Her Wolf

“I suppose I will make up for lost time by getting right to the point and start off with where I think we should begin,” Ryan said. “We can talk about the direction I think we should go in and how our plans match up accordingly.”

Catherine swiped her tongue along her lower lip and pointed to a file that was sitting neatly on her desk. Over the course of the weekend, she had also made sure that her investments would be protected in what would be wise decisions and took it upon herself to look up information on the land. Information that wasn’t provided by the Foundation itself.

“This past weekend I took it upon myself to look up what I could find about the land itself. The value, any territories it crosses and what kind of permits developers might have already gotten and how difficult it’s going to be to get those taken back,” Catherine urged, taking a sip of her latte. “I’m assuming that these are already things that you know, so I was curious why you didn’t tell me right away that part of the Park is owned by a Native American Tribe. How do you plan on getting past that?”

“With money,” Ryan answered matter of factly.

“Right, I see. With what money?”

“The money that your donation brings to the table and the power that your name brings,” he replied.

Catherine shook her head in response to Ryan’s answer. Her lower lip curled inwards until it was tucked beneath her upper set of teeth and her gaze matched Ryan’s in what appeared to be a battle of power. Catherine was used to things going a certain way and it was usually the way she wanted them to go. Collaborating on small projects was enough trouble for her; she hadn’t even considered what it would be like to have two A-Type personalities working directly alongside one another.

The tension continued to mount.

“So in other words, what you’re saying is you want to buy off the tribe so that way they won’t sell their land to the developers who want to build on it?” Catherine asked.

“That’s right.”

“I’m sure you’ve dealt with more members of the land commission board than what I have, Ryan, but I’m certain that if there are already developers assigned to this project, they’ve already made a substantial offer to the tribe and one that comes with royalties from having a casino and a resort on their land,” Catherine said, exhaustion now raging in her tone. “This is millions of dollars worth of my money and I want to know exactly how much is going where and when.”

“Okay, why don’t we just start with something easier such as the direction we want to go in and the plans to actually make this happen,” Ryan said. “It’s going to be a big deal and this will be something they teach in law school if we can pull this off.”

Catherine stood up from her desk and slipped off her heels before she pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed the back of her neck. “Get used to working with someone else, Catherine. It’s all a matter of hearing the other person out and working with them for the greater good,” she said to herself.

“What did you have in mind, Ryan?”

“In my opinion the best route for us to take is sort of what you would call a backhanded route,” Ryan said, a playful smile etching at the corner of his mouth. He was flirting with her again. “Sometimes surprises can be so much fun, don’t you think?”

“Not when it comes to my business,” Catherine replied, immediately turning on her heels to busy herself with getting a bottle of water. She wanted to hide the faint blush that was staining her cheeks. Ryan’s smile induced feelings in her and she didn’t know what and didn’t know how powerful those feelings would become, or what they could make her do. “I think the best bet is for us to take a very direct, head on approach. We need to find out what developer will be working on the land and find out exactly how much land they want to use for the resort and how much for the casino. We are going to want to find out how much extra pollution should be taken into consideration and what that’s going to do for any leftover parks in the area.”

“No,” Ryan said sternly.

“I beg your pardon?” Catherine was surprised. That wasn’t a word she heard very often.

“That’s not the way I want to do it and I’m working on the best option to save the Park, Catherine,” he said, his fingers finally letting go of the coffee mug he had been hanging onto. “If we go directly at the developer and start prodding around for information, that could backfire and they could expedite any projects that they’ve set in place and any plans they’ve made. I’ve done this type of work before, trust me; I know what I’m talking about.”

A strong laugh fled the confines of Catherine’s mouth suddenly before she had the chance to clasp her hand over her lips to stop it from coming out and Ryan looked at her expectantly. “Does he expect me to agree with that method?” She asked herself while she locked her eyes on his, waiting for him to tell her he was joking.

“This is another one of your jokes that I don’t get, right?”

Ryan shook his head.

“Why do I need to tell you how asinine that idea is, Ryan? Firstly, you want me to just trust you with millions of dollars because you’ve done this before?” The tone that laced Catherine’s voice was incredulous. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard on a Monday and I work in the beauty industry! Secondly, how can you think that sneaking around beneath the developer’s nose is going to actually make things work in our favor? Have you even thought about this at all or are you putting together everything as you go along?”

“You’ve got a forehead vein that throbs when you’re getting upset,” Ryan poked. “It’s kind of cute.”

“No!” Catherine exclaimed, slapping her palm across her forehead. “Don’t start with that. I’ve built one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world so don’t think that you’re going to get your way with me just by ushering out a little bit of charm. You’re not charming.”

This time it was Ryan’s turn to laugh and Catherine seethed inside.

“This is exactly why I work in an industry that caters to women,” she said to herself as she pressed her palms against her desk, emitting a heavy sigh.

“Look, why don’t we just compromise?” She suggested.

“What do you want to compromise on? I’m telling you that my plan will work. It’s fool proof,” Ryan said.