Just One Kiss

Chapter 2

"Who is this guy" Daisy asked that she chewed her popcorn through the FaceTime screen on China's laptop.

"Just the same one Chi couldn't stop talking about all through campus" Duke said from the other side of the screen as he sipped on a glass of wine. " Hunky billionaire."

"Oh I remember him" Daisy nodded, "but what does he want with JE?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out" China shook her head as she continued to scroll through the articles that Duke had emailed her.

The name Nicolas Florentino burned through the screen over and over as she continued to scroll, reading the article aloud to her best friends over the call, with one sat thousands of kilometers away in her apartment in London, and the other only a ten minute drive.

"This man makes so much money, I'm sure he doesn't even know what to do with it." Daisy managed to herself as she scrolled through pictures of the illustrious billionaire on her own device. The paparazzi of Madrid and all of Europe never hesitate to try and take a photo of the man, whether it was leaving his office, leaving an event, or leaving a date with his supermodel girlfriend Maya Rodriguez.

"No wonder the boss is so worried and secretive about this deal" Duke says in realization, "It's too much money to lose."

" I got that" China gritted through her teeth, stressing out the more the voices on her screen spoke." At the end of the day, this project is my baby, just like she said. I need to make sure that what we're getting into is worth all the hard work that I've put in the last two years."

Before becoming a writer for the magazine and blogs of JE and Co, China had fallen in love with discovery and adventure content, watching numerous videos of different thrill seekers going on adventures all around the world, catching their high through sky diving, mountain climbing, quad biking, the lot of it. Once she found out about high speed motor sports, she was hooked.

Since then, she'd been pitching her TravelSport ideas to Juliana one by one as she grew higher in her position in the company. With heavy input from Duke, they created the project that Juliana eventually approved and began to pitch to donors. China had never even considered FlorenTech as an investor; it seemed to far fetched.

"I'm sure it's going to be worth it. You have nothing to worry about" Daisy reassured a very worry-faced China. "You just need to be yourself and just like you said, plus you couldn't stop reading that guy's articles for years. You've got this."

"Forever the voice of reason" China laughed, calming down ever so slightly. The three stayed on the line for a few minutes longer as China refilled her wine glass continuing to read through the notes for the upcoming day. Eventually Daisy went off to bed, as did Duke, leaving her to continue scrolling through the gossip articles that popped up on her screen as she googled the mogul's name.

"This cannot be happening" China whispered to herself as she continue to scroll through the success stories of the man that she had admired for years.

The only son of veteran Spanish actor Guzman Florentino, Nicolas pushed to make a name for himself outside of his father's shadow. Graduating from Oxford and opening an investment firm with his best friend and now sister-in-law Carla, he had done just that.

Shutting her laptop and drifting off to sleep, China's brain continued to buzz as she strategized how to secure this project to the best of her ability.

The next morning came and went, and soon, China was adjusting the zipper of her red floor length gown, squatting down to adjust the straps of her black heels as she silently pray to herself that she doesn't trip and fall. She ran over the notes about FlorenTech on her computer, but she knew she already had enough memorized. As she murmured the key points to herself, she heard a soft knock on her office door.