The first trick

The rest of the morning was relatively uneventful. Fait checked with Chance to make a couple of last minute adjustments to the agenda and then they went over his speech yet again.

Soon, the afternoon came and it was time to head to the hotel where the shareholders meeting was to be held. They would be meeting with the chairman first so they had to arrive a little earlier than the start time.

"Mr. Addison, we meet again." Chairman Fischer greeted Chance as he walked into the hotel's meeting room.

"It is good to see you again, Mr. Chairman."

They shook hands amicably and then the chairman showed him and Fait around the room. Then he led them over to their table.

Although the blatant hostility was gone, there was still a feeling of wariness. He hadn't necessarily accepted Chance as the new CEO just yet.

The chairman wanted to be properly convinced before he let things be. There were a few tricks up the old man's sleeves and he was anxious to put them into play.

And to start, the first trick should be arriving right about...

"Sorry I'm late!" A voice so sweet that it was almost toxic, rang across the room.

The small group looked towards the voice to find a young woman rushing towards them.

Her face was flushed and she was breathing hard from her short sprint.

Chance glanced at her just long enough to notice that she seemed a bit out of place and then turned his gaze to Fait.

He gave her a questioning look as if to ask for an explanation as to who the woman was but all Fait could do was shrug.

She frowned inwardly and thought to herself, 'How should I know?' She then also looked at the woman to gather more information.

Fait quickly noticed as well that the woman's appearance was strange. By any definition, the woman was pretty and she had a nice figure too but that is not what Fait found to be concerning.

From afar the woman appeared to be dressed professionally. But now that she was standing beside them everything looked a little... small.

The skirt was to short, the blouse was too tight, her heels were too high, and her makeup was too heavy. There was also an overpowering floral smell as if the woman had dumped the entire bottle of perfume on herself.

Just when Fait was about to ask the woman who she was, the chairman spoke up.

"Ah, Miss Linn, I'm glad you could make it. This is Mr. Addison, the new CEO and his secretary, Miss Foster."

"Hello! I apologize again for my tardiness. My name is Greta Linn. I am Chairman Fischer's secretary." She directed each of her cutesy sounding words at Chance and stared straight at him.

"It is nice to meet you Miss Linn. If you and the chairman will excuse me for a second, I need to handle a small matter." He gestured for Fait to follow him as he walked away.

Once they stepped out of the room, he sneezed a few times.

"Hey, Fait?"

"Yes, Addison?" She furrowed her eyebrows, just slightly. From his tone, Chance definitely wanted her help with something.

"Can you, um, fix Miss Linn?" He blushed a little when he heard his words out in the open and realized they may sound somewhat inappropriate and rude.

"Fix her? What needs fixing?" Fait was amused by the request and knew what he meant but there was no harm in having him explain, right?

"Mostly, that perfume. It is really irritating and I don't think I can sit at the same table as her during the meeting." He wasn't the type of guy to judge women by how they looked or how they dressed but that smell on her was too much for him.

Fait was a little impressed that the perfume was his biggest concern. At the same time, she knew that Chance had limited experience with women so it was highly unlikely that he even knew what the chairman was trying to pull.

"I'll take care of it." She turned and went back in to the meeting room and Chance followed behind her.

Fait went to the refreshment area that was set up in the back of the room and filled a cup halfway with coffee and then added cold water to bring the temperature down.

She then went back over to their table and as she pulled out her chair she "accidentally tripped," spilling the contents all over the chairman's secretary.

"Ahhhh!" Greta shrieked mostly out of surprise, and then glared at Fait.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Please let me help you get cleaned up." Fait's apology was cold and virtually monotonous.

"Sure." Greta forced out though gritted teeth.

The chairman had tasked her with seducing the new CEO and despite the way she was dressed, Greta was actually highly intelligent and a capable secretary. So she knew that getting worked up and causing a scene would hinder her in her task.

She could only swallow her pride and follow Fait out of the meeting room.