Page 9 of Emergency Exit
“OK, well, I don’t know about Valkyrie Security, but Valkyrie Development does not justbuild stuff.”
“I drove past three job sites with his banner on them on my way here, and he was talking about a new tunnel contract thingie last time we went out.” He thought. Possibly. There had also been a lot of drinking, delicious donuts, and passing out at Rowan’s. It had been a brotherly attempt to cheer him up from his breakup. It had worked. Mostly. Except for the hang-over and the fact that he hadn’t told them the truth aboutwhyhe’d broken up with Emma. But there was no way he could tell Rowan what had happened after Rowan had vouched for him with the FBI.
Harper facepalmed herself. “That project already has a documentary crew following it. It’s going to be onWorld’s Biggest Builds.He’s importing the drill heads from Germany, and they will come through the Panama Canal because they’re too big to fit on a plane.”
“Oh.”
That was a different order of magnitude from putting upsome houses. Ash hadn’t realized that Forest was working on an international stage. No wonder Forest seemed so stressed these days.
“My firm did the Emergency Plan for the job—it’s a showcase project on their website. It was one of the reasons I thought they would be cool to work for and why I moved here.”
“So you moved because of Forest,” said Ash, trying not to feel incredibly jealous. Asher loved his brothers. But for once in his damn life, he would have liked to have been the cool one.
“Well, it was one of the data points on my spreadsheet. It wasn’t the one that beat San Diego, but the chart I made showed...” Harper trailed off, blushing. “I mean... I just... I like spreadsheets,” she muttered and took a quick drink.
“I bet your spreadsheets are the prettiest.”
“They say I use too much pink,” said Harper.
Ash felt like a cog had clicked into place. This was now a negotiation.
“I see now what the problem is. I should have prepared a PowerPoint on the advantages of being my girlfriend.”
“No!” exclaimed Harper, looking alarmed. “I don’t need PowerPoints to be your girlfriend! I’m not that much of a nerd!”
“But a spreadsheet would have helped, wouldn’t it?”
Never askwhy. Whymade people defensive. Always askwhat.
“What should I have put in my presentation? You should know that Iwillfeed you and give you bribes. Post-it Notes and erasable highlighters, for instance. Or one of those tablet things that translate handwriting into text.”
He’d talked too much. He should have let the question hang. The silence would have convinced her to answer.
“Your bribe offer is organizational office supplies?” Harper asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You know you want them,” said Ash challengingly, leaningcloser. He was certain that he was right. Girls who liked spreadsheets always needed erasable highlighters.
“That is not the point,” she said breathlessly. “And this is ridiculous. You can’t just offer me gifts to be your girlfriend.”
She was having trouble with the idea. Ash needed to normalize it.
“Lots of people do it. There is a shocking amount of quid pro quo in rich people dating. Dating a Van Lanken was eye-opening in that regard.”
“I’m not a rich person,” said Harper sternly. “I date people because I like them.”
“But this isn’t dating,” said Ash. “It’s going with me to lame parties and pretending that you’ve been my girlfriend for at least a month and that I always buy you everything.”
“Asher!” Harper protested, laughing.
“Seriously, I’ve got a party, two fundraisers, and one networking social next week. I need to make an appearance at each of them for about an hour.”
“That’s something nearly every night of the week,” said Harper, looking shocked.
“I know! It’s horrible. It’s very difficult to be an introvert when I keep having to see people. I don’t like it.”
“But I don’t like it either!”
“Of course not! But if we were together, I could say I had promised to take you someplace more fun, and then we could leave early!”
