Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 459

"Why?"

"Personal reasons."

I waited for him to elaborate. He went back to typing.

"Fine." I crossed my legs and tried to find a way to sit in the chair that didn't make me feel like a child called into the principal's office. "Why was everyone downstairs staring at us?"

"At you," he corrected, still typing. "They've never seen me bring a woman here."

"You mean they've never seen you bring a woman anywhere."

"Close enough. Women don't work closely with me. I prefer to do business with men."

I gave a small, unimpressed snort. "Why? Are you biased against women? Do you think we're only good for one thing?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to. You keep women out of your work and only deal with us when the bedroom is involved. It isn't hard to connect those dots."

He stopped typing and leaned back in his chair, studying me with the faintest trace of amusement. "I've never disputed what a woman can do. Keeping women away from my business has less to do with them and more to do with me."

My brow furrowed. "What does that mean?"

"Wouldn't it be humiliating," he said slowly, "if I stooped to banging my employees?"

I stared at him. He let the corner of his mouth curl into something close to a grin.

"Like most people, I have a bottom line. Better to avoid temptation than to walk straight into it."

"Only if they're lucky."

We ate in a private dining room where the staff moved like shadows and the food arrived without anyone seeming to bring it. Sparrow ate the way he did everything else, with a quiet, efficient focus, and I spent most of the meal watching him and pretending I wasn't.

After lunch, we left the building together and climbed into the helicopter that waited for us on the rooftop. It was only when we were strapped in and rising over the city that Sparrow leaned close enough to be heard over the rotors.

"We're finally going to the remote location for the meeting."

I laughed, and the sound was lost in the noise. "I was starting to think you'd made the whole thing up."

"You thought I invented a business meeting just to get you out of the house?"

"The thought crossed my mind."