The Perfect Date - romance / love story

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zandro finalised the three hour brainstorming budget session. He unplugged his laptop with practised efficiency and knew that his mood had affected the quality of ideas being presented. Hell he would be scared approaching himself right now. Two weeks of Breanne's pleasant solicitations no more or less than she delivered to anyone else, two weeks of her avoiding eye contact throughout the day and two weeks of her walking alternate routes through the desks to avoid walking past him were taking their toll on him.

This was exactly what he wanted. So he wondered why the hell he felt so irritated. The only answer that gave any satisfaction was that she had gotten away with her behaviour. She hadn't reached her ultimate goal for sure but neither had she had to suffer for her actions as he had. She had him dancing to her tune. He had wooed her when he never normally would. He went to extra effort for this woman when all the while she was playing him with her deceitful scheming.

He wanted to get back at her for causing a crack to appear in his well-constructed armour. Yet he knew that revenge never lead to any real gain. What he really needed was a break from seeing her on a daily basis. He couldn't afford to let her see the power that she had over him. Zandro was his own man and there was no woman special enough to penetrate his perfectly organised single lifestyle.

Breanne picked up the internal call. She could see from the extension displayed that it was an internal call and in fact it was her boss Ben. "Hey, what's up?"

"Breanne I need to discuss something with you, meet me in Venus."

"Sure," Breanne closed the account she was looking at and locked her PC before heading over to one of her favourite meeting rooms. Venus was a small room and great for a one on one, with comfy sunken chairs and a friendly painting on the wall beside a healthy, shiny Happy Plant.

Ben looked tense and nervous, not his usual self. "Bree, I want to talk about something with you and I'm hoping to have this conversation with you completely off the record."

"Of course, what's up?" Breanne developed a little knot of tension in the pit of her stomach.

"Okay the start of this conversation is going to be a little awkward so I'm sorry but I'll just cut straight to the point. Are you and Alessandro an item or were you?"

"What?"

"I know this is a personal question and honestly Bree I don't care either way but what I have to say next is really going to be dependent on the answer that you give me?"

"This really is out of the blue Ben. The answer is a definite no but I'd like to know why are you asking and what makes you think that we are?" this was not good. Breanne had felt sure that their dates had remained secret. Otherwise it meant that either someone had seen them together or that Zandro had been talking. After his vehement order that she not spread the rumour she doubted it was the latter.

"Bree I've known you for a few years now. I honestly don't think it's anything that anyone else has picked up on, certainly not information that I've heard through the office gossip mill. You just seem to be a little different when he is around. I've seen the odd blush in his presence and more than anything it's the avoidance. You normally go out of your way to be cheery with everyone. You greet him like you do anyone else but you generally have zero interactions throughout the rest of the day."

"Well he is the owner Ben; I'd hardly have the same relationship with him that I do with the department managers."

"That's the thing Bree; you've always been bubbly and friendly with everyone. When Massimo was here you often had one on one chats with him. In fact I think Max had a real soft spot for you. I think most people that interact with you would agree that there is never a feeling of hierarchical divide. It's a trait that I've always thought would stand you in good stead as a manager. Anyhow, you know that when I started dating Janet we kept it on the down low for some time. I just thought I recognised some of the tell-tale signs that we were probably also displaying.'