10 Things I Hate About You

Chapter 3

Owen had immediately realized this was a horrible idea. That redhead was going to be tough to crack and those janitors were high as a kite if they expected him to bother with the trouble.

The kitchen staff had not lied when they said she wouldn't be able to resist that salad. Claire had even given him a second of false hope when she asked him to come in and set the salad on her desk. That's all the time he had with her before she kicked him out, asking him to close the door behind him.

Zara, the assistant, had been very helpful assuring him that food was an easy tool to  get her attention. She barely had time to eat — and even if she didn't look like one, she was still human and had to eat from time to time. The English woman had also tipped him on Claire's drink of choice; Owen had looked so defeated after leaving that office that she had to do something to help him out.

He had been publicly humiliated by Claire twice in less than an hour. Owen had enough experience with women to know by now that being insistent was not going to help his case at all, but that's what his new friends — if you could call them that, wanted him to do. They were desperate to have Owen bring Claire on board before the next soccer match; which would happen in seven days from tomorrow.

"I'm not going to be begging some crazy chick to go out with me." He shrugged indifferently while he walked downstairs to the paddock. "I have better things to do." He started looking around for his tools so he could go back to work and forget about this afternoon.

"She's not crazy.... she's just—in..intense." Hector begged him. Both Miguel and him were the two who had better English out of the ten, therefore they would be the ones directly communicating with Owen.

"I could see that." He huffed while he kept walking around, the two Latino men following him like dogs. "I thought this would be some easy money, but there's nothing easy about her." He kept brushing their pleading off, their case was truly not his problem.

"Would you do it for more cash? Seventy-five dollars for one date." Miguel offered him half of what they had collected in their fund. They would have to come up with a solution and get more money if it would end up being this expensive. They were hoping it wouldn't, but not even they had anticipating for the redhead to be this cold and annoyed by the handsome man they had carefully picked for her.

"A hundred bucks, up front, and twenty-five extra for each time I have to try get her to bite the bait." Owen was thinking of buying some luxury parts for his bike with that extra cash. He knew this would take more than one try, and if he was going to let some holier-than-thou chick walk all over him and keep humiliating him... the least he could do was think of his sweet ride and how pimping the bike up would make this whole trouble worth it.

The employees were doing this for their soccer team, he was going to do it for his Scrambler.

"Deal." Hector agreed. "But remember we have eyes everywhere. We won't pay you for the try unless we agree you did the best you could." They were no fools.

Owen sighed, still not believing he was still in this mess and shook hands with them, closing the deal. There was not turning back. It seemed he now was going to be into the fiery redhead everyone feared — or at least pretend he was, just so these goofs could watch some soccer in peace.

****

Owen released a heavy sigh. The Claire Dearing Starbucks usual in one hand and a fresh western breakfast omelette in the other. He had made it early to her office, Zara informing him she was running late. However, the assistant had teamed up with him and let him stepped into the office for him wait there.

This gave Owen some minutes to clear his mind, put his charming smile on even if he didn't want anything to do with her. He set her breakfast and coffee on the middle table in front of the couch, and casually let his hazel eyes scan her office.