Conquest of the Heart

by R. J. Dillon

  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 a
nd 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.

  “Yes,” nodded Faith.

  “Good. Change of plans. Since you’ve done most of our homework for us, I’d like you to present each city each day as you did just now. Afterward, we’ll only have the pros and cons to discuss. Carter, you have some homework. You’ll need to find out what celebrities or high profile groups live in or around these cities. We’ll need connections to get in contact with them. Do what you do.”

  “Will do.”

  “We’ll need this information only for the cities we’re talking about this week. I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves. I will look into the types of businesses based in the areas to build a potential client list.” He looked at the clock on the wall and it had only been an hour. He was under the impression that it would take them all day to discuss one city. Faith was more prepared than he was, and appeared to be ready to continue.

  “Let’s take a short break to get some water, go to the restroom, or whatever. I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes.” He looked at the outline that Faith had prepared once again.

  ‘This is odd,’ thought Carter.

  Faith stood up and left the room. Gavin and Carter watched her leave.

  “Are you okay? You don’t take breaks.” Carter was curious.

  “She wasn’t supposed to be this good,” he smiled. “I expected her to come in here, take notes as we went through the slides, and work through this with us. Half of our work is already done. I don’t think I’ve had a more productive meeting.”

  “You said that Adrian only found the best. It is his specialty. When was the last time he brought in someone bad? Like, never?”

  “I think he’s outdone himself. I’m going to talk to him when we’re finished. He needs to know this.” Gavin found himself not knowing what more could surprise him about this woman.

  Gavin looked at Carter, puzzled. He couldn’t say anything else. Carter wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  “Are you sure that’s all? You look a little confused.”

  Carter was right. Gavin stood at the window with his hand cupping his chin. He answered, “I just have to get back on track. This changes our timeline. Depending on what happens the rest of this morning, and possibly this afternoon, I may have to have new schedules drawn up.”

  “That’s a good thing. I’m going to get some coffee. Do you want any?” Carter stood up to leave the conference room.

  “Yeah, sure.” Gavin didn’t turn around. He couldn’t wait to speak to Adrian about how well Faith was adjusting. He wanted to know more about her background. Faith quietly came back as he still had his back turned.

  “Are you okay? Just deep in thought?” she asked.

  “I’m just thinking about how you took over this meeting,” he smiled, turning around to face her.

  “I’m sorry. I do that sometimes. I didn’t mean to step over you.”

  “It’s perfectly fine. You’ve done an incredible job. I still can’t believe the amount of information you pulled together in such a short amount of time. I know you’re working from home during the evenings this week, but please tell me you didn’t stay up all night.”

  “I didn’t. I know how to pull skin off of teeth if I have to. I have a lot of resources.” She opened her notebook, writing the date and subject down.

  “I should say so.” Gavin just stared at her. ‘Damn, I wish I could just take you right here,’ he thought. “Well, again, great job. Our work is going to be a lot easier now.”

  “That was my goal,” she said, smiling as she looked up at him. It was nice to talk like civilized people. There was a moment of silence, and then Carter came back with coffee in his hands.

  “Here you go,” he said handing the cup to Gavin. “Faith, I apologize. I would have gotten you some coffee, but I don’t know what you like.”

  “That’s okay. Water is fine
for me right now.”

  “Thanks, Carter.” Gavin looked down at the outline again. He just shook his head, smiling to himself. Faith and Carter looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders, not knowing what was going on.

  “I’m sorry.” Gavin cleared his throat. “We’ll have to complete our session on Nashville tomorrow after Carter and I present our findings on celebrities and potential clients in the area. But for now, we can talk about what might be the pros and cons of opening an office there with the information that Faith has provided. So what are some of your thoughts?” he asked, walking around the table as he spoke. He went to a white board, picked up a dry erase marker and wrote the header ‘Nashville’ and underneath ‘Pros’ and ‘Cons’ with a line dividing the two sections.

  “Well, it is a very high profile city. Just with music alone, there’s a lot of opportunity there. It doesn’t need to happen overnight, because we’re already a sports marketer. With the Titans and the Predators, we could work with the agents and players for those teams,” Carter said.

  “Good,” Gavin said as he wrote on the ‘pro’ side.

  “From what I’ve seen in the country music world, they’re one big family. Working with the musicians would more than likely open up several opportunities for community involvement, giving the company great exposure among the residents there. We’d be helping the economy by adding job opportunities, which would be a plus in all of the cities we’re exploring,” Faith added.

  “Excellent,” Gavin said, adding another item to the ‘pro’ side.

  “How come she got excellent and I just got a ‘good’?” Carter asked kiddingly. They all laughed.

  “Well Carter, I don’t have any favorites - ”

  “Oh, that’s not true, you do have a favorite.” Carter put him on the spot. ‘How are you going to get out of this one,’ he thought.

  “If I had to choose one or the other, I think you know which one I’d choose. Sorry Carter, nothing against you. Faith is just prettier,” he smiled as he looked back at them, winking at Faith. They all laughed again, but this time Faith started to turn a little rosy underneath her light brown skin. Gavin noticed and thought she might be coming around, which would be sooner than he’d expected.