Then it hit her. He thinks I'm a prostitute. She had done too much. The outfit, the preening. Damn. Being a hooker was much worse than being a dumb secretary because it meant that Mack would expect sex. This was Kay's biggest fear and she had to do something fast, even if it meant losing the deal. Time for damage control.
Kay trotted out her most innocent voice and haltingly pleaded her case. "Oh, Mr. Mack, you've got me all wrong." She looked down at herself and shook her head. "This outfit . . . I swear I'm not what you think."
Then Kay got angry. "It's those girls in the temp pool! They set me up! Tricked me! They told me that the sexier I got on my first day of work, the more likely that I'd get a full-time job." She tightened her mouth and pretended she was about to cry. "I feel so stupid! I really wanted to do well here at Yorick, and now I've completely blown it." She sucked in a lungful of air and let her lips quiver as if she were about to start blubbering.
Kay wasn't making it all up. After all, who was the girl in the temp pool who told her to dress this way? Doris! These clothes were more than any man could handle. She should have toned it down a bit, but she really did want to make a good first impression. Unfortunately, she couldn't change now, so she might just have to play the part of a call girl. But first, she made one last attempt to convince Mack otherwise. "Honestly, Mr. Mack, I'm not a hooker. I'm just Mr. Avery's secretary."
"Sure, sure." Mack said it like he was swatting a fly, his eyes never leaving Kay. It didn't matter what she said, her words meant nothing to him. The reason was obvious. He wanted her to be a prostitute, so much that he refused to believe anything else. All her protests merely fed into his fantasies. Dan would have his hands full trying to protect her from this.
Mack stared at her with newfound swagger. Gone was the insecure man who snuck looks, unsure about what to say or do. Now he was doing business with a prostitute, and he understood how that worked. Kay grimaced and looked away so that Mack could return to the contract. This hooker was going to rip him to shreds. Project Destroy-Jason-Mack is go. Mack finally picked up the contract and noticed the red ink, a puzzled look on his face. He read the Mexican discount and turned to Dan, his mouth twisted in doubt. "Dan! You've added a discount for your offshore products. Are they defective?" Then, with a heaping spoonful of sarcasm, he added, "You're such a nice guy."