There was nothing that Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III liked more than the feel of early morning dew against his face. It was just barely autumn so the air outside was cool but pleasant enough to wear only a t-shirt. Fitz had woken up early and decided to get a run in before heading to the office. He was set to close on the largest merger his company had seen since his father was at the helm. Fitz frowned at the thought his father - Fitzgerald Thomas Grant II, or Big Gerry as everyone call him. Big Gerry was a hard man. He had been nothing but tough on his son his entire life. To this day Fitz couldn't remember a time when his father had told him he was proud of him. Fitz had taken over running the family business over a year ago and already he had tripled the company's worth landing FTG & Associates at the top of the class in their industry. Fitz was sure that his father would be impressed - only he wasn't. In fact, Big Gerry never even mentioned the merger. Instead he did what he always did - Big Gerry spent twenty minutes reminding Fitz of why he would always be a failure no matter what. Fitz inhaled deeply and took off in a fast sprint back towards his condo. He refused to let Big Gerry and his negativity get into his head. This merger was important and would take FTG & Associates light years ahead of the competition.

Fitz showered and dressed in his tailored dark blue suite, white button down, and light blue tie. He brushed his wavy black hair back, put on his favorite grey tag heuer watch the grabbed his computer bag and headed out the door. Fitz was on cloud nine as he walked to the office doors. He greeted his employees with waves and head nods as he made his way to his office on the eighteenth floor.

"Good morning Mr. Grant," Lois, his secretary said.

"Good morning, Lois," Fitz replied. "Is everything ready for the meeting?"

"Yes, sir. I have Conference Room A set up for you."

"Great. Thanks Lois," Fitz said and opened the door to his office. He paused before entering. "Lois, let me know as soon as the folks from Cedar, Pope, and Alexander get here, okay."

Lois shifted in her chair. "Umm sir," she paused and Fitz turned back to face her. "They're already here."

"What!" Fitz said his voice a bit louder than he intended.

"They got here about ten minutes before you showed up."

"Well where are they?" Fitz asked.

"I put them in the conference room.

Fitz slung his computer back onto Lois's desk and made his way to the conference room.

There at the far end of the room sitting around the conference table were Ronald Cedar, Rowan Pope, and Benjamin Alexander, the owners of Cedar, Pope and Alexander. These men were legends in the field of science and had created and patented the first ever man-made fusion reactor. They had been in business for a long time and were ready to retire. Fitz hadn't been able to get them to sell the company but the had agreed to a merger.

"Good morning gentleman," Fitz said has he swept confidently into the room.

The men stood and each shook his hand as they approached.

"You ready to do this, son?" Ronald Cedar asked.

"Absolutely," Fitz said then picked up the contracts that Lois has laid out. Fitz placed a document in front of each of the men. "Gentleman, you will find everything we discussed in the contracts. I give a minute to look them over and then we close this thing out."

"We already looked them over," Ronald said.

"While we were waiting for you to get here," Benjamin Alexander added with a smirk.

Fitz shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. He watched as each man turned to the last page of the contract and signed their name. Fitz's was buzzing with excitement. This was it. He was about to become owner of a highly sought after and highly profitable product.

The men each slid their signed contract over to Fitz and stood. "Well there you have it," Ronald said. "I can now go retire somewhere with my wife and dog."

The other two men chuckled as they made their way over to Fitz.

"Good luck Fitzgerald," Ronald said.

"Yes, good luck, son," Benjamin said.

Rowan came over to where he stood and stared him the eyes. "Good luck," he said.

"Thank you," Fitz said.

Fitz watched as the men headed towards to door. Ronald exited first with Benjamin close behind him. Rowan stopped just before he exited through the door. "Oh, before I forget. Our fifty percent stake holder will be here shortly," he said with smirk then headed out the door.

Fitz pumped his fist in the air and screamed yes up toward the ceiling. The deal was finally done and Cedar, Pope, and Alexander was finally his. Sure he had to make one allowance and that was to take on CEO of that was already in place and allow him to manage and control fifty percent of the company. Fitz wasn't worried about that all. Their CEO was a guy named Ted Phillips who happened to be an old friend of his family. Fitz and Ted had already worked it out that Ted would run things in name only.

Fitz walked over to the table and grabbed the contracts. He headed for the conference room door and just as he reached for the handle the door flew open and in walked the most amazing creature he had ever laid eyes on. It was as if time stopped as he took in the sight of her. Her hair was flawless and fell in shiny waves around her face and shoulders and smooth cinnamon colored skin stretched across perfect cheekbones. Her eyes were large and doe-like and were the color of rust. And her lips - oh her lips...they were plump and slightly parted as if waiting to be kissed.

"Can I help you?" Fitz asked his voice cracking.

"Um...yes. I'm supposed to be meeting Fitzgerald Grant."

Fitz stared at her in shock. He had no idea who this woman was and why she'd be looking for him. "I'm Fitzgerald Grant," he said pointing to his chest.

The woman smiled revealing an even row of perfectly white teeth. "Great! I'm excited to work with you.."

Fitz was thoroughly confused. Who was this woman and why did she think they would be working together? "I'm sorry but why would we be working together?"

Embarrassment colored her cheeks. "Oh...umm...I'm the acting CEO of Cedar, Pope, and Alexander."

Fitz wasn't sure he heard her right. Surely she didn't just say what he thought she said. "Come again," Fitz said.

She let out a nervous laugh then said, "I'm sorry I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

She ran her tongue nervously across her lips and Fitz felt tingle in the pit of his stomach. She was way to beautiful and she gave off the sexiest vibe.

"Ted Phillips had a heart attack last night and the board appointed me as his replacement so I will be controlling the fifty percent share in the company as well as acting CEO."

"You can't be serious?"

"Why would I joke about that, Mr. Grant?"

Fitz offered no response.

"The board felt that I was the perfect person to control the fifty percent interest because they knew that I would always have the best interest of the company in mind," she paused for half a second then continued. "Mr. Grant, its well know that you can be a bit hasty in when making decisions and the board knew that I would always do the right thing to continue the great legacy they built."

Fitz shifted and looked at her an incredulous look on his face. "Are you saying that I wouldn't?"

She tilted her chin confidently. "Let's be honest. There have been a few...incidents around your decision-making that put a few dents in the company. Besides I'll be a brilliant asset to you. I'm smart, I'm quick on my feet, and I know the product better than anyone."

"Is that so?"

The sharp-tongued goddess stepped forward closing the distance between them. "Rowan Pope is my grandfather. He is the one who came up with the formula for the fusion reactor and I am the only person on earth who he shared it with."

Fitz stared intently at the beautiful creature in front of him. She was dressed impeccably in what he could tell was a designer pants suite. It was white and fit her petite but curvy frame to perfection. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her and she stood rod straight as she stared back at him. Their gazes clashed as they sized each other up. The air in the room thickened and electricity sizzled between them. Fitz felt the urge to reach out and touch her. Instead he shoved his hands in his pockets. He should be upset that neither of the gentleman bothered to inform of the change in CEO but he wasn't. Instead he was intrigued and beguiled by this quick tongued beauty with eyes he could easily lose himself in. He wanted to know everything about this woman and he would start with her name. "And your name is?" Fitz asked.

"Olivia...Pope."