Conquest of the Heart (17 page)

“Why are you staring at me like you’ve never
seen me before?” she asked.

“Why don’t you ever wear your hair down?” he
asked, without answering her question.

“It gets in the way during the day.”

“You look absolutely stunning today,” he
said, still staring.

“You say that every day.”

“No, I say you look beautiful every day.
Today, you’re stunning.”

“What’s up with you? You’re freaking me out.
Stop it,” she said smiling.

“I just really want you this morning. My
thoughts are out of control.”

“Clean it up. We have a meeting to go to,”
she said.

“I can’t help it. Can’t we skip the meeting?
Carter won’t mind. He’ll just go back to his office when we’re not
there. How can you just sit there? I know you think about Monday,”
he said. He was trying to see if she had come up with anything.

“It’s not Monday anymore. I’ve moved on. Get
it together Gavin. We’re on the home stretch with these meetings.
I, for one, am going to be very happy when they’re over. I’ll be
able to focus on the things that both you and Adrian need me to
focus on.”

If she had anything planned, she wasn’t
giving out any clues. Gavin decided there wasn’t anything, and
relaxed.

“You’re right,” he changed his tone. “What
I’m looking forward to is the trips. It’s going to be nice to get
away from New York for a while.”

“Will Adrian be going on any of these trips
with us? Carter?”

“Adrian is going to be in board meetings over
the next few months and Carter, if you’ll recall, had trips
scheduled prior to us starting this project. He won’t be with us.”
Gavin was thrilled about that.

“That’s right. I do remember that.”

“What cities do you think will make the cut?”
he asked.

“I think Nashville, San Francisco, Atlanta,
Jacksonville, Denver, and Los Angeles.”

Gavin nodded his head, impressed with her
selections. “Those are all very good. I agree with four of those. I
think Phoenix instead of Denver, and Washington DC instead of
Atlanta. Want to make a wager? The loser buys dinner.”

“I’m game.”

“Adrian will be making the final decision as
to which cities we’ll be travelling to. Based on your choices and
mine, let’s see who gets the most right. If I win, you take me to
dinner, and if you win, I take you to dinner. We’ll go tomorrow
night.”

“Are you trying to go on a date?” she asked,
smiling.

“Yes,” he grinned.

“Why don’t you just ask?”

“This is more fun. Besides, would you say yes
if I just asked?” he asked.

“Maybe. Depends on how you ask,” she
smiled.

“I thought you weren’t here to date or sleep
with anyone?” he teased.

“I’m not. But I haven’t really done anything
outside of work since I’ve been here. It would be nice to get out
and see the city,” she said plainly.

“Well then, count on me asking in the
future,” he said. He was still wondering why she hadn’t tried to
get back at him yet. Maybe she had forgotten.

Later, at the afternoon meeting, they sat and
talked about how the past three weeks had gone. They were very
anxious to know what cities Adrian was going to pick. From what
Gavin had heard, he was going to be making his decision soon after
he received the notes from this meeting. They would know first
thing tomorrow. Gavin again told the two of them what a great job
they had done. As a reward, he told them that after tomorrow’s
meeting, they could have the rest of the day off. Carter and Faith
were very appreciative of this. After concluding their discussion,
they all retreated to their offices for the remainder of the
day.

Gavin was catching up on some paperwork when
he realized how late it was. He checked to see if everyone had left
for the day. As he walked down the hallway, he saw that Faith’s
door was still open. He stopped in to see why she was still
there.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked as
he walked in.

“What are you still doing here Mr. Everyone
Must Leave by Four?” she asked sarcastically.

He laughed and said, “The meetings pushed me
behind on paperwork. I had a lot of things to sign off on that were
high priority.”

“I was just getting ready to leave. I had to
go through my emails,” she said. She was standing by her meeting
table putting on lip gloss.

“Seriously? You’re still here because of your
email?” Gavin asked. He thought for a moment and continued, “Unless
you knew I was still here.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no one here. We’re all by
ourselves,” he said, approaching her.

She looked at him sensuously, and said, “What
are you going to do about that?”

They were standing about three feet away from
each other. Continuing to gaze at each other, Gavin slowly moved
toward her and was just about to grab her by the waist when Faith
put her hand on his chest to stop him.

Without breaking her gaze, she shook her head
and said, “Don’t touch me.”

Gavin was confused, but soon realized that
Faith was in control. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, so she
gently stroked the exposed portion of his arms with her fingertips.
She walked behind him, caressing his back. She grabbed him by the
hand and led him to the couch. He laid down, and Faith gently
strattled him. She removed the clip from her hair, letting it all
hang down. Just seeing her with her hair down aroused him. He tried
to touch her thigh and Faith caught him.

“Not yet,” she whispered.

Gavin had already removed his tie shortly
before the end of the day. Faith unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his
bare muscular chest. Her hands explored for a moment. She then
leaned down, kissing him on his neck, moving her way down. She
didn’t miss a single spot. Gavin had his eyes closed, taking in
every touch. Faith began to make her way back up to his neck, then
gently tugged at his ear. Their breathing was getting heavier. She
kissed his cheek and stopped just short of his lips. She lingered
there, just barely allowing their lips to touch. Gavin wanted to
lift his head to kiss her, but she moved on just before he could.
She kissed his chin, his neck, and made her way back down to his
chest. Her hands were moving everywhere. She caressed the insides
of his thighs, but stayed clear of his manhood.

Gavin tried to touch her again. Again, Faith
stopped him. “Not yet.”

“Faith, I - ”

“Shhh,” she interrupted, putting a finger on
his lips. “Don’t talk.”

Gavin could feel his body losing control with
every caress, every kiss. He wanted to kiss and touch her so badly
it was driving him crazy. He was clutching the couch, trying
extremely hard not to grab her. When Faith could tell he had almost
reached the point of no return, she turned up the heat.

She leaned in and whispered
sensuously, “Q
ui est en contrôle
maintenant? Comment mauvaise que vous me voulez?”
(
Who’s in control now? How bad do you want
me?
) As she said this, she reached down
and rubbed between his legs.

He couldn’t take anymore. He let go of his
hold on the couch and went to hold her. Just as he did, Faith sat
straight up.

She looked at her watch and said, “Phew. It’s
hot in here. Are you hot?” she asked, smiling. “I’ve got to get
home.” Faith climbed off of him and walked over to the table to get
her stuff.

Gavin just laid there looking at her. He
couldn’t say a word.

Faith smiled and said, “Will you close my
door when you leave? Have a good night.”

She was gone. As she got in the elevator, she
took a deep breath and fanned herself. She knew that if Gavin had
been able to touch her, she’d still be in her office.

Gavin couldn’t believe what just happened. He
was aroused beyond what he had ever been. To be that close to
getting what you want and not be able to have it was frustrating.
He got up and went to his office to grab his keys, phone and
wallet. Swiftly, he made his way to his car and drove straight to
Chandler’s house.

Chandler had just gotten out of the shower
when she heard a knock at the door. She put on a bathrobe, and went
to the door saying, “Who could this be?”

She looked in the peephole and saw that it
was Gavin. She unlocked the door, and before she could open it
herself, Gavin had nearly knocked it down.

“You didn’t call - ”

“I need you. Now,” Gavin interrupted.

She turned away slightly and said, “Okay,
well let’s go to the bed - ”

“Now,” Gavin said, grabbing her. He unzipped
his pants, and pulled them down enough to expose his extremely hard
and throbbing erection. Since she had just gotten out of the
shower, she was naked underneath her bathrobe. Gavin took her right
there on the living room floor. He quickly penetrated her,
thrusting hard and fast. It didn’t matter to her. She was just glad
he was there. She tried to speak softly to him.

“Oh Gavin, you - ”

“Shut up,” he said under his breath, as he
kept pushing.

As he neared climax, Chandler spoke again,
“Gavin.”

“Faith,” he said, as he reached his orgasm.
He slowed down, realizing what he just said. He had been thinking
about Faith the entire time. He pulled away from Chandler and
pulled up his pants. She had a disgusted look on her face.

“What the hell did you just say?” She propped
herself up on her elbows.

Gavin took a deep breath in. “I’m sorry
Chandler. I can’t do this anymore. I want, and need, someone else.”
He stood up to leave, and looking back at her said again, “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. I have to go.” He opened the
door and left.

Chandler was pissed and
hurt at the same time. She didn’t want her special relationship to
end like this. She knew it was coming, but had hoped she could
change his mind about her before someone else came along. Right
there, in the middle of the floor, she made up her mind that it
would not be over until
she
said it was over.

First thing the next morning, Gavin took
Faith her coffee, as had become their custom. He was looking
forward to seeing her.

He knocked and went in, as usual. “Good
morning, beautiful,” he said, handing her the coffee.

“Good morning,” she smiled. “Thank you.”

Gavin sat down and stared at her.

“You’re staring at me again.”

“Today it’s because you’re sexy.”

“Oh yeah? How was your evening?” she asked,
looking forward to a good story.

“You stirred me up pretty good. My body was
out of control. I had to go be with someone else.”

“Really. Tell me. Did you call out my name?
Because what happened between us last night wasn’t worth it unless
you did,” she said, leaning forward on her desk. She was listening
intently, taking sips of her coffee.

“Actually, yes. I did.”

“Who’d you go see? Chandler?” she asked,
smiling with deviousness in her eyes.

“Yes, it was Chandler,” he said. He watched
her closely. Faith sat back in her chair.

“Even better,” she said, grinning widely.

Gavin’s eyes opened wide. He sat his coffee
down on her desk. He thought the events through and realized that
this was her plan all along.

“You knew I would go see Chandler!” he
exclaimed.

“You’re damn right I did.”

“You have to be the sexiest woman I’ve ever
known,” he smiled shaking his head. “You win. Damn! You win.”

Faith just smiled, pleased that her plan had
worked out so well.

“I owe you dinner just for that,” he
smiled.

“Deal.”

They sat silent for a moment. Gavin was still
reeling from what she had done.

“Are you ready to find out if I owe you
dinner twice?”

“Yes,” she smiled as she stood up.

Gavin stood up and followed her out of her
office. Carter was just leaving his office and he spotted them.
They were smiling and laughing as they walked together. He saw
Gavin put his hand on the small of Faith’s back. His blood started
to boil. Because of all of his trips and meetings with clients, he
hadn’t been able to spend any time with Faith. Gavin was starting
to get an edge over him. He didn’t like that one bit.

In the conference room, they all sat waiting
for Adrian. Gavin kept shaking his head, while Faith just sat
smiling. Carter noticed their strange behavior. He didn’t want to
know, but he had to ask.

“What’s up with you two? What have you been
doing?” he asked.

“Why do we have to have been doing
something?” asked Faith, annoyed.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time together.
Things happen,” said Carter jealously.

Just then, Adrian walked in.

“Good morning,” said Adrian.

“Good morning,” they all said.

“I would first like to say that you have all
done an excellent job with this project so far. The board is very
pleased with our progress. I don’t want to keep you long, I know
that you’re looking forward to hearing which cities you’ll be
touring.

“These are in no particular order. They are
Los Angeles, Nashville, Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta, and
Jacksonville.”

Faith smiled as broad as she could smile. She
had guessed every single city correctly.

“Agnes is booking these trips right now, and
preparing your schedules for each day. You will be gone for two
weeks at a time, and back here for two weeks. This will give you a
break in between trips. You’ll fly out on Friday mornings. I
planned it this way so that you would have a chance to do some
touring on your own prior to being inundated with meetings and
conferences. You’ll return on Sunday afternoons. I expect full
reports after each trip. Any questions?”

No one had any questions.

“I’ll have Agnes let you know where you’ll be
going first so you can prepare. Again, great job.”