<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/OYK7cFa.jpg)</div>“Chess is a lot like business, except the moves and space are limited in chess and business always has surprises because the opportunities are very wide and the characters are very innovative. Predators abound. So far I've avoided them or thwarted their efforts.”<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"You are absolutely right. I think an entrepreneur looks at a business like a game of chess. An investor sees a little more poker in it. There's always something someone is hiding, or a narrative someone is pitching, a dynamic someone is presenting... trying to get you to give them your money instead of backing the next person who comes to talk to you. I'll admit... I've always admired people like you."</span><br/><br/>It might have been early to bring up 'people like you'... but Olivia clearly felt comfortable.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"Creating something... adding to it, building your own little kingdom, as it were. "</span><br/><br/>Olivia digs her fork into her salad, folding an inordinarily long leaf into two... she pauses, at her lips;<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"So much of my game is buying and selling. I create so little... but I own... everything. That's the thrill in my department. People make mistakes... and I'm in a position to capitalize on it. My opponents aren't just the mistake-makers... but also others, like myself... with their eyes peeled... waiting to... pounce ... on an opportunity."</span><br/><br/>The tension in her words<em>felt</em>remarkable. her eyes didn't just scan Jaclyn's frame like they had so many times before now. This time... when she spoke those words, she looked to hold Jaclyn's gaze intently. It was almost intimate... an intensity that conveyed that impression earlier mentioned. The insinuation that Jaclyn was lucky a table resided between them, because otherwise, the innuendo of that phrase would be a vivid physical act. Olivia had no qualms about putting out there that she was in fact a predator that Jaclyn warned about.<br/><br/>Olivia loved the hunt...<br/><br/><em>God-! Did she live for the hunt!</em><br/><br/>And prey like Jaclyn was every huntresses dream chase.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"I remember listening to Warren Buffet, he made a very interesting baseball analogy regarding investing. It's not a sport I particularly enjoy, but I did appreciate the point. He was talking about a famous hitter, Ted Williams. He was talking about knowing your sweet spot. The story ... apparently goes... If he waited for the pitch that was really in his sweet spot, he would bat .400, If he had to swing at something on the lower corner, he would probably bat .235. Warren compared the batter knowing his sweet spot, to an investor knowing theirs. You know what you know. You know what you're good at, and what you're not. And in Investing, the game is about waiting for pitch after pitch to go by, not getting impatient, not getting desperate. Because when an opportunity came that was right in your wheelhouse, right in your sweet spot, you could hit it out of the park. You put everything into it... and you can let a thousand opportunities come and go, in order to not risk losing anything... waiting for just those few that you know you'll do well in."</span><br/><br/>So much talk of business. Anyone who'd been paying attention to Olivia by now knew that some double entendre was not far behind.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"I think you've done amazingly well to avoid pitfalls and thwart those predators."</span><br/><br/>Another drink.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"Father always taught me you can go through life being the predator, or the prey. Nothing wrong with being prey. Prey can survive. A predator has to put in more work. A predator has to succeed, or they starve. Prey needs only survive, so they win every stalemate. Prey finds itself being a predator of something else down the food chain in time. Heh... I've always seen myself as a predator. I think I'm too old to change now..."</span><br/><br/>She brought her drink back to her lips... but stalled before taking in another drink. She tilted the glass in front of her, small circling motions occurring that caused the drink to slosh into a small swirl. She eyed the drink as she orchestrated a mini typhoon in her glass, her drink rhythmically spinning in tandem with the movement of her wrist.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 11pt;">"I have to say it feels good to know you've not been caught by another predator. Someone like you being taken... by a con artist or a schmuck or a devious salesperson... whoever... I can't see it. I see something truly special being needed to take you. And I have to wonder...if you think you might be able to ... thwart my efforts."</span><br/><br/>It was brazen, but it made use of Jaclyn's own specific words, so there was an art to it. It meant so much... being both flirtatious and challenging at the same time. And with that... she took in a longer gulp of her drink, emptying the glass, letting it rest between her cheeks a bit more, before sliding down the back of her tongue. A small refreshing exhale... as if she realized... God... forget about Peter...<span class="bbc_u"><strong><em>She</em></strong></span>was talking a hell of alot!