She’d thought they’d spend the entire ride in uncomfortable silence, but halfway through, he said, “It’s not right, you coming back into his life like this all of sudden.”
Eva could appreciate his loyalty, but…“He’s the one who made me come all the way to New York. Trust me, I was very happy staying out of his life in Texas.”
“You’re not dressed like you were dragged here.” He cast his eyes toward her slinky dress.
“I was physically ambushed by four little old ladies who forced me into this get up. Have you ever been ambushed by old ladies? They’re rough, then they guilt trip you if you try to fight back. Believe me, you cannot win.”
Emilio now turned fully toward her. “What happened in Pittsburgh?”
She felt her face warm. “Nothing that warranted all of this. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you,” he said, his voice clipped. “I’m the one who had to put him back together again after you left. If it were up to me, I’d keep you on the other side of the planet from him. But it isn’t.”
The elevator dinged, saving her from having to answer. They stepped out into a large, all-glass suite. Every wall was floor-to-ceiling glass and she could already see Alexei in a well-tailored business suit standing with his hands clasped behind his back as he looked out the window. All the furniture in the outer and inner office was also made of glass, including the chairs, Emilio’s desk in the outer office, and Alexei’s much larger one in the inner office. Even the floor beneath their feet was outfitted in some kind of smoky glass tile.
The only thing not made out of glass were the two armed security guards outside of Alexei’s office, and the effect wasn’t helped much by the fact they were wearing matching light grey suits and mirrored sunglasses.
“Is this an office or a super-villain’s lair?”
To her surprise, Emilio actually cracked a smile, which temporarily transformed him into the easy-going guy she remembered. “I tried to tell him it was too much. But you know how Russians are. They like too much. At least it’s elegant, yeah? You should see some of the other executive’s offices in Moscow. Tacky.”
Eva burst out laughing, remembering the complete wardrobe makeover she’d had to perform on Alexei after she opened his closet and found some of the busiest open-collared, polyester dress shirts known to man.
But the laughter died in her throat when Alexei turned from the window and looked straight at her. She had been joking earlier, but as she walked through the door one of the guards held open for her, it really did feel like she was entering the bad guy’s lair.
“Hello, Eva,” he said, when she walked in. “I see you and Emilio have become reacquainted.”
She didn’t realize until the door closed behind her that while she and Alexei had kissed and gotten as intimate as two people could with all their clothes still on, they hadn’t actually exchanged any words the last time they’d seen each other in Pittsburgh.
“You went and lost your accent?” she said, too surprised to not act surprised. She could hear his Russian background in the cadence of his speech, but other than that, his thick accent was gone, an almost monotone reflection of what it used to be. Alexei’s voice, she realized, was now clear and hard, like the glass in his office.
“I decided it would be best left behind if I truly wanted to navigate in business,” he said. His words were soft and civil, but his eyes were unblinking and hard as granite. “But I see you kept yours.”
“Yep.” She nodded. “I’m still Texas through and through. As a matter fact, do you mind if I take a seat? My feet aren’t built for anything with a bigger heel than cowboy boots and these stilettos are killing me.”
His lips thinned as if he was actually thinking of denying her a seat, but in the end, he extended a hand and said, “Yes, sit. We have much to discuss.”
She took a seat. “We sure do,” she said, tentatively sliding her bottom into one of the weird glass chairs. She was pleasantly surprised to find it quite sturdy and not nearly as fragile as it looked.
“Listen, I’m going to cut to chase here,” she said. “I’ve got a pretty good idea why you called me to your office. You’re angry because of how I left things eight years ago. And I’ve gotta say, you got me. Threatening my hometown was exactly the way to get an apology out of me. An apology you deserve big time. So I’m gonna say it now. I’m all kinds of sorry about what happened between us. If you want, I’ll get down on my knees and grovel. But please don’t take out your anger at me on the Drummond. There are good people living there, and they don’t deserve to go out like this because of something I did when I was very young.”
She emphasized those last five words, hoping they’d serve as a gentle reminder that perhaps things people do when they are young shouldn’t still be held against them eight years later.
He regarded her for a few long, measuring moments. He then finally sat down in the glass chair behind his own desk. “Your apology is very pretty, Eva, but the truth is it would be inconvenient for me to keep the headquarters in Drummond. Dallas is easier to fly into. The decision is already made. I just wanted to inform you of it to your face.”
More than anything, Eva wanted to simply accept this and move on. She wanted to say, “Okay, fine,” and get the hell out of Dodge. But as mad as she had been at Berta earlier, she also felt guilty, because her pension was riding on this negotiation, as well as the future well-being of all five-thousand residents of Drummond. The schools, all the civil service offices, everything would close and just about everyone would lose their jobs because of her.
She shook her head mournfully. “Please, I’m begging you to reconsider. The town’s going to die without the Drummond Oil headquarters. Is there any way I can talk you out of this?”
He regarded her with a lazy half-smirk. “I do not want to be talked out of it, Eva.”
She caught the emphasis he put on the word “talked” and her blood curdled, “What do you want then? I mean other than see me squirm in this hideously uncomfortable glass chair?”
His eyes raked down her body. “I see you still like your inappropriate jokes at inappropriate moments. This is a negotiation, Eva. Perhaps you should be serious and ask me what I want again. This time without the attitude.”
Barely resisting the urge to rile the vicious snake he’d become further by rolling her eyes at his command, she said in her best serious voice, “What do you want?”