Free The Game by Camille Oster Page B

someone like that.  Her ex had been sullen; an expert at whatever xBox game was hot, and maybe even mediocre in bed.  She didn’t have a great deal of experience to judge by as she had been with him since her last year of university, and the drunken late night fumble with the odd university boy prior to that did now make her an expert by any means.
    She flatly forbid herself from thinking about a mental comparison with what Damon D’Arth would be like.  She would not think about it.  She wondered if he was the same as he was in all other aspects of his life, taking what he wants, refusing to compromize and confronting any challenges.  And he didn’t have girlfriends.  She dreaded to think what he called them in his mind.  What kind of girl would put up with that?  She had to shake this wildly inappropriate attraction.
    Once they got out of the confined space of the taxi, she put as much distance between them as possible.  She took a breather and ordered a coffee from the Starbucks at the base of the building.  She’d already had a coffee, but she needed an excuse.
     
    Damon closed his eyes in despair as he read the email he’d been dreading.  He’d hoped it wouldn’t come, but he had felt that something was up in his gut, and here it was.   A last minute amendment to the bid requirements, and not just a small amendment, a significant one and they had less than two days.  It would take up every waking second for the next two days, and there would be no sleep.
    It also meant that he didn’t have time for other things.  He still refused to accept Clarion as a partner; he knew in his gut that it would be a mistake.  Carmichael had worked with Clarion before and the old couth was too loyal.  Clarion may deliver, but they didn’t have the hunger or the focus to make a great partner.  They were too big, too comfortable and spread entirely too thin.  He needed someone agile, who could move with the requirements as he needed, not someone who he would have to fit around.
    Problem was , he had to focus on the amendment if they were going to have this bid in on time, and they might as well go home now if they couldn’t.
    “Jane,” he roared, making the girl jump in her seat.  “Let’s talk, now.   You others, read through this amendment.  I want ideas when I get back.”
    He strode out of the room and he could hear the soft padding of he r heels on the carpet behind him.  He walked into a small meeting room. 
    “Close the door,” he ordered.  He didn’t bother sitting down.  She did as she was told and came to stand in front of him.  She had her hair up in a tight litt le bun.  It made the features of her face look bare and unobstructed.  She clear blue eyes looked large and apprehensive.  She was actually biting her lip.  For some reason, her conservative look had the exact opposite effect.  It just made her look beddable.  He briefly acknowledged the impulse before dismissing it.  Now was not the time for such indulgences.
    “I need to move on that financing,” he said.
    “It’s coming along,”
    “I need it to be established today, and I need it to be for a proposal with the Australians.”
    “But the funding is tied to Clarion,” Jane said with confusion.
    “We’re not using Clarion.”
    “We’d have to start again if we change the partner.  We’ll never get it on time.”
    “You will have to make that happen, Jane. I am not going ahead with Clarion, so I need you to renegotiate the funding.  I don’t have time to do it; I am going to have to depend on you.  You will do this for me.”
    He watched her trying to work through the implications of what he was pushing on her.  It was a monumental task and he wasn’t sure she could pull it off.  He didn’t have a choice, the amendment meant he simply didn’t have time to set up funding; he would have to work off the funding Carmichael had set up for Clarion.  If it fell to pieces, he would have to accept Clarion as a