Ellison sighed. “Well, clearly something worked.”
Me, I thought. I worked. I worked my fucking ass off every hour of every day of every month and year. And I’m still doing it.
Silence fell between us again. While the car made its way slowly through the shadowed city streets, I studied Ellison York. He was broader than before but still elegant, as if being born with money somehow gave you birdlike qualities. The drape of his pants gave a hint of muscled thigh that shifted under the fabric when he moved. His clothes were the highest quality, even though they looked wrinkled and worn after the long day he’d had. He wore an Apple Watch on his left wrist with a brown leather band that looked old and soft from use.
His shirt carried a hint of male sweat, a musky scent I easily could have leaned over and snuffled for under his arm if he was anyone other than who he was. But it also carried a hint of something expensive, something a high-end shop would no doubt describe as masculine and virile. I didn’t recognize it, but I’d be damned if I didn’t want to memorize it and search it out at the perfume counter, if only so I could be reminded later of Ellison York’s signature scent.
I hated my reaction to him, but I wasn’t surprised by it. Physically, he was damned near perfection. Tall, sexy, elegant. Educated, well-spoken, polite. Calm.
He should have raged at me when he realized who’d taken over his family’s business. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d agreed to my demands and calmly made some of his own.
Why? Why not first try to finagle a legal challenge to the acquisition? He hadn’t even asked to investigate the stock transactions or interview the board members who’d approved it.
And who the hell agreed to live with their boss? Even if it was only temporary, his fairly easy agreement to stay at my penthouse had shocked me. I’d only thrown the command out there to insult him. One of the cornerstones of negotiation is to ask for way more than you expect so you seem the hero by accepting less than you’d asked for. I hadn’t expected him to agree.
But as soon as he’d said he’d stay with me, as soon as I’d pictured his sexy ass sleeping between the soft sheets of my guest bed… I’d known I wasn’t going to back down. It was too good. While he was there, I was sure I could come up with hundreds of other ways to humiliate and embarrass him.
I’d make him fetch my coffee and book my appointments. I’d take the opportunity to get his legal advice on several issues so he never knew whether I was calling him into my office for a coffee run or a contract consultation. I would keep him guessing and on his toes until he was frustrated enough to break and tell me how he really felt about the takeover.
And then I’d laugh all the way to the damned bank.
He shifted again, and I felt his thigh brush mine just barely.
“I heard about the Heath and Kelty Investments acquisition last spring,” he said without turning to look at me. “Kirby said his father has barely left the golf course all summer. Mr. Heath is telling everyone how much he’s enjoying early retirement.”
I thought of the man I’d looked up to in college, the man I’d wanted to learn from. I’d felt like a million bucks when I’d landed the first-year associate job at Norm Heath’s firm. And then I’d felt like scum when he’d yanked it away from me.
“He’s lying,” I said coolly. “The man cried like a baby when I took over the firm. Bob Kelty, on the other hand, sold me his shares with no qualms and never looked back. He moved to Florida and bought a fishing boat.”
“Does it bring you joy to do what you do?” Ellison asked. He finally turned to meet my eyes. I met his gaze straight on.
“Without a doubt, yes.”
And it did. The more resources I had to help me assess and invest in new opportunities, the faster I could grow my empire. Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t acquire companies simply for revenge. I took them over because it was the most efficient way to harness the talent and experience of the country’s best investment specialists. I craved the opportunity to help great ideas get off the ground, but I was only one person. I couldn’t attend every promising presentation or listen to every great idea out there. But I wanted to be involved in them from the ground up regardless.
“One day you might learn that money doesn’t buy happiness,” Ellison muttered under his breath.
I bit back a laugh. “Spoken like someone who’s always had it.”
He nodded. “True. Can’t argue with that. And I’m grateful for it.”
His platitude was nothing more than empty words. I wasn’t even sure someone who’d grown up like Ellison York could have enough perspective to comprehend gratitude in that way, but I didn’t say anything.
The town car pulled up to the door of my building. “Here we are. Home sweet home.”
“You live a block away from my parents’ place in the city,” he said in surprise when he realized I lived on the Park too.
“I realize that now. Funny I haven’t noticed them at the local market.”
Ellison let out a soft laugh. “You wouldn’t have. I’m not sure my mother could even find such a thing as a market without Evelina leading the way.”
It hadn’t taken me long to change my mind about opening up a normal conversation with Ellison. I didn’t want to hear him joke about his parents or express his own vulnerabilities. I didn’t want to care about whether the stress of the day had made him sick in the washroom earlier. I wanted to keep my ice-cold anger for him bottled up tight where nothing could defrost it by accident.
That anger had driven me for years, and the last thing I needed was to be duped and drawn in again by his deceptively easy company. I’d been down that road before. He’d initiated a conversation with me in a math class at school, and I’d mistakenly thought he was a good guy. I’d thought we could be friends, even though I’d known he was a member at the club where I’d worked.
I’d been wrong. And from here on out, I’d remember that.
“Mr. Abbot,” I said, nodding to the doorman who held the door open for us. “This is my temporary PA, Ellison York. He’ll be staying with me for a couple of weeks.”
“Very good, sir,” he said with a nod. “You had a courier delivery earlier. I gave it to Jenny.”
I thanked him and continued to the elevators without waiting for Ellison to sort out his misbehaving suitcase. When he finally caught up to me with a curse, I stepped into the elevator and punched in the code for my floor.
He was annoyed. “Thanks for waiting. You know, if you’re only a block away from my parents’ place, I could have stayed there. You could have called me if you needed me. I could still—”
I held up a hand. “Stop arguing with me.”
“But I—”
I turned and speared him with a glare before stepping into his personal space. “Did you or did you not make a deal with me?”
He was tall, but not as tall as I was. His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “I don’t think it’s necessary for me to stay at your place like some kind of houseboy.”
I stepped closer until he leaned back against the wood-paneled wall. “You are some kind of houseboy,” I said in a low voice. “Remember? You said you’d do anything within reason. What I want from you right now is respect and obedience. Is that so hard for you to comprehend? Do you not think I deserve respect, Ellison? Is that too much to ask in exchange for your parents’ home?”