Free Negotiating Skills by Laurel Cremant

in ages.
He was on the verge of falling back to sleep when his senses
gradually registered the feel of soft skin beneath his palms and a
warm body curled into his. He inhaled deeply and the heady scent of
honey and coconut filled his senses. Veronica .
    He opened his eyes and felt a moment
of complete contentment. Veronica was sleeping facing him and
curled up into his chest. Her hands were fisted in his shirt and
her face was relaxed in sleep with her soft lips slightly parted.
The sight made him sigh in pleasure.
    He lifted a hand to her
smooth face. It felt cool against his palm. Her fever had finally
broken. He smiled slightly when he recalled how irritably she was
yesterday. Staring down into her face Victor felt a puzzle piece
fall into place. Veronica wasn’t just a woman he wanted to spend
time with. She wasn’t just a woman that enticed him and filled him
with lust. She wasn’t just a woman he wanted to call his. She
was the woman. The
woman he spent years avoiding and running from. She was the woman
he would fall in love with. If he was completely honest with
himself, he was already more than half way there. He already felt
his heart tightening at the thought of her not wanting
him.
    No wonder love drove people crazy he
thought. The feelings that were rumbling through his mind and heart
had driven him to desperate measures with Veronica. They were what
drove him to propose his outrageous contract with
Veronica.
    Looking back now he could see now it
was a mistake.
    Veronica was a strong woman and
contrary as hell. He should have known that the way to win her was
not to back her into a corner. Her stubborn nature pretty much
guaranteed him a fight. He knew she felt the same attraction he
did, but as for any deeper feelings his current method of pursuit
would not be able to ferret out.
    He was going to have to change
tactics.
    If he wanted a real relationship with
Veronica he would have to let her come to him out of her own need
to be with him. He tightened his arms around Veronica and breathed
in her scent one more time before slowly disentangling his body
from hers. He refused to believe that his feelings were one
sided.
    He walked out of the bedroom with firm
resolve. He paused in Veronica’s living room and scrawled a
succinct note. He returned to the bedroom and left the note on his
abandoned pillow. He stared down into her sleeping face one last
time before turning leave her apartment hoping with every step that
he was making the right decision.

CHAPTER
TWELVE
    VERONICA FOUGHT AGAINST A PRESSING
SENSE of déjà vous. She was sitting in Victor’s waiting room at
Nile Enterprises once again waiting for the always running late CEO
to appear for a meeting. For once she wasn’t alone.
    The four VP’s of the company along
with its junior group of programmers sat along with her. The group
was assembled for the final presentation to the board and CLEO’s
official launch. Unlike all of the other times she sat waiting for
Victor, Veronica felt an odd sense of calm.
    Ever since he left his note for her
last week Veronica had been waiting for the moment when she would
be face him again.
    She had woken up that morning to find
his brief note on her pillow. In one short note he had turned her
world upside down.
    Veronica,
    Our contract arrangement
is now null and void. Consider the playing field even. Your
retainer contract is still valid and expected to be
maintained.
    ~Victor
    Veronica shook her head as she recited
the letter cynically in her head. With three short sentences he had
thrown the ball completely in her court and she was forced to face
some very annoying truths. The first truth being that she was more
than a little sad to have not woken in his arms that morning. The
second truth was even more difficult to admit, she didn’t just want
Victor in a physical sense. She wanted him because she felt an
emotional draw to him that she knew warranted more than just a
brief sexual encounter. The third and worst