He's Got Her Goat (18 page)

Both Paige and Kiyo started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

Paige looked to Kiyo. “Should you tell him or should I?”

“Go right ahead.”

If Kiyo was testing her, she’d pass. “Lye and battery acid can be used to create a bomb. Add cold medicine and you get Meth. No, he’d have to use a much milder base than I use for my soap.” She sniffed the vat. “Could it really be . . . it’s so simple. Any additives?”

Kiyo shook his head with the enthusiasm of a schoolboy.

“Soda,” Paige said. “But how?”

“It was a challenge.” Kiyo pointed to a monitor behind the vat. “We adjust alkaline levels automatically to be the most time and cost effective, and, of course, the greenest.”

Paige could see the liquid in the vat roiling and bubbling as an employee dropped a fresh batch of battery parts in the mixture. Sterling stepped up beside her.

“What kind of soda pop do you use?” he said seriously.

She almost burst out giggling, but Sterling’s exposed frown stopped her. “It’s sodium bicarbonate. You know, baking soda,” she said.

Kiyo tapped the arm of the worker who was taking his next load of batteries to be crushed. “Why don’t you take Mr. Keller back to the office and show him our latest reports? He might also be pleased to see our current projections.” Looking at Paige, Kiyo said, “I’m sure your beautiful associate can give you a complete rundown of the remainder of our tour.”

“Thank you.” Sterling left without another word.

Paige was beginning to feel a little guilty about having such a wonderful time, but then she wondered if this was part of Sterling’s plan so that he could check out their numbers without interference.

All concern shot out the window with Kiyo’s next question. “Do you care to see the two other battery rooms?”

“Zinc and Nickel, right?” she answered.

“You’ve done your homework.” His grin was framed by his hood, and she couldn’t remember feeling so connected intellectually to someone in a long time. He spoke her language.

As he led her down the hall, she asked, “Are you still planning to show me that liquefied gold?”

“Of course,” he said. “I’ll show you everything.”

Chapter Twenty

S
TERLING HAD HAD ENOUGH.
He ripped the white bunny suit from his body and yanked on his suit coat. Logically, he guessed she was only trying to do what he had instructed her, to make the client take her into his confidence. But did she have to be so good at it? And why did she need to make him look like such a fool in the process? Perhaps he was a fool. In fact, he knew he was when it came to Paige. She threw him off. For example, right now he should be panting like a thirsty dog to get his hands on
Earth Tech’s
current financials, but he couldn’t care less. He’d give it all up right now if he could run back, grab Paige’s hand and pull her away from that smooth computer geek.

It had all started in the front office. Sterling paused at the metal door leading there. She had said something about her soap, and Kiyo told Paige her skin was flawless. Not that her skin wasn’t, but what right did he have to be so familiar, and why had she responded so openly? She never did that with him.

He thought about last night when he heard her scream. If she hadn’t opened the door, he would have broken it down. He had looked in her eyes, so filled with fear, and wanted to comfort her, to put his arms around her, but she wouldn’t let him. She all but pushed him out. Then this Kiyo character comes over, and she just invites him into her life? She even told him about her uncle’s death. He had to find that out from Elaine.

The broad man who Kiyo had sent to direct him back to the office stuck his head through the door. “Coming? They’re waiting for you.”

Sterling nodded. There was no use even thinking about Paige and him right now since there was nothing he could do until later. Perhaps tonight, he could take Paige out to dinner. There was a little jazz place downtown. They’d dance. His mind was filled with the sight of her in his arms wearing that deep blue dress. He’d get through whatever he had to do this afternoon in order to make that moment happen tonight.

He pushed the door wide, expecting to find the middle-aged man from the battery room, and was met by two others, only one of whom he recognized.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Julie removed her sunglasses and smacked her chewing gum. “Want to wash my feet again?”

Sterling tapped his foot. “So you’re the other buyer. Who told you about this deal?”

Sliding her glasses back on, Julie lifted her chin. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“That’s why I asked,” Sterling said.

She came up to him, inches away and touched his nose with her bright orange fingernail. “I’ll tell you if you agree to work together. I don’t want us to be enemies. In fact, just the opposite.”

He weighed the idea for only a minute. The difference between Julie’s flirtation and Paige’s sincerity was extreme, but he could play along with the prima donna. It was more important for the deal to work out than for him to have a good time. He gave a practiced smile. “How right you are. No use in duplicating our efforts. I’m here to please.”

A slow grin spread across Julie’s glossed lips. “Those are the words I like to hear, lover boy.”

An older man with a shock of white hair had cleared a spot at one of the desks and set a number of folders down with two chairs beside it. Sterling assumed this was Steve, thanked him and got to work.

Julie scooted her chair close to Sterling, draped her arm around his back and watched. He doubted her eyes were even scanning the pages, but, given her father’s wealth and her temperament, he imagined the reason she was there had little to do with the bottom line. Her decision would be made based solely on whim, not data.

If only she’d turn her charms on Kiyo, maybe Paige wouldn’t be so interested in him. At least Sterling could ask. “So what did you think of the boy genius?”

She ran a manicured finger across her bottom lip. “I’ll tell you if you go to the water garden with me.”

“Water garden?” Sterling diverted his attention from the report in front of him. She had him intrigued. The front yard had been nothing but weeds, and the back looked like a modified junkyard. “Where is it?”

Julie pulled her chair closer and put a hand on his thigh. “Hidden.”

He smiled at her and mimicked her tone. “Where?”

She sat back and smiled. “It’s really quite beautiful, and the last place Kiyo took me on my tour.”

So Kiyo would take Paige there, too. With how close they were getting, Sterling would rather be there when they arrived. As an added benefit, he could convince Julie that this was not that appealing of an investment. If Julie was the only other interested party, he was quite certain he’d get the deal.

“You lead the way,” he said.

Julie leapt to her feet with a squeal and took his hand. They walked out the front door, through the now open gate and toward the back area. Beyond the piles of black plastic shavings, a little path made of those shavings curled around new plantings, each with a plaque below it. One read Bigtooth Maple, another Golden Rain Tree and a third Soapberry. As he stared at the sapling, Julie leaned her body against his back and put her chin on his shoulder. “That’s Paige’s bush. Don’t you think?”

“She’s here, you know,” he said, still facing forward.

Julie smacked her gum in his ear. “I know way more than you do.”

Sterling straightened and moved away from her, a little irked. “Do you know it’s a tree, not a bush?”

He could see she was miffed too, but he didn’t want to make her angry. Taking her hand, he attempted to smile but only managed to stop frowning. “Now, where is this fountain?”

Satisfied, Julie enlaced her fingers with his, as though she’d never let go. “Right through here.” She guided him past a row of evergreens and there, in the center of a ring of tile, was a rising wave of electronic parts welded together like a swell of the sea. Water trickled down from inside it. Sterling barely got to see the thing before Julie wrenched his arm, pulling him toward an empty bench. He sat, wishing it was another girl beside him.

Chapter Twenty-One

T
HE MURMUR OF CASCADING WATER
was soothing, and the garden well cared for. Sterling hoped he might be able to get his bearings in the quiet around him, but it was shattered by Julie’s annoying cackle.

“What are you thinking?” She cocked her head and batted her lashes.

He wondered if she had practiced that particular gesture in the mirror. It was all fair because he had practiced the answer he’d give her. She really didn’t want to know what he was thinking at all. She wanted to say something herself. All he had to do was parrot her sentiment. It was successful ninety percent of the time. “You first.”

“I think that you should have answered my phone calls long before now.” She stared at him, opening her eyes so wide he could almost see the white all around them.

He focused on the water feature then put his head down as though he felt terribly guilty. “Sorry. I’ve been busy prepping for this project. It’s very important to me.”

Julie swiveled in her seat. “Is that why you were hanging out with Paige?” She grasped his forearm with her inch-long neon talons. “Now that makes sense. I could not swallow that the two of you were romantic.”

He pulled back. “What do you mean?”

“You’re shallow like me.” She snuggled up next to him. “We’re two of a kind. We use people to get what we want, so we don’t ever have to get our hands dirty, you know? Like this Keno guy.”

“Kiyo. And no, I don’t have any idea what you mean.” He didn’t look at himself that way.

“Well.” She sat back and put her hand to her chin. “He’s built this whole big techy thing, and because we have money, we’ll make millions off him. I mean, we aren’t really going to do anything except give him money. The big joke is the money isn’t even ours. Mine’s my daddy’s, and yours belongs to Elaine, right?”

Sterling wasn’t buying it. “I’ve spent hours researching and will consult on every level.”

“Exactly. But he’s the one that will do everything, not you.” She tapped his knee. “I mean, look at Paige. She mixes up those beauty bars using her own recipes. She actually makes something that changes the world. Now, I’m telling you, if she was going to sell the formula to that, I’d buy it yesterday and make millions.”

“Six million, actually,” Sterling said, remembering what Elaine had told him when they first spoke of Paige’s business.

“You've got to check your stats.” Julie dug in her large designer bag for her cell and scrolled through her texts. “More like six billion, and that’s only the natural skincare product gross. Her bars are so good she could compete against mainstream products and triple that.”

He stared at her. He’d never studied that segment of the market. Could the numbers really be that big?

“Not so dumb, now. Am I?” She popped the lid off a tube of lipstick, exposing the bright orange color of her nails, and slathered it across her unnaturally plump lips.

“I never thought you were dumb,” Sterling lied.

“Of course you did. I wanted you to.” She tilted her head again and dumped the lipstick back in her purse. “I don’t care that my daddy wants me to flirt with that weirdo, Keno. I’ve never met anyone so boring in my life. And who would want to buy an ugly lab thingy that smashes up cellphones and puts them in 7up.” She pushed out her lips in a round pout.