ROMANCE: His Ebony Blood Jewel - A Novel (BWWM, Paranormal, Vampire, Billionaire New Adult Romance) (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Harper
went to the lady’s room and went into a stall. It was a relief to be away from Bryce. He was magnetic in a certain way, but it was almost too much for her.

She could only imagine his strong, beautiful hands touching her. Caressing her. 

But that’s so foolish, she thought to herself. She had to be on her A-game. This deal was important to her. Both her career and Lola’s.

I can’t let her down, Harper said as she stood in front of the mirror. She sighed and looked at her reflection. She looked every bit the consummate professional. But could she really hide the feelings she had? Was she that good of an actress?

If he only knew what I felt inside, she thought. He’d probably think I was weak. An idiot. Someone who was there simply to be taken advantage of.

Men like him use their looks to manipulate women, Harper fumed. That much she was sure of.

She looked at her watch and realized she should head back to the meeting room. She turned around and gave herself one last look over in the mirror. Just as she was about to head out the door, she noticed a cell phone laying on the sink.

Hmmm, she thought, walking over. She picked it up and realized that it wasn’t hers. Nor was it the typo of phone that the firm gave to each of the attorneys.

Harper bit her lip. She didn’t know what to do. There was only one other women in the office today — Victoria, that assistant of Bryce.

She held the phone to her chest. She knew what was the right thing to do. To give it back. Find that assistant that she so detested and give her back her phone in good faith.

But her curiosity was piqued. But looking at the emails would be corporate espionage, wouldn’t it?

She could go to jail for that. Or if her boss found out, she could lose her job. Or could she? Or perhaps she’d be lauded for going that extra mile to get the information they needed to make sure a deal was struck that was good for both the firm
and
the record label.

Harper gasped as the phone started ringing. And she gasped even harder when she saw that the name “Bryce - boss” lit up on the screen. And she almost fainted when she saw the picture on the screen that went along with the caller idea - it was a picture of Bryce shirtless on the beach, wearing nothing but very revealing swim trunks. Harper then noticed that Victoria was right next to him, wearing huge black sunglasses and a Missoni bikini with a huge sunhat on her head.

Harper threw the phone back on the sink counter and started for the door. She didn’t want anyone to assume that she was trying to look in Victoria’s cell phone.

She raced towards the door, flustered as all get out. But then the door swung open and she was face-to-face with the last woman she wanted to see at that very moment.

“Ms. Jackson.” Victoria said with a cold smile. “Everyone was wondering where you were. We were beginning to think you fell in.” Victoria’s eyes looked over Harper’s shoulder,  locking on the cell phone that was vibrating on the counter.

Harper turned and looked back. “Oh, I was just coming to try to find out. I thought you left you cell phone in here.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes at her but then put on what seemed to be a very unconvincing smile. “My boss was just calling it so I could find out where it was.” She sauntered over and picked it off the counter. Harper couldn’t help but be impressed by Victoria’s slim yet athletic physique. She was in head-to-toe black and looked effortlessly elegant. That “New York City rich bitch style” that Harper tried but never felt she could pull off.  She wore a black, beautifully tailored suit jacket with a diaphanous yet sparkly shirt underneath. Her skirt went to her knees and was met with knee high black leather boots that looked exquisite and very expensive.

Victoria noticed her gaze and smirked.

“That’s a nice outfit.” Harper said pleasantly as she held the door for Victoria. “I wish I could pull something off like that.”

“I’ll take you shopping one day. Whenever you’re in New York. Just call me up. Sure, we may be on opposite sides of the table during this deal, but it doesn’t mean I can’t introduce you to my personal shoppers and stylists.”

“Personal shoppers? Stylists?” Harper shook her head. “That might be a little…out of my price range.”

“Aren’t you partner?” Victoria said, cocking her head. “We were told that this was a high-level meeting.”

“Well, no.” Harper said. She felt slightly embarrassed but could tell at the same time that Victoria knew she wasn’t and was trying to make her feel bad about herself. “I’m still working towards that goal.”

“I’m sure you’ll get there…eventually.” Victoria said as she waltzed out of the bathroom through the door that Victoria still held open.

Harper rolled her eyes as she followed Victoria back to the board room where the meeting was taking place. That woman was a
bitch
, but it wasn’t the first time she encountered someone like that. Nor would it be the last.

Harper sat back down and looked around the room. Everyone was there except for Bryce.

“Mr. Petros had to leave to take a call.” Victoria said. “Bill Mason is going to step in.” She motioned to a balding, overweight white man who was sweating profusely.

They began to talk about the proposed deal, but Harper’s mind was again on Bryce. She tried to focus but she kept glancing through the glass walls that surrounded the conference room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bryce.

He came in about 30 minutes later. His face was stoic. Whatever phone call he took part in, it didn’t seem to have any impact on him emotionally.

Harper almost gasped when his eyes made contact with hers. She looked away quickly, hoping that he didn’t realize that she was staring at him.

“We’re going to have to wrap this up.” Bryce said after about ten minutes. “I have an event tonight and I think we reached a stand-still. We’ll need to re-evaluate things from our end and then continue discussions.”

Everyone stood and shook hands. Bryce was congenial but frosty with the partners of the firm. But after he said his goodbyes, he left without saying anything to Harper. She stood back. She didn’t feel insulted. He could probably tell through the course of the meeting that she wasn’t there to take part in the negotiations, but was more of an observer.

They all left and she went back to her office. She felt dejected. Drained of energy.

She slunk down in her office chair and spun around to look out the window. She saw Bryce and Victoria get into their chauffeured town car. She admired his broad shoulders. That athletic physique.

“Damn, he’s so hot.” She said out loud.

“Who is?”

She spun around and looked up at her boss. She bit her lip, trying to cover for what she just said. “It’s hot in here, don’t you think?”

Her boss looked around, seemingly unconvinced with her fib. But he didn’t embarrass her.

“Harper, I wanted to talk about the negotiations.”

“Yes?” She said, standing. She began to feel a sense of trepidation. It wasn’t like her boss to sound so serious.

“The partners and I thought this would be a good opportunity for you. We want you to step up and take the lead on this.”

“Sir?” She said, not believing her ears. She had handled some high profile work in the past, but she hadn’t ever really gotten the credit for it. This would be an opportunity to really prove herself.

“We think you will be more than able to handle this. Plus, you’re personally invested in making sure that the deal is a good one.”

Harper squared her shoulders and smiled professionally at him. “I think I’m more than up to the task.”

“I certainly hope so. Because we have another party who’s interested in buying.”

“Really?” She said, raising her eyebrows. “That’s interesting.”

“It
is
interesting, because it’s personal. It’s Roman Santos.”

“Roman Santos? The internet mogul?” Harper definitely knew about him. He was a tech genius, creating a social media network when he was still in college. And not only that, he was extremely attractive. She remembered once going to a law conference where he spoke a few years back. While all the attorneys were dressed professional, he came out wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt that highlighted his developed pec muscles. His gorgeous biceps almost busted out of his shirt sleeves.

She didn’t remember much of what he talked about, something about the legal ramifications of internet privacy, but she certainly remembered how attractive he was. Despite his exotic name, he had dark blonde hair and crystal clear blue eyes. His time spent on the beach as a surfer, one of his favorite hobbies, showed in his tan.

“That’s the one.” He responded.

“Why would he be interested in something like this? No offense to anyone involved in this deal, but it’s a pretty small-time label. I mean, their revenue is dwarfed by Roman’s income from all his internet businesses, I’m sure.”

He shrugged. “We’re guessing it’s personal.”

“Personal?” Harper cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. How could a deal over a record label be personal? She reviewed the financials and minutes from board meetings and never saw one mention of Roman Santos or any Silicon Valley company. “How the hell is this personal between Roman Santos and Bryce?”

“They’re cousins.”

“Cousins?” Harper said, not believing it.

“And apparently there’s some bad blood between them. I’m not sure of the specifics, but I’m sure we’ll find out one way or another soon enough.”

Harper shook her head. She was still trying to process this information. “Whatever’s going on between the two of them, I’m assuming that I’m going to be in the middle of it.”

Her boss smiled at her. “It will be good experience. But it might get messy.”

Harper nodded. “I can handle it, sir. But I wasn’t expecting this…at all.”

“Neither were we. We just got a meeting request during our afternoon session.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Harper. “What if they’re colluding? What if this is just some type of trick? One will low-ball and the other one will offer slightly more?”

He shrugged. “It’s very possible. But that’s up to you to figure out.”

Harper sighed and shook her head, but then smiled confidently. “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

“It sure is. But it’s a good chance to prove yourself to the firm. To show that you’re worthy of being a partner.”

He turned and left. Harper was alone once again. She couldn’t believe her ears. Was she seriously being considered for a partner position? If that was the case, then she would be
the
youngest female ever made partner in the whole town of Oak View. That was definitely something to be proud of.

She took a deep breath and sat down. She fired up Google and started searching for all the information she could find on Roman Santos. Overwhelmed did not begin to describe how she felt in that moment. She had to figure out which deal was better between two famous billionaires, both of them incredibly attractive and notoriously charismatic.

Am I really up for this?
Harper thought to herself as she scrolled through the search results. Was she out of her league? Would she be able to help Brian Washington, the label owner, get a business agreement where he could still help direct the activities of the label, the business he started from the ground-up over 30 years ago?