Conquest of the Heart by R.J. Dillon Page A

hour.” They split up, each going to their own spaces.
     
    Carter was checking his calendar to see what
time he was scheduled to meet with Faith and Gavin to work on the
city reviews. He found that his calendar had been cleared of all of
the additional meetings that they spoke of. He called Agnes to ask
her what was going on.
    “Hi Agnes, it’s Carter … I’m
fine, and you? … Good to hear. Hey listen. Faith, Gavin and I were
supposed to be holding extra meetings this week and next to go work
on the expansion project, but for whatever reason, my calendar only
shows our meetings during the day. Did something change? … Oh he
did? I’ll check with him. Thanks Agnes.”
Carter hung up the phone.
    He was furious. He went straight into Gavin’s
office without knocking. “You had all our extra meetings removed
from my calendar!” he exclaimed.
    “Yes I did. Why does that upset you?” Gavin
asked with a plain face, leaning back in his chair.
    “You just don’t want me around Faith. You’re
trying to keep me from her,” he scowled.
    “With the work Faith has done to complete the
outlines as quickly as she has, it is no longer necessary for all
of us to have the additional meetings. So that Faith is not
overwhelmed, I’ve been helping her with her portion of the project
as we have time.”
    “So you kept the extra meetings on yours and
Faith’s calendar. Why can’t I be involved?”
    “You have the promotional aspect to work on.
Your time is better spent doing that, so that when we have our
daily discussions, we’re all prepared, and the discussions are
productive.”
    “When exactly are you working on your client
lists? Or are you just working on Faith?”
    “It’s not your concern when I’m getting my
work done, is it? You answer to me, not the other way around.”
Gavin still had on a poker face. “Moreover, it’s none of your
business what’s going on between Faith and I. If you need to know
something, you’ll know.”
    “You saw an opportunity to control my contact
with her, and you took it.” Carter was livid that Gavin was abusing
his status.
    “I told you to stay away from her. Since you
can’t seem to do that on your own, I’m helping you out. I really
prefer not to speak of this again.”
    Carter, now infuriated, said, “This is not
over!” He turned and stormed out of the office. Faith was
approaching just as he left. She could see he was upset, and
judging from whose office he was coming from, she could understand
why.
    “What did you do to Carter?” she asked as she
walked in.
    “He did it to himself. It’s of no concern to
you.” Once again, he didn’t want his attitude towards Carter to
impact his mood with her. He excused himself for a few minutes. “I
need to run to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
    “Okay.” Faith took her laptop to the small
conference table in Gavin’s office and began to get things set up
for their meeting. It only took her about five minutes, and Gavin
still hadn’t returned. She walked over to the window behind his
desk and gazed at the Statue of Liberty, getting lost in her
thoughts.
    When Gavin got back to the
office, he saw her standing at the window. ‘So it begins,’ he thought. He quietly
walked up behind her, and sensuously whispered in her ear, “I can
take care of you.” He wanted so badly to nibble at her ear, but had
to control the urge. Of course, there was no stopping what happened
down south. At that moment, Chandler was coming to see Gavin. She
was suddenly stopped in her tracks when she saw how closely Faith
and Gavin were standing together, and didn’t like it one bit. She
would have to bring this up to him later and quickly walked
away.
    Faith shrugged away from him slightly as she
turned to face him. She didn’t move too far from him when she said,
“Can we at least get some work done before you start hammering me
about how much you want me and how much I should want you?” As she
looked directly at him, Gavin was