“Do you want me to ask her?”
Did I? I wanted to know if there was a connection. Had she arranged the meeting?
My mind was a mess. Was Harper just here to spy on things before Charles Jayne decided to invite me to pitch?
“No, I’ll ask her. Can you call her in?”
I slid my palms down the front of my pants. I wasn’t sure if I was on edge from speaking to Charles Jayne or because I was about to speak to Harper.
A few minutes later, Harper walked into my office, Donna trailing behind her. “Donna, can you close the door, please?” She gave me a pleading look, clearly desperate to know the answer.
Harper watched as Donna shut the door, then turned back to me, glancing at me from under her lashes. Shit, my dick began to stir. I needed to focus.
“Have a seat, Harper.” I gestured toward one of the chairs opposite my desk. She took the one I wasn’t indicating. Of course.
“We need to talk,” I said.
She grimaced. She thought I meant about us. “Regarding a phone call I just had.”
“Oh,” she said, and she smiled.
I was going to have to just come out and ask her. “Are you related to Charles Jayne?”
Her eyebrows pulled together and she clasped her hands together. “I’m not sure what my last name has to do with anything.”
I sat back in my chair and exhaled. I had my answer. She was Charles Jayne’s daughter. Donna had been right.
“You’re his daughter?” I asked.
She stood up. “I’m not here to talk about my father.”
“He just called me,” I said, ignoring her glare. “He wants me to meet him and I’ve wanted to add him as a client for so long—”
“Is that why you hired me?”
Her voice got higher as she spoke. I was handling this all wrong.
“Is that why you fucked me?”
I winced. Christ, I could see how it might look that way. I walked around my desk and leaned against the other side, not wanting to get too close, despite her pull. I had to stop myself from reaching out and touching her.
“You haven’t answered my question,” she said.
“I didn’t know.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. Donna told me this morning. And anyway, I don’t recruit . . .” How did I say her position was too junior for me to have anything to do with? “I don’t get involved with human resources stuff.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Be honest. How long have you been wanting JD Stanley’s work?”
“Harper, JD Stanley’s one of the most successful investment banks on Wall Street, of course I want to work for them. And you know better than anyone that they protect their research like it’s gold bullion. That’s why they do almost all of it in house. Any person in my position would want to work with them.” I could really do with her inside knowledge.
She stared at me as if I were toxic.
I tapped my fingers on my desk. This could be a win-win situation. “I need your help,” I said. Now that she was here, I may as well use it to my advantage. “I want you to work on the pitch with me. Help me land this thing.”
“Wow. You don’t waste any time, do you? We fucked last night and now you think I’ll help you get ahead.”
That’s not how it was at all. I thought she’d welcome the opportunity to work on such a high-profile account. “No, I just thought you’d want to—”
“Want to get used by a man who wanted to land a new client bad enough to sleep with someone?”
She turned and headed out of my office before I could respond. Once again I’d managed to say the wrong thing. It was becoming a habit as far as Harper was concerned.
Chapter 7
Harper
I’d called Grace right after my fight with Max, and we’d met at a bar on Murray Street in Tribeca. I waved to the bartender. “Can we get more cocktails and a snack? Something with cheese as a major component.” The bartender nodded and I turned back to Grace.
“Okay, I’m totally confused now. You’ve been banging Max King, the person you hate most in the world?”
“You’re totally focusing on the wrong thing.”
“Rewind and tell me what the fuck has been going on.”
She was looking at me as if I’d just told her I’d decided to move to Alaska.
“I think I got hired by King & Associates because of my sperm donor.” I should have changed my last name. We’d never had any sort of connection, so it didn’t feel like his name to me.
“The sperm donor being your dad?” Grace asked and I nodded. “How do you know?”
“And he slept with me, like some kind of whore.” I shivered. “Well, little does Max know that my father and I only communicate through lawyers these days.” How could he have been so cold? I should have trusted my instincts about him.
“We’ll get to the sex later. You didn’t answer my question.” Grace tapped me on the arm, trying to get me to focus. “Who told you that you’d been hired because of who your father is?”
“Max. In his office.” I took a sip of my mojito.
She tilted her head to the side. “He said, ‘I hired you because of who your father is’?”
“Of course not. He claimed he didn’t know. But he was clearly lying.” He’d said himself that he really wanted to work for JD Stanley.
“Okay.” Grace paused, her eyebrows drawn together. “And you were sleeping with Max? How did that happen?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Late night in the office?”
“He lives in my building. He’s penthouse man.”
Grace’s eyes went wide. “The couple who fucked like bunnies? You banged that guy? Jesus, I’m jealous.” She took out the cocktail stick from her martini glass and bit off one of the olives.
I tried hard not to smile. She should be jealous. Max knew what he was doing with his cock, that was for certain. He probably should have hooked up with Grace in the first place. After all, her family’s connections were far more impressive than mine.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked. “Is he boyfriend material?”
“I have no idea. And of course not.” I placed my elbows on the bar and pushed my hands through my hair. “What was I thinking, fucking my boss? Now I have to quit.”
“He said he didn’t know who your father was. Wouldn’t he have said something already if he did? Is he the liar-y type?”
“Liar-y?” I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.
“It’s in the Dictionary of Grace. Look it up.”
I hadn’t thought Max was the sort to lie; he was too direct. But it was perfectly possible I’d just been taken in by his hard body and beautiful green eyes. Had I been seduced by his genius brain and passion for what he did? “Does it matter? He knows now. My father invited him to pitch.”
“And he said your father told him?”
I waved my hands. “No, he said he put two and two together, and then he asked for my help with the pitch.”
“And you don’t want to work for your father?”