One Night With The Boss

Chapter 1

The helicopter swooped low over the trees and Kate Rutherford felt her stomach roll up. Beneath it is a lush, acres-like expanse of tropical rainforest, like a lush green umbrella that protects and hides the exotic mysteries of the forest floor.

Other times he would be captivated by the beauty of his wild and enchanting surroundings, but he was too uptight to think of anything but the encounter that would happen in front of him.

A meeting and the man. What did he do by wearing this blazer and itchy suit, flying over the forest to drop himself at the mercy of a man who seemed to have no idea what the word meant?

Elgort Downey's. Brilliant, dangerous, influential. So many words come to mind when you think about them. Very wealthy and wielding more power than kings and presidents, he is said to be so clever with numbers that the financial press likens him to a running computer. That's not a good sign, Kate thought grimly as she gripped her seat, given her allergy to technology. Beneath it, trees split and overflowing rivers swirled through the deep canyon and fell onto the rocks in a burst of white froth.

"He's like owning property all over the world." Kate turned to the pilot, looking for answers to the questions that bubbled up in her mind. "...So why did he stay all the way here?"

The pilot stared at the top of the tree. "Because the world won't leave that man alone. He likes privacy."

Which fits with what he heard about the man. Cruel, flat, unsentimental, the list of unpleasant adjectives continues. Given that the man never gave an interview, there was no shortage of information about him. "He's a loner?"

"Well, I wouldn't really say it's a gentle and pleasant person, if that's what you're asking. It seemed like women did not mind, being evil and dangerous seemed to make them flock. Women can sniff power and money from a hundred steps." The pilot fumbled the controls and then glanced at him. "You don't look like your usual type."

Ordinary type?

Kate asked in her mind how anyone could think she was the boyfriend of a billionaire, she almost laughed.

"I have a meeting with Mr. Downey. His company provided an initial investment for my business." And that investment has changed his life. "They call him a business angel, but I hope you know that, considering you're working for him."

"Angel?" The pilot laughed out loud and the helicopter swooped near the top of the tree. "Elgort Downey the angel?''

He invested in small businesses that were attractive to him. And he's interested in the owner. To this day.

The nauseous feeling in her stomach suddenly returned and Kate lifted her bag into her lap and stroked its surface, trying to solder her fractured confidence.

The pilot laughed. "Angel. I don't know what he's doing to make money, but I can tell you one thing," he set his sights on the horizon and fiddled with control, "that man is not an angel."

Refusing to frighten her, Kate stood upright in her chair. "I don't believe everything I read in the paper."

"Obviously," the pilot glanced at him and the smile on his rough, weathered face was a little pitying. I can see you're a brave girl with your own mind and that's good, it'll get you far out here in the woods."

"No one dared to attend a business meeting."

"It depends on who you do business with."

Mountains rise and fall and helicopters swoop through green valleys. "And where not many people dare to visit the wolf in its den."

Despite her determination to keep an open mind, Kate felt her mouth dry. "You call him a wolf?"

Losing her stomach and nerves, Kate closed her eyes briefly and tried not to lose her lunch as well. He was never comfortable on a roller coaster. "I'm sure Mr. Downey is a very reasonable man."

"Are you?" The pilot directed his gaze to a place far below them. "Then you've obviously never met him. Wait for. We're going down."

"Down?" Kate looked at him warily, her concerns about the illness and danger of Ryan Downey momentarily clouded by the less convincing remarks. "You mean we land or we fall?"

The pilot did not answer. His eyes narrowed and his jaws clenched as he played with control. For a moment it seemed like they were about to plunge into the trees and then, at the last minute, a small landing pad appeared and he lowered the machine, it landed like a giant insect in a very small-looking gap between the two trees.

"Then, don't crash." Kate smiled wobbly and exhaled the breath she had been holding. "I have trauma about the massacre."

"If you meet Downey there will be a massacre." The pilot flicked the button in front of him. "I've seen grown men cry after five minutes with her. Follow my advice. If there was one thing the boss hated, it was extremely frightening. Welcome to the Atlantic Forest, Miss Rutherford. One of the most endangered small ecosystems on our planet."

"You left me? Over Here? In the middle of nowhere?" Kate turned her head and looked out the window and only then did she see the inn - a building that seemed to consist only of a glass dome and weathered fine wood, it blends into the forest so cleverly that it appears to almost grow naturally among the trees.

"Oh." He saw a path hanging high above the forest floor. "It's stunning. That's incredible.!"

The pilot laughed to himself. Ryan Downey angel. Still chuckling, he wiped his forehead with his hands and removed the grains of sweat. "Come out and bow your head until you are free. I'm flying back."

Kate sits glued to her seat, unwilling to leave her last connection with civilization. "You're not waiting? He said I only have ten minutes..."

And it's really ludicrous to travel this far for only ten minutes, but what choice does he have? That or give up and there's no way he's giving up. His only hope is that the man agrees to give him more time because he knows that ten minutes will never be enough time to get out of the hole where he fell.

"If there's anything left of you when he's done, I'll be back. Take the path there to the left and, whatever you do, do not stray from that path. It's a forest, not an amusement park. Be careful of the wildlife."

'The wildlife?" Kate was too busy worrying about the encounter to even think about wildlife. He glanced doubtfully into the dense forest that surrounded them. Some parts are completely shaded while in other parts the sun penetrates dense trees and is channeled to the bottom of the forest like a floodlight.

Is that his imagination or is everything moving? "You mean insects?"

The pilot smiled wickedly. "More than two thousand different species in the last estimate. And they're all we know."

Trying not to think of all the animals running towards her, Kate tidied her skirt on her knees and wished she was wearing trousers. "And the snake?"

"Oh, yes, there's a snake." The pilot's grin widened as he glanced at Kate's totally inadequate shoes, "then there's a giant anteater, a jaguar, and...,"

"Okay, I think I've heard enough," Kate said gasping for air, interrupting her with a trembling smile. Every now and then she would stick to his arm and beg him to fly her home.

"I'm sure Mr. Downey wouldn't have stayed here if the place was dangerous."

The pilot lifted his head and laughed. "You obviously don't know anything about him. She lives here because it's dangerous, baby doll. He has a low boredom threshold. Likes to live life on the edge, that is.