Conquest of the Heart (5 page)

“I speak it fluently. My father was big on
languages. He sent me to live with some friends in Tuscany so I
could attend school and learn how to speak it. I was there for two
years.”

“How old were you?”

“Ten. I loved it. It gave me an opportunity
to explore a different culture.”

“Tu sei molto bella e avro
cio che voglio,” said Gavin, glaring at Faith.
(
You are extremely beautiful and I
will have what I want.
)

“Apprezzo la vostra
adulazione, ma io non sono interessato a diventare il premio,”
responded Faith, smiling. (I
appreciate
your flattery, but I am not interested in becoming your
prize.
)

Lauren and Carter were caught off guard. They
weren’t aware Gavin actually spoke Italian.

“You two want to let us in on the
conversation,” said Carter. “What did you just say to each
other?”

“Gavin was just saying how hungry he was, and
I said I was too and was looking forward to the appetizer,” said
Faith, as she and Gavin continued to glare at each other.

“I wanna learn. That was really cool. How do
you say, ‘I want a raise’?” Carter laughed.

“Non e un caso. That means ‘Not a chance’,”
chuckled Gavin.

The appetizer finally arrived and they
nibbled, as they continued to laugh and share more about each
other. Things settled down a bit more once their entrees
arrived.

Faith asked for a to-go box up front. She
didn’t like to overeat.

“Do you always do that? That’s a really good
idea,” said Lauren.

“Occasionally. When the meal is really large,
I do.”

Gavin looked at Carter and said
sarcastically, “Totally a woman thing. Gotta watch those girlish
figures.”

“Hmm, and we have you to help us with that
too, now don’t we?” Faith chimed.

“You walked into that one, man,” said Carter,
as he bumped Gavin’s arm.

‘We weren’t supposed to do
this,’
thought Gavin, looking and hinting
at Faith with his eyes.

She stared back as if to
say,
‘You started it.’

“How is everything?” asked the server, just
in the nick of time.

“It’s wonderful, great.” They all
commented.

When they finished their lunch, Lauren and
Faith excused themselves to go to the ladies room to freshen up.
Carter began to pry about Faith.

“What did you really say to her in Italian?
That was a load of bullshit about being hungry.”

Gavin grinned. “Yeah, it was. She reacts
pretty quickly.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I told her
that she was beautiful and that I would have what I wanted.”

“Seriously? What did she say?”

“What I expected her to say. That’s she’s not
interested.” The server brought the check over and Gavin got out
his wallet to pay.

“I’m telling you. She is not like the others.
You’re gonna have a hard time with her.”

“Everyone can be broken, Carter. You just
have to figure out what buttons to push, and wear them down. That’s
what I intend to do.”

“Do you really think it’s going to be that
simple?”

“No, I don’t. That’s why we play the game.
It’s nice to finally be challenged.”

“You’re extreme,” Carter said, as the ladies
were returning.

“Extreme about what?” asked Lauren.

“Something tells me you don’t want to know
the answer to that, Lauren,” Faith said, looking at her. “Are we
ready to go?”

“I’m just waiting to get my credit card back.
Carter, why don’t you and Lauren head back.”

“Okay. Faith, it was nice getting to know
you. I look forward to working with you,” Carter said as he stood
to leave.

“Me too, Faith,” said Lauren. “We’ll do this
again some time.”

“I’d like that. Have a good afternoon if I
don’t see you.” They said their goodbyes, and Faith sat back down
to wait with Gavin.

“Couldn’t resist, could you?” asked
Faith.

“What can I say? I’m sitting across from one
of the most beautiful women that I’ve ever seen and I can’t help
but tell her how much I want her.”

“I despise games, Gavin. No matter how hard
you try, that will never happen.” She leaned back in her seat, and
looked off into the crowd.

“You wouldn’t be the first to say that.” This
was true. It wasn’t long before he persuaded other women to have
sex with him. That was just how he operated.

“Maybe not. But I’m not your average, how did
Chandler put it, ‘notch’.”

“I agree. You’re not a notch. You’re much
more. That’s what makes you so desirable,” Gavin said as he filled
in a sizable tip on the ticket, then signed it.

She rolled her eyes and said, “I liked you
better when you were handing me assignments and were focused on
business.”

“You are my business. I’m great at
multi-tasking. I can flip back and forth from marketing to you like
a light switch.” He was now resting his head on his hands,
displaying his arrogance.

“Can we go?” Faith was disgusted. She could
see getting Gavin to change his behavior was going to be pretty
difficult, though she had promised Adrian. She would stick to
it.

Back at the office, Faith had time to make a
few phone calls before her afternoon meeting with Gavin. She needed
to be away from him for a little while to catch her breath. He was
so pompous. His arrogance annoyed her. The fact that he thought
there was a remote chance that he could be with her annoyed her
even more.

She dialed a number and
waited for an answer.
Ring ring
ring.
“Hi, how are things going? … Thanks.”
She waited another moment, and continued. “Bonjour. Comment
allez-vous aujourd’hui? … Je vais devoir travailler quelques
soirees au cours des prochaines semaines.” At that moment, Gavin
appeared at her door. She motioned him in and continued her
conversation as he sat down. “Est-ce que cela va bien se passer? …
J’ai demande a etre la maison au moins trios fois par semaine.” She
paused. (
Hello. How are you today? I’ll
have to work some weeknights in the coming weeks. Is that going to
be okay? I asked to be home at least three times a
week.)

Gavin was becoming extremely aroused just
hearing her talk. He didn’t care who she was speaking with. He just
wanted her to keep doing it.

“Nous verrons ce que Gavin
en dit … Je ne veux pas te garder … Parlez-en a vous plus tard. Au
revoir.” She hung up the phone and focused on her guest.
(We’ll see what Gavin says. I don’t want to keep
you. Talk to you soon. Goodbye.)
“My
apologies. I thought I had more time.”

“No worries. I’m early. I’m glad, too. I
enjoyed listening to you speak French. I would love to learn. Do
you give lessons?”

“Not at this time. Too much to do around
here.” She picked up her counterproposal and gave it to him. “Here
are my requests.”

He looked them over and responded, “I can
give you a break on this week as requested. This was very short
notice. However, there is much to be accomplished, and we’ll need
you here three evenings a week, giving you only two evenings at
home. I’m sorry. Keep in mind this is temporary. Things will settle
down shortly. Can you make the necessary arrangements to meet this
schedule?”

“Yes. I asked for more than less time at home
just in case.”

“Good. It’s been a long day, and you’ll need
your rest for tomorrow. We’ll get started in the morning, bright
and early.”

Gavin stood up and walked toward the door.
“Have a good night.”

He was trying to figure out who he could call
to be with tonight. Faith put him over the edge speaking French.
Every little thing she did excited him. It was going to be an
interesting week, to say the least. If this is how it was going to
be, he would need to schedule his sexual rendezvous’ ahead of
time.

“You too.” She was tired. Gavin’s antics had
worn her out. She was thankful for the two days she could spend at
home. She packed up her laptop and left for the day.

CHAPTER FOUR

Over the next few weeks, the team would meet
to research and discuss the areas that would be the best location
for expanding into the entertainment world, and ultimately be the
home for C&A’s next office.

The team met in one of the conference rooms
so they could comfortably use their laptops, take notes, and bounce
ideas back and forth. Adrian and Gavin gave Faith and Carter a list
of twenty plus cities that would need to be narrowed down to six.
Carter was the first in the room, getting his area set up for a
long day of discussions.

“Carter. You’re early.” Gavin walked in with
his laptop and portfolio. “Have you turned on the overhead
monitor?”

“Not yet. I was just getting my laptop
plugged in.”

“I’ll get it set up.” Gavin reached down and
grabbed a cord to plug in the monitor. He pushed several buttons,
testing it to make sure they would have the appropriate channels,
lighting, and connections. Afterwards, he prepared his own laptop
and notebook for the meeting.

“Where’s Faith? We only have about ten
minutes before we start,” said Gavin, looking at his watch.

“I haven’t seen her today, but I’m sure she’s
here.”

Just as they said that, Faith walked in. “I’m
not late, am I?” She gently placed her laptop on the table and
plugged it in.

“No, you’re fine. We were just wondering
where you were,” said Gavin.

“I just stopped to say hello to Adrian. He
trapped me. I told him about lunch yesterday and he started talking
about his last trip to Italy.”

“You’ll learn quickly what sets him off. My
mother is the same way. They can talk for hours about any and
everything. They’re funny,” he smiled.

Faith smiled at Gavin, continuing to get set
for the meeting. It was nice to see the human side of him. Carter
was ready to go, and was now just watching the two of them,
speaking calmly to each other. It annoyed him a little.

“We’ve got quite a few cities to research and
discuss, so we’d better get started,” Gavin said. “I didn’t want to
get overwhelmed with information, so I had Agnes break up our
schedule. You may or may not have had time to take a look at our
first three cities, Nashville, Jacksonville, and Denver. We’ll have
plenty of time to familiarize ourselves with them. I want you to
take plenty of notes. Our discussions will be very organized. We
will converse about the highlights of each city, what makes them
attractive places to live, play, and visit. What companies are
based in these cities? Who needs our services there? We will also
discuss the negatives. We’ll ask the question ‘Why should we expand
there?’ about each city. By the time we’re done, we should be able
to eliminate the cities that will not be the best fit, from those
that will. Once we’ve reduced our list to a handful, we’ll develop
a schedule to visit those remaining, with plans to meet with public
officials, community organizers, and potential clients.

“With that said, let’s start with Nashville.”
Gavin picked up the remote and clicked on the slide with basic
information about Nashville. “What do we know about it?”

Faith had a file folder with
a ‘Nashville’ tab sticker on it. She pulled some papers from the
folder and as she handed copies to Gavin and Carter said,
“Nashville, or as some would say ‘Music City, USA, has a population
of roughly one point five million people. It is home to the Grand
Ole Opry and location for the CMA Music Festival which attracts
thousands of country music fans each year. We’re all familiar with
the country music atmosphere there. What we may not know is that it
is also a home for the Christian pop and rock music industry,
located on Music Row. We also may not be aware that Nashville’s
jazz scene is being revived. It’s a major music recording and
production center. There are at least nine annual events held in
Nashville every year, including the Nashville Film Festival and the
CMA Awards. They have a small, but growing film industry, with
films like
The Green Mile
and
Coal Miners
Daughter
having been filmed there. Major
sports teams based in the city are the Tennessee Titans and the
Nashville Predators. That’s more your area, Carter.” Faith stopped
and smiled at them. They were speechless. She grabbed the remote
for the monitor to scroll through slides and continued. Faith went
on to talk about Nashville’s music industry and potential locations
for their new office.

“I’ve included a list of names, addresses and
phone numbers of public officials, community organizers and
building managers in the area. If we’re unable to contact a
specific person directly to set up meetings, I’ve listed the name
of the person in charge of their calendars. In addition, I’ve
listed areas of interest, parks, museums, clubs, etcetera that we
can visit if this is one of the cities that we choose.” She sat the
remote on the table and waited for their responses. As she sat
down, she looked at them just staring at her.

She smiled, surprised and said, “What?”

“When did you have time to do all of this?”
Gavin asked.

“I started working on this as soon as you
gave me the agenda.”

“I gave you the agenda yesterday. Did you
stay up all night?” Gavin was shocked, impressed, and of course,
aroused. “I mean, you don’t just have notes. This is a very
detailed outline of the city, with phone numbers and contact names.
Our admin assistants don’t have this much information.”

Carter looked down at his notebook and said,
“All I have is chicken scratch.” They laughed.

“Do you have this information for all of the
cities we’re discussing this week?” Gavin asked. He had an
idea.