One Night With The Boss

CHAPTER 2

Baby doll's? The pilot upset Kate enough that she could forget her nervousness. Throughout his life he has been protected and underrated. Throughout his life people doubted and fired him. And he has proven them wrong, over and over again. He fought against the odds and he succeeded. Till now.

Now he was in danger of losing everything he had fought for. And he won't let that happen. This is probably the most important fight of his life and he will win. He has to win. And to win, he must forget that he is probably the worst person in the world given the responsibility of talking to a billionaire who has a computer brain.

He had to forget everything except the consequences of defeat. And the people who depend on it. If he fails then they lose their job, simple as that. If Elgort Downey asks for his loan, then it's all over.

He removed a wet strand of hair from his face, his eyes drawn upwards, following the straight line of towering trees to an impressive height. It was like being in a secluded and exotic paradise.

"Is he not afraid, stay here?"

"Downey?" The pilot chewed on a piece of gum and smiled grimly. "He's not afraid of anything."

Knowing that if she heard more about the man, she would not have the courage to face him, let alone fight him, Kate staggered out of the helicopter and found that her legs were shaking. At that time he would be hard pressed to say whether he was more afraid of the forest or Elgort Downey. In a world obsessed with celebrities and imagery, she treats the idea of the two with something close to humiliation, rejecting any invitation to talk about herself. And he doesn't need to, because everyone's talking for him.

Once. As soon as he did that and the news of his wife's glamorous departure from his life after less than three months of a happy marriage had filled the newspaper with stories that lasted longer than marriage.

He couldn't have lived with her.

He ended their relationship by email. He's only interested in making money.

And more money. The speculation is endless but if all that is to be believed then Elgort Downey is nothing more than a machine and Kate knows, she only knows, even before Kate has to fight for her business, the man who will save her.

Kate won't look at the man, she promised herself. If he did not see the man, his tongue would not become muddy or stuttering. He just pretended that he was in his little sitting room at home, talking into the mirror like he always does when there is an important presentation to memorize.

Kate felt her stomach rumble again and this time the nauseous feeling that enveloped her had nothing to do with the helicopter and everything to do with her past.

In moments like these - moments of great importance, those memories rolled behind him like a giant wave, waiting to swallow him up. For him, this was the final test. And he will not fail. He can't. There's too much at stake. There was no reason to fear Elgort Downey, he convinced himself while stroking his straight and formal skirt and forcing himself to move forward onto a wooden path suspended above the forest floor.

When he shows his plan to take advantage of the business, the man will agree, and will change his mind about asking for a loan. He would save everyone's work and then he could fly home and leave jaguars, snakes, and billionaire businessmen to their jungle hideout.

The tropical heat made his suit stick to his body and he suddenly realized how much he was so unprepared to meet this man. He was not even comfortable with his clothes. Bending down to free the heel of her shoe that was stuck to the wooden board under her feet, Kate clutched the briefcase in her hand.

Tugging his shoes from the jaws of the path, he regained his balance and stood upright.

And look at that guy.

He was standing right in front of her, dark and dangerous as anything that might wander out of the forest, his body completely silent, his eyes alert. And he's watching her. Completely unprepared for the man's physical impact, Kate stopped breathing.

Her tarnished reputation had caused her mind to be fixated on a figure so far from reality that for a moment Kate could do nothing but stare, as hundreds of women were bound to stare ahead of her.

The man's eyes lock Kate's eyes with deadly accuracy from a deadly weapon. For a very troubling time, Kate could not remember anything about herself. He doesn't remember what he did here. Surprisingly, his body felt lethargic and the warmth as thick as water droplets spread slowly through his limbs.

"Miss Rutherford?" Her deep, masculine voice was enough to wake Kate from daydreaming about her male attributes and she was a little surprised, desperately hoping that the man didn't notice her embarrassing reaction.

Very cool and straightforward, Kate thought. And so many plans not to see it. His physical presence and the appearance of his movie star demand attention. As Kate stood there gaping, it was hard to remind herself that this man was said to be cruel and cold-hearted. To him, it was not a winning combination of characters.

Looking into his cynical and deep eyes, he decides that there is something about his cold surveillance that makes him more threatening and intimidating than all forest predators and he knows in an instant that his pilot has told the truth about one thing.., this man is not an angel.

Forcing her legs to move, Kate walked towards her, her bag in one hand, the other hand holding a rough rope.

Even without billions of dollars in profit, Elgort Downey would attract women. His hair was blackish blue and combed backwards from a face as hard as that handsome one. The golden sheen of her bronze-colored skin and the soft cloth of her casual shirt stuck to her broad and strong shoulders.

Kate notices the man's reaction to her arrival but she reveals nothing. His mouth did not turn into a smile and his eyes, so dark and brooding, showed no sign of welcome. It seemed that the man was as unfriendly as his looks and the way the man looked at him made him want to run back down the path and jump onto the departing helicopter.