Chapter 16: Meetings with the Billionaire
Benedito's headquarters in Houston stood out like a sore thumb amongst all the other high rise buildings in the city. I figured it was because of its dark gothic architecture and matte black finish. Instead of all the other buildings that had shiny mirror glasses, his building almost looked like it was wrapped in a smooth black leather.
Out of all the buildings in the city it was the cleanest I had ever seen. No bird seemed to even want to sit on it and not even a speck of dust touched its walls. It was just as intimidating as the owner to be honest. People even seemed to fear it as they passed and I understood why.
I had never seen anything like it before.
Parking my old Ford in the parking lot felt odd compared to the newer sleeker cars. Everyone who was walking towards the building was dressed sharply in their work clothes and looked like they belonged. Their briefcases firmly in their hand and phone pressed against their ear.
I tried to put in some effort by wearing black jeans, a dark blue button up shirt and my black boots without the spurs. My large gold championship belt buckle most definitely made me look like a cowboy amongst the city folks.
It was Monday morning and officially my first meeting with Benedito in his office about the progress he has made about the ranch. I had begged Clyde to come with me but he had more meetings with ranch owners, Benedito had also pardoned him from the meeting which worked against me.
I was nervous about seeing him after what happened last week. I had been a nervous mess about seeing him again because of our last encounter. He had simply emailed me requesting a meeting for today and that was that.
I looked at my reflection one last time in my sun visors mirror, put on my sunglasses and my black hat before climbing out of my truck.
It was no shock that people stared at me like I was some mystical creature because people like me did not fit into this corporate building. No one else looked close to me, every man had crisp dark suits, clean haircuts and shoes shiny enough to see their own reflection.
I paid no attention to them though, I was here for the soul purpose of having a meeting with their boss then heading my way. The two large black doors automatically opened when I approached it. The interior of the building was unlike anything I had expected.
The floors were a black matte tile that looked like liquid gold had been poured onto it. The reception was filled with people walking to elevators, black modern furniture and a gold reception table where three woman sat typing away on their computers.
I approached one of them with a friendly smile, "Good morning."
She looked up to me with big eyes and smiled, "Good morning Sir, how may I help you?"
"I have a meeting with Mister Pereira."
"Name please," she said as she clicked about on her keyboard.
"Bobby Jones."
She nodded and smiled when it seemed she found my name, "Excellent Mister Jones, please follow me." She led me to a gold elevator that looked different to the other black ones that employees went into. "Rosalia will lead you to Mister Pereira's office," she smiled as she put a code into the elevator.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure," she grinned and left me alone in the elevator. I had no idea which floor his office was because the elevator had no buttons besides the security pad to indicate where I was going.
It did not surprise me there was no music in the elevator because Benedito seemed like the type to hate elevator music. Listening to my own heavy breathing and the tapping of my foot, the elevator finally came to a stop where I was met with two beefy security guards who looked at me with a blank expression.
I stepped out of the elevator and they searched me to make sure I was not carrying any weapons before leading me to yet another hallway where I saw Rosalia patiently waiting for me in front of yet another gold elevator.
"Good morning Mister Jones," she smiled.
"Good morning Rosalia," I lifted my hat as I greeted her.
"Mister Pereira will be waiting for you in his office. Simply go straight till you reach the end of the hallway then left, it will be the only door there," she said as punched yet another security code into a key pad.
"Thank you," I nodded before the elevator doors closed again. Following her instructions I arrived to two large black French doors that had gold features. I wondered if I should have knocked or if there was a bell I should ring, but just as I looked around the doors automatically opened revealing his grand office.
The sight of Benedito's large dark wooden desk was the first thing I saw when I stepped in. He sat by his desk on a phone call, he waved his hand indicating I sit on one of the fancy dark brown leather chairs in front of his desk.
"Ich freue mich auf unser Treffen nächste Woche… Ausgezeichnet, ich wünsche dir auch einen schönen Tag… Auf Wiedersehen," he calmly spoke as he paged through a notebook in front of him and wrote something down. (I look forward to our meeting next week. Excellent, have a good day as well. Goodbye.)
I looked at him in confusion as he finally put his phone down and gave me a small smile, "German."
"Ah," I nodded, "I've never seen anyone speak it before."
"One of the many languages I know," he lowly chuckled, "how have you been?"
"Good, why?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
"I just want to know Barbie, don't be so defensive," he smirked.
"I'm not."
His hazel eyes met mine for a few seconds before he looked away, "Very well. I understand you have an upcoming rodeo in two weeks."
"I do," I nodded.
"Do you know any of the directors of the event personally? The people who put everything together, from the food, the merchandise, the finance department, the tickets and all of the above?"
I looked up for a moment before shaking my head no, "normally my job is just to ride and win."
"Well I'm going to team you up with one of my managers who will assist you in finding out who the event managers are for every event. We need to think of the ranch not only as the ranch but as an extension of oneself. Therefore whenever you get an opportunity to mingle with people in this industry that's exactly what you do."
"Will the manager be attending the rodeo with me?"
"Yes and myself," he nodded, "Construction on the fence will start in a week."
"I understand you said you wanted to go to your warehouse with me?" Benedito owning one of the top technology companies in the world meant he also excelled when it came to futuristic security features. One could see it with just his office alone and he wanted to completely vamp up the ranch.
"Yes, I figured you would enjoy seeing all the lovely toys I've designed throughout the years," he shrugged.
"I must say I am interested in seeing what makes Benedito Pereira so great," I joked making him smile.
I had been imagining how it would feel to see him again after he had told me that he had feelings for me. I wondered would he be more assertive about it, would he want to discuss it or would he be angry with the fact I had not returned his feelings.
Although he seemed to be exactly the same.
"Would you like to join me for lunch? The manager I will appoint to you will be meeting us at the restaurant," he said as he looked down to his gold watch.
"Sure thing," I shrugged. "Should I meet you there?"
"You'll ride with me," he typed something into his computer, stood up and grabbed his phone.
I stood up as well and just when I thought everything had gone back to whatever you could call normal between Benedito and I, he placed his hand on the small of my back as he led me out of his office.
I tried to keep my face neutral but the warmth of his hand was burning through the soft cotton of my shirt that I found myself biting the inside of my cheek.
"Breathe Barbie, I don't bite," he lowly said as we entered his private elevator together.
"I don't believe you," I frowned and looked in front of me. Unlike all the other elevators I had entered his was covered in a floor to ceiling mirror. I looked at my reflection and wanted to throw myself in front of a moving train for my flushed face.
Benedito's intense gaze was not helping the situation either.
I had no idea how I was going to survive through lunch.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone