Finally, something I know a shit-ton about.Men.
“No,” I say emphatically, straightening up in my chair. “Answerhim and hide. Ignoring him will piss him off, and we don’t want to piss that guy off. We want to keep him calm and confident and predictable.”
There’s a brief silence while everyone mulls over what I’ve just said.
“Dr. Evil’s real boner isn’t for Sarah—it’s for Jonas,” I continue.
“Jesus, Kat,” Jonas says, grimacing. “Please don’t say it that way.”
I can feel Josh’s eyes trained on me, and suddenly, I feel emboldened. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to brainiac stuff like hacking and world politics and legal research and figuring out how to take down a global crime syndicate, but when it comes to men and PR, I’m flippin’ Einstein, peeps.
“Notsexually,” I say. “He’s got analpha-maleboner for you, Jonas. This is all about a beta silverback wanting to knock off theobvious alpha. He wants what you’ve got so he canwin. Hence, his Jonas-boner.”
“For Chrissakes,pleasestop saying that,” Jonas says.
“So how should I reply to him, then?” Sarah asks.
“We have to keep him off your back and convince him you’re motivated solely by greed and absolutelynotby loyalty to Jonas,” I say. “The more he thinks your interests are the same as his, the safer you’ll be. You’ve got to keep him trusting you. If you ignore him, he’ll start getting paranoid.”
Sarah looks at Jonas and he nods like he’s in agreement with everything I’ve said—and when I glance at Josh, he nods encouragingly, a smile dancing on his lips—so I forge ahead. “Tell Max not to text—Jonas is monitoring your phone,” I say, “and he’s just on the cusp of giving you another humongous check. That way, you play right into his egomania and also appeal to his greed. No matter how much he wants his little freebie to satisfy his Jonas-boner—”
“Okay, Kat, that’s enough,” Jonas cautions.
“—he won’t insist on it at the risk of sabotaging the scam. We’ll just make Jonas out to be the bad guy and let Sarah sound like she’s doing her best to manage him and keep the money rolling in.”
Everyone’s staring at me, but no one’s saying a word.
I glance at Josh again and the look on his face right now is unmistakable: I’ve surprised him.
I shrug. “What? There are two things I know well in this life—PR and men.”
Josh laughs a full-throated laugh and beams a heart-stopping smile at me, quite obviously thoroughly impressed.
“Nice,” Henn says, grinning broadly at me.
“Hey, I might bedumb,” I say, “but I’m notblonde.”
Everyone laughs and so do I—but the way Josh is laughing and smiling is making me do more than laugh; it’s making me sizzle and pop like Rice Krispies in milk.
Josh grabs my hand and squeezes it, his eyes blazing at me. “Does everyone agree with Kat on this? Because I most certainly do.”
Everyone expresses enthusiastic agreement with everything I’ve said, and I feel myself swell with pride.
Josh leans into my ear, still squeezing my hand. “I do believethis little fishy just went for a swim in the river.” He kisses the top of my hand.
I look at him quizzically and he smiles broadly.
“Trust me, I won’t,” Sarah is saying in response to something Jonas just said. “Now that I know that creep’s out there watching me, I have no desire to leave the suite ever again. I’ve got to hunker down and write my report, anyway. This is going to be a huge job.” Sarah shakes her head. “This is so crazy.”
“It’s totally insane,” Henn agrees, exhaling happily. “Isn’t itawesome?”
Henn and Sarah begin chatting about their strategy for gathering the mountain of data and documents Sarah needs for her report and my attention drifts to Josh. He’s staring right at me, his eyes smoldering.
“Hey, Josh,” I whisper. “Can I talk to you for a minute over there?”
“My pleasure.”
We move to a sitting area in the corner of the suite, away from the rest of the group.
