I wish I could say the same. “Have a seat. Ms. Maxwell, was it?”
“Yes.” She flashed me a toothy smile that was way too flirtatious for a woman who’d agreed to a date with another man to get this interview. “Call me Hannah please.”
“Hannah.” I gestured toward the chair on the other side of my glass-topped desk.
She teetered over to me in heels she seemed to be struggling to walk in, pausing before she sat down to sweep her gaze across the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up two walls of my office. “This is quite a view you have here.”
“Yes. Nothing like downtown to keep the motivation levels up.” I sat down and wheeled my chair in before inclining my head. “Shall we get started?”
Her eyes widened in surprise, allowing me to see that they were a shade of brown that might have been relatively alluring if it hadn’t been overpowered by all that paint on her face.
A frisson of exasperation tightened my gut at her expression. “Did you want something to drink before we get into it?”
She beamed at me as she set her satchel down and finally lowered her skinny ass into the chair I’d offered her. “Water would be great. Thank you.”
“Sure.” I put in a quick call to my secretary and straightened my arms in front of me to adjust my jacket before folding them on the desk. “I’m sure my secretary told you, but I only have twenty minutes for this, so you might want to get started.”
“Of course.” She cleared her throat as a pink flush spread on her cheeks. She hid her face behind a curtain of hair as she looked down to extract a tablet from the satchel.
Holding a button to power up the sleek device, she seemed to have pulled herself together by the time her gaze met mine again. “Do you mind if I record the interview? Purely for the purposes of making sure I can refer back to your answers while I write my article.”
I ground my teeth but nodded. “If that’s what you need to do.”
“I would also like to take a few pictures of you once we’re done. We need one for the feature.”
For fuck’s sake. “I’ll have my secretary send you a few options from a recent photoshoot we did for use on occasions such as this.”
I glanced down at the thick charcoal-colored hunk of metal on my wrist and, more specifically, the broad face of the watch it secured there. “You have seventeen minutes remaining, Ms. Maxwell. I assure you, the twenty-minute slot you have really is only twenty minutes long. It wasn’t an estimation or a guideline about how much time I have for you this morning.”
God, my mother would shove a pineapple up my ass if she heard me speaking to a woman this way. Thankfully, Mommy Dearest was all the way in Woodstock, Illinois and never came out here, so the chances of her finding out were slim.
Also, this fucking reporter was getting on my nerves.
At least she had the decency to look a little flustered. At least the rude words seemed to kick that bony butt into gear. She cleared her throat again and looked down at the lit screen of the tablet before setting her jaw, annoyance flashing in her eyes when they met mine.
“Of course, Mr. Gaines.” She’d obviously picked up on the fact that I was sticking to being formal and she was following my lead. Usually, I wasn’t a stickler for formality, but this woman wasn’t my friend and she never would be.
Until I saw the article she wrote, I wasn’t even sure what her real goal with it was. The publication had claimed it was for an industry feature when I’d had my secretary call them, but I wouldn’t know for sure until it was published.
The last one was also supposed to have been a professional profile but it had turned out more like a dating profile than anything else. Fucking reporters.
“The Times is currently running a series of articles on the most influential and successful men and women in the city,” she said, seemingly having found her professionalism somewhere deep down inside. “We’re trying to include people from a variety of professions and industries, and you have been chosen for real estate.”
“Go me,” I muttered under my breath.
If she’d heard my sarcastic remark, she chose to ignore it. “There’s surprisingly little known about you for a man of your stature. It’s like one day your firm just popped up out of nowhere and now you’re the biggest name in commercial real estate in Texas. How did that happen?”
“The firm didn’t pop up out of nowhere. I can assure you of that much.” My lips curved into a smirk. “I started this company and it took me years to build it up from nothing into what it is today.”
“Okay, but that’s still a vague answer.” Her tone had changed and was now as sharp as the edge of a blade. “How did you do it?”
So, she has some spunk after all? This was more like a woman I could imagine Andrew going out with, even if it wouldn’t last. The man was allergic to commitment, but it wasn’t like I was one to talk.
I shrugged as I relaxed back into my padded chair. “Blood, sweat, and tears, Ms. Maxwell. It’s the only way to make something of yourself, wouldn’t you agree?”
She gave me a smirk of her own. “I would, which is why I’m not letting you get away with your vagueness. I had to run to make it here on time, so I’ve had my fair share of sweat for today. How about you give me something to make it worthwhile?”
“Fair enough.” I cracked a smile, but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Andrew called it a serial-killer smile, cold and cruel. “After I moved here, I got my real estate license and I worked every day to become, as you called me, the biggest name in commercial real estate in Texas.”
Hannah rolled her eyes, and I wondered if her makeup would crack from the action. Sadly, it didn’t. “Okay, let’s change it up a little. You’re rumored to be worth billions. Is that true?”
“I’ve closed some pretty large deals in my time and I was careful with my money. I invested well and wisely. Now I’m reaping the fruits of making smart decisions.”
A soft snort came from her. “Would you care to tell me more about those decisions?”
“No, I’m not a financial adviser and I don’t pretend to be. If you want my advice, find someone who really knows what they’re doing to look after your money for you.”
“Thanks,” she said curtly, sarcasm thickening her voice. “What about other kinds of investments? Is there a woman in your life you’re investing time in right now?”
“No, but that was a clever way of working that question in there.”
“Interviewing you is like pulling teeth. Do you know that? I’ve heard you have such a charismatic personality that you could sell ice to the Inuit, but you’re not being particularly forthcoming.”
“On the contrary, I’m an open book, Ms. Maxwell. Being charismatic is not the same thing as being forthcoming. Two different qualities, one of which I’ve been told I have, and the other? Well, I can be forthcoming. You’re just not asking the right questions. Everything you’ve asked me is out there already.”
She sat back and lifted her tablet, barely sparing it a glance before putting it down on the desk again. I knew she was still using it to record, but it appeared she was changing direction and leaving her pre-determined set of questions behind.