Attraction (Love & War, Part I) (3 page)

“
Okay. I'll get onto it. I'm on my toes, Mr Gates,
sir....
” She turned and left his office
and he leaned back and watched her cute little ass return to her
desk outside. If he knew Yasmin she'd have all that he wanted
completed within the hour.

Then he turned
his attention to his work, his mind whirring away with
possibilities. The French deal was an interesting one. One which he
hoped could return a hundred million in profit in the next five
years. Although he had all the money he could ever want or need,
financial success of that magnitude excited him.

A whole fucking lot.

It was like a
drug.

An old market
adage flashed through his mind.

You're only as
good as your latest deal.

He had a
feeling, intuitively, that his latest deal was a really good
one.

And boy, he
had shit hot intuition.

Nicole
received an annoying summons at 9.30am, just as she was about to
take a bite out of her late breakfast banana.

“
Niks honey, get yourself in here, chop-chop,” Jacob shouted
loudly from his office at the other end of the room. She scowled at
him and bristled inside. Her boss was such a lazy bastard. She was
sure he wouldn't move his ass if a fire broke out under it. Why
couldn't he pick up the phone and call her? She hated being shouted
at and being called 'Niks honey' across the office. She took a
quick bite of banana to sustain her, just in case it was a long and
tedious conversation he planned.

“
Yes Jake, what can I do for you?” she asked with her best
grin and bear it smile, as she approached his disorganised
desk.

What a
pig-sty,
she thought in disgust. Jake was
like that. He lived in a state of constant messy chaos. But somehow
he seemed to know where everything was and be on top of it all. He
was highly intelligent and sharp minded underneath his slap dash
presentation skills.

He was lazing
back in his trademark slouch, legs wide apart, arms above his head.
She could see a touch of hairy stomach poking out of his white
shirt where the buttonholes gaped over his ever expanding
waistline. He really needed to go on a diet. The amount he ate and
drank was way beyond acceptable. Mid thirties and hurtling towards
a heart attack, in her opinion. But it wasn't her place to voice
such thoughts. His wife should be on his case. Sadly, that wasn't
about to happen, because if she remembered rightly, Stella was just
as bad as he was for health and fitness regimes. In fact she was
even worse, because she smoked like a chimney as well.

“
Got a job for you. It's one you're gonna like,” he began,
breaking her out of her stomach stare. “You've got a new
assignment, with Mr Gates at GIG. Apparently he's not content with
buying up half the UK and US stocks and shares, he's now going Euro
zone. How's your French lately.”

“
Mieux que la moyenne, merci,” she translated 'better than
average' with a smug smile. Being bi-lingual, French came as
naturally to her, as English.

“
I guess that means good?”

“
Good enough for this, I'm sure. So, it's a French deal, is
it? Will I be travelling?”

“
Yep. You're meeting him at his office this afternoon and
tomorrow you're visiting the prospective company, Fabliss de Paris,
a property company, in Paris. That should be exciting for
you.”

“
Exciting? Why's that?” She didn't expect they'd be going
sightseeing. Not that she wanted to. She knew Paris far too well
for it to be fun for her, there was nothing to see she hadn't seen
dozens of times. She spent all her school and uni holidays there,
visiting her French grandparents. And as her last visit was only
three months ago, she wasn't chomping at the bit to go to Paris at
the moment.

“
You'll get a trip in his Cessna Citation X, that's why. It's
the fastest civil aircraft on the planet. Six hundred miles per
hour top speed.” His face took on a dreamy look. Jacob was obsessed
with planes, particularly US military aircraft, and spent a lot of
his free time at air shows all around the country.

She couldn't
stop it, a little smile of excitement lit up her face.

“
He has a private jet?”

Now that is
something I'll look forward to getting into.

“
Yeah, and he flies it himself.”

Even better.
He might let me take a peek in the cockpit... Maybe I can have a
quick 'fly' of it... Maybe I'm getting a little carried away...

“
Well I'll certainly make sure I enjoy my flying visit,” she
joked with him.

“
Do some genning up till then, okay? Go see Greg or James,
they've worked on his stuff before so they can fill you
in.”

“
Right, I'll get started then.”

“
You do that, and make sure you do a top drawer job for him,
Niks love”

She bristled at the 'Niks' and the cheesy 'love' which
followed. “Jake, when have I
ever
let you, or any client down?”

He leaned
forward, placing his arms on his desk. “Never, not once, I trust
you and that's why I'm giving you this assignment, of course,” he
replied, a cheeky grin spreading across his mouth.

She laughed
out loud at his downright lie.

“
No it's not, you're sending me because I'm the only one here
who speaks French and knows European
and
French business law.”

“
Such a sharp cookie, aren't you?” he chuckled.

“
Aren't I just. Laser sharp and sprinkled with sugar.” She
laughed with him.

“
Oh, one last thing. He's sending a car to pick you
up,”

“
Really? That's very nice of him.”

“
He always chauffeurs his appointments, so they meet
his
schedule.”

“
Right, so what time am I being scheduled for?”

“
His driver will meet you outside the front door at 2.30pm
sharp. Make sure you're ready.”

“
I'll be there on the dot.”

She turned and
left his office, smiling to herself, sitting down at her desk once
again and slowly eating the remains of her banana. Her brain was
ticking away over her new assignment. This could be it. Her
opportunity to achieve senior management status in December. From
there it was just one step up the ladder to assistant director. If
Jacob was offered the directorship of Corporate Legals, when Mr
Folkes retired in a couple of years, she could slip into his shoes.
She had a faultless track record so far, and she planned to
maintain it. If she could get one fat, happy client, like Gates,
under her belt, she stood a very good chance.

She cocked her
head sideways, looking over the top of her desk divider, and the
office plants, and over Isobel's head, who looked up at her
briefly, with a smile. Then her gaze moved onwards, further down
the open plan office to James' desk. He was occupied, on the phone.
She turned round and looked up the other end. Greg was just
returning to his desk with a drink. Not her preferred choice of the
two guys. Greg was the office lech, and always leching in her
direction, very openly, but despite that, she rose and made her way
towards him.

“
Greg, can I have a word?”

“
Sure babe, what's up?” he replied in his all too familiar
manner.

“
My name's Nicole, not babe,” she reminded him coolly. God
knows how many times she'd said this.

“
Nicole, babe, hot stuff, whatever.” His lecherous eyes ran
over her, as he disregarded her very reasonable request, yet again.
She didn't push it. She wanted something from him. She wasn't
stupid.

I'd much
prefer whatever...
she thought to
herself.

“
Jake says you can give me some info on Mr Gates. He's into
French corporates all of a sudden, I need a crash course, I'm
seeing him this afternoon.”

His eyes
lazily swam down from her face, pausing on her tits. She sighed
with exasperation. Sometimes she hated the fact she was bigger than
average in that region. Despite her best efforts to keep her looks
to a low profile, and most of all to disguise her prominent assets,
they always drew attention.

“
Greg...?” she prompted, interrupting his mental
undressing.

“
What?” he said, returning his eyes to her face.

“
Gates...?” she repeated, “Can you tell me something about
him?”

“
Personal stuff?”

“
Anything you know will be great.”

“
Rich, posh bastard just about sums him up. You know the
type... well spoken, good looking, expensive everything, tons of
cash. A real babe magnet,” he began scathingly, “he makes me
fucking sick with envy just looking at him,” he muttered,
caustically.

“
I take it you're not a great fan of his? But other than his
appearance and bank balance, anything useful?” she probed, whilst
examining her pale nail-polish, which had a few annoying chips. She
furrowed her brow, she didn't like to be anything less than
perfectly turned out.

“
He's hard as iron, and dead tricky to deal with, because he
doesn't give anything away.”

“
He's a quiet thinker, is he?”

“
No, not so much quiet, but controlled with his conversation.
And he'll spring things on you suddenly, when you're least
expecting it. Odd questions which can really throw you. Make sure
you know your stuff, babe, because he doesn't suffer fools gladly.
I've had a few icy glares when he's caught me on the
hop.”

Her interest
was well and truly piqued. He wouldn't catch her hopping anywhere.
She enjoyed a challenge of this nature.

She pressed
on, ignoring the 'babe' intent on finding out some more juicy
details about Mr Gates.

“
I intend to be very well informed, don't you worry. And what
kind of things does he like, d'you know? So I can get on his good
side from the off. It'd be nice to have something to talk about
when and if the situation arises.”

“
Oh you'll get on his good side, don't you worry, you have two
distinct advantages over me.”

She crossed
her arms, hiding her advantages. “You're not painting a very
flattering picture of him, Greg.”

“
Maybe not, but I'm filling you in, for your sake.”

“
I don't imagine I'm his type, for a second, so I won't rely
on bowling him over with my looks and charm,” she laughed. “But
what does he do in his spare time, other than pick up women and
bathe in money?”

He gave her a
pissed off look, like he really didn't want to talk about it. “What
do you think multi millionaires do?”

“
I've no idea, that's why I'm asking you.” She smiled sweetly,
hoping to coax a little more out of him.

“
Well for starters, he's got his damn jet to play with, hasn't
he? And when he's not up above the clouds somewhere having a bit of
mile high fun, he gets a little more grounded by driving his Aston
Martin. And for the odd thrill in between he goes skiing in
Switzerland and Colorado, sails his massive yacht in the Med, and
rides his priceless racehorse. I expect he lives a life of luxury
at his country pad in Surrey, drinking expensive single malt whisky
and smoking Havana cigars after dinner. He's part of the landed
estate set, you know, his mother's a lady, daughter of the Duke and
Duchess of somewhere or other, and dad's an American tycoon. In
London he's got his mega money place in Mayfair, and his top notch
office in the Strand. How I'd hate his lifestyle.”

“
You're making all this up...” She laughed,
incredulously.

He shook his
head. “Nope. Apart from smoking the cigars. It's all fact.”

Despite Greg's
sarcastic delivery, she was absolutely delighted to hear all these
details. Ignoring the mega rich boy toys, he sounded like an
energetic action man, and as she was also an action girl, they
shared a lot of common ground, it would seem.

Sailing,
skiing, riding his horse in the country? I could talk about all
those things for hours. I'm not averse to single malt whisky
either...

She had to
forcibly stop herself rubbing her hands together gleefully.

“
What about his company, give me some general background on
that.”

“
It's an acquisitions company. His portfolio is pretty varied.
I've handled three of his UK contracts, a new motorway service
station, a silversmith and the other was a stud farm; horses, you
know...they were all smallish deals, James handles his big stuff
and all his US buy outs, so go have a word with him, he knows Gates
much better than I do.”

“
I will and that's heaps to be getting on with, thanks Greg,
I'll buy you a drink some time.”

“
What about this lunchtime? I'm free if you are,” he pushed,
following up with a lecherous smile.

She tried hard
not to sigh at his persistence.

“
No, I can't. I've got a lot on today, I'm not drinking
lunchtime. Next time were out on an office drink, I'll remember
you, okay?” She was hoping she was making it clear they were not on
for a private drink date, at any time, without being
rude.

Despite the
fact she'd told him she was seeing someone he still persisted on
hitting on her. Maybe it was because he knew Will was in the Royal
Navy. Perhaps he thought she was lonely without him and he could
sneak in and fill the seafaring gap somehow.