by Conn, Claudy
I really don't feel like getting dressed up today, but I have no choice. I can't very well show up to an important meeting wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. I grab a tight fitting long sleeve knit black dress and slipped it on. I pulled on a pair of black nylons and knee length high heel boots. I looked at myself in the mirror. Maybe this outfit is a bit too sexy for a professional meeting. Well, there's no time to change if I wanted to get to work early.
I made my way down the stairs to the front hall. The house was dark and quiet. My parents still slumbering. I tiptoed as quietly as I could so I didn't wake them. I didn't want to have to deal with my mother lecturing me about my work habits this early in the morning.
I threw on my coat and scarf. I opened the front door and a cold gust of wind hit me in the face. I closed my eyes to shield them from the snow blowing in my face. I lost my breath for a moment as I made my way down the porch steps. I carefully walked to the driveway. I dug in the bottom of my purse for my keys. My legs were freezing, my teeth were chattering, and my hands were shaking. The snow had slowed considerably, but the temperature hadn't gotten any warmer.
I found my keys and opened the car door. I turned the key in the ignition and headed to work. I arrived two hours earlier than everyone else was expected to be here. Just enough time to finish my paperwork for the meeting and before I finally got to meet the president of Winters, Inc. He seemed like such a polite man over the phone. Nothing like the rumors that circulated. I have talked to many of the other sponsors of our various charities. Every time Adam Winter's name came up, a look of fear came over them.
How bad could the man be? I'm sure the president of every company has to exhibit some sort of intimidation, otherwise they wouldn't get to the position of such high status. I think everyone is merely exaggerating.
I get off the elevator and head straight into my office. Before sitting down at my desk, I look across the hall. Noelle is already here shuffling through some papers on Roman's desk with a frantic look on her face.
I hung my coat over the back of my computer chair. I hurried over to her wondering what could possibly have her so frazzled. "Hey, what's the matter?"
"Eve, I can't find last month's expenditure report. Roman was supposed to finish up the paperwork so it would be ready this morning, but it isn’t here. This is the biggest charity auction we've ever had. Everything has to be perfect!"
"Chill out! I sent Roman home last night and finished the report myself. I just haven't printed it yet. I was exhausted when I left this morning, but I knew I would be back early to get everything ready."
"Oh, thank goodness. I was getting ready to have a heart attack. And thank you for sending Roman home last night. He has been so tired lately. He would have never come home if it was up to him."
I smiled at her knowing how appreciated I am. "You're very welcome. You guys need to spend a little more time together. "
" We will, as soon as the holidays are over. We're planning to take some time off."
"That's a great idea. I know how hard it’s been for the two of you to spend some real family time together since the baby came along.”
Noelle sat in Roman's chair, she looked up at me after turning on the computer monitor. "Yeah, it really has. It's been so busy around here with the holidays right around the corner, but it's so important that these kids get the toys and healthcare they need to get through this Christmas holiday."
"Speaking of kids, where is R.J.?"
"Oh, Roman is going to drop him off at your mom's. She said she would be able to watch the baby for a few hours so we could all be at the meeting this morning. I would have dropped him off, but didn't want to hear about how I shouldn't be working so hard right after having the baby."
I laugh out loud. "That's great."
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. I'm just glad I'm not the only one who has to hear that lecture."
Noelle glanced at me with humor in her eyes. "Yeah, well, let Roman hear it today."
"Okay, I'm going to get my paperwork together and bring it into the conference room. I'll see you in a few minutes, then we can go over some things before the meeting."
"Okay great."
I left Noelle to her closing the door quietly on my way out. As I walked to my office I see Roman getting off the elevator. He’s shaking his head as he got closer. He smiled at me. "You know I don't appreciate you and Noelle conspiring against me.”
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about having to drop off Roman Junior at your house and listening to your mother lecture me for thirty minutes about how I work too much."
I had to laugh. "Well, better you than us."
"Are we all ready for the meeting?"
"Just about. I'll be finished in a half hour or so."
"Okay, I'll see you in a little while."
I turn to head towards my office when I hear Roman call out to me. "Oh, Eve!”
I spun around to face him. "Yeah, what is it?"
"After the meeting we have someone coming in for an interview. A woman by the name of Holly Haven. Since Noelle will be spending a little more time with the baby she thought it would be a good idea to have someone help you while she wasn't here."
"Oh okay, I'll get the paperwork ready for the interview when I'm done setting up for the meeting with Adam Winters."
"Great."
I walked across the hall to my office and closed the door behind me. I peered through the blinds covering the window. I watched Roman and Noelle embrace. They kissed passionately. I felt guilty for watching. I am intruding on their privacy, I closed the blinds all the way so I could no longer see them. I sat on the leather couch by the door. My head is beginning to pound again. This time from thinking about all of the happiness I was missing out on.
What I wouldn't give to be in a relationship like Roman Noelle's. There's not a day that goes by that I don't feel a pang of jealousy in the pit of my stomach. In my heart I know Noelle deserves a life with a good man, but so do I. It isn’t that I think I deserve it. It’s just that I want it so desperately.
Before I realize it, a lone tear fell from my eye. I quickly wiped it away. If anyone walked in I didn’t want them to see how upset I was. No one has ever seen me cry. Ever. Well, besides my parents. Other than them I don't show anyone my weaknesses. Most people will just use them against you for their own advantage.
I quickly pulled myself together and gathered all the reports we needed for the meeting. The pile of papers are so heavy and I could barely see over the top of them. Why on earth did Noelle need to print so many reports and recommendations? A simple breakdown would have been fine.
I know this was the biggest account we would ever have if the president of Winters, Inc. accepted our proposal for this year's charity auction and future donations. Noelle was always so nervous about companies not donating because it meant the world to her to be able to give back to the community. Especially to be able to give to kids that are in need. I can understand that, but she really needs to loosen up sometimes.
I made my way to my office door struggling to turn the door knob. I finally got the stupid door open when I had to adjust the papers in my arms because they started to fall. I took a few quick steps in the direction of the conference room when I ran into something, or rather someone. A really large muscular man to be exact. The papers fell on the floor. All my hard work scattered all over the place. I bent down to get on my hands and knees to pick up the mess that this idiot made me drop. "Jeez!"
"I'm sorry Miss, I didn't see you..."
"Well, you know what big boy, maybe next time you should watch where you're going." I continue to gather the reports in a neat pile, am beyond frustrated, I would have to reorganize all these papers in the conference room. "Do you know how hard I worked to get all this work done?"
I don't look up at him. I just continued to berate him with my questions. "Do you know how long it took me to organize all this?" "Do you know how long it will ta
ke me to put this all together again?"
"Well no...but..."
"Of course not. Why would you? All you probably do is sit on your ass at the computer all day like a monkey eating a banana waiting for people to tell you what to do. And another thing..." I finally look up at him as he bent down to my eye level helping me clean up the mess.
He smiled at me. He seemed to be enjoying my anger. "What's that princess?"
I look in his dark chocolate brown eyes. I suddenly can't remember what I wanted to say. I'm speechless for the first time in my life. "I..I..."
He continues to flash his perfect smile at me. "Well, spit it out."
My heart started to beat faster and my stomach felt uneasy. I tried to shake the feeling off. "You know what it doesn't matter. Just watch where you're going next time biceps." I snatched the last of the papers out of his hand and stormed to the conference room.
“Great. Just fucktabulous. Look at all this! It's going to take me hours to get it all organized again." Well, I guess I better get started. Mr. Winters will be here in two hours and I don't have any time to waste.
Twenty minutes later when Roman and Noelle enter the board room carrying their own stack of papers. They looked like more reports. "What's all that?"
Noelle slams her pile down on the long oak table. "We forgot a few things."
I look at her thinking what else could we have possibly forgotten? "A few? It looks like you printed everything on the damn computer. Why are we even doing this? A simple breakdown of expenses and a few letters of recommendation would have been fine."
Noelle gave me an annoyed look. "No, it wouldn't be! We need to have everything ready to convince Mr. Winters that this charity auction and any future donations will benefit not only the community, but his company as well. We need this account. It is imperative we get it!"
"Noelle, seriously, you need to chill out."
Noelle planted herself in the chair and put her head on the desk. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired."
Roman stood behind her. He rubbed her shoulders trying to get her to relax. "She doesn't listen to me. She's going to have a nervous breakdown for no reason."
Noelle looked uneasily at the pile of scattered papers all over the table. "Eve, what is all this?"
"This is all my hard work that I now have to reorganize because some muscle bound monkey bumped into me in the hallway."
"What? No! Mr. Winters is already here. He's waiting in Roman's office, waiting for us to set up."
"What?! He's over an hour early."
Noelle shoved all the papers into a pile and pushed them to the corner of the table. "Well, we'll have to make do with what we have."
"Shit, I'm so sorry Noelle. I know how much this meeting means to you."
"It's okay, it was an accident. It wasn't your fault." She looked into the hallway motioning to the door. "Oh, look here comes he comes. Now be nice."
"I always am."
Noelle gave me a scolding look. I think she has perfected that look since she became a mother.
"Okay, I'll be nice."
Noelle and Roman stood by the table when Adam Winters entered the room. Oh my God! My stomach hit the floor. I was immediately embarrassed. I could feel heat flooding my cheeks.
Noelle welcomed him, she turned to introduce us. "Mr. Adam Winters this is Eve McIntyre, my associate you've been in contact with over the last few weeks."
His smile widened. "Yes, we've met before."
I looked over at Noelle. A confused look splayed on her face. "You have?"
My eyes stared at the floor because I was too embarrassed to look either of them in the eye. "Yes, we have. This is the muscle bound monkey I was telling you about."
Adam held out his hand for me to shake. "I prefer biceps." I looked up at him. His smile was infectious causing me to smile back. At least he wasn't angry.
Noelle put her hand over her forehead. "Oh, Eve!" She turned to Adam. “I'm so sorry Mr. Winters. Sometimes Ms. McIntyre doesn't know when to hold her tongue."
Adam gave a hearty laugh which vibrated through my body. I wanted to hear it more. I could listen to him laugh all day. There weren't many times men laughed at me. Most men find my sense of humor, what's the word I'm looking for, harsh.
I glanced back at Noelle to whisper under my breath. "How was I supposed to know who he was? We've only spoken over the phone."
"We'll talk about this later. Mr. Winters please have a seat."
Adam walks passed us sitting in the chair next to Roman. As Roman presented Mr. Winters with all the information we had gathered over the last few weeks, I couldn’t help but stare at Adam. He looked as though he was struggling to keep his attention on what Roman was saying. Every once in a while I caught him glancing at me through the corner of his eye.
I could get lost in his eyes forever. They’re intense and demanded my attention. I tried my hardest to concentrate on the task at hand, which was to get him to agree with Roman's proposal.
Roman clears his throat. "Ahem. Mr. Winters is something wrong?"
I look up from my pile of paperwork and notice Adam is looking at me. I quickly avert my eyes.
"Please, call me Adam, Roman. I'm very sorry. I haven't had much sleep in the last few days and I seem a bit preoccupied this morning."
Noelle interjects. "If you would like to reschedule the meeting another time, we would have no problem with that."
Adam stood and pushed his chair back under the table. "I've heard enough."
Noelle rose with an apprehensive look on her face." Mr. Winters, if you could just give us a chance to tell you more about..."
"Mrs. Parker, there's really no need. I would be happy to work with your company’s charities. I will be inviting some of my biggest clients to the charity ball this weekend. Hopefully we can convince them to do the same. I commend you and your husband for all your hard work, commitment, and devotion to your community. I myself come from a home where we didn't have much money. Having people like you to help us out would have been great. Now, with all that being said, I think I'll go check into my hotel room. I’ll call you tomorrow for all the details on the ball."
Adam shook hands with Roman and Noelle's. He walked over to me gently taking my hand in his. He pulled it up to his lips placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles. "I hope I'll be seeing you at the ball Ms. McIntyre."
Noelle picked this time to speak up. She smiled demurely. "Oh, Ms. McIntyre will be a participant in the auction. She will be available for purchase for a night out on the town for any of our successful businessman at the ball."
I give Noelle an annoyed look. Why would she tell him that? Okay, he would have found out eventually, but he didn't need to know that now. Why did she feel the need to make me feel more uncomfortable in front of him? And why do I care anyway? I couldn't care less.
There was a gleam in Adam's eyes when he peered from under his dark lashes. "Interesting." He gives me an impish smile. "I guess I'll be seeing you there then."
He walked away leaving me utterly speechless. Noelle turned to Roman in a sing song tone. "I think someone has been bitten by the bug."
I turned my attention to her. "What are you talking about? What bug?"
Roman smiled and made kissing noises at me. "The love bug."
"Shut up you two!" I grabbed my papers. "You two are crazy. I don't even know him. Plus, he's like fifteen years older than me. He's too old for me."
"Love doesn't care about age, or, race, or religion. You can't help who you fall in love with Eve."
I turned to Noelle, annoyed at her silly and ridiculous accusations. "You and your fairy tale stories Noelle. Don't you ever give up on that stuff."
"Hey, it worked for me."
"Well, you know what Noelle, not everyone has a fairy tale happily ever after." I rushed out of the room going straight for my office. I slammed the door shut behind me. I immediately felt horrible for being so mean to Noelle. I really didn't mean it. I was feeling sorry for myself. I was taking it ou
t on the wrong people. I quickly opened my door to go and apologize to my one and only best friend. When I opened the door Noelle was already standing there.
"Eve, what was all that about? I was only joking."
I walked over to my desk, plopping my tired body into the comfort of the leather chair. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I know you were only kidding around. I guess I'm just tired."
"Well, why don't you take the rest of the day off? The meeting is over so we can relax a little knowing we have Mr. Winter's support."
"No, I'm fine really Noelle. We don’t have to work late today so I will get plenty of rest tonight."
"Okay, but if you want to leave early, you go right ahead."
"Okay, thanks."
Roman knocked on my open door. "Everything okay?”
I smiled at him then at Noelle. "Yeah, everything's fine."
"Good because that woman, Holly Haven, is here for her interview and it would be good for both of you to be there since you are the ones who she will be working closely with."
"Oh shoot, I completely forgot about the interview." I quickly grabbed a legal pad happy to see the pen was right beside it and walked toward the door.
"Well, it seems Mr. Winters has had an effect on our brain this morning hasn't he?"
I see Noelle make a slashing gesture along her throat at Roman. I had to laugh.
"I'm fine Noelle. Really. Let's go. "
I look over my shoulder in time to see Noelle slap Roman on his arm.
Roman is totally clueless to what was going on around him. "What did I do?"