Chapter 6

The first thing that came to Theo's mind as he turned around to see who it was, was Dear lord, why did she have to be this hot! Which was quickly followed by ‘then again, it’s expected of daddy’s little Princess' once he figured out who she was. Zafirah Rodriguez.

Though, truth be told, he was pleasantly surprised by her beauty. Everything about her gave off an aura of poise and elegance that was probably a doing of her affluent upbringing. Her gorgeous and immensely expressive green eyes complimented her perfect blonde, almost golden hair, not a strand out of place. Her heart shaped face was blemish free as if it had never been touched by the harsh rays of the sun.

She had an aristocratic nose which gave her face an edge and luscious pink lips that held his attention for a little too long. Her figure could be the envy of every woman and the greed of every man. She could have been a model. But no, she had to come here to steal his job for her amusement. He reminded himself.

She looked like a true heiress right from her hair that was in a sleek updo, her perfect posture, to her expensive clothing as she walked into his office as though she owned it. Just like all the other pretentious princesses. Reminded a bitter voice inside his head.

How was he to believe that this daddy's little princess could understand head or tail of business, let alone run it? Maybe it was just a whim, a little bullying might make barbie go running back to her dollhouse. He had thought that if he were to act rudely towards her, then she might just go crying back to wherever she was and leave him alone to run the business in peace.

He really didn't have the time or the inclination to babysit her. He had a job to do and do it well he shall. He thought right off the bat, he’d give her a taste of how cruel the business world can be, then she would give up without even trying.

Her words had struck a chord in him and left him speechless. This was bad for him; she was a fighter. He saw the anger and determination clear in her eyes as she put him in place. And boy did she do it right. Her little rant had Theo at a loss of words and in some weirdly twisted way, made him respect her.

No one had ever dared to speak to him in the way that she had. Well, nobody apart from his father that is. He usually didn't take nonsense from people and seldom cared for what others had to say to him. But something in her voice made him quietly obey and sit down on the sofa in front of her. He focused on looking at anything but her for her outburst had changed the dynamics of their relationship.

"Look here, mister. I am no fan of this arrangement either. But this happens to be the only way in which I get to work and I'd take it over sitting at home any day. So, why don't we come up with a plan so that we can work peacefully and stay out of each other's way?" She said in a soft but firm voice which made him look at her.

His eyes immediately and unconsciously zoned in on her mouth. Her pink lips were too distracting. Realizing that he was blatantly staring, he hurriedly shifted his gaze to her emerald green eyes which were just as alluring.

He was disappointed in himself for having such thoughts especially for someone like her. He was still the same fool he was in the past since his heart skipped a beat at her every move. He faltered as he saw the determination in her eyes and knew that she wasn't one to give up. She was a tough one, he'd give her that. But she was yet to prove her worth.

"Fine. Then, let’s split the work. You can take over the administration of the hotels here and I can take care of the rest of them." He said as he tried to pull one over her.

"Oh, come on Mr Winthrop. We both know that the hotels we have here are all well operated and require the least amount of attention, apart from a little renovation work here and there. The Rodriguez group of hotels consists of eight hotels in total, don’t think that I have no clue about the business, I do. I may have been out of the loop for a while but that in no way means that I have no idea of what’s going on." Theo was impressed at how quickly Zafirah called him out.

"Okay. How about 3:5?" He bargained.

"Four is to four and that's final. We are co-CEOs. That means we are to share the roles and responsibilities equally." She stated with so much finality in her tone that he was tongue-tied. That too for the second time in the short span of ten minutes.

"Fine." He found himself agreeing to her demands yet again.

There was no winning with this woman and he knew it. What scared him was that he didn't mind giving in to her demands. Not one bit.

"Deal. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Winthrop." She held out her petit hand for him to shake.

"It's Theo." He reminded her as he shook her hand. He hoped to God that she didn’t notice that he held it for a bit too long for it to be a business handshake.

"Mr Winthrop." She nodded at him as she pulled her hand away, eyeing him with a bit of suspicion as she got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" He hated himself for the slight desperation that had crept into his tone as he asked her the question.

Didn't he want her to be out of his sight and as far away from him, as quickly as possible, just a few minutes ago? This woman was going to be nothing but danger for him. He concluded.

"I am going to go look for an office since my previous one is now occupied by you and that’s one thing that I’d prefer for us not to share. Moreover, we can't even stand each other for a few minutes, let alone work in the same room the whole day. So, I will not fight with you over the office and arrange one for myself without much ado. If you need me, you can as your secretary to give me a call, I’ll make sure to keep her updated on my whereabouts. Good day, Mr Winthrop." With that she was out of the door and all he could do was stare after her.