To Tame a Tycoon (5 page)

No, he couldn’t blame his mother.  Truth be told, Asia had been on his mind ever since they’d parted almost two weeks before.  She’d been so spirited, so confident in her tactics to rescue him from himself that he’d actually agreed to her deal.  And, as she boldly stated, her recommended change to his incentive plan had begun working already.  That same day he’d advised the departments of a new program where they’d only be rewarded if the overall company benefitted from their efforts.  Teams would no longer be rewarded for individual successes.

After only a week there was a definite change in the tone of the departmental meeting.  For the first time in months Ben reported a reversal in the trend.  It had been a phenomenal week with sales exceeding target by almost eleven percent.  And all because a daring young woman - and admittedly one who knew her business - had challenged their status quo and provided new perspective on their business culture.

For the first time since Rico had come to the Miami office he actually observed sales managers and marketing officers sitting in each other’s offices, deep in discussion about how they could combine their skills to achieve the greater goal.  The uptight atmosphere in the office had given way to a camaraderie that he had never seen before.

Asia Miller was good at what she did and, he’d be the first to admit, he had a lot to learn.  On top of all that, though, he had another situation to deal with.  The fact was, he was intensely attracted to her and, advisor or not, there was no denying that he wanted her.

So far he’d kept himself in check but he was a man who went for what he wanted no matter the cost.  Next time he saw Asia it would be time to make his move.

“She’s asleep.”

Carmelita’s whisper broke into Rico’s thoughts and his eyes snapped back to his mother.

“Could you lay her in the crib, please?”  Gently, she shifted Athena’s little body away from hers and rested her in Rico’s arms.  “Try not to wake her.”

Rico nodded and gathered the precious little bundle close.  For some reason he pictured an infant Asia looking just like this, with dark hair curling around her cherub face.  If they had a daughter was this what she would look like?

Carajo
.  Was he going sentimental?  He’d better get his wandering mind under control or else his mother would have her wish sooner rather than later.  And he wasn’t about to take any chances with his heart - not even for the irresistible Miss Asia Miller.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Auto what?”  Rico stared at Asia as she sat looking cool and crisp in the chair across from him.

“Autogenic training,” she repeated, giving him a little smile.  “I want to relieve you of all that pent-up anger, teach you how to release it.  Then I’ll take you to the next level where you de-stress.”

“But I’m not under any stress.”  Rico folded his arms across his chest.  What did this woman think he was?  Some kind of kook who needed therapy?  “And I don’t need anger management training either.”

Asia shrugged.  “Maybe you don’t but why not humor me for a little bit?  After all, it can’t hurt.”

“I don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.”  Asia was annoying him now.  This was not how he had foreseen their second meeting.  He’d planned to compliment her on the success of her strategy and then when she was mellow with praise he would ask her out.  But with this stink of an idea she had taken the meeting in a totally different direction.

Asia did not look the least bit perturbed.  In fact, she was smiling.  “Rico,” she said in that quiet way he had come to know, “may I remind you of something?”

“What?”  He snapped, his tone aggressive and totally unapologetic.

“You already agreed to the training,” she said with the lift of an eyebrow.  “Therefore your comment just now has absolutely no bearing on where we go from here.”

“I never agreed to any autogeneric training.”

“Autogenic,” she said, correcting him.  “And yes, you did.  At our last meeting you promised that if plan A was successful you would undertake the next task I assigned to you, no questions asked.  I’m sorry but refusal is not an option."

For a moment he just sat there scowling, pissed that she had him by that very sensitive part of his anatomy.  Then he shook his head, defeated.  For now.  “Alright, you got me.  I’ll do your autogenic thing…but under one condition.”

“Which is?”  she asked, looking pleased as a prized puss.

“You agree to have dinner with me.” 

That got her attention.  The pleased puss look disappeared and in its place was a frown.  "Did you just ask me out?”

“I did.”

“But…you’re my client.”

“So?”

“So it would be…unprofessional.”

“I’ll pick you up Friday evening, seven o’clock.  Make sure you leave me your address.”

“Did you hear what I said?”  She stared at him, a look of disbelief on her face.

“Sure.  I just chose to ignore it.”

“Ignore…uhm.  Mr. Megalos-”

“Rico.”

“Rico, we have a business relationship.  I can’t go out with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” she said then faltered.  “Because you’re my client.”

“I think I heard that already,” Rico said leaning forward, "and that means nothing to me.  Now what’s your address?”

“Sixteen Beaver Street.”  The words fell from her mouth then she turned startled eyes to his and bit her bottom lip.

Rico didn’t bother to hide his smile.  He had that effect on woman.  Show them who was boss and they gave in sooner or later.  For him it was more often sooner rather than later and, he was pleased to know, he’d found the key to Asia Miller.  Dominate her before she could even try to dominate you.

“Good.  Be ready by seven.  And wear slacks.”

Now she looked really confused.  To her credit, though, she made no objections.  Instead, she nodded and looked away and just for that moment she looked like a little lost lamb.  A lamb he was looking forward to having for dinner.

Right then he couldn’t wait till the work week had passed and Friday evening came around. 

******

“How is it going with the love of your life?”

“Shelley, you never stop, do you?”  Asia chuckled into the phone.

“Well, I have to check up on you, don’t I?  So, did you ask him out?”

“No.”

“Chicken.”

“But he did.”

“He did what?”  Shelley asked.

“He asked me out.”

“He did?” She squealed.

“That’s wonderful.  So when's the big date?”

“On Friday,” Asia said with a sigh.

“For someone who’s got a date lined up for Friday night you don’t sound too happy.”

“I’m not.”

“Now listen to this girl.”  Shelley’s tone was heavy with exasperation.  “What’s not to be happy about?”

“I didn’t want to go out with him.  I can’t even explain how I ended up accepting.”  She inhaled then released her breath slowly.  “Let’s just say the man is a pro at getting what he wants.”

“And he wants you,” Shelley chortled.  “Sweet.”

“Anyway, I know that wasn’t what you called about.”  Asia deliberately changed the subject.  The conversation was moving into dangerous territory, too dangerous for her liking.  “What’s up?”

“You know what I always call you about.  The center.”

“Something wrong?”

“Yes and no,” Shelley said mysteriously.  “No, because it’s not a threat to the survival of the center but yes because it’s affecting the kids, especially the boys.”

“So what’s going on?”

“With schools reopening in September we’re going to lose three of our best volunteers.  Grad students heading back to university.”

“Don’t worry, Shelley,” Asia said, trying to reassure her, "we’ll find new ones.”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet they’ll be women.”

“So?  What’s wrong with women?"

“Nothing, except that with Frank, Carlos and Trevor leaving we’ve only got one male volunteer left.  And even more than the girls it’s the boys who need role models.”

Asia drew in a breath.  “You're right.”

“So I’m roping you in.”  Shelley’s voice was suddenly bright and cheerful.  “I’m on a mission to find two good men before these guys leave and I’m giving you the same assignment.  Two good men, that’s all I ask.”

“They say a good man is hard to find,” Asia said with a sniff.

Shelley only laughed.  “I’m not worried.  You’ll find me one.  I just know it.”

After Shelley hung up Asia left the living room and went into her bedroom.  She’d be going on her date in two days.  She might as well glance through her wardrobe and see what she was going to wear.

Slacks, he’d said.  Strange request for a dinner date.  She was more of a ‘little black dress’ kind of girl.  But slacks it would be.  That was what the master demanded.  She smiled and shook her head.  Talk about bossy.

She already knew which one she’d wear.  Basic black as always.  Okay, so she was boring.  But it made life easier.  Now all she had to do was find a nice top.

That didn’t take long.  She wasn’t a fussy dresser.  In fact, some had called her ‘practical’ - which was just a kinder way of saying her clothes were boring.  But none of that bothered her.  Particularly in this case, she was not dressing to impress.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Although she had accepted his dinner invitation she wanted to make it clear to Rico that dinner was all he was going to get.  If he didn’t know it already he would soon realize that Asia Miller was no idiot.

But when Friday evening came around Asia did not feel quite so confident.  She didn’t know if it was butterflies but there was definitely something flitting around in her stomach.

She was ready at seven o’clock as instructed and when she heard a car pull up in front of the house her heart gave a flutter.  When she picked up her purse from the table in the hallway there was a slight tremble to her fingers.  She paused to draw in a breath, desperately trying to steady her nerves.  The last thing she wanted was for Rico to see her sweat.

She put her hand on the knob and opened the front door to a sight that took her breath away.  There, in front of her house, stood an all-white Hummer limousine and standing by the door of this magnificent vehicle was a uniformed chauffeur.  She whispered a soundless ‘wow’ then stepped outside.  She hadn’t expected this.  Sure, the man was rich but she’d thought he’d pick her up in a nice car, not a limousine.  What would the neighbors think?  She almost gave a chuckle as she thought of Mrs. Peabody peeping through the curtains to see what was going on.  Mrs. Busybody would have been a more appropriate name for that neighborhood watchdog.  She’d have a lot to talk about tonight.

So Rico had ‘sent’ for her, had he?  No problem.  She was glad he’d not come himself.  Now she would have a few more minutes to gather her wits about her to prepare for battle.

And a battle it would be - not with Rico, but with herself.  She was too darned attracted to the man for her own good.  This is business, she kept telling herself, this is business.  She’d said it so many times that her mind was finally convinced.  Her heart, rebellious as it was, would need more convincing.