AMB~she~OUS

TWENTY TWO

I peeled my eyes open slowly, the warm sunlight coming through the open curtains of the balcony was not so warm anymore. Seems like the storm had passed during the night and the sun was shining brightly upon us.

My thoughts went back to last night. I had taken Nick's challenge head-on and could gladly say that nothing happened between us. He respectfully kept to his side of the bed and so had I, I felt slightly proud of myself.

I rose from the huge bed, casting a quick glance on the far end of the bed. Nick wasn't there. I didn't expect him to though, men like him were obviously early risers. I was relieved at that, I could enjoy this lovely view of the Eiffel Tower before getting back to the real world.

After a few minutes, I grabbed my silk robe and moved to the kitchenette in the next room. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Nick sitting on a desk with an open laptop, eyebrows furrowed. I found it funny how little he needed to look as good as he did.

He had a cold front.
Always so formal with everyone at the company and at the house, the only time I had seen him in a casual setting was the night we met, even then he was alone, I doubt he had any friends. I didn't even buy his engagement to that model, they looked so off. He was so unlike other billionaires his age, who were notorious for partying away their wealth, with a new model on their arm every night. His mannerisms were so different from Craig's, who was sweetheart by nature, even the staff were his friends, something I wasn't particularly keen of but Nic--

"Good morning." His voice cut my train of thought. I hadn't realized how long I had just stood there staring at him. The puzzled look on his face showed that he had noticed, I just shrugged it off and began walking towards the small kitchenette.

"Coffee?" I asked.

"White. One sugar." He spoke.

My mouth released an involuntary laugh at how I expected him to say "Black. No sugar." Breaking all billionaire CEO stereotypes.

"There you go." I placed a large mug of steaming hot coffee beside him and took my cup of tea to a couch near the living room balcony.

We sat in silence for a while.

"What's the agenda for today?" I asked quietly, my eyes on the beautiful scenery.

"We have a meeting with Mr Townsend. He is one of the executive directors of this hotel, he is looking to invest and we're looking to expand our business here."

"Hmmm." I hummed. Not even 6 months on the job and he was already making big moves.

"I better get in the shower then."

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I filled Nick in on some of the details he didn't know about the company. If he wanted that contract then he had to have all the in-depth information about our sales and trends, basically the company's history.

He was quite a good listener, only speaking when he needed clarification on things he didn't understand. It felt weirdly different to be in a civil conversation with him even though it was for work.

"...that's pretty much it." I finally said leaning back against the comfy seats of the limo.

This was his first major deal since he became CEO and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

He could totally flop and that would plant doubts in the head of the board and it would help me get rid of him later.

Or he could totally nail this and get the company a contract of a lifetime and that meant more money for us.

I felt slightly conflicted about the whole thing. On one hand, I wanted him to fail and get kicked off his high horse on the other hand he was capable of bringing so much success to the company.

"Welcome sir, maam. Please, if you will follow me to the boardroom."

Mr Townsend's assistant led us through the building to the enormous boardroom on the top floor. I didn't miss the way her eyes lingered on Nick a second longer than necessary whenever she looked his way.

I rolled my eyes at that, I was used to it by now but it didn't irritate me any less.

So unprofessional.

Several moments later I and everyone else in the boardroom were just sitting in awe at Nick's presentation to Townsend.

The way he executed his ideas and plans for the future was so admirable. He almost had everyone eating out his hand with his confidence and charisma.

I had to admit that not even I could have done half the job he did and that was a slightly bitter pill for me to swallow.

I had so much to learn from him and that was a bit contradictory to my plan of sending him packing as soon as possible.

"I'm impressed my boy, you're better than I expected." Mr Townsend spoke up after Nick finished his amazing presentation, I felt a little tingle of pride surge through my body.

"Thank you, sir, I look forward to discussing the contract a bit more."

"Ah, straight to business as usual. Maybe we can talk a bit more..."

Mr Townsend's eyes looked in my direction.

"...in private."

I raised my eyebrow at that. He wanted me to leave? I was part of the company's team, basically planning a takeover even though they didn't need to know that.

"Maam can you follow me to the coffee shop." His assistant asked me with a soft smile.

I ignored her for a moment, letting myself look around at the other 4 men in the room. It felt like a slight blow to my ego, the misogyny was ridiculous.

I watched Nick give me a slight nod, an obvious signal to leave. I didn't need to be told twice.

"Would you follow me this way?" The assistant asked.

"No, thanks. I'm not in the mood for coffee, tell Mr Daniels that I've gone back to the hotel."

I didn't wait for her response, I walked out of the building feeling extremely sour.

With the way, Mr Townsend obviously looks down on women's abilities, if that had been me in the boardroom I probably wouldn't have gotten to the deal.

Is that why Craig gave Nick the CEO position?
Because he knew the likes of Townsend?

I could literally hear my mom's voice saying "It's a man's world sweety."

I gave a heavy sigh and ran my hand through my hair, this wasn't good.

I needed a drink and a cool swim.

I was in Paris after all.

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