A/N: welcome to my Boiler Room fic! had it up, then took it down for revision and took forever to post it this time. but its up now...enjoy!

Chapter 1: Hale on Varick

"Don't let them take it, Chanel!" Jenna spat on the phone as she headed past a building she never even thought twice about.

"They want it bad, Jenna!" Chanel replied on the other end of the phone. "They're threatening to go directly to the bank and take it from us that way."

"Wait until I get there so I can negotiate," Jenna ordered. "You can't negotiate for shit."

"Thanks," Chanel blurted. "Just hurry and get your ass over here!"

"Coming," Jenna nodded. "Back to work, Shay."

"I told you not to-!"

Jenna hung up before Chanel could continue yelling at her, a playful smirk on her lips. She flipped some of her auburn hair from her sea-green gaze and jumped with a start when she heard sirens coming her way and heading into the parking lot of a brokerage firm she didn't much care about. She watched the police cars drive by and turned back to mind her own business when they all started getting out of the cars.

She'd always wondered why a brokerage firm was out here, so far away from Wall Street, but she'd never really thought about it. Her thing was real estate. At least then you got to look the people you're stiffing in the eye. Not that all of them were like that, but if they were, you could feel guilty about it properly.

"There you are, baby!"

Jenna frowned in utter confusion as she stopped dead and spun around to see who belonged to that deep voice that had just called her "baby." She found out when she spotted a tall, bald man in an Armani suit and a briefcase in his hand. She had to admit, he wasn't bad to look at, but what the hell was he thinking, calling her "baby" like he knew her? She placed a hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at him in astonishment.

"Excuse me?" she retorted as he still headed toward her.

"Oh, come on, babe," he replied, apologetically. "Don't tell me you're still mad about this morning?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she frowned in irritation as he came dangerously close to her.

"Look, you seem like a nice girl," he said in a low voice, his attitude changing as well. "Pretend to be my girlfriend for a few minutes until we get outta sight of the cops and you'll never have to see me again."

She gave him a wide eyed look then leaned over to see the cops going into the JT Marlin building and looked back at him to scoff, "No!"

She shook her head as she turned to walk away but he quickly caught her wrist. She stopped and turned back to him with a burning gaze.

"Don't make this hard for me," he pleaded, glancing over at the cops. "Just let me hang on your shoulder until we reach that corner over there and you're home free, I swear."

"Why should I help you?" she wondered. "I don't even know you!"

"No," he agreed. "But, if the cops come over here and see you talking to me so close to that building over there, they're gonna think you work at that building."

"I'm not a stock broker, thank you very much," she retorted.

"They don't know that," he pointed out.

Jenna sighed and noticed a few of the cops circling the area around the building. Probably looking for strays like this guy she found herself talking to through no fault of her own. She looked back at him and rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she whispered, stepping to walk next to him. "But only because I don't have time to be questioned by the police, even if I don't have anything to do with that firm."

"I knew you'd forgive me, babe," he smiled, slinging his arm around her shoulders.

By the way he had said it loudly, Jenna knew he was keeping up the charade of a fighting couple, but she still didn't like him calling her that. She cringed as they walked toward the corner and he glanced over his shoulder every once in a while at the cops and at one point he leaned to her ear.

"My name's Chris, by the way," he whispered and Jenna glanced at him when they finally reached the corner.

"Jenna," she replied simply and he smiled when they rounded into an alley.

"Well, Jenna," he said, pulling his arm off of her shoulders and standing in front of her to hold his hand to her. "It was nice to meet you."

"Charmed, I'm sure," she retorted, quickly shaking his hand and turning to leave, but he stopped her again.

"I'm really sorry about that," he said, quickly and she turned to nod at him as she still tried to walk away. "I'd like to make it up to with…I don't know…dinner, maybe?"

That made her stop and she turned back to him with a sigh, her hand on her hip again.

"Look," she began. "You said if I got you out of sight of those cops, I'd never have to see you again. Can you just…evaporate, or something? Dissolve into no where since you appeared from no where?"

"Well, you've got a bite to you, don't you?" he smirked, coming closer as she simply stared at him in wonder. "I kinda like that."

"Well, then you'll love this," she snapped with a tight smile and she turned and walked away down the alley without another word.

Chris stood there a moment and crossed his arms over his huge chest but Jenna didn't turn back to look at him. She had better things to do than help some guy get away from the cops, which she had, but she wouldn't do it again. She suspected that he wanted to keep his cover going, as feeble as it was, but she wasn't about to let herself get used.

She turned into the street and headed down the sidewalk to a parking lot across the street. She felt relieved that she was going this way anyway when she ran into that guy. She pulled her car keys from her purse and pressed the button for the alarm as she headed to her hot rod red Mustang and got in.

Pulling out of the parking lot of the parking lot in front of Right Estate Real Estate, where she worked, she drove out and into the street to head for a fashion boutique where her partner in crime, Chanel, was trying to hold off another real estate agency that wanted the same building. Over her dead body, she thought. She'd worked countless hours to get that deal, and now some hot-shot rookie was going to try and take it from her? Hell no, she was fighting this one to the death.

She pulled up to a red light and took this opportunity to check her image. She had to look like the head honcho she was. She'd earned her agency a lot of money, and she'd been rewarded for it. Whenever another agency tried to give her a better job, with more money…no thanks, she stuck with Right Estate.

Jenna frowned at her reflection in the mirror and grabbed the make-up bag from her purse to touch up her face. She was just about finished when a horn honked next to her. She jumped and looked to her right out the passenger window.

"You're kidding me!" she spat.

Chris waved with a cocky, yet charming smile from his expensive looking SUV and Jenna sighed as she rolled her eyes. The light turned green and she gunned it to get away from him, but it didn't help. She noticed his car get smaller in the rear-view mirror but he changed lanes to follow her and she gasped incredulously at what she saw.

"That son of a-!" She didn't let herself finish when she suddenly realized there was a red light in front of her and she stepped on the brake, jerking her forward a bit. She glared into her rear-view mirror and he waved again. She only rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to traffic as the light turned green.

She didn't pay attention to whether or not he was following her, she just drove to the boutique where a few other expensive cars were parked. She pulled up in front of the little building and looked over to see Chris pull up in the spot next to her. She got out of her car with a growl of irritation.

"You said I'd never have to see you again!" she snapped as he got out. "So why are you following me?"

"I'm not, I swear," he replied, looking just as shocked as she was angry. "I was heading here on my own. But, I will admit, I'm glad I get to see more of you since we met."

"Well I'm not!" Jenna retorted and whirled around to head for the boutique as Chris followed her. They were half way there when she sighed and turned to him. "Seriously, a guy like you, going into a boutique? Kinda weird, don't you think?"

"My little sister owns the place," he replied and walked up to the door as Jenna stared at him in wide eyed shock.

"What the hell?" she spat and he turned to her as he grabbed the door handle. "You mean that little blonde Barbie doll is your sister?"

"I guess she is a Barbie doll, isn't she?" he smirked in amusement. "I hadn't thought about it."

With that he opened the door and waited for Jenna to go in but she was too stunned to move. He frowned at her but becoming impatient he leaned over, grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the building, knocking her from her trance. They both turned to see two men in well pressed suits sitting in the waiting room, and two other women at the front desk.

One woman had long black hair and sapphire eyes under heavy silver eye shadow and the other was taller with emerald eyes and short blonde hair that was tipped with purple. They all drew their attention to the two who had just walked in and both the girls' faces lit up.

"Jenna, thank God you're here!" the black haired girl gasped in relief, running to Jenna.

"Chris, what are you doing here?" the blonde wondered happily as she ran into his arms for a hug. Jenna's friend started eyeing Chris which made Jenna roll her eyes.

"Who's he?" she wondered, completely intrigued by his good looks and awesome bod.

"I just ran into him and found out he's Tatiana's brother," Jenna replied. "It's a long story, Chanel."

Her attention was drawn to the two men who stood and straightened out their suits. She smirked confidently and headed toward them, Chanel on her heels as Chris and Tatiana watched to see what would happen.

"You must be Jenna Hale," the first man said, holding out a hand. "My name is-"

"I don't care what your name is," Jenna interrupted and he shrunk back. "You're not getting this place. Right Estate is profiting a great deal from this investment and we don't intend to get rid of it any time soon. You're just wasting your time."

"But this is our jurisdiction," the other man argued and Jenna frowned then turned to Chanel.

"When was the last time you heard a real estate agent talk about jurisdictions, Chanel?" she wondered, sarcastically.

"Never, Jen," Chanel replied, shaking her head and going along with her partner as Jenna turned back to the two men.

"Me either," she agreed. "People choose which agency they want to invest with. You're just pissed she didn't pick you. Now please, go pick on somebody who's a bit less of a challenge. We don't need rookies clogging up the works here. Good day."

With a flip of her hair and a nod from Chanel, Jenna turned and headed for the door for her dramatic exit, but that wasn't going to happen. She slammed right into a rock hard chest and fell back onto the floor as Chanel gasped and stood back.

"Oh, my God! Jen, are you ok?" Chanel gasped as Jenna only glared at Chris in front of her and the two agents behind her laughed their asses off.

"I'm fine," she seethed through clenched teeth as Chris only smirked.

"Sorry," he shrugged and Jenna felt like wringing his neck for making her look like a fool. He stepped aside and held a hand toward the door. "The door's that way."

"I know where the door is you stupid wall!" she hissed and shoved passed him with Chanel on her heels. Once outside she growled loudly in agitation and headed for her car, fumbling with the keys. Chanel came up next to her, giddy.

"So, what's that long story you were gonna tell me about that gorgeous hunk of man you were so mad at?" she asked and Jenna only glared at her.

"Don't think it, Chanel," she warned. "He's a stock broker. No good can come of them."

"I'd beg to differ," Chanel smirked as she turned and watched as Chris exited the building after the two real estate agents. "He's fine!"

"Would you knock it off?" Jenna hissed, not noticing Chris heading toward her. "You're drooling." She still fumbled with her keys. "And besides, he's a cocky, muscle head who probably does nothing but scam people out of their hard earned money just so he can get rich quick. Hell, he probably doesn't have a job anymore since I saw him coming out of JT Marlin and the place has just been raided by the cops!"

"Uh…Jenna?" Chanel tried.

"He probably thinks he's all that and a bag of chips," Jenna continued, "but let me tell you something, Mammie in Gone With the Wind was right. You can put a horse's saddle and reigns on it, but it's still a mule! That's all he is. Dress him up in Armani, but he's still a-"

"An ass?"

Jenna froze and let out a groan as she turned around to see Chris standing behind her and she looked at Chanel.

"I tried to warn you," she shrugged and backed away to head to her own car.

"You know what?" Jenna scoffed, looking up at Chris's amused smirk. "I don't care, because it's true. You can dress up in the fancy clothes and wear all the Ralph Lauren cologne you want, but it doesn't change what you really are."

"And what would that be?" he wondered, still smirking at her which Jenna couldn't understand.

"A sleazy, greedy stock broker who only wants more money, more money, more money," she replied in a hushed tone.

"Interesting theory," he nodded, casually. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" Jenna grunted making his smirk widen.

"A boyfriend?" he repeated.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" she asked with frown.

"The kind a guy asks a chick he's interested in," he replied simply, shoving his hands into his pockets. Jenna shook her head in astonished confusion.

"You're hitting on me?" she squeaked. "I've been trying to get rid of you and you're hitting on me?"

"It seems I'll have to take the initiative on this one," he sighed and pulled his keys from his pocket as he headed for his car. "Meet me at Martin's at eight. We'll have a few drinks, maybe loosen you up a bit-?"

"Martin's-? Loosen me up-? What the hell?"

"Just do it," he called, getting into his car. "Eight o'clock. I'll be waiting."

Jenna watched him drive off in astonishment then turned to Chanel who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Let me come with you!" she pleaded and Jenna glared at her.

"Oh, shut up!"

A/N: reviews?