true than I had intended. Don't fall for the mark, I mentally ordered myself. He's going to take a fall so that you can get paid and afford to eat, and diverting from that plan will just lead to trouble for everyone involved - him, when he finds out the truth, and me, when Britton comes hunting for my head.

Making a split decision, I pushed back my chair and rose up from the the seat. "Well, I do have to get going," I said, the words coming quickly out of my mouth. I needed to escape! "But I've left you my number, and you can call me to set up a time for me to come by and... talk."

"Is there something wrong?" Carlyle was on his feet now, as well, looking a little surprised at how quickly the conversation had shifted. "If you need a ride somewhere, I can perhaps offer-"

"No!" I perhaps spoke this word a little too loudly, and although no one else in Skyhook turned their heads, I instantly realized that some of the other wealthy and powerful diners were listening in. I hastily brought my voice back down. "No, that's all right - I just lost track of time here with you, that's all. It's been... more engaging than I expected."

Fortunately, that brought a rueful little grin back to Carlyle's face. "I do have to agree, I feel quite the same way," he replied. He glanced down at the remains of his own meal. "Well, Natalia, it was quite the unexpected delight to meet you."

I said my goodbyes and hurried out of the restaurant. The hostess sent a knowing little smirk after me, but I barely even noticed. Instead, my thoughts were filled with a swirl of different considerations, bouncing between the plan I'd so carefully worked out - and how Carlyle's smiling, slightly self-deprecating humor seemed to slip right through my defenses. And those blue eyes, how they'd sparkled at me!

If I'd stuck around much longer, I thought to myself, I might even have slipped enough to make a mistake on my plan.

Now that I was out of Carlyle's presence, however, I could feel my resolve returning, strengthening. The plan was on track, and soon, if things went well, I'd have the man's plans for his company in my hands - plans worth a fortune.

I wouldn't slip up again, I told myself.

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