"And that is why the partnership between Tremont Realtors and Indiana Hotels would be beneficial,” Kristen ended finally and took in a deep shaky breath. She was convinced that she actually did very well, she saw looks of approval from several of the men seated, she smiled when she saw her father nod his head, her heart filling with joy, and he was not disappointed.
A certain somebody refused to smile or even give her a nod of appreciation. Adrian had been staring at her, his blue eyes boring into her skin as she talked.
When she began, he looked shocked that she knew all of that and she internally smirked, patting herself on the shoulder. Before she could praise herself more, he schooled his expression back to the frown he was wearing when he first saw her. If she had not been so sure, she would have said she had not seen right.
“Bravo! Bravo!” Clayton Tremont said as he clapped his hands, his blue eyes shining in wonder and his brown hair falling over his eyes. Even in that situation, she could not help but notice that he badly needed a haircut.
As he began to clap, everyone followed suit, the handsome tattooed stranger too, clapped and smiled at her. When she directed her eyes to land on Adrian, she could see that he was scowling even more than usual; her success seemed to annoy him. She simply rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and smiled.
“Thank you everyone,” Adrian started, but his father put a hand on his shoulder, gesturing for him to calm down and Adrian did.
“I have heard your beautiful presentation Kristen and Tremont Realtors would like to join our companies together,” Clayton Tremont said in his commanding voice that reminded her of Tommy’s. Kristen could see how Adrian was pushed back even though his father said he would take charge of the meeting, it was basically how she had been pushed back all her life and for that she felt bad for him.
“I have a proposition that will please us all. Why don’t we talk about this in the other office?” Clayton asked as he stood up, her father and Adrian going with him, but Tommy sat down.
“Yes Sir,” she replied and tried to gather all the things she had used for the presentation, before walking behind them.
“You did very wonderful Kris,” Tommy said as she was about to pass him, giving her a nickname as though he had known her more than a few hours. Nevertheless, the praise was nice and she appreciated it.
“If you all start to praise me this way, my head might begin to swell,” she joked, smiling.
“Or you could just say thank you,” Tommy said and Kristen smiled before waving him goodbye, and then rushed after her father and Clayton as they had already entered into another room.
Kristen pushed the padded door slowly and entered the air conditioned office. It was smaller and much more private than the glass walled conference room. Her father was seated beside Clayton and they were deep in discussion while Adrian looked angry, furious even. It seemed like he didn’t agree to whatever they were planning.
“Oh Kristen, have a seat,” Clayton said nicely as they noticed her in the office.
“Thank you,” she replied and took a seat, the only available one beside Adrian.
“So Kristen, as I was saying. I am suggesting that we add something to seal the deal,” Clayton said in a tone that showed that he was anything but suggesting.
“Okay,” she said, she was still half confused where the entire thing was going, but she knew that she was not going to like it.
“I want a marriage between our families, between Adrian and you to be precise. I want the partnership to be a generation long and I am sure we can do exploits together,” Clayton began and the only word Kristen could filter was marriage to Adrian.
He wanted her to marry his son?
The arrogant bastard for that matter
“Your father had agreed as he has always wanted a competent man to take over the company when he dies and my son is very much the right candidate for that,” Clayton continued. Kristen wasn’t surprised that her father would say that. She always knew that he felt like she was not enough, but she still felt very much ashamed that he had told another person about it, and that he wanted to marry her out for that reason.
“So, the wedding plans will begin as soon as possible,” Clayton said yet again in Kristen’s head.
“What!” She shouted, unable to hold her response. And her father had the good grace to look shocked that she did.
“What wedding plans? Don’t I have a choice in this?” She asked yet again, her father was looking very much angry at her and was staring daggers at her, warning her to shut up, but at that moment she wasn’t prepared to listen to him.
“Well, of course you do. This only happens if you want to marry him, you have a month to get to know each other and that is it,” Clayton said. It was a pretty decent plan, they could talk and get to know each other and at the end of the month, she could say she didn’t want to marry him, simple.
But that was not the problem, the problem was that the man in question that she was asked to marry was Adrian, the arrogant bastard, she had no intentions whatsoever of getting to know him, talking to him and most of all, she had no intentions of marrying him.
“This is a crazy idea. I don’t want to marry him. I have no intentions of doing so. I don’t want to get to know him. From the little I know about him, I would rather die than actually marry this arrogant bastard!” She basically screamed pointing her manicured finger to Adrian, who was still scowling at her.
“And I don’t want to marry her,” he said, finally contributing to the conversation. On hearing that, she stood up and left the room, ignoring her father’s calls at her.
“Well that was interesting,” Adrian’s father said, chuckling to himself, making Adrian more and more annoyed.
Adrian could not fathom what his father found amusing in the situation, the girl had in a few words, insulted him and his father found it funny.
He was quite surprised to see the girl that she stepped on his foot at the party as one of the daughters of his father’s business partners, but he was even more surprised that she was not a dumb bimbo like he had thought; it seemed like the makeup one her face had blinded him from what was underneath.
She seemed very much in her element as she talked on why their two companies should join together, and he was tempted to say yes just so he could listen to her more.
He was impressed by her intellect, that didn’t mean he wanted to marry her. She might have been a little smart but she was still very much a woman and not to be trusted.
He had been proven right by how vehemently she had disagreed with the plans for a wedding and he had seen a glimpse of the girl he had seen on their first meeting, the overly spoiled brat who felt everything had to go their way. And he was not prepared to marry anyone who thought that way.
“I can see this working out perfectly,” his father said, yet again surprising Adrian with his view of the situation.
“This is not funny father and neither is it working out fine. I told you that I don’t want to marry anyone, at least not one and most especially I don’t want to marry her,” Adrian said, letting out all of the feelings in his mind.
“Let me go out and check on Kristen, I promise I will talk to her,” Mr. Trevor said, apologizing for his daughter and Adrian just groaned, he didn’t need anybody apologizing for anyone, he just needed the supposed arranged marriage to be cancelled.
“Okay,” his father said and Trevor immediately rose to his feet, walking out the door, probably to find his obnoxious daughter.
“So, you didn’t tell me that you have met Kristen,” his father said and Adrian felt like face palming himself, hard.
“That is not the point father. The point is that I am not going to marry her,” he said.
“Why?” His father asked and for a moment Adrian was taken aback, he had not expected that question, frankly he had not expected any question at all, much less an explanation. He didn’t want to marry and that was all there was to it.
“For one she is a spoilt brat,” he began and his father just cocked an eyebrow at him.
“And you figured that out by seeing her make a presentation?” His father coyly asked. Adrian knew that he had fallen head deep into one of his father’s traps.
“No, I met her at the party,” he admitted. “But, she was slightly drunk and had stepped on my foot,” he defended. Actually saying the words out loud he figured how much girly they sounded.
“Okay,” his father said, pausing a bit as though giving him time to complete his pathetic little tale.
“You know what it is fine. I will get to know her, but that is it. I will admit that I don’t know her well enough to judge, but first impressions don’t lie. Goodbye father,” Adrian said as he stood up from the chair and left his father’s office.
He was pissed, confused and angry. He could have never imagined his day to go that way. He had been annoyed by his younger brother, his youngest sister and had a marriage thrust at him all in one day.
He tried to calm his mind down as he drove down the street. In his anger, he didn’t even realize how far he was driving; he didn’t realize he was moving towards his resting place, where he came to where the real world seemed too stressful.
It took a while but the high rise buildings were replaced with stretches of vegetation, the pack of humans were replaced with dots of animals and the few people that lived that far from town. He rolled down his windows and breathed in the air as it was so fresh. It had been so long since he had been out there. His father was planning to step down soon and so he had been given more duties than usual and Adrian could not complain, it was what he wanted even needed.
The only thing that irked him to no end was the fact that his father didn’t seem to want to leave the company to him. He still interjected in his decisions, still pushed him aside, he still didn’t trust him to do things right.
Adrian clenched his jaw and his fist tightened on the steering as he remembered how his father had pushed him aside during the meeting.
I am not going to think about that.
His bad mood was immediately forgotten as he got into view of the small cabin which he considered his favorite spot.
The small wooden cabin was the smallest and most probably the cheapest property that Tremont Realtors acquired, but it was Adrian’s favorite. Anytime he could get the chance, he came out there to capture the scenery or his feelings with his paintbrush.
With a bounce in his steps, he walked up and knocked on the door, intentionally not using his keys he didn’t want to scare his housekeeper.
“Oh it’s you,” Rae, his housekeeper, said. She sounded a little out of breath and it seemed like she was expecting someone else.
“Were you expecting someone else?” Adrian asked as he passed his side and passed her into the house.
“No Sir, I am just surprised that is all. You have not been here for a while,” Rae said. She was a small slender lady in her early twenties, the original owner of the house had recommended her for a housekeeper and he kept her. She had been taking care of the house for five years and he had not regretted his choice. She had still been in her teens when she started the job and he had been scared, but she had proved him wrong.
She had a full head of brown thick hair and brown doe eyes. She was soft spoken with an easy smile, and he reminded her of his younger sister, only less annoying.
“Well I am here now,” he said. He really didn’t have the patience for small talk as his fingers were itching to touch a brush, they were itching to paint.
He walked straight into his art room. It looked as disordered as he had left it, but he could tell by the clean floors that Rae had come in to do some work.
He glanced at the paintings he had made over the years, to some they might look like a splash of disorder but they meant much more than that to him.
Adrian took off his suit jacket, and his white shirt, putting on the brown shirt Rae had left for him. He smiled as he realized that even when she didn’t know that he was going to be there, she prepared for his arrival. He sat down on the most comfortable chair he knew, though it was made of hard sturdy wood other than the soft plush ones he sat on at the office.
He took one of his brushes and dipped into black paint and rubbed it on the empty page of the easel, he got the feeling that he was searching for. He felt calm.
“I will not do it, nothing you say will make me change my mind Dad,” Kristen said to her father. She was angry, furious even. She could not believe that her father had so little faith in her; he didn’t believe that she could actually run the company on her own. Rather, he thought the grumpy asshole was a better candidate.“I am not forcing you into this Kristen. All I am asking is that you get know him, who knows you might actually fall in love.” As her father was talking, Kristen was vehemently shaking her head in negation. She knew how it usually worked, her father was just stalling, he wanted her to marry Adrian and he would most probably guilt trip her into doing just that, Kristen did not want that at all.“No daddy, there is no way I will marry him. Talk to him mother,” she said, finally involving her mother in the argument. Kristen’s mother was sitting quietly beside her father as Kristen marched to and fro in front of them.“You should listen to your father Kristen, he is maki
"That infuriating, infuriating man, I cannot believe he said that to me!” Kristen said out loud as she walked back and forth inside her empty room. She didn’t appreciate the decor of her room which she usually praised herself for as her anger blinded her. On a normal day, she would stare at the beautiful decor of her room. She would have looked at the calm and serene painting of the sea that she had demanded to be put there. She would have stared at the soft tones of blues and greens as it had just been put there a few days ago. But Kristen was furious, annoyed infuriated. All she could think of was the annoyed words that she wanted to release on the infuriating bastard.She had worn just the oversized T-shirt to annoy him, and to show that she didn’t care about the entire ordeal, that there was no way she would dress up for that. She wanted to prove to herself that she did not care what he thought about her and she had only ended up sorely disappointed.The only thing she had manag
"You mean I have to spend two weeks on an island with him!” Kristen shouted. She did not like the idea of being with Adrian for two minutes, much less being with him for two whole weeks. It was a stupid idea by her parents to make her like him and it was not working, not one bit. “You can get to know him better,” her mother said.“I don’t want to get to know him. I thought you will talk to Dad about Thomas?” She asked her mother. She was so furious. She could not believe that after she had so much faith that her mother would actually talk to her father, she believed that her father would actually change his mind about her marrying the infuriating bastard.“Thomas is not a good choice Kristen.” Her mother was trying to be sympathetic; Kristen knew this but it not justify the way she spoke of Thomas, of her as though they were cattle to be traded.“You do remember we are human mother. We are not animals. We are meant to have choices!” She sounded much harsher than she intended but fran
When Kristen woke up, it was still dark. She stretched her hand to her where lamp usually stayed, but it wasn’t there. Groaning, she searched for her phone instead and found it without much stress. As light flooded the room, she was even more confused. She was not staring at the blue and green decor of her room and she was certainly not looking at a nice painting of the sea. Everything was wrong.It took her a while, but she finally realized that she was very far from home. She was on an island, with Adrian of all people; she was on vacation.She had gone to bed the previous night with a plan on her mind. It occurred to her that Adrian hated when she didn’t do what he said. In simple terms, when she told him no, he threw a tantrum, it kind of reminded Kristen of a child that was denied candy. With that realization she knew what she had to do. She knew that she could not resist making the next two weeks a living hell for him—he sure as hell deserved it.Not wanting to waste more time,
Adrian could not stop laughing, he could not help himself. He knew Kristen was a spoilt brat from the very moment he met her, but he did not know that she was so bad. She fucking thought they baked pancakes. When he woke up and saw smoke filling the air, he had panicked. He felt the house was going to burn to the ground. Kristen, who had obviously caused the fire, was soundly asleep, oblivious to fumes of smoke. She only woke up when he had screamed at her. He had been angry, so angry. His father wanted him to marry such an irresponsible child. She had put the pancakes in the oven and gone to sleep. He had refused to be touched when her face was filled with guilt. He continued to shout at her, he wanted her to see how stupid had being. Then she had opened her mouth and she said she was trying to bake pancakes, his anger had immediately disappeared into thin air. He was doubling over in laughter and noting could stop it. Adrian had a feeling it was going to be a fun two weeks. Krist
"He spanked me, and I liked it,” Kristen said to Bea over the phone. By the sound of Bea’s squeak, Kristen could tell that her friend found the revelation as exciting as she did.“How did it feel?” Bea asked and Kristen sighed, reliving the feeling of Adrian’s hands on her body, the sharp pain that spread across her backside as his hands hit it hard, the pain that dulled into something else, something that seemed like passion.“It felt wonderful. He kissed me so hard and made me orgasm twice, but I ruined it,” Kristen groaned, silently beating up herself for freaking out last minute. Kristen was the more sexual out of the both of them and so she felt even more ashamed that she had chickened out.“I wish I could be like those female heroines in romance novels that met a guy on the first day and fucked him without letting him know they are virgins and then be carefree the next morning when they man sees the blood on the sheets,” she said to her friend.“I am surprised you even let him g
Kristen had been so hungry the previous night she had forgotten that she wanted to seduce Adrian. Losing her virginity had to wait; Adrian wanted her to learn how to cook. He had been so patient with her the previous night while they made a simple pasta dish, though she saw the muscle in his jaw thick when she did something wrong. He was struggling not to shout out at her.They had managed to make a salvageable meal together and Kristen was proud. The food was not perfect or anything, and Adrian was not on his way to becoming a world class chef, but they could actually eat and enjoy the food—which was way more than one could say about hers.Kristen had gone to sleep that night in a bed that she would have not preferred, plotting how she would land in another bed the next night.She woke up the next morning, chirpy happy; ready to carry out her devious plans.“Get dressed, we are going to the village,” Adrian said, popping his handsome head inside her room.“The village?” She was surpr
All of Kristen’s reasoning shut down the very minute Adrian pressed his lips on hers. The past two weeks had been horror for her. The fact that she had to work with him didn’t make her life any better. She had been sure that they had made the right decision when they left the island, but two weeks later she wasn’t so sure anymore.Kristen had always known what she wanted from a very young age. She knew right from when she was ten years old that she wanted to work in the business world. She then proceeded to spend her entire life working towards it. Kristen knew sooner or later she would get married, but on setting an eye on Adrian Tremont, she knew he was not the man for her. She wanted a gentleman that would adore her to bits, not an arrogant bastard that didn’t know how to keep his temper. It was clear to her that she didn’t want to marry him. For the first time in her life, she was torn.Kristen Lancaster had no idea what she was doing. She was thoroughly and utterly confused. All