Le Français Pt. 03

"Sinead," Marc said, a little more quietly. "You know workcan mix with play, yes? You can enjoy yourself."

"I do enjoy my work," Sinead said, a little tersely. Taking a bite of the amazing food made her feel a little guilty.

"Tell that to your face,petite rebelle," Marc said.

Sinead fought the urge to sneer at him and just took another bite of food.

"Then let me ask you this," Marc said. "Are you getting what you wanted out of this lovely night out?"

Sinead swallowed and took a breath. At least he was talking in code. "Yes," she said. "And no."

Marc pursed his lips for a moment, his eyes glancing at the other table, before focusing on her again. "When you met with the accountant, I assume that is what led you to the business you're considering?"

Hesitating a moment, Sinead sighed. "Indirectly," she said. "And the due diligence on the business isn't turning up anything favourable."

"Favourable, or useful?" Marc asked.

"Favourable," Sinead said. "Useful is relative. It's reinforced some of my other theories, and seeing who they do business with is helpful if I can identify the other party. Favourable would be something more actionable, and that's not happening. It's a lot of dancing around and making nice, I think."

"Mmm," Marc nodded. "Well, thatis an important part of most business deals. People want to know who they are dealing with, and socializing is a good way to build rapport. It's also good for networking. Something that comes up now could be useful in a way you don't expect in the future."

"Marc," Sinead said sweetly. "Don't try to tell me how to do my job."

Marc held up his hands in surrender. "I wouldn't dare," he smiled.

Sinead sighed and leaned forward, resuming eating. "Thereis something to be gained. The sheer breadth of the contacts and how wide-ranging they are means something. It's just hard to know what, and I can't start anything more official without the proper paperwork."

Marc nodded and glanced over at Victor's table again, then finished the last bit of his veal and folded his knife and fork on his plate to signal he was finished. "Perhaps there is something else we could do to speed things along," he said. "I think we should make another stop tonight."

Sinead frowned but followed his lead and finished up her meal. The way Victor's conversation with the Jamaicans was going, they were going to chit-chat and talk about music, women and Jamaica (Victor had an open invitation to visit, apparently) through the rest of their meal. They weren't talking business here.

Marc must have signalled... someone, because the waiter came by and discreetly placed a bill on his side of the table. "Next time, I promise we'll have dessert as well," he said as he paid by card. As soon as he was finished paying, he stood and came around the table, offering to pull out Sinead's chair for her and then, when the hostess returned with her coat, he helped her into it. Sinead felt pampered on the one hand, but also like sneering at the gentlemanly acts when she could feel the buttplug in her ass anew now that she was moving around again. Without ever seeing the bill, Sinead played her part to get out of there without causing a stir or drawing attention to herself - with any luck, Victor would never remember her being there.

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