Executive Perks Read Free

thought she was. He found himself feeling a little less warm toward her.
    “Again, no thanks, Mr. Winston. I meant what I said. BFD is my family’s company. It’s the only one I’m interested in running and I’m not interested in running it with any interference from any parent company or from you. If I don’t want you as a stockholder, what makes you think I’d want you as a boss?”
    “As long as you make your numbers, you wouldn’t have any interference from me.”
    “It’s all about the bottom line with somebody like you, isn’t it, Mr. Winston? Not people, not heritage—”
    This was rapidly getting more heated than he’d intended. He didn’t back down from the argument, though. He rarely did. He was glad a quick glance around confirmed the cafeteria was empty. “I don’t know what people you’re talking about, but if you mean stockholders, mine are damn happy, thank you. And no, I don’t have a heritage to worry about. I made what I have. I didn’t inherit it.”
    “Stole what you have, you mean,” she muttered, but loud enough for him to hear it.
    “Fuck you.”
    It just slipped out. Forget about smutty daydreams. She had managed to make him drop his cardinal rule of staying calm in initial meetings with a target, never losing his temper. But the thought that this corporate princess with all her family money was judging him and his methods unexpectedly infuriated him. Maybe he wasn’t as squeaky clean as she thought she was, but he’d done what he had to. Done things she’d never even imagine dirtying her hands with.
    She popped open her Diet Coke and took a sip. “No thanks to that either.”
    “Don’t be so hasty.”
    Those gorgeous gray-blue eyes watched him thoughtfully. “You’re probably the kind of guy who never took the hint in college when a woman said she was washing her hair.”
    “You may find this hard to believe, Miss Beckett, but I never heard that.”
    He didn’t bother to point out that was because he’d never attended college. He was too busy working his ass off trying to stay off the streets of New York.
    “That tells me more about who you were asking out than it does about you.”
    Something about the way she was getting calmer and he was getting more worked up in the course of this conversation was just wrong. He tried to take back the upper hand. “Cut this bullshit. You’ve heard the proposal. Our companies are a good fit. I’m willing to cut you in on it, but if you’re not interested I’ll steamroll right over you.”
    “You can try.” She took another sip from the can. “Who are you talking to in my company, by the way? Who gave you the tip? The greedy old aunt of mine you purchased your stock from wasn’t exactly advertising on eBay. I assume someone knew who to approach.”
    “I don’t divulge my confidential sources.” He leaned against the vending machine, all his thoughts of getting a Coke himself long gone. “At least without some kind of a payment.”
    “I don’t reward corporate spying.”
    “You’re such a good girl, Miss Beckett. It almost tempts me to find out if you have a bad side.”
    Annoyed as he was with her, she was quite sexy in her own way—well, in anyone’s way, actually.
    “I do. It comes out when somebody is condescending to me. Or screwing me over.”
    He laughed. “Gee, I almost got you to swear.”
    “I’m glad you’re having such fun, Mr. Winston.”
    “Grow up,” he responded dismissively. “If you don’t realize by now that I have you by the bal… throat , then you better get out of your ivory tower and get serious. Otherwise, this meeting is a waste of time and Winston Enterprises will be moving to an alternate plan.”
    “Dare I hope that involves selling me back my stock?”
    “Not quite. It involves getting a director or two on your Board to start with. And then you’re going to see how much trouble a dissident shareholder with as much stock as I have can cause. You may have been a good manager