"Cassandra?"

She looked up at him defiantly, chin raised, shoulders pulled back, but she relented, offering him the seat behind him. She would never verbally admit, but he had a moot point, their companies would greatly benefit from the deal. She spent most of her morning reading it, every word, Mr Cooper was a fair man. They had the chance to expand into other countries, other cities, and the only hindrance to all of it was the animosity between them.

For them to benefit, they had to work together, and that couldn't happen if she harboured any rancour towards him, emotions he did not deserve. From all the progress he had made in the company and the passion he had to see it succeed, she was doubtful he would be reckless with this deal or sluggish. Harrison would, no doubt, give it a hundred per cent. It was the number of hours that they would be spending together that made her edgy.

"You do realise that we can't be in the same room without arguing. Right?"

"Not true," he countered good-naturedly. "We haven't chewed each other out so far, so I think there is hope. Personally, I don't enjoy fighting with you or arguing. It just seems like the only thing you like to do around me, so I go along with it because I feel it makes you comfortable in some ways."

"Well, there is no turning away from it now, right? This is a huge opportunity, and I don't want to miss it. That means that we have to find a way to work together. I am ready to be an amicable partner with no arguments and judgments, and I hope I can count on you to be the same."

Harrison sat back in his chair, interlocking his fingers and watching her as he spoke. "When it comes to that, I can assure you that you would never have a problem on my end. On the contrary, I have been hoping for an opportunity to come around and change, at least, a fraction of the hostility between us. You are a remarkable woman Cassandra, I would love to do more than just argue with you all the time."

"Hold your horses, I am offering partnership, not a friendship. There are two different things."

"Of course I know that. This might shock you, but you are sort of an open book. I saw you in the park some days before the party you invited me to, and I just knew that if I called you, you would wave and run off like I had a gun pointed at you. I met you again at the park and said hello, knowing that you would be immediately defensive, and you were. I know you are not offering to be my friend, neither am I."

"Don't presume to be in my mind or think you would know what I would say."

"Really? Fine, then go out with me, surprise me by saying yes."

"If I say yes, it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Oh it would," he nodded thoughtfully. "It certainly would because I completely expect you to shut me down."

The word 'No' nearly jumped out of her mouth, but she swallowed loudly before falling back against her chair to mirror his pose while she tried to sieve to excuses. The devil had played her, and she had foolishly given the right notes. There was now a choice to say no to him and prove his entire theory right, or she could agree and put herself through dinner.

"What's it going to be?"

"You are the devil incarnate. You shouldn't even be asking me out... didn't you go through a breakup yesterday?"

"That was not the question? Don't try to throw me off by bringing my personal life into this. You wouldn't swerve through me that easily. So, I am waiting, Hernandez. Listen, we would have to spend some time together anyway. Think of it as a practice run for the future."

Her jaw ticked hard as she stared at him, thinking of thousands and thousands of ways she could kill him without being involved. He was a cocky headed bastard that had everything planned out, and everyone just fell in without looking. Sometimes, when she had stretched her rival companies to their limit, she always wondered what they felt like when she pushed them to the wall. Now she knew or had a feeling about it, and it felt like crap.

"Yes, yes I would go out with you."

"Perfect," he smiled and moved to his side of the table, "I would pick you up from your house at eight."

"From my house? You can just get me from work; no need to get as far as my house."

"I want to pick you up from home because it is better than just getting you from work when you might sneak a work file into your bag and find a way to change our dinner to a business meeting."

A laugh rumbled out of her before she could drown it with a cough, but she managed to get control of herself.

"Alright."

After Harrison left, she resumed pacing the space of her office and trying her best not to cave in to the desire to call him. His phone number, which he cockily left on her table, peeked at her from beneath a folder. It was becoming harder and harder to make herself resistant to his ideas of peace.

Was it wrong that he seemed to be able to make her doubt her own mind? Yes. Should she be able to gain an iota of control in certain circumstances? Definitely. Was that working well for her at that moment? No.

The door slowly slid open, followed by Julia's head popping through the slit. "There was no blood on him when he left." She stepped in and surveyed the floor with feigned surprise, "No blood spatter and no possible murder weapon in sight. The potential victim wasn't carried out in a body bag, to the surprise of the audience, he actually walked out... happy."

Cassandra scoffed, then moved to sit on her chair. "Potential murder weapon is my hand, and unfortunately, nothing is stopping you from being the victim if you don't stop."

She had a big decision to make, and there was no room in her mind for jokes at the moment but hearing one made her smile. Now, the problem was that Harrison Clark was the most confusing character in the novel that was her life. He made everything so different even when nothing was changing. He was intuitive, always trying to say the right things, but that grated on her nerves even more.

"What happened? I was ready to call security."

With a small head shake, she snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Julia, "Nothing happened. He just wanted to discuss the possibility of us becoming friends and not arguing excessively all the time. Truthfully, I am considering it for some reason fighting with him is costing me more than my company's power."

"What is it costing you?"

She shook her head; there was no way she would mention to Julia her health was beginning to fail her again. Julia would run to her mother fast than tweeter could get it to the world.