The Presentation

“So, you see, Mr. Winter,” Dimitra continued, “the app will allow you to take electronic transferring of funds one step further. The beta testing confirmed it’s reliability. We’ve worked out all the bugs and kinks. Since your local bank was kind enough to let us beta test, we thought we would give you first kick at the can in terms of an offer.”

Magda stared at the computer screen in front of her, as Dimi finished the presentation. The minute she had walked in and met Ares Winter in person, she had felt like a bug on a microscope. He had been staring at her hard and his questions, while directed at the group of them, felt as if he were speaking to her and her alone.

Magda wasn’t the strong confident type. Having parents who had sheltered her most of her life and a childhood of engaging in activities which could be performed solo, like swimming and surfing, her social skills were limited. Dimi was assertive, outgoing, and bold while Darya was wicked and sinful. She rounded out their business trio as the quiet thoughtful type who worked behind the scenes. If their lives were a play, she was the woman who painted the trees for the background. She wrinkled her nose as she considered she had done exactly this in high school.

Ares Winter caught the movement and called out, “Ms. Onassis, did you have something to add?”

“No,” she rubbed her nose in an attempt to hide her discomfort, “just an itch.”

“Itches are meant to be scratched,” he said quietly and when she met his eyes briefly, his blue ones were teasing. He slid a box of tissues across the boardroom table.

“Thanks,” she took the tissue. “Thought I had to sneeze but I don’t.”

She caught Dimi’s raised eyebrow and moved her eyes back to the computer screen.

Darya spoke up, “Mr. Winter, we have another meeting this afternoon. As discussed, we did have you sign off on the NDA before we met. We expect you to adhere to the agreement while we continue our conversations with other interested parties.”

“Let me talk to my CFO and get back to you with an offer. As the bank which beta tested your program, I am confident we can come to an agreement. Ms. Onassis, perhaps you could leave your contact information for us should we have questions?” At her startled glance in his direction, he cocked an eyebrow, “I presume since you spoke not two words in the presentation you are the admin assistant in the group and where I should direct inquiries to reach your counterparts?”

The insult was not a veiled one and Mags bristled. “Mr. Winter, I am not the admin assistant. While an admin assistant would be a lovely asset to our business partnership, I hold a master’s degree of Science in Computation and Cognition from MIT. Do not mistake my quiet nature for a woman who cannot hold her own. This program is designed based on my research and analytics of the need for humans to gravitate to simplistic means of securing their funds. While Ms. Lykiaos is inevitably the person who can put my thoughts to program and Ms. Pappas manages our marketing and strategies, I assure you my contributions to this project are not simply taking notes.”

Her green eyes flashed furiously as she put him in her place and she heard Darya chuckle behind her cough.

“I apologize, Ms. Onassis. Tell me then how it is you came to the idea this application would be valuable to banking?”

“Well, you see, Mr. Winter,” her fists curled on her lap, her irritation at being smugly condescended to fueling her annoyance, “I went on a date with an arrogant putz who, the minute I said I wouldn’t sleep with him, demanded I pay him back for half of the dinner he had paid for. Because I had to wait for his Venmo details, I was stuck spending an extra five minutes of my time putting his details into my phone and then ensuring the cash made it to it’s intended destination. It was five minutes too long in the company of a man who bought me a salad to get me in his bed. I figured there has to be hundreds of thousands of women out there who want to be able to simply tap and go. My colleagues agreed with me and we brainstormed the idea and have been working together, each of us contributing equally to the development of our program.”

“My apologies, Ms. Onassis. I didn’t mean to offend,” his words reminded her of the way one would speak to a hissing cornered cat.

Her hands resting upon her lap, out of his view, lifted one finger in his direction under the table knowing Darya caught it but she moved her eyes away from his curious icy blue stare and back to the monitor in front of her. She closed the laptop with a snap. “I believe we are done here. All three of our contact details were left with your admin assistant,” she gave a sympathetic glance to the woman who probably had to deal with his boorish actions at least ten hours a day every day.

“I look forward to speaking with you then,” he said extending his hand outward.

She reached across the table to shake his hand and he held it a hair too long, squeezing it gently. She tugged it away and wiped her palm along her black pencil skirt and hurried out the door with two of her three best friends scurrying behind her.

They entered the elevator and she hissed at them. “Don’t you say it.”

“He wants to fuck you so bad,” Dimi giggled. “I’m pretty sure the table lifted from his erection when you told him off.”

“He definitely likes a good cuckold,” Darya chortled. “He was so turned on by your little outburst.”

“I hate you both.” She fought the way her lips were turning up at their teasing. She dug her phone out and called a rideshare to meet them outside.

“But what we want to know is,” Dimi whispered as they exited the elevator and walked into the bright glass-walled lobby of Winter Financials International, “are you going to sleep with him?”

“No!” she elbowed Dimi. “He eats little girls like me for breakfast and picks his teeth with their bones.”

“What did you say about his bone?” Darya made wide innocent eyes at her as they stepped into the daylight.

“I need to go for a swim.” She huffed as she looked around for the ride share, “you two are awful. Besides, I don’t have time to deal with him. We have operation get Dimi divorced to deal with. If we make a billion dollars from this sale, your insufferable ex doesn’t get a dime.”

Dimi shamelessly shrugged, “I got this. All I have to do is drive him nuts. He made it clear more than once he doesn’t want to be with me. If I make his life a living hell, doing all the shit I used to do to him when we were kids, he’ll grant me my divorce and I will be free to spend my third of a billion any way I want.”

“I want a big beach house with enough security nobody can ever bother me.” Magda said suddenly. “I will live the life of a recluse, like a hermit crab. I’ll come out to swim, eat, and occasionally have sex.”

“You’re going to have sex?” Darya chirped, “please tell me you’re going to break the abstinence thing with Ares Winter. He’s gorgeous.”

“His hair is almost grey. He’s old.”

“Not old,” Dimi corrected. “He’s thirty-three, experienced and knowledgeable but not old. When I did my research on him, I found out he started going grey in college.”

“Your research also shows he beds a different woman every other week.”

“It says he is seen with them, not dating them.” Dimi threw out.

“Like Miklos is seen with them?” Darya countered.

“Yeah, he probably fucks them all.” Dimi grunted as she considered her soon-to-be ex.

“Women probably throw themselves at him all the time.” Darya said. “I mean why buy the cow if the milk is coming at you by the buckets for free.”

“This cow isn’t for sale,” Magda grunted as they slid into the car waiting for them.

“You know, out of all of us, you were the closest one to going all the way, multiple times.”

“Your mom paying off your boyfriend on prom night was a bummer.”

“It kind of makes you suspicious of a man’s intentions when he can be bought off so easily,” she rolled her eyes. “I don’t trust any of them. Especially after the snake Titus in high school or Mark.”

“Mark was a special kind of snake,” Dimi patted her knee. “He was taught a valuable lesson.”

“I know,” she looked to her best friends and sighed, “I have such shitty luck with guys. They only ever want me for their own gain. First Titus, then Mark and now this asshat, flirting with me. He’s only doing it because I’m the weakest link.”

“Say what?” Darya grunted at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Dimi is clearly the leader of our group. She was born to take charge and her confidence radiates off her. You,” she waved at Darya with her blonde hair and blue eyes, “are gorgeous and smart and it shows with every single move you make. You’re clearly the one of us who makes people pay for their stupidity. You could be Dimi’s enforcer.”

“Yeah, I could,” Darya smirked as she leaned back and cracked out her knuckles.

“People look at me and see a quiet mouse with nothing to contribute. You saw it today. I know my value to what we do but others don’t and so they see me as the target to try to manipulate and take advantage of. If he wants to drive the price down and negotiate, he’s not going to flirt with the strongest one,” she flicked her wrist at Darya, “or the boldest one. He’s coming for the mouse. The only reason he did what he did today was to try to throw me off our game. A little seduction and the mousey one will beg her girlfriends to give the nice man a deal.” She made a gagging noise and folded her arms over her chest. “Fuck men suck.”

“I have a question,” Dimi said as she studied Magda intently.

“What?” she sighed as she looked out the window, longing for even a glimpse of a beach along the way.

“What if he truly was attracted to you? What if by you walking into his office today, it was what he was waiting for his entire life and he was struck by the fates and you are it for him?”

Both Darya and Magda looked to Dimi as if she had grown three heads.

“Not saying Magda isn’t gorgeous and hot and any man wouldn’t love to have her for the rest of his god given life but you’re talking about Ares Winter, playboy extraordinaire who has a thing for slinky blondes with big boobs. Though I don’t agree he was looking for the weakest link either. He was definitely attracted to you and he wants you, Mags,” Darya continued, “and I don’t think it has to do with the contract. I know when a man sees something they want. I think he wants to conquer you.”

“Conquer me? What am I? The city of Troy?”

“I’m only saying, you give off an air of superiority.”

“I do not!”

“You do too! Its why we hated each other the first couple weeks of school. Your mother raised you to carry yourself in a way which gave off snobby vibes. You might not like being the center of attention and you may prefer working in the background but your rich bitch attitude helps you with it because it makes people leave you alone. People think you’re entitled. He took one look at you ignoring him and dismissing him, barely giving him, the time of day and he immediately got his dick tied up in knots over wanting you to show him respect.”

“People think I’m a snob?”

“We tell you this all the time,” Dimi agreed with Darya. “I know you’re only shy but it really comes off as arrogance.”

“It’s not my fault I can’t be arsed to bother with people I don’t want to talk to. If a guy is going to talk to me about stupid shit like the weather or football, then I don’t care.” She flapped her hand at them like they were flies.

“There,” Darya exclaimed gleefully, “it’s the Magda Flick!”

She groaned as they mocked her. She had a terrible habit of flicking her wrist impatiently and they’d been telling her since they met it was a dismissive move. She had never noticed it until she watched her mother do it to one of her employees and then worked hard to not do it again. However, when she was worked up, it slipped out and her girlfriends never missed it. “Can we go to the beach now?”

“No. We have another meeting with Glory and Post Banking in an hour and a half. We won’t have time. We’ll go grab a quick lunch before our meeting. Then we’ll go home, change into our surf gear, and ride some waves when we’re done for the day.”

She grumbled she didn’t want to do another meeting. “If this guy is as rude as the last one, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Don’t worry, Mags. We got your back. And for the record, you handled the entire situation very well. You did great. We are really proud you didn’t let him talk to you like he did.”

“Thanks.” She looked to her friends, “can I tell you both something and you won’t laugh?”

“Yes,” Darya smacked Dimi who immediately refused promising not to laugh. “We won’t laugh.”

“If it weren’t for the fact, we had to do business with him,” Magda swallowed the lump in her throat, “I would ride him like a big wave for days. He’s probably the sexiest man I’ve ever been in a room with and the only reason I hardly spoke was because I was quaking in my shoes over the fear, I might throw myself at him and beg him to let me blow him under his desk.” When her two friends were silent, she looked at each of them. They were both staring at her with their mouths hung open in shock. “Too much?”

“Mags, if you want to fuck the guy, fuck the guy. He’s into you. He’s not going to get to diminish our deal from us no matter what. We know our worth. Get the monkey off your back, have sex with him and then it’s business as usual. People mix business and pleasure all the time. Set clear boundaries and that’s it. This isn’t the last century, Magda. If you want to have sex, have sex.” Dimi told her.

“I’m not going to go have sex with a man when I know he’s looking for the pay day.”

“But doesn’t it put you at the advantage? Maybe he does think you’re a bit innocent and naïve but if you know what you’re getting into and you want to take a bite of juicy apple butt, then chomp away,” Darya wiggled her eyes. She frowned suddenly, “you really found him sexy? He’s attractive but sexy?”

“I could tell by his speech he is really smart. His eyes are incredible and his body …” she trailed off.

“He surfs,” Dimi threw out.

Magda spun her head, “he what?”

“Surfs. It was in the digging I did. You find him sexy because he has one of those swimmers’ bodies you like so much. Tall, lean, and long and a round tight ass.”

Magda pouted as she thought of their words. Maybe they were right. She’d spent so much of her life doubting every advance any man had ever made to her since Titus took a cheque for twenty grand and ran all the way to school to brag about it. Though Mark hadn’t been any better. She really had bad taste in men. She had the advanced knowledge this particular man wanted something from her. If he wanted to use her, she could use him right back. Couldn’t she?