What Nobody Knew

Part 12

The car ride was relatively silent with Mr Knight typing away on his phone for the majority of the trip. I would assume it was work-related but I knew that most business matters came through my phone as his PA. But this would mean that Mr Knight might actually have a life outside of his company. Which in all honesty, I found even harder to believe than the fact that my mother joined a book club.

In the past couple of weeks of me working for Mr Knight, I haven't seen a morsel of a personal life. No photos of family or friends, no phone calls where he sounded to be speaking of anything other than work-related matters, nothing. But, I already knew that he was a private person and he most probably also found it to be most imprudent to talk about anything relating to his personal life with his employees.

Still, I found it to be very odd...

"We are about 10 minutes away sir." Came Patrick's voice from the front of the driver seat.

"Very well Patrick, thank you." Mr Knight said amidst his typing.

I scanned his profile as inconspicuously as possible. He certainly was a very attractive man. He had that tall dark and handsome thing going for him. Luckily his looks were accompanied by a judgmental, controlling, condescending and at times incessantly rude personality. If this had not been the case, I might have been in serious danger of actually liking him.

Luckily it took more than a pretty face to impress me. When I was in high school, I was voted most likely to end up living alone with 12 cats. My standards were high, which is something that I have never attempted to hide. I will not make any excuses for knowing what I want and choosing not to settle for anything less.

The car came to a stop and Patrick climbed out of the front and made his way over to my side of the car. I collected my laptop bag and stepped out of the door that he held open for me, trying my utmost to do it with a little more dignity than I had when I climbed in.

I thanked Patrick before following Mr Knight who was already walking through the front doors of the hotel. We were meeting the Baxter group to finalize the details of their product launch. They were going to introduce a new phone which to me seemed in many aspects similar to that of the newest Apple phones on the market. I have read, however, that there are some significant differences in terms of their programming and enhanced security features which the competition has yet to perfect.

We made our way over to the restaurant and I stepped forward to talk to the hostess at the front desk.

"Hi, we have a reservation for Knight?"

"Good afternoon, madam, sir, welcome to La Prestige." She said with a warm smile.

She made her way around the front desk and her attire fitted in perfectly with the luxurious interior of the restaurant. She had on a beautiful black, V-neck dress stopping just below her knees along with black heels.

"This way please, sir, madam." She said to each of us, leading us towards our table with her perfect smile still intact.

The restaurant was fairly full for so early in the morning, but I knew when I made the reservation that it was one of the most prestigious restaurants in the city. The interior was white with circular tables throughout, each with a huge bouquet atop it. A grand piano stood in the middle of the restaurant, making it an ideal destination for a romantic date.

The hostess stopped at one of the circular tables which were far away enough from the other tables to prevent anyone from overhearing what we were talking about.

"Does this table suit you sir?" She asked, directing her question towards Mr Knight.

"Yes, thank you." He said, already walking towards one of the chairs.

"One of our waiters will be with you shortly." She said, before returning to assist new guests that had just entered the restaurant.

"Miss Bennet,"

I was so busy studying my surroundings that I had not noticed Mr Knight pulling a chair out for me and looking at me expectantly.

"Oh, thank you," I said, rushing towards him to sit down, taken aback by his gesture.

He pushed my chair in, accidentally brushing my shoulder with his as he sat down in the one next to mine.

"This is quite an impressive restaurant," I commented, once again taking in the splendour of my surroundings.

"It is yes, I assume that this is your first time here then?" He asked as he glanced over the menu.

I chuckled at that.

"You would assume correctly sir. To put it bluntly, there is no way that I would ever be able to dine here if not under these circumstances."

I didn't know how much the meals cost here but judging by the silverware, it was way above my pay grade.

"I expected as much." Mr Knight said while fixating on putting every piece of silverware and salt and pepper shaker on the right spot on the table.

For a moment there I almost mistook him for a gentleman. No gentleman, however, would so obviously make a woman feel so much lower in stature than himself.

Mr Knight looked intently past my head. All of a sudden his shoulders became tense as he rose from his seat, his chair scraping on the floor below him. I twisted around in my chair to see what had him all worked up.

Entering the room was Mr Bernard Baxter (and no that unfortunate alliteration wasn't lost on me) and someone who wasn't at the previous meetings was accompanying him today.

I rose from my seat as well and stood next to Mr Knight waiting for them to come closer. The closer they got to us, the more familiar Mr Baxter's associate looked.

"Good morning Mr Baxter," Mr Knight said shaking his hand before turning to the other man, "Mr Reynolds." He gave a curt nod.

Whoever Mr Reynolds was, Mr Knight was not a fan. The temperature dropped by about ten degrees when he entered the room.

I greeted Mr Baxter and when I turned to Mr Reynolds, it finally clicked.

"Nice to see you again Elizabeth," George Reynolds shook my hand, flashing a charming smile.