An enemy within

Rodriguez couldn't help but feel lost for words as he stared at Mara. She was a gorgeous woman with full brown brown hair that went down to her waist and brown eyes that seemed to be staring into your soul. The confidence she exuded only made the sudden attraction Rodriguez felt towards her stronger. She was exactly his type.

"Welcome, Miss Lade. Have a seat." Daniel said to her as Mara and her company members sat down.

The meeting commenced without any further delay and everyone was focused on the projector screen, listening to everything that was being presented, except Rodriguez. The entire time, the only thing that attracted his attention was Mara, not like he cared about anything that was being said. He wondered how she would look in his bed.

"Mr Jake." He heard someone call and touch him through his daze. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. He still hadn't gotten used to being called Jake. Mara had narrowed her eyes wondering why the CEO of a company would be so abscent minded at an important meeting like this one.

"Yes." He cleared his throat.as he sat up. "What was the question?"

"I asked whether the plan we have chosen to go with is okay with you?" The employee that was presenting repeated.

"Yes, yes. Just go with whatever." He said dismissively as everyone looked away. Mara's narrowed gaze lingered on him for a while before finally looking away.

Through out the rest of the meeting, he made sure that even he zoned out he would still hear when he was being called.

When the meeting finally ended, they all stood up and Mara shook Mr Smith's hand and other employees hands, but quite blatantly avoided shaking Rodriguez's hand and that didn't go unnoticed by him. When they were done, Mara and her employees left.

Cole walked up to his son and lightly slapped him on the back.

"Why were you so abscent minded at the meeting?" He asked as they walked towards Jake's office.

"Sorry, dad I've been thinking about something that's been bothering me." Rodriguez lied.

"What might that be? Is it serious?" Colt looked concerned.

"It's nothing you need to worry about dad. I can take care of it." He said smiling. "You can go into.the office, I'll be right back." He said to his father, before walking straight to the elevator.

He pressed the ground floor button numerous time even though it wouldn't make the elevator come any quicker. He got into the elevator and stood there paving, hoping they hadn't left the office premises. When he got out of the elevator, he ran through the lobby and all the people there looked at him strangely, wondering why their CEO was running.

When he got out of the building, his eyes searched the parking lot and saw Mara about to get in her car. He ran, shouting her name and she eventually turned when she heard her name. When she saw that it was Rodriguez, she eyebrows furrowed and she stepped out of her car and closed the door. When he got to where she was, he was breathing heavily.

"Mr Jake, how may I help you? Is there a problem?" She asked thinking it had something to do with the meeting they just had.

"No there's no problem, I just wanted to talk to you." He said trying to catch his breath.

"Well… how do I say this? Just now when you came in and I saw you, I couldn't help but think about how gorgeous you looked. That feeling only increased when I saw the amount of confidence you have and how focused you are on your work. It's attractive to see such a young woman as yourself running a big company as yours without help from anyone. So I wanted to ask if you would like to go out with me sometime?" Rodriguez explained, making Mara sigh.

"You said you like how I focused on your work and you found it attractive that I was able to build this company myself, right?" She said walking closer to him, as she raised her hand up to his suit and straightened his tie. The confidence that came off of this woman was like none other. " Well, I was able to do all this by staying away from predators like yourself. I noticed the way you looked at me in the meeting room, don't think I'm dumb enough not to. I just chose not to say anything so I wouldn't embarrass you in front of your employees. But don't take me for a fool or a weak woman just because I choose to stay quiet." She said starting to walk away.

When she got to her car door, she turned around, “I'm a woman of principles, who likes to keep work separate from personal life. If you see me outside sometime, maybe I might consider your offer if you're polite enough not to stare the clothes off my body." She said before getting into her car and driving away.

Rodriguez was absolutely dumbfounded. This was the first time someone had blatantly refused him to his face. He never really had to struggle to get a girl before, because they all just basically fell into his lap. He scoffed as he thought of how she so confidently rejected him. This only made him more determined to get her in his bed.

Accepting his fate for now, he walked back into the building and went to his office. When he got to the door, he heard voices talking inside. He placed his ears on the door and listened. He could hear Daniel's voice and he would be talking to no one else but Cole.

"...you’ve really not noticed anything strange about him?" He heard Daniel. "Just today, he came in to work late, was abscent minded through out the whole meeting and just now, he ran out to chase after Miss Lade who just left." He said.

"When you made him CEO, you were sure that he would get everything done because he was your son. I was always sceptical about it because he is so young and could always make bad decisions, and now he's suddenly changed." Searching through Jake's memories, he could see that Daniel was close to Cole that's why he could speak to him that way. He wasn't happy when Cole handed the company over to his young son instead of him or anyone else who had worked hard for the company for a long time.

"Daniel, according to what you said this is the first time this has ever happened. Do not expect me to revoke Jake's position because of a one-time thing and besides since he took over, the company has only grown. He's my son and I know what he is capable of, let him be." Cole answered. Rodriguez sighed as he backed away from the door.

He had come here to get away from duties, he wasn't ready for someone to blow his cover when he hadn't even spent up to two days here. He really didn't car about the company all he was worries about was his cover, so he had to watch this Daniel, to avoid any problems in the future.