Conquest of the Heart (15 page)

“Tell me,” he said. Oh how he loved to
torture her.

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked, continuing to whisper.
He could feel the intensity rising in his pants. As with other
times, he almost nibbled at her ear, but held back.

“Because you want me to,” she said, her eyes
now closed. Gavin noticed that she was not moving away from him,
which she normally did. This excited him even more. She was
breaking.

“You want to tell me. Stop holding it in. Let
it go,” he continued to whisper, speaking more seductively. He
slowly placed his arms around her waist.

Faith’s breathing got
heavier. “Je ne peux pas vous dire. Je ne veux pas vous dire.”
(
I can’t tell you. I don’t want to tell
you.
)

Fire ran through Gavin’s body when she spoke
French. He quickly turned her around to face him, and leaned in to
kiss her. When Faith realized what was happening, she pulled away
from him. She stepped back, leaning against the window. She was
still breathing heavily as they just stared at each other.

Gavin broke the silence. “We should get ready
for the meeting.” He was thoroughly satisfied with what had just
happened. Now he had to calm himself down. A quick cold shower
would work.

He approached her when she didn’t say
anything. She looked the other way. He gently cupped her chin to
turn her head. He smiled warmly and said, “I’ll see you in a little
bit, okay?”

“Okay,” she said nodding,
turning away again.
‘Damn it! This wasn’t
supposed to happen. He thinks he’s won,’
she thought. She would make sure that he was aware that things
were not going to be that easy.

Gavin took a quick shower in the locker room
of the fitness area in the building to cool off, and then prepared
for the meeting. He was looking forward to this evening. That’s
when he could get Faith alone again, and after this morning, he was
certain that things would progress. He was the first to reach the
conference room. When Faith arrived, she was still flush from
earlier. Gavin decided to give her some space and didn’t say
anything. As they got their laptops ready, and took out their
notes, they remained silent. Waiting for Carter, it was so quiet
that you could hear a pin drop on the carpet. Gavin stared at
Faith. He had to come up with a way to snap her out of this.

Carter finally arrived, apologizing for being
late. Noticing how quiet it was, he immediately commented.

“Why are you two so quiet? You’re usually
going at it,” he said, not realizing his poor choice of words.

Faith turned red again, and played with her
notes.

Gavin said, “We just ran out of things to
talk about waiting for you.” He stood up and continued, “Let’s get
started, shall we? You can get set up as we go. Faith, will you
please begin?”

They went through their usual routine for
each of the meetings. Faith began to calm down as she spoke, and
her face turned from red to pink. Carter seemed more like himself,
too. Things were getting back to normal. Faith’s brief moment of
weakness would be just that. A moment.

Gavin concluded the meeting as normal, adding
that they would continue that afternoon. Carter had left the room
first. The room was deathly silent again. Faith picked up her
things and left without saying a word. Gavin watched her leave. He
erased the white board, but left the monitor plugged in for later.
He walked to his office and made a phone call.

Faith was in her office, reviewing her
outlines for the afternoon meeting when there was a knock at her
door. She was sure it was Gavin. “Come in,” she said.

Agnes opened the door, and walked in carrying
a bouquet of the most beautiful bouquet of coral roses. “You’ve got
an admirer. There are two dozen roses in this vase,” she smiled as
she sat them on her desk. “Flowers talk, you know.”

“What do you mean?” asked Faith.

“Well, the type of flower and color that it
is has a certain meaning. I think someone is trying to say
something to you.” As she walked out, she said, “Enjoy.”

Agnes knew who they were from, and she knew
what they meant. What she didn’t know, was how Faith would feel
about it. Still, she thought this might be a good sign, and added
this to her notes to report to Adrian at the end of the week.

Faith took the card out of
the little envelope sitting amongst the roses. They smelled
wonderful. Faith loved flowers, but had never known about the
language aspect. The card read, ‘
My desire
has grown stronger for you, Gavin.
’ She
didn’t know whether to be mad or flattered. She guessed she was
both. She got up and moved the flowers to her coffee table. They
looked lovely there. She continued to work, and ate lunch in her
office. She didn’t come out until it was time for the afternoon
meeting.

As she went back to the conference room,
Gavin saw that her demeanor had changed. Carter was sitting in his
usual spot. As she began to set up, she looked at Gavin and
mouthed, “Thank you.”

He nodded, pleased that he had softened her
up for the time being. He was sure she would be back to her feisty
self when they saw each other later that evening. Gavin started the
meeting, which was just as productive as it had been that
morning.

Another day had come to an end. Gavin sat in
his office, signing off on paperwork, and Faith was starting to
work on the outlines for the evening. Adrian was usually the first
one out of the office. Tonight, he was running a little late. He
made a phone call just before he wrapped things up.

“Sorry I couldn’t call sooner, but I didn’t
have any news … Yes, it seems this week, activities have picked up
a bit … Well of course it’s difficult … I think we’ll know more
over the next few months … I will keep you abreast of what’s
happening … Talk to you soon.”

As he walked down the hallway, he saw that
Faith was still there and stopped to say goodbye.

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

“Hi, Adrian. How are you?” She got up to give
him a hug.

He could feel sense her tension. “Hey now.
Are you doing okay? Is the workload too heavy? Has Gavin been
getting to you?”

“I’m okay. I think I just needed a hug,” she
smiled, breaking their embrace.

“You’re one stubborn woman, you know
that?”

“You know where I get that from,” she
replied.

“Yes I do. Don’t stay too late, alright?”

“Okay. Tell Juliet I said hello.”

“Good night,” he said, walking out of her
office.

As he walked towards the elevators, he saw
that Gavin was still there too.

“You too?”

“Adrian. What are you still doing here?
You’re usually gone by two.”

“I just had to wrap up some loose ends. Why
are you and Faith still here?”

“We’ve been meeting after work to get our
outlines and client lists finished for next week. We won’t be
working late next week, I promise.”

“Okay, you know how I feel about that.”

“I know,” he chuckled. “Tell Mom I said
hello.”

“She wants to see you soon. Try and stop by
this weekend.”

“I will,” Gavin said as Adrian walked
out.

He yelled back, “Good night.”

Now that everyone was gone, Gavin put his
paperwork aside, picked up his laptop, and went to see Faith.

He knocked on her door, and walked in at the
same time. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, I just started working on outlines for
Reno and Philadelphia,” she said. She got up and moved her laptop
to the meeting table.

Gavin noticed that she placed the flowers on
her coffee table. “They look nice there,” he said, pointing to
them. He walked over to their usual spot, and began to set up. “So
what have you found out so far about those two cities?” he
asked.

Faith began to share with him what she found.
They worked without any interruptions, and stayed focused on their
task. They didn’t want to stay too late, knowing they still had
tomorrow and Friday to finish.

“I’m glad we don’t have to work late next
week. I really appreciate your willingness to be here.”

“I know. Whatever is necessary to get things
done,” she said.

After another half an hour of work, they were
done for the night. Faith was relieved. It had been another rough
morning for her.

Gavin closed his laptop and gathered his
notes. He looked at his watch to see what time it was.

“This is a record time for us. I was thinking
that instead of meeting tomorrow evening, we could both take a
break and just plan on knocking out the rest of the outlines on
Friday. What do you think?”

Faith shrugged her shoulders. “That’s fine
with me.” She was surprised that he didn’t mention what happened
earlier, which was okay with her. She didn’t want to talk about it
anyhow.

“Good,” he said as he got up to leave. “I’ll
see you tomorrow. Have a good evening.” He walked back to his
office, grinning deviously. “Now the real fun starts,” he said out
loud.

The routine stayed the same the next day – a
meeting in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Both meetings
went well, as usual. Faith was back to normal, as if nothing had
ever happened between her and Gavin. Everyone kept busy with work
on the expansion project. Adrian had been in meetings with the
board of directors to inform them of their progress. Thanks to
Gavin and his team, activities were moving along nicely. Gavin was
a little restless because he hadn’t spent much time with Faith.
This was on purpose. He had to stand his ground for his plan to
work.

Faith finished touching up her presentations
for Reno and Philadelphia. Even though it was nice that she hadn’t
had any of her usual interruptions, mainly Gavin, she missed his
badgering. She went to see him.

“Hey,” she said.

Gavin looked up from his work and smiled.
“Hi. How has your day been? I haven’t really seen you today.”

“It’s been okay. I finished the presentations
for Reno and Philadelphia. How are you?”

“I’m good. It’s been a busy day. Do you want
to sit down?”

“No, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to stop
by and say hello,” she smiled. “I’ll see you later.”

He smiled as she
left.
‘This is a good start,’
he thought.

Knowing that they would be together all day,
Gavin stopped and picked up some coffee for himself and Faith. She
was already working when he arrived.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said, winking
at her. “I got you some coffee.”

“You’re so good to me,” she said, reaching
for it.

“We’ve got a long day, so here’s my plan. We
will work until about eleven thirty, with a short break in between.
After lunch, we will take whatever additional time we need to
finish. By this time next Friday, we’ll know where we’ll be taking
our trips.”

They worked as planned, completing three of
the four city outlines before lunch. Instead of asking Faith to
join him for lunch, he went alone. This pushed Faith over the edge.
Gavin had been strictly about business all morning. It didn’t make
any sense. They went from almost kissing two days before, to simply
coworkers. It was as if he had completely lost interest.

That afternoon, it was more of the same.
Gavin primarily focused on getting the work done, with no play.
Since they only had one city left, they finished early.

“Well, I’d say we’re finally done. Good job.
I couldn’t have done this without you,” he said, smiling at
her.

“You’re welcome. Next week should be a breeze
compared to the last few weeks.”

“I agree.” Gavin began to gather all of his
notes, and saved what he needed on his laptop before shutting it
down. “Do you have any plans for the weekend?” He could sense her
frustration. He wanted to say something so badly, but he had to
hold back. Monday would come soon enough.

“Just a little housework. Maybe I’ll start a
new book,” she said, disappointed that they weren’t playing their
usual game. “How about you?” She got up to move her computer to her
desk.

“Nothing special. Maybe I’ll give Chandler a
call,” he said, looking to see what her reaction would be.

She continued to look down, responding, “I’m
sure you two will have a grand time together.” He heard the
irritation in her voice.

Gavin had no intent to call Chandler, but he
needed to plant that seed. If she had to wonder about this all
weekend, it would drive her crazy, which is exactly what he
wanted.

“Why don’t you take off early? You’ve worked
really hard the past two weeks. I appreciate all you’ve done.”

“Thanks. I think I will,” she said. She sat
in her chair and looked out of the window. Gavin smiled as he could
see that his plan was working.

He didn’t try to get her attention, only
gathered his things and said as he was leaving, “Have a good
weekend.”

“You too,” she said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The weekend came and went faster than Faith
had expected. She was looking forward to this last week. The
project team was going to choose which cities would be included as
potential expansion locations for C&A. When she arrived at
work, she settled in and immediately began to review her
presentations for the week. It wasn’t long before she was
interrupted.

Gavin knocked and opened the door to Faith’s
office. He entered and closed the door behind him.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he smiled and
handed her some coffee. Bringing her coffee was becoming a new
routine for him.

“Good morning,” she said, surprised to see
him. “Thank you. Are you going to bring me coffee every day?”

“Only if you let me,” he said as he sat down
to drink his own cup.