Take a Chance on Me (16 page)

Alexis took this moment to step into the spotlight, clearing her throat delicately.

She walked round the table and stood at the other end of the room to Sadie. In fact, she didn't walk, she glided. With a barely concealed flutter of eyelashes in Mac's direction, she spoke, her West Coast tones making her sound like she should be in some teen reality show.

‘But may I make a point? Right now, Bill Galloway doesn't trust Tremain, isn't that right, boys?'

Derek and Graham nodded.

‘And how certain are you of this new offer – can we be certain that Tremain will ever win Bill over?'

Derek and Graham looked at each other.

‘Our sources do say a m-meeting is imminent,' said Graham.

‘But it's not too late? If we can move fast?' she asked.

‘It's possible, of course,' said Derek, ‘but in all likelihood—'

‘In all likelihood maybe we should take this new information with a pinch of salt until we know more?' Alexis snapped. ‘Is that possible?'

‘Yes, ma'am,' the aides replied in unison.

Then turning to BJ and Mac, Alexis added, ‘You've beaten Tremain before, Mac. And from reading those notes, as far as we can tell, Bill's still in charge, and his son Peter's nowhere near ready to take over the reins at Frish. So,' she said with a smile, tossing her hair back with a flourish, ‘there's all to play for.' She looked over expectantly at Mac but he didn't even look up. Sadie suppressed a grin.

Graham chipped in, ‘Would you like us to do a f-feasibility study?'

‘Yes,' said Derek, all fired up. ‘We could compare analysis models, and—'

‘Not just yet, Derek,' replied Simon, standing up and taking charge of the room. He had a very commanding manner and everyone stopped to listen to him, including Mac. ‘Let us first be clear. As far as you have learned, Bill Galloway is a man of his word, and has given Ms Turner here the chance to win the contract fair and square? Correct, Sadie?'

‘Yes, he has. He seemed perfectly genuine to me,' said Sadie, ‘And he's a scientist himself – an engineer – he would see the value in the studies—'

‘And in you, Sadie,' Simon interrupted. He opened his mouth to continue, but BJ piped up. Simon glared at him, but BJ was oblivious.

‘And maybe the old man wants to escape Tremain's clutches,' he said, breaking out in a slight sweat. ‘Especially if he could be “made aware” that Tremain himself is a … a double-dealer. And other unrepeatable words!' BJ added, nodding towards Alexis, who nodded back and smiled knowingly. BJ winked at her. Mac seemed oblivious. Simon ignored them both and continued speaking.

‘So, as I was saying, with Ms Turner as our secret weapon, if you'll pardon the metaphor, Sadie, we may still be in time to come to the rescue of one of the most exciting new products to hit the market in more than a decade. And what's more …' He paused to pour a little more fizzy water from a bottle on the table into his crystal glass and sipped it while everyone waited for his next sentence. ‘And what's more, if our camp has faster access to published studies, the marketing – thanks to Sadie – could be our trump card. Ours, not Tremain's. But we have to act fast.'

The information dump came to an end, and Simon wrapped it up, looking at his watch. ‘The only question is whether MCA Associates is willing to take on the risk. Willing to pitch yourself up against Tremain – again – with these odds.' And with that he looked over to Mac. And so did everyone else.

Mac was nodding his head, thoughtfully. Every eye in the room was upon him, awaiting his decision. But it didn't come.

Simon looked a little surprised.

Mac was wavering.

Whoever this Tremain was, his involvement seemed to have taken the wind out of Mac's sails. And they were already at half-mast – Sadie could tell.

She bit her lip, terrified that last night would have blown it.

All her hard work – her family's future – blown out of the water.

But she hadn't exactly lied to him. True, she'd withheld crucial facts from him but only as he had her.

But he was the one holding the cards.

Or rather, he was holding the millions.

Sadie considered the chances that she might faint if she didn't stop holding her breath.

Mac had a quick word with BJ. BJ started wiping his brow again and beckoned Alexis over, who passed him something Sadie couldn't see. He showed it to Mac who whispered to Simon.

Simon then stood up to address the room and Sadie's heart went into overdrive.

‘Well done, Sadie. A very thorough presentation.'

‘Thank you.'

‘Now, will you excuse us a minute, please?'

‘Of course, no problem.'

She sat there expecting them to leave, then suddenly realised everyone was looking at her. They wanted
her
to leave the room. Oh God, how embarrassing. Feeling like she was going to see the headmistress, she took her bag and stood up.

She forced herself to smile genially around the room at everyone before stepping out the door, her cheeks burning.

Once outside, she unbuttoned the tight jacket. She let out a huge breath. The receptionist peered at her once again over the top of her glasses and gestured towards the chair.

I'm not sitting there again
, Sadie thought, wafting her jacket as inconspicuously as she could, to cool herself down. She paced a little, growing impatient as seconds turned to minutes and she felt the overwhelming urge to pee. Feeling even more nervous than before, she walked towards the ladies room again, to splash some water on her face. God what a mess.

If this is living the dream you can keep it,
she thought,
it's more like a living nightmare.

She was in the stall, taking a much needed bathroom break, when suddenly the door to the ladies room slammed open.

‘Sadie!'

‘Mac? Are you in here?' She struggled to make herself decent enough to join him outside the stall then stepped out.

He walked past Sadie with a face like thunder and splashed some water on his face. Sadie washed her hands and did the same.

Oh-oh …
she muttered under her breath. His aura of power made him all the more desirable and she felt conflicting urges – to embrace him – or to run. She smiled politely anyway and tried to pretend they were strangers, as she thrust her hands in the drier. But the sudden whoosh of air and noise made her jump and blew her hair all over her face.
I am such a doofus.

‘Sadie Samantha Turner,' he said, dabbing his face with a towel and coming to stand opposite her. ‘We need to talk.'

It was a cavernous room, with an over-enthusiastic air-conditioner overhead. It buzzed a breeze through her hair, and Sadie shivered. She wrapped her arms protectively across her body. And it wasn't just because of the chill.

Mac stood facing her, and she realised he was gazing at her chest, at the flimsy blouse betraying her reaction to his being near, her vulnerability clearly on show. A little gap in the fastening seemed to be mesmerising him. Sadie fiddled with the buttons but then gave up, instead just wrapping her jacket even more tightly across her body. Mac focused back on her face. He quickly checked the cubicles and looked satisfied that no one was there, and then licked his lips before he spoke. Alone again with Mac, Sadie felt a sharp pang of desire as he got closer.

‘Sam … Sadie. I need to ask you two questions,' he said, hesitantly, and looked deeply into her eyes. ‘And I want you to think very carefully before you reply.'

‘Two questions? Easy, “Mr Anderson”, I can manage
that much
, I'm sure,' she replied.

His eyes narrowed, but he let it go. Taking a deeper breath, he said, ‘Okay. Why didn't you tell me your real name? Your first name?'

‘For the same reasons you let me think you were a deckhand, I suppose,' she retorted, the indignation in her eyes, but not in her voice. A big deal was at stake here, and while she felt like confronting him on the one hand, on the other she knew that she was treading a fragile line. So, civil and business-like, it was. ‘We were
both
playing other roles last night on the yacht, weren't we?'

He flinched a little at her words, made a little shush noise, and double-checked the door to the ladies room was firmly closed.

‘Obviously last night should remain … private.'

‘Obviously! Of course! I was just escaping from my life,' she explained. ‘So were you, I now find out. All I wanted was to forget about work, and home – the mystery thing, remember? No wonder you were so quick to agree.' She looked at him, disappointed, but he didn't respond. ‘Same story? Behind
your
masquerade? Or was it something else?'

He made a face but she couldn't tell what it meant.

‘And second question,' he said, poker face firmly in place. ‘Tell me honestly, did you
really
not know who I was, before you saw me on my yacht?'

‘Oh,
your
yacht? Silly me, of course, it's yours. And it's yours
now
, not “
one day
”. So much for playing make-believe with me.' She was clearly offended now, and couldn't help showing it. But he was still waiting for the answer. ‘Of course I didn't know! How could I?'

He looked relieved – fleetingly. But then his face became unreadable once more and Sadie felt a bit miffed. ‘So was it just a game to you? Was it? Pretending to be a deckhand, pretending to fix stuff?'

‘You're the one who jumped to conclusions about who I was. I
did
tell you, if you recall, but you didn't believe me. So I just went along for the ride. And I
do
fix stuff, I don't pretend to.' He put his hands on her shoulders. ‘But you've got to admit – it does all seem a little bit too … coincidental? Don't you agree?'

‘That's three questions.'

Her mouth stayed firmly shut as she glared at him, until she remembered she wasn't talking to Mac, lying Hot Boat Guy. She was talking to her potential business investor – and lifeline. Letting her shoulders down, and uncrossing her arms, she sighed deeply. ‘Look, Mac … Mr Anderson … This has knocked me for six, I've got to tell you. Last night … if I'd known it was you … well, I can assure you, I never … I never would have …'

‘Me neither,' he said, quickly, a bit
too
quickly for Sadie's liking. But she detected the tiniest softening in his voice. ‘You see it's true about the rule,' he went on, ‘about business and pleasure. And it's totally non-negotiable. It's helped me out of a lot of … “situations”, shall we say.'

Sadie raised an eyebrow. ‘I can imagine.'

‘Look, Sam – I mean, Sadie – last night was … unexpected. I wouldn't want you to think it would be a regular occurrence. It can't happen again.'

‘Mac, I mean, “Mr Anderson”,' she said, deliberately. ‘What I
think
is that it will never – in fact, never,
ever
– happen again.
Will
it now?' It was as much a challenge as a question. She realised that her whole future depended upon the response. He paused.

‘You're right, it won't. Ever.'

She smiled her relief.
There was hope.
If ‘pleasure' was out, maybe that meant ‘business' was in.

She held up her chin, and thrust out her hand, as if to say, ‘deal'.

He looked down at her hand, hesitated, then searched her eyes as if looking for something extra, something unsaid. They were still quite close, in the chilly ladies room, and she could smell his clean aroma once more, this time mingled with his expensive-smelling cologne. It intoxicated her, firing off a thousand anchors. Powerful memories of last night's most intimate moments came flooding back in. She swallowed hard, hoping beyond hope …

Would he put last night behind them? Would he give the deal a chance?

‘Deal?' she tried again.

Finally he took her hand in his, and she thought she had her answer. His big fingers moved across her palm, and she closed her eyes. The warmth from his hand flooded through her – familiar and comforting – and almost immediately, waves of emotion overwhelmed her as their energies connected like magnets once again.

She opened her eyes and found him gazing at her face. Then immediately, as if someone had suddenly waved a magic wand, a veil came down, and he appeared to go into business mode once more. The intimate moment ended, and the energy disappeared – it actually disappeared, just like that.
God he was good at this.

Mac gave her hand a firm, formal shake then let go, straightening up and displaying a cool smile. Not the half-smile, not the smile she knew, just a little smile that forgot to reach his eyes.
But a smile nonetheless.

Huge relief washed over Sadie, the tension left her body and she too straightened up, and began to fasten her jacket again. This time, though, he didn't watch her do it. Instead he looked intently at his expensive watch.

Something's changed, I hope for the better
, she thought. But the trial wasn't over yet.

‘Sadie,' he said, saying her name like he'd never heard it before. ‘It's my team that usually vets a deal. They do everything. I don't much bother with the detail. So the Frish proposal wouldn't have made it to me unless they'd investigated fully and not found it lacking. At every level so far all the due diligence has stacked up behind the numbers.'

She nodded.

‘So to save my time,' he said, ‘I have to ask you this. Is there anything else that I should know at this point? And,
Miss
Sadie Samantha Turner, I don't have time for games. Your proposal has to be one hundred per cent straight-down-the-line, or we can never do business. If there's anything missing, or anything else I should know … Well, this is the moment to tell me. And if ever things change in the future, I'll need to know – the moment it happens.' He paused.

She said nothing.

Entranced by his blue eyes again, and with her head slightly swimming from the morning's events, she wasn't entirely following what Mac was saying, but kept nodding anyway.

‘It's a two way street,' said Mac. ‘Obviously Simon keeps a day-to-day watch over business, but I'm accessible at all times by email – via Simon, of course. Just in case anything should need a high level response or if something is urgent. Once I commit, I commit. Twenty-five hours a day, heart and soul. But it's all for nothing, unless there's complete and total honesty.'

‘No, I told them everything. It's all there – everything you need to know.'

He looked relieved. ‘Good.'

‘Anyway,' she said, finding her composure again. ‘Your guys seem to have gleaned far more info than I did, about some things anyway. So there's really nothing more to tell. And besides,' she raised herself up to full height, which wasn't very high, even in the heels, ‘I'd be very happy dealing with Simon in the future. If that's what you're implying.'

Mac paused for a second looking as though he was considering her comment. It wasn't meant to be a slap in the face, but it appeared he'd taken it as one. His eye twitched briefly. Then the steely veil returned to his face, and the formal smile returned with a vengeance.

Sadie was utterly bewildered.

In front of her eyes stood a distant, cool and efficient businessman – as if he was a total stranger. All totally appropriate for the occasion of course – apart from the fact that they were standing in a ladies room.

She did wonder though if she'd ever forget the other side of Mac.

Still he pondered.

And then finally he smiled – detached, maybe slightly sad.

But a smile's a smile,
she thought to herself,
surely that's promising?

Sadie's hopes leapt, thinking maybe he was about to give her some good news. She was wrong.

‘So …?'

‘I'm not decided yet. I'll think about it,' he replied.

‘Oh. Okay,' Sadie replied in a small voice, with barely disguised disappointment. Then she forced a grin onto her face and reached out again to shake his hand.

‘Thank you,' she said. ‘Whatever your decision. Thank you for considering me.'

He responded this time with a nod, then a final run of the mill handshake, but his eyes glimmered ever so briefly. Skin against skin. Familiarity. His face may not show it, but she was sure his body felt it too.

Like when you meet someone and you feel like you've known them forever …

He held her hand just a little longer than necessary. As if they were communicating entirely without words, something was happening, and her body responded of its own accord – her nipples began to harden and her breath quickened. His did fleetingly too. And then he pulled her towards him, and kissed her hard on the mouth. His foot was against the door in case anyone should walk in, and Sadie felt her whole body ignite in a glorious union with the desire she'd been quashing since he walked in that door. His kiss was intense, deep, searching, and every bit as passionate as last night. They separated and he looked into her eyes. She was panting slightly and trying to catch her breath.

‘
If
we have a deal. This ends.' He said it with slightly narrowed eyes, and she could see the beat of his pulse in his neck. ‘And this,' he said, and reached his finger to her nipple, pert through the blouse and brushed it, ever so delicately. Sadie let out a small groan. Their eyes locked and he moistened his mouth. Then he curled a finger under the button of her blouse and flicked it open, pulled her to him with a hand in the small of her back and buried his face in her breasts. His other hand slid under her skirt and up her thigh, coming to rest between her legs almost touching her heat. And then he was kissing her again, his hand slipping around to her bottom and pulling her closer, against his hardness. Suddenly he stopped, pulled himself away as if it was painful and shook his head. Then he came to his senses and suddenly let go of her like a red hot poker and stepped backwards.

‘It has to end, you hear?' he muttered and straightened himself up.

Shut down.

She was searching his eyes for something, some clue, some hint. But there was nothing. The glimmer had gone as quickly as it came, replaced by this alien formality once more, and she knew she'd lost him forever.

Sadie pulled herself together again, and felt the first signs of a tear in her eye and a lump in her throat. She fought it with all her might.

‘Safe journey back, Miss Turner. It was nice to meet you.' And he was gone.

Sadie was crestfallen.

‘It's
Ms
,' she called after him, but no one heard.

Sadie couldn't move for the longest time, the drip, drip of a tap beating time with the pulse in her ears. When she'd finally regained enough composure, she hauled herself to the door. As she opened it she just caught the last glimpse of the entourage at the end of the corridor, bidding the receptionist goodbye as the lift doors closed behind them.

No one was left in the Napoleon Room.

She slumped down in a chair and reached for her glass of water from earlier, draining it thirstily. Then she drained the one nearby, whomever that had belonged to, and the one behind that. She was collecting an apple from the fruit bowl when Simon returned.

She visibly brightened. ‘Simon, hi. Has he gone?'

‘Yes, the whole troupe has gone.'

‘Did I do okay?'

‘If you meant the presentation, yes, you did very well, Sadie.'

‘Oh, no, there's a “but”. There's a “but”, isn't there?'

‘
But …
Mr Anderson was … unusually preoccupied. I'm not sure why. It's most unlike him at final meeting stage. He's usually laser-focused and decides in a split second whether he wants to take a deal or not.'

‘And does he? Does he want to?'

‘He didn't say at first. At least not till after he went out to double-check those facts with you.'

‘Double-check those …?'

‘Your tête à tête in the prestigious surroundings of the ladies lavatory?'

‘Oh.'

Sadie looked dejected and cast her eyes to the floor. She had a feeling she was about to hear bad news. Simon's usual poker face didn't help.

‘I don't know what you said to him out there, but …'

Sadie drew a sharp breath. There was that word again.