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“Miss Davies, Aiden Dennison is here for his meeting with you,” Kyla announced to me. 

“Send him in Kyla.” This meeting will be interesting.

“Aiden,” I said as I came from around my desk to greet him, extending my hand to shake his.  When we touched, he snatched his hand back so fast I thought it was going to fly off his wrist.

“Wow your hand is cold and it’s cold in here.  You like your office being this cold?”

“It doesn’t feel cold to me, I’m quite comfortable.” 

I had the air conditioning lowered to fifty-five degrees which made it extremely chilly in my office.  I figured that would cover the coldness of my hands when we touched.  “Is it too cold in here for you?”

“Yes it’s a tad chilly.  Maybe you could turn the temperature up a little bit while I’m here.”

“Of course Aiden.  Kyla,” I yelled, “could you turn the thermostat up for Aiden, it seems it’s a tad chilly in here for him,” I repeated in a sarcastic tone.

“Cold Miss Davies it feels very comfortable in here, are you sure?”

“Yes Kyla, Aiden is cold.”

“Yes Miss Davies right away.” 

The temperature will stay the same.  I told Kyla not to raise the thermostat up no matter what I said.  I want Aiden to remain cold throughout our meeting. 

“So while Kyla takes care of that matter Aiden, let’s begin our discussion on merging our labs together.”

“Well Ashley I’ve decided not to merge Carlin-Dennison Lab with Davies Labs.”

“You decided Aiden?” 

“Yes,” he said giving me a quizzical look.

“Is there anyone else I can talk to about the offer I made you?”

“No!  I’m the one who makes all the decisions involving the lab.”

“Alright but I still don’t understand your decision not to merge, was my offer too low or the lab not state of the art enough for you.  Or perhaps you think my research department is not up to par.”

“No, no it’s not any of those.  I just don’t feel comfortable merging my lab with yours.  I’m not feeling it.”

“Your lab, don’t you mean yours and Miss Carlin?”

Aiden adjusted his neck tie, “technically it’s both Spencer’s and mine but I am the decision maker and what I decide for the lab is the decision that stands.”