“Preston—”
“I never got the chance to call security on you the day we met.” He picked up his phone. “Would you like me to finally make up for that?”
“I dare you.” I was seconds away from losing it. “If you’d stop talking so damn much for once and finally listen to someone other than yourself, you’d see that we’re saying the same thing. I do want to work for myself.”
“But not before you work for Marriott, right? That’s why you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t tell you, because I knew how you would react.”
“So, you knew this was coming?” He pressed a button his phone, still glaring at me. “I need someone to remove Miss Lauren from my property. Now. And while we’re at it, she’s officially persona non grata at all my hotels. Make sure the staff who work the breakfast bars are well aware of this fact just in case she shows up there again.”
I shook my head. “Thank you for showing me that you’re exactly who I thought you were when I first started here. Thank you for also showing me that the past six weeks meant nothing to you.”
“The door is behind you. You don’t need to talk in order to walk out of it.”
“I can guarantee that I’ll never talk to you again.”
“Then why are your lips still moving?”
I knocked the box off his desk and stormed out of his office. I took the elevator down to the lobby, not bothering to get one last look at my corner office.
Thirty-Two
Tara
Subject: Starting Day & An Amendment
Mr. Greywood,
If possible, I’d like to start my new position as your general counsel this week instead of next week.
Thank you,
Tara Lauren
Marriott International
One Week Later
Thirty-Three
Preston
The mid-scale restaurant I was currently sitting in reminded me why I tended to avoid places like this as much as possible. The waiters were all high school students who were far more interested in talking to each other than taking my order, the kitchen was damn near out of everything I wanted to eat, and the manager was definitely on the phone with Page Six from the wicked gleam in her eye and the way she kept waving at me from across the room.
We need to get this shit over with.
I waited until after the “dessert” of packaged ice cream sandwiches was served and set the signing papers on the table.
“Will Miss Lauren be joining us for this momentous occasion?” Mr. Von Strum smiled at me from across the table. “I was hoping to see her one last time.”
“Miss Lauren is an official traitor to Parker Hotels International, and she will not be present at any meetings moving forward.”
“What?”
George kicked me under the table. “What he meant to say was that Miss Lauren is unable to make it tonight, but she wanted to let you know that she’s happy we could finally settle on great terms.”
“Well, is there any way I could call her?” he asked. “I just want to thank her.”
“For what?” I said. “Leaving? Going off to be with the enemy?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of getting me to see what all your company is going to do with my chain, Mr. Parker. She was great to work with, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. I found her quite average.”
“Preston, enough.” George tossed his napkin onto the table. “Mr. Von Strum, can you excuse us for one minute, please?” He stood up and glared at me, motioning for me to follow him onto the restaurant’s balcony.
He demanded that all the wait staff leave us alone, and the second they were gone, he crossed his arms. “Are you out of your mind, Preston? You’ve been chasing this deal for too damn long to lose it over your anger for Miss Lauren.”
“Can you believe she went there?”
“Preston, we’ve talked about this all week. All. Week.”
“Have we?” I shook my head. “You’re the one who told me she was going to Marriott.”
“I honestly regret that,” he said, sighing. “Look. I didn’t have all the facts. I just assumed that she was going to be an executive assistant again and that she would be used as a way for them to get insider tips on what we do at Parker International.”
“Isn’t that what she’s doing there?”
“She’s the acting general counsel, but only until their real general counsel comes back from an extended leave.”
“It’s the same shit.”
“I’m your general counsel, and I can tell you that it isn’t.” He paused. “Besides, she came to me a few days ago to amend her employment contract with them, so even if they did try to get her to say anything, she can’t legally.”
“There’s no way they agreed to that shit.” I was still hurt as hell. “What hotel CEO in their right mind would hire her and not ask her anything about working for me?”
“I’m sure a ton of them would.” He shrugged, then he smiled. “But she added some fascinating fine print that will prevent her from answering anything. Some of the same fine print that someone else used behind my back.”
“She used white ink?”
“Not only did she use white ink at the end of her contract, but she also added little notes throughout the first part of the contract in white ink as well.”
I held back a smile. I was still pissed.
“Now, if you don’t mind,” he said. “I need you to go in there and not think about Miss Lauren for all of five minutes, so we can seal this deal.”
“Not thinking about her won’t be a problem.”
“That’s why you’ve been checking on her via the concierge at her condo all week, right?”
I said nothing.
“Five minutes, Preston.” He pointed to the doors. “That’s it.”
We returned to the table, and Mr. Von Strum was standing to his feet.
“We’re so sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Von Strum,” George said, panicked. “Are you no longer interested in signing the deal with us?”
“Not even close.” He smiled and pointed to the papers, his signature freshly inked on each one. “I just want to get the hell out of here, as I refuse to believe that Mr. Parker takes his business guests to a place where the waiters have yet to realize that they’ve only served us dessert and nothing else.”
“You’re correct.” I smiled and placed his papers into my briefcase. “I thought you liked cheap, dive-bar food.”
“I do, but I never said I didn’t appreciate an expensive meal on someone else’s dime.” He laughed. “Show me where you’d dine on a night like this, Mr. Parker.”
“Fair enough.” I shook his hand and led him and George to the gum-stained elevator.
“Would you like me to drive?” he asked. “I’m sure your chauffeur is going to have a hell of a time getting down here in the traffic.”