“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t do anything just to make someone else comfortable,” he answered, pinning her with that gaze once more. “Unless absolutely necessary, of course.”
The way his voice dropped an octave on the last few words sent a shiver across her skin and Callie had no trouble imagining what situation “absolutely necessary” encompassed. A visual image of bare skin against bare skin, of the warm touch of a gentle palm, of legs entwined, burned across her eyes.
Heat gathered deep inside her, slowly unfurling through her lower extremities and making her want to shift in her seat. Instead, she reached for the mineral water that had thankfully been promptly delivered, and took a long cooling sip.
“Thirsty?”
There was an edge of humour to Tremont’s voice that slid under her skin to irritate.
“Yes, actually,” she answered. “I had quite a walk to get here, and it’s warm outside.”
“Oh? No parks left?”
“No. Someone in an overpriced set of wheels took the last space.” A cold finger of caution traced a line down Callie’s spine but she already knew it was too late, darn it. Inwardly, she sighed. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Guilty as charged.” He put both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “But if I’d have known I was putting you out I would have left it for you.”
“No problem. I’m not afraid of a bit of exercise.”
She hadn’t meant her words to be an invitation to him to check her out, but he did. His gaze gliding over her shoulders, her breasts and lower to where her long legs were crossed to one side of the table.
“No,” he said softly. “I’m sure you’re not. But still, it would be a shame to damage those pretty sandals you’re wearing. Manolos, right? I’ll drop you back to your car after lunch. Think of it as atonement.”
“Really, that won’t be necessary.”
She was taken aback that he’d recognised the brand of her shoes. Shoes were her greatest weakness, and considering the years she’d gone either barefoot, or clad in ill-fitting shoes purloined from clothing recycle bins, it was a miracle her feet were even in any kind of condition to be showcased in such extravagant splendour.
“We’ll see,” he answered enigmatically. “Now, I’m sure your time is precious. Why don’t you choose what you’d like for lunch and we’ll get down to business.”
When she was ready, he summoned their waiter over. Callie requested a Caesar salad and he ordered steamed salmon with glazed asparagus tips.
“Tell me, Callie, how long have you worked for the Palmers?”
Tremont sat back in his seat, one arm slung across the wide back of the chair in a move clearly designed to be casual and to invite confidence. The look on his face, however, was anything but. Callie recognised the keen perusal he gave her as he assessed her body language and prepared to process her response. She finally allowed herself to smile as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, clasping her hands lightly together. Let him make from that what he wanted, she thought.
“Since I finished my communications degree,” she answered, deliberately not being specific about when that had occurred.
Tremont nodded before speaking again.
“I understand you completed your master’s with honours—that’s no small feat.”
She fought to conceal her surprise. Given his response he knew full well when she’d attended university. He was just playing her. It was really no more than she’d expected, she reminded herself, and she was prepared.
“That’s right,” she said carefully. “But since you already know all that, why don’t you ask me something you don’t know?”
A flare of blue flame lit in his eyes and he lifted a hand to stroke the edge of his jaw.
“What would it take to win you over, Callie?”
“Win me over? I think you need to be more specific.”
“Now, I know you’re an intelligent woman, and I also know that you’re fully aware of the general exodus of staff from Palmer Enterprises to Tremont Corporation.”
Callie nodded, barely trusting herself to speak for fear that she’d let her anger bubble over.
“I wouldn’t call it a general exodus, exactly,” she managed through tight lips. “Some of us are still loyal.”
“Ah,” he smiled. “Implying that you are unswerving in your devotion?”
“You think there’s a problem with that?” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, uncaring as to what he analysed by her body language now. “Seems you ought to be more concerned about the loyalty of people you can buy.”