Conquest of the Heart (3 page)

Gavin shaved, brushed his teeth, and ran his
fingers through his hair to style it. He didn’t like to overdo it
on the cologne, so he always put it on his skin, not his clothes.
It was uncharacteristically warm for April today, almost seventy
five degrees with a slight chance for rain. He opted for a good old
pair of jeans and a white button-down Veronesi embroidered sport
shirt with French cuffs. He slipped on a pair of white Di Nella
oxfords, grabbed his keys and locked up before getting into his
car.

Gavin wasn’t a big spender. He was pretty
conservative with his money. However, when it came to cars or a
house, he spared no expense, and got what he wanted so he only had
to buy it once. He eased into his black CL65 AMG Mercedes Benz,
revved up the engine, and drove off to complete his errands. He
always bought a huge bouquet of flowers for his mother when he
visited, and he needed to pick up $500 gift cards for the employees
– C&A’s way of saying thank you for all their hard work.

Faith had an exhausting first week and she
was looking forward to a fun and relaxing evening. She slept in
until about ten o’clock, went for a run, and took a long hot bath
when she got back. She lit some candles and turned on Yanni in the
background. She closed her eyes and escaped to a secluded beach
where she was swinging in a hammock with a tall glass of
chardonnay, smiling as she swayed in the gentle breeze. The phone
ringing brought her back to reality. She jumped up, startled,
splashing water on the sides of the tub. She sighed, pulled herself
up out of the tub, and wrapped a towel around her body. Whoever
called would have to leave a message. She applied her lotion,
topping it off with body glitter. Like Gavin, she didn’t appreciate
the overzealous cologne wearer, and spritzed it on before she put
her clothes on. She decided to wear a red Calvin Klein abstract
zig-zag print halter top with a pair of dark blue jean capris and a
black belt. She tied the top portion of her hair up, with the rest
hanging down. A pair of black four and a quarter inch Via Spiga
wedge sandals, dangle gold earrings and gold bracelet completed her
outfit. Faith didn’t like to wear makeup, and always kept it simple
with tinted lip gloss. She had to get a few things for her house
before heading to the party. When she moved, her father had a going
away present delivered – a liquid silver Jaguar XF Supercharged.
She hadn’t driven it much since she had only been in New York for a
week. Today, she would get to test it out. She grinned as she slid
into her car, started it and slowly drove away.

Gavin arrived at his parents’ house early to
help get things set up if necessary. His mother greeted him with
her usual bright and sunny smile. She gave him a huge hug.

“Hi, honey. I’ve missed you!” She squeezed
him tight.

“Mom, you’re gonna suck the life outta me,”
he squealed. She let go and they laughed.

“So, how have you been? Are
you starting to settle down?” She paused. Gavin rolled his
eyes.
‘Here it comes,’
he thought. “Is there a lovely young lady in your life,
perhaps someone serious that you can spend some time with?” She
always asked this question when he saw her. Like Adrian, Juliet did
not approve of Gavin’s promiscuous behavior, though she didn’t try
to push him too much.

“Mom, I really don’t want to discuss my
personal life right now. You know I hate talking about it with you.
I brought you some flowers,” he said handing her the bouquet. “How
are you?” He tried to change the subject. It never worked. His
mother was a persistent little thing.

“I’m fine. So is there
someone in your life? Just
one
someone?” she grinned, raising her
eyebrows.

“I’m not going to talk to you if you don’t
stop. You know where I stand. Like it or not, it’s where I’m at
right now. Nothing more, nothing less. Just accept it.” He crossed
his arms and looked sternly at his mother.

She sighed and said, “Alright. I won’t ask
anymore today.” This conversation would be happening again. It was
a hot topic in their home.

“Good,” Gavin snared. “Where’s Adrian?”

“Would you please call him Dad or Father?
You’re not at work.” It displeased her when he did this.

Adrian and Gavin liked to keep their work
relationship completely separate from their personal one. Over the
years, their personal relationship became distant as Gavin’s
behavior changed for the worse. They hardly spoke, but still loved
each other very much.

“Where is Father?” he said majestically.

“He’s out in the backyard, watching the
waves.” Adrian and Juliet lived near the ocean. The crashing of the
waves was soothing to them. Their backyard was enormous, and they
loved to have parties. If they didn’t have an official reason to
have one, they made one up.

Gavin strolled out of the house and into the
backyard where Adrian was.

“Adrian. How are you?” he asked, extending
his hand. Even though they worked in the same offices, they kept
very different and very busy schedules. They barely saw each
other.

Adrian shook his hand and said, “I’m well,
Gavin. Have you been good?”

Gavin slapped him gently on the shoulder and
said, “Define good?” He had a very sly smile on his face.

“That means I don’t want to know,” Adrian
said shaking his head. “Did you get the gift cards? I’ll have the
staff hand them out as guests arrive.” It was better to talk about
something positive that didn’t upset him.

“I did. So, how is Faith doing? I haven’t had
a chance to meet her yet?”

“She’s doing great. She’s ambitious, strong,
level-headed. Don’t you even think about pulling any of your stunts
with her,” Adrian said, eyeing Gavin. He knew this would do no
good. Faith was too beautiful for Gavin to resist.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he smirked, rocking
back and forth from heel to toe.

Just then, they heard voices. Employees had
begun to arrive. They turned, and went back toward the house to
greet them as they came in. There were hors d’oeuvres, chicken,
barbecue ribs, potato salad, baked beans, salad, fruit, desserts a
mile long, and every beverage you could think of. Gavin, Adrian,
and Juliet mingled. There were so many guests all at once, it was
amazing.

As Gavin walked around speaking to his
colleagues, he glanced around, looking for Faith. She hadn’t
arrived yet. He hoped she was coming. As he searched, he saw
Chandler. He really didn’t want to deal with her this
afternoon.

She slinked up to him, “Hey, baby.”

“Oh, would you please stop talking to me like
that. For goodness sake, Chandler, there are people all around us.”
He was extremely irritated.

“It’s no secret that we’ve been together.
Hell, it’s no secret that you’ve been with everyone. You could be
the poster child for ‘Pimp My Ride’,” she giggled.

Gavin glared at her, and walked away. He had
had about enough of her, but couldn’t quite give up a good lay.

Moments later, Faith pulled up the driveway
and parked. As she walked up to the house, Juliet was looking out
the window, and saw her coming. She practically ran to the
door.

“Faith honey, it’s so good to see you,” she
said, giving her an even bigger hug than she gave Gavin.

“Hi, Juliet,” she returned the hug. “It’s
good to see you, too.”

“Let me take a look at you.” Juliet backed up
and looked at Faith up and down. “You look stunning.”

“Aww, thank you,” Faith smiled.

Juliet wrapped an arm around Faith’s and they
began walking through the house together.

“Your house is gorgeous, Juliet. I can’t
believe how big it is.” Faith looked around in awe, viewing art and
sculptures.

“That’s the problem. It’s too big. Why do you
think I like to have everyone over all of the time?” she giggled.
She was like a little girl having a huge birthday party. “How was
your first week at work? Did you get settled in your home okay?”
asked Juliet, as they kept walking.

“I did. I’m glad to be here, because I was
really tired. I’m ready to have some fun and meet the rest of my
colleagues.”

“Well this is the place to be. Why don’t you
go on back and mingle?” she said, secretly hoping she’d run into
Gavin first.

“Okay,” said Faith. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She smiled and walked through the patio doors and out back,
greeting people she recognized as she went.

Adrian and Juliet had been concerned about
Gavin for some time. His behavior had gotten worse with age. They
begged him to settle down and get married, but he wasn’t ready.
When Adrian went to Paris, and heard that Faith might be moving to
America, they saw this as an opportunity to do some scheming of
their own. If they knew Faith like they thought they knew her, she
would not be an easy target for Gavin. Maybe this would help him
see that not all women were alike, and maybe he could see her as
someone that he could possibly spend the rest of his life with.
They knew it was a long shot, but they had to try.

Out back, Faith took a glass of sparkling
water with lime, and joined some people she recently met, and
Carter. They laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. Carter was
glad to get talk to her without Gavin, but that didn’t last long.
Gavin spotted them and walked toward them. He again, was awestruck
by how beautifully put together Faith was. She was stunning to look
at.

Carter turned as he approached. “Gavin! I was
wondering where you were.” They patted each other on the back.

Gavin smiled, “I’ve been looking for you,
too.” He looked over at Faith and said, “Faith, we finally meet.
It’s a pleasure.” He reached for her hand, and kissed the back of
it. “I must say, you do look beautiful this evening,” Gavin said as
Carter rolled his eyes.

Faith coyly smiled and pulled her hand away
from his. She was sitting comfortably in a padded lawn chair with a
group of people by the fire pit. “Thank you. You don’t have to
flatter me. It won’t work.”

Gavin’s smile started to flatten. He looked
around and said, “What are you talking about? I don’t
understand.”

“Adrian warned me about you.”

“Really?” he said, irritated. “Adrian should
mind his own business.” The group was quiet, eager to hear
more.

“It’s his business and his reputation that’s
on the line because of you. You’re the reason I’m here. He wants a
better image for his company, and your inappropriate behavior is
not helping,” she snapped. “You’re an intelligent man, Gavin, and
you’re my boss. I’m looking forward to learning from you, but I
won’t be a part of your mess. I suggest you start taking the
welfare of the company more seriously, and handle your personal
life a little more discreetly.” She stood up, smiled and said, “It
was nice to meet you.” She walked away, talking to other
guests.

Carter grabbed Gavin’s shoulder, trying to
hold in his chuckle. “Are you alright, man?” He was sure that Gavin
would be discouraged, and put a halt to pursuing Faith. To his
surprise, the opposite occurred.

Gavin followed Faith with his eyes as she
walked away, and said, “She just called me out in front of my
peers, and then said it was nice to meet me.” He paused. “Damn
that’s sexy!” He shook his head, smiling, as he walked around to
speak with other employees. Her actions aroused him.

Chandler overheard their conversation. She
was starting to get drunk. Her view of her relationship with Gavin
was distorted. She seemed to think that after Gavin had had his way
with everyone else, he would realize that he loved her. She also
believed that as vice president, he should be able to do whatever
he wanted. That was, she thought, a benefit to being an
executive.

She stumbled over to where Faith was
standing, who was now talking to a couple of other directors, and a
few managers. Gavin wasn’t standing too far away. Chandler’s speech
was slurred as she spoke.

“Gavin can dure whatever he wants,” she said
as she stumbled before catching herself, pointing her finger in
Faith’s face. “He’ll have you eventurely. After he does, he’ll come
running back tur me. I can give him what he really wants. You’ll
just be another notch on his belt.” She smiled as she took another
drink.

Faith calmly said, “First of all, I’m no
one’s ‘notch’. Secondly, I really don’t care to know about your
personal affair with Gavin. Keep it to yourself. I personally won’t
allow myself to sink your level.”

“You durnt know him. Not like I do. You’ll
give in. We all do,” she said as she almost tripped this time. “You
shurdn’t have said what you did, though. It’s only your first week
and you’re already being a bitch.”

Gavin almost jumped in, but was stopped in
his tracks by what happened next. Faith stepped closer to Chandler,
looked her in the eyes and sternly said, “I’ll let that one slide
because you’re drunk. You don’t know anything about me, and you
don’t know what you’re talking about, but I promise you this. Call
me a bitch one more time and you’ll be looking for another
job.”

“You can’t - ” Chandler tried to react as she
fell. Gavin walked over and picked her up, pissed that she stuck
her nose in what he was trying to do. She looked around to see who
was helping her.

“Oh, hey honey. I told that woman not to be
messin’ with you,” she laughed as her drunken weight was almost too
much for him to handle. He dragged her out front where cabs were
lined up. Adrian and Gavin always made sure they had cabs available
for guests who’d had a little too much to drink.

He shoved her in the front cab, and angrily
said, “I don’t need your help and I don’t want you meddling in my
business. You’re drunk and you need to go home. Don’t call me,
alright? I’ll deal with you on Monday.” He told the driver where to
take Chandler, slammed the door shut, and hit the roof of the car
letting the driver know it was okay to leave.