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“I can handle them.” I turned to smile at her, trying to keep my eyes on her face and away from her nearly bare legs. “With your help.”
“Agree to make me marketing manager once Steve’s gone, and I’ll keep watching your ass for you. It won’t prevent you from hiring a VP marketing over me, but at least I’ll have more status. And who knows, if I do a good enough job before you can find someone senior, maybe you won’t need to hire someone to replace Steve.”
“The board would never agree to that.”
“If I can get sales moving, they might. It’s worth a shot.”
“You make enough sales and I’ll have the ammunition to fight for you all the way.” The music had simplified again to the ticking drum and one seductive horn.
“Look at me when you say that,” she said, “I want to see your eyes.” I turned back to face Annamaria, who was now standing directly across the desk from me. She reached across and grabbed my arm. “Just don’t ever screw me around, Bob. If you say you’d fight for me, you’d better mean it, because I’m either the best friend you ever had, or the worst.” She pulled my arm until I was halfway across the desk, with our faces almost touching. “I know what you want to do, Bob, but what about when the board and your family gang up on you? Will you throw me to the wolves?”
“Not a chance.”
She grabbed the back of my neck, and pulled hard at its short hairs as she hoisted herself up onto the desk until she was kneeling on it. The music was reduced to a barely audible tick. “Swear it,” she said, her whole body only inches away from my face. I could smell her subtle perfume, feel her shaking with emotion. “What’s it going to be,” she |
