Conquest of the Heart (4 page)

As he walked back to the house, he saw Faith
talking to Adrian. He stopped and thought about her encounter with
Chandler. No one had ever stood up to Chandler like that, drunk or
sober. This woman was fearless. “Damn, that’s even sexier,” he
said.

Gavin was becoming extremely
aroused by how Faith had carried herself at the party. He knew he
couldn’t have her, so he would have to find someone else to help
relieve his tension. A young lady was standing on the steps out
front. ‘
Perfect,’
he thought.

“Hi, I’m Gavin.” He stood on one of the steps
to talk to her.

“Hi,” she said shyly. “I’m Tiffany. I know
who you are.” She smiled and looked around.

“Did you have fun tonight? Do you need a ride
home?” he asked with deception in his voice. She was too naïve to
catch on.

“No, I came with a friend. I’m just wai-
”

“You said you know who I am,” Gavin
interrupted, “so you know what I want. Do you need a ride
home?”

“Okay.”

Gavin directed her to his car. When they got
to her apartment, she invited him in. Gavin had his way with her
and was relieved of the tension caused by his arousal from Faith,
but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had her.

CHAPTER THREE

First thing Monday morning, Gavin, disgusted
with Chandler, called her into his office to discuss what had
happened at the party.

“What’s up, baby?” she asked as she walked in
without knocking.

Sternly he said, “I want you to apologize to
Faith for the way you acted on Saturday. Today.”

“I will do no such thing. That little hussy
deserved it.” She crossed her arms and shook her head.

“You will, and I don’t want to hear another
thing about it. You won’t call, you won’t email. You will march
right down to her office, right now, and tell her that you’re
sorry.” He looked directly at her, without smiling.

“She should be apologizing to you! That bi-
”

“I would watch my words, if I were you,”
Gavin said, interrupting before she could get herself into more
trouble.

“I’m not afraid of her,” Chandler
snapped.

“You should be. One wrong move, and you’re
out of here. If you weren’t one of the best marketers that we have,
you’d be packing your things right now. Consider yourself
warned.”

“She’s not my boss.”

“Maybe not directly. She only has to say the
word, and you’re gone. Don’t cross her again. Now, do as I told
you.”

Chandler rolled her eyes, swung around and
stormed out his office. She walked down to Faith’s office and
knocked on the door.

Faith looked up.
‘Oh, lucky me,’
she
thought.

“Can I come in?” Chandler asked, as nicely as
she could. It was killing her.

Faith didn’t speak, she only nodded.

“I just wanted to come by and apologize for
the things that I said to you on Saturday. I was drunk and I was
wrong.” Chandler waited for a response.

“You don’t have to apologize, Chandler. You
didn’t hurt my feelings. I think you know where I stand. As long
you understand that, we won’t have any problems,” Faith said
without smiling.

“Okay, well, thank you for your time.”
Chandler left the office. As soon as she got around the corner, she
clinched her teeth and made fists with her hands. She huffed, and
went to her desk to start working.

A little later, Gavin went to talk to Faith
about the upcoming weeks, and to follow up on Chandler.

“Knock, knock.” He stood in Faith’s
doorway.

“Good morning,” she said, wondering what to
expect.

“Did Chandler come apologize? I told her not
to do anything else until she did.” Gavin was hoping this would
soften her attitude a little.

“You didn’t have to do that. You really
should get control over your girlfriend,” Faith chimed.

Gavin was both irritated and
aroused.
‘Damn, it’s too early in the
morning for this,’
he thought. “She’s not
my girlfriend.” He walked in and sat down.

“Oh, that’s right. She’s just a prize, or
notch, or whatever you call them.”

“Look, I just thought it was necessary. I
hope it didn’t ruin your evening at the party. I really hope you
enjoyed yourself.”

“You lie,” she smirked playfully. “I
embarrassed the shit out of you.”

He laughed, “Yes, you did. Are you proud of
yourself?”

“Hmm, not really. I’ll be proud when you stop
acting like that altogether.”

“But I’m not here to talk about me. We need
to go over the plans I have for you over the next few weeks and
beyond. So, if you don’t mind, I would like to discuss some
business. That is, after all, why you were hired.” Gavin had gotten
serious really quick. Faith was treading pretty lightly and he
didn’t like it.

“Sure. What do we have going
on?”
‘Phew. Calm down girl. He’s your boss,
like it or not,’
she thought.

“The day that you started, I was going over
some things in my head, like I normally do. I’ve wanted to do
something new to take the company to a higher level. I talked it
over with Adrian, and we’d like to expand our marketing services
into entertainment. We’ll be traveling a lot, to test the demand
for these services in several cities over the next several months.
I hope you’re okay with that. You’ll also be pulling some late
nights to work on presentations and such. I will be available to
help, as will Carter and others, so don’t get overwhelmed just
yet.

“Our schedule will be very busy, as we’ll be
meeting with public officials, community organizers, and potential
clients. We’ll have our laptops at all times, and we’ll need to
have access to our calendars at all times, so if you haven’t done
so already, please get your cell phone synced up with Outlook.
Agnes has already set up your calendar for these events and
meetings. Any questions?”

“Since I have a laptop, will I be able to
work some of the late nights from home?” Faith asked, as she had
other activities that couldn’t be rescheduled.

“I’ll try to make it so that you can do that
as much as possible. However, there will be nights that we’ll need
to be together, so unless you want me coming to your house, or you
to mine, we’ll need to be in the office, alright?” Gavin didn’t
want to scare her, but there was a lot to be done, and he was told
that she was very capable of handling the load.

“Alright. When do we start?”

“I’ll give you some time to take a look at
your calendar. Here’s a copy of our agenda with corresponding
dates.” He handed her a packet of information. “Let me know what
nights you want to work from home, and I’ll tell you what will, and
will not work. Once we’ve agreed on those changes, I’ll have Agnes
update our schedules, and we’ll go from there. How about we touch
base this afternoon, say, after lunch?” He looked at his watch to
see what time it was. It was nine thirty-five. “It’s my turn to
take you to lunch, by the way. Carter, and the Director of Human
Resources, Lauren Martinez, will be joining us.”

“Okay, what time?” Faith was ready for this
meeting to be over so she could get some things accomplished.

“Eleven thirty. I’ll stop by and get you,” he
finally smiled. Gavin always had his game face on when focused on
business. He was very no nonsense.

“Great. Is there anything else? I’d like to
get going on this right now, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He stood up to leave
and added, “I trust you won’t be embarrassing me at lunch today?”
He smiled as he said this. Faith’s toughness was exciting to
him.

She just smiled back as he walked out.

Faith took a look at the agenda that Gavin
left for her. The good thing was she had time to plan for the
upcoming trips. The tricky part was trying to work from home as
much as possible, while staying flexible to work some nights in the
office with the team. Based on the agenda, those nights would be
starting immediately. Since this was somewhat short notice, she
requested to work the current week from home. All of the following
weeks, she requested to work three out of five nights from home.
This way, she had some breathing room, figuring it was best to ask
for more than less. She made a few phone calls before completing
her counterproposal to the calendar.

At eleven thirty sharp, Gavin appeared at her
door. “Ready?”

“I am.” Faith closed her laptop, grabbed her
purse, and walked toward the door. Gavin moved to the side so she
could pass. He was able to smell her perfume as she walked by, and
thought of saying something, but decided to leave it for later. If
she got snappy about it, it would only turn him on, and he’d be
searching out some poor assistant to be with again for release. He
was doing his best to control himself, but it wasn’t easy.

“Carter and Lauren are going to meet us
there.”

Faith was not thrilled to be riding with
Gavin alone, but maybe they wouldn’t be in the car that long.

They took the elevator to the garage, and
Faith followed Gavin to his car.

“Nice car,” she said. “Should I remove my
shoes before getting in? I’m afraid to touch it.”

“No,” Gavin chuckled as he opened the door
for her. “But feel free to remove articles of clothing,” he said,
smiling as she got in. She ignored the comment, knowing that she
walked into that one.

Gavin got in the driver’s seat and put on his
seatbelt. Faith already had hers on. They were quiet as they drove
out of the garage onto the busy New York City streets.

“And what fine restaurant have you chosen for
us to eat at?” she asked, breaking the silence. She just wanted to
know if she would be forced to engage in normal conversation for an
extended period of time.

“Planet Hollywood. I thought it would be the
perfect place to get a sense for the type of market we’re expanding
into. I’ve actually never eaten there.”

“There’s one in Paris at the Disneyland
Resorts. My father had quite a few meetings there with
clients.”

“Good food? Did you ever run into any
celebrities there?”

“The food in France is fantastic anyhow, so
yes, the food is good. I met Johnny Depp and Molly Ringwald there a
couple of times.” Faith was looking out of her window, or straight
ahead as she talked. She didn’t feel like looking at Gavin.

“A couple of times?” Gavin was shocked. He
wanted to take her in a bit more, but had to pay attention to
traffic. He figured he would get his chance during lunch.

“Yeah, they’re regulars. Johnny is very
handsome in person, although he’s a little odd. That can be
bypassed since he’s so hot.” Faith was smiling now. Johnny Depp was
her favorite actor. She had gotten a few autographs, taken some
pictures with him, and had even been invited to a few of his
“Invitation Only” parties where she was able to meet his girlfriend
and daughter.

“So, you have a crush on him?” Gavin was
quite pleased that this was going so smoothly. He didn’t have to
pry anything out of her. She was being herself.

“I wouldn’t call it a crush. Let’s just say
if he ever wanted to leave his girlfriend, my door is always
open.”

They laughed. Gavin thought this was a
perfect opportunity to inject himself and his desires for Faith
into the conversation, but decided there would be other times.
Getting to know her right now would help his plans in the long
run.

“How do you like New York?” he asked.

“It’s okay. It’s busy, crowded, and smoggy.
But I’ll adjust. I’m glad I chose to live away from the city. The
noise would drive me crazy.” She finally decided to direct her
words toward Gavin.

“I know what you mean. I still haven’t gotten
used to the noise. But I love the nightlife. It’s electric.”

“If that’s your cup of tea. Me, I just like
to go home and relax after a long day.” Faith was thinking that
talking like this wasn’t so bad, yet never let her guard down.
Gavin was being too nice, and he was probably up to something.

They finally arrived at the restaurant where
Carter and Lauren were waiting at their reserved table.

“Hey, we meet again,” said Carter.

“Hi, Carter,” said Faith, smiling.

Gavin glanced over at Lauren and introduced
her. “Faith, this is Lauren. She’s the Director of Human
Resources.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you,” they both said, as
Lauren stood up to shake Faith’s hand.

They all sat down and picked up their menus,
making small talk.

“So Faith, did you grow up in Paris?” asked
Lauren.

“Yes I did. It was wonderful. The culture
there is so rich. I know we’re not America’s favorite, but aside
from Italy, it’s one of the most romantic places in the world. I
love it there.”

“You’re a fan of Italy, huh?” said Gavin.

“Oh brother, here he goes,” said Carter.

“What? I’m simply asking a question.” He
looked at Faith and said, “You know I’m Italian.”

Faith giggled and said, “Yes, Gavin. I kind
of put two and two together knowing that both your mother and
Adrian were born and raised there.”

They all laughed. “Alright, alright,” he
smiled. “What are we all having?”

“Can we get an order of the Zucchini Chips?
Those are so good.” Lauren smacked her lips.

“Okay. Those sound delicious.” Gavin
continued to look at the menu, and then said, “I’m ready.” He put
down his menu and waited for the server while the others made up
their minds.

When the server returned the ladies ordered
first. Faith ordered the Chicken Parmigiana, Lauren the Teriyaki
Salmon, Carter the Ribeye Steak, and Gavin the Blackened Mahi-Mahi,
as well as the appetizer for all of them.

“Since you’ve been to Italy, do you speak
Italian, Faith?” Lauren was just curious.