Off the Record (Off #3)(14)
Mr. Selly’s shoulders deflate and I know I’ve lost. He stands from his desk. “I think that your proposal is more than fair, Mr. Caldwell. I’ll print something up tomorrow retracting Miss Montgomery’s story with my apology, and promising the public that she’ll do a follow up piece in six weeks. And I appreciate your leniency in this matter.”
Linc stands up and so do I. I’m at a loss. I feel like I’m spinning out of control. I vaguely note that Linc shakes Mr. Selly’s hand and heads toward the door. As he walks out, he calls over his shoulder, “Get your stuff, Montgomery. You’re coming with me right now.”
Shell-shocked would not do justice to the way I feel right now. I simply mutter a good-bye to Mr. Selly and follow Linc out the door.
The meeting with Selly went way better than I expected. Not only do I feel some measure of vindication by putting the judgmental, Miss Montgomery in her place, but it was a true pleasure watching those huge eyes widen even further when she heard she’d be assigned to me for the next six weeks. I hope she’s good and f*cking miserable over the situation. That would be a good step toward easing my anger.
The only thing that bugs me is that I found Ever Montgomery to be even lovelier than I remember. There was a moment back in Selly’s office where I thought Ever was going to start crying, and I had a pang of regret shoot through me. But then she blinked those crystal eyes and the sheen was gone. I hardened my resolve and pushed forward.
Now we are riding to my condo. I had driven her first to her apartment and told her to pack everything she would need to stay at my place for six weeks. She tried to argue with me but I pointed out that if she refused, I would just call Mr. Selly and tell him I was pushing forward with the lawsuit. She snapped her mouth shut after shooting daggers at me and packed two suitcases.
She hasn’t said a word since then.
But I’m going to make her open up.
“For someone that had so much to say about me just a few days ago, you’re awful quiet right now?”
I glance at her and she shoots the same daggers at me. I know I should be affronted, but instead I just stare into the cool depths of her ocean eyes.
“If you’re expecting an apology from me, you can forget it,” she says with confidence.
“Oh, I’ll get an apology from you. It may not be right now, but I’ll enjoy making you eat your words.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and stares out the side window. She’s spitting mad, I can tell.
“Why you are so mad at me, Ever? I’m the one that should be offended.”
“I’m mad because I lost the L.A. assignment. Your stupid demands got me bumped from the opportunity of a lifetime.”
I ignore the tiny stab of guilt that shoots through me. “You brought this on yourself. If you would have just been truthful to start with, none of this would have happened.”
“I don’t know what you hope to prove by doing this. You could have gotten a full retraction and an apology from the newspaper. You said that’s not good enough and I want to know why.”
I consider her question for a moment. Why am I doing this? I had every intention of asking for her head on a platter but before I knew what was happening, I was insisting she move in with me for six weeks. My gut is usually never wrong, and I followed my instinct this time. Except at this moment...that’s all I got...an instinct to make her see the real me.
“The paper’s apology is meaningless. I want you to know just how wrong you are about me.”
“I know what I saw...” she says in a small voice.
“I don’t doubt a thing that you saw or heard. But trust me...you misinterpreted it, and then embellished that misinterpretation in your article. It was a sleazy thing to do, Ever.”
“We’ll agree to disagree on that. Until you show me otherwise, I only have my facts to go on.”
“Fair enough. But like I said, I’m going to enjoy making you eat those words.”
She doesn’t respond and we ride in silence the rest of the way to my condo.
I carry Ever’s luggage up and show her the guest bedroom. It’s been empty since Nix moved out just a few weeks ago and I’ll admit...it’s been a little quiet around here. Ever will provide me company, at least.
“After you unpack, come find me in the dining room and we’ll go over the ground rules.”
“Ground rules? You have rules for me to follow?”
I lean back against the door frame and appraise her. Her eyes are crackling with heat and her chin is stuck out. I get this crazy image of me biting it but just as quickly banish it.
I get the feeling that she’s going to buck against me every step of the way and I can’t resist a taunt. “Well...I want it clear that I’m in charge of you for the next six weeks.”
She starts stammering with indignation. “You...I’m not...you can’t...you are not in charge of me!”
I can’t help the grin that breaks out on my face over her fury. It’s so cute the way her pale skin goes red with anger, the brightest part settling over her cheekbones. I hold my hand up to stop her rant. “Relax. I was just teasing. Since we are going to be roomies for the next several weeks, I figured we ought to talk about boundaries while living together.”
She deflates in front of me, relief washing over her face. “Okay. Fine. I’ll be out as soon as I unpack.”