Chapter 7

"Good morning Mr Rodriguez, Miss Riviera." Mr Valsero said as he crossed the length of the study to greet them. He made a show of taking a hold of Annette's hand and kissed it for a little too long as she struggled to keep a pleasant smile in place. Something sinister shone in his blue eyes that made Annette feel unsettled.

"Good morning, Mr Valsero. It's a nice house you have here." Zach all but pulled him away from Annette as he grabbed his hand in an uncomfortable handshake, trying but failing to get Mr Valsero's attention off of Annette.

"The beauty of my house is nothing compared to the one you came in with. It gets rather lonely here. You see Mr Rodriguez, unlike you, the company I have here is rather insipid." Was Mr Valsero’s lecherous reply. His predatory blue gaze was fixed on Annette as he spoke.

Every word he said, made her feel uncomfortable and cheap. The fellow sure had the money and the looks that creates a certain charm but he lacked majorly in the chivalry department. Neither his tall broad frame nor his surreal looks could compensate for his brash and undeniably playboy persona.

Annette had already developed a strong dislike towards the man she'd just met. This time though, it wasn’t at all her fault. He was just overbearingly annoying. There was a fine line between flirting and being disrespectful and this man didn’t know it.

"Mr Valsero, if you could please stick to talking about the business deal only. We are here to discuss about the purchase of one of your properties so can we go ahead with that." Annette spoke in a clipped tone as she tried hard to remain as calm as possible but her words hinted her dislike for the direction in which he was trying to drive the conversation.

"It's Ace for you, my dear." He shot her a smile that oozed of lust. This man just couldn’t take a hint! She thought to herself.

"Mr Valsero, we are on a tight schedule here. There is some renovation work that needs to be done at the hotel and we are to approve the designs by this evening. I'd rather have this meeting over with as soon as possible so that we can get on with the other work that we have." Zach stated, she could feel his frustration and she was pretty sure that he was lying about the required renovation.

"There, there now my friend. Is this how you strike a deal? I wonder how your business is fairing given your impatience. Do you not want to see the estate before you buy it? Do you just blindly trust things without checking them? I can’t have you do that. Let me show you around but you must stay for lunch at least. Consider this as a condition." Mr Valsero's tone left nothing for negotiation.

Every word that came out of that man’s mouth was offensive and rude. If only they had the liberty to throw his nasty attitude right back at his face. Zach and Annette exchanged looks of distaste knowing that they were both thinking of the exact same thing. To an outsider it may look like that they were just looking at each other but they were having an intense conversation with their eyes. Both nodded as they came to an agreement much to their dismay.

"Okay. Mr Valsero, if you insist, we will oblige you by staying for lunch. But we are to leave at two, on the dot." Annette said putting just the right amount of resolve in her tone to make it sound like a polite but solemn request.

After hours of endless walking on Zach and Annettes part and endless flirting on Mr Valsero's part, the clock finally struck two. It was then that they realized that they were yet to discuss the deal. Along with being arrogant and relentless, Mr Valsero was a sly-sly man. He had managed to waste the entire afternoon trying to hit on Annette without even uttering a word about the deal.

By the end of the disastrous and inconclusive meeting, the both of them were more than ready to leave the estate and the testing man to return to the comfort of their hotel. Bidding adieu to the sleezy, Mr Valsero was probably something that they looked forward to irrespective of how the meeting had gone.

"That sneaky bastard! He wasted the entire afternoon without even mentioning the deal." Zach ran a hand through his hair like he did whenever he was agitated and boy was, he mad, that too within good reason though.

"Calm down, Zach. I am just as irritated as you are. Nobody has ever treated me like that." She said as he clenched her jaw to control her anger.

"I am sorry for putting you through that, Annette." The honesty in his words made her heart melt. Not one to apologize for no reason, this sincere apology from Zach surprised her. He must have really repented the day.

"It's okay. There is not much that we can do about it, we have to go through with the deal. The estate was simply beautiful. I regret the fact that we have to set up another meeting with him." She sighed.

"I will set up another meeting only if you promise me of one thing." He said as he looked at her expectantly.

"What?" She asked.

"I want your word that you will not be attending the meeting. I don't want you to have to face that man ever again." His emerald green eyes stared into hers with a pleading look. As of that moment, he could've asked her to jump off a cliff and she would have done it with a smile on her face. Hypnotized by him, she nodded, not really registering the words.

"Great! Now that that's out of the way. Let’s go and have some fun. I think that we have earned it after the day we’ve had." He turned towards the driver and gave him directions while she zapped out of her trance. This man was waking up feelings that she had buried long ago. But, why?

She didn't quite know the answer. Plus, Zach couldn't actually like her. She was a plane Jane to his Greek God. Or maybe he could, added a small voice. The tormenting morning had taken up most of her energy and she had none left to fight the war raging inside of her. Just for today, she'd let loose and have fun.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"That's a surprise, Sweetheart. You just sit back and relax." Zach gave her the dimpled smile that she adored. This was going to be a long and testing day, she thought.