The Proposal (10 page)

"You should have
seen the look she gave you, when Zimmerman singled you out," whispered
Melissa as she and Nadine left the two hour long meeting. 

"I could feel the
cutting eyes on me, believe me." said Nadine, smoothing back her thick
hair which fell like a mane around her shoulders.

"You seem a little
dreamy lately," ventured Melissa, “What’s up?”  Something was clearly
going on with her boss and she had a feeling it was to do with that gorgeous
looking man of hers. "Not that I'd blame you," she winked naughtily.

"Nothing like that
at all," said Nadine hurriedly. The fact that her secretary had noticed
her sudden lapse of concentration, was something she didn't want to hear.
"I'm fine Melissa, really. These late nights are beginning to catch up on
me."

They parted ways at the
elevator as Melissa got out on the second floor and Nadine went up to the
fourth.

"See you downstairs
in an hour," said Melissa waving her arm rather majestically as she got
out.

It was already half past
six and it had been almost a full twelve hour day.

Nadine wondered where
Ethan might be. Perhaps he was back in the room? She quickly opened the door
with her keycard. Stepping in briskly, she peered around the room but it was
empty. No sign of Ethan anywhere.

Disappointed, she kicked
off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. She would have a quick half hour nap. 

A couple of hours later,
a concerned looking Ethan tried to rouse Nadine from her  deep slumber.

"Hey," he said,
shaking her gently. She looked so tired and was so deeply asleep that he
hesitated to wake her. But he also knew how important it would be for her to
make a showing at cocktail hour.  Soon enough people would be getting
ready to sit down for dinner. Since it was the last night and most of the
meetings and presentations were now out of the way, the atmosphere was a lot
more relaxed.

"Aaaargggh,” Nadine
looked at the clock and fell back onto the bed. "I'm late," she
groaned, her tousled hair framing her oval face beautifully. Ethan was dressed
and ready. Still casual, still very effortless, but she could see he was wearing
a pair of cotton linen trousers with a short sleeved shirt. At least he had
made an effort to smarten himself up.

"Come on, get in the
shower. I'll wait out here. Want me to iron your dress or something?" he
was really doing his best to help.

Nadine was touched. He
sat near her while she struggled to sit up in bed. "Thanks for waking
me," she said, before making the concerted effort to heave her body out of
the bed.

"You look
shattered," he said running his finger gently against her cheek, then
pulling it away, in case she thought he was taking advantage of her again.
Even
though she had been the one who had kissed him first at lunchtime.

She fumbled around in the
closet and got out a deep red dress with a tie-back neck. It was sleeveless and
made from chiffon and would float around her. She quickly slipped into the
shower and within twenty minutes, she was dressed and had her face and hair
done too. Nadine was always minimal with makeup, her sparkling green eyes
needed just the smokiest of charcoal eyeliners and she dabbed touches of
foundation here and there to bring out an even skin tone.  Her hair just
needed a touch of mousse and often running her fingers through it was
sufficient to give it that just got out of bed effect.

"That was
quick," said Ethan. He was sitting on the sofa chair flicking through the
sports channels and trying to keep his mind off the fact that Nadine was taking
a shower just in the other room. His eyes skimmed over her body as she walked
out fully dressed and made up. Her beauty took his breath away. It was almost
like a punch in the stomach to see her. "I'm impressed. I have yet to meet
a woman who takes such little time to get dressed and yet looks
so......phenomenal." His voice was low, admiring. He couldn’t take his eyes
off her. The floaty deep red dress, clung to her body up to her waist and was
A-line in shape, showing off her natural curves. The hue of the red
complemented her gold and auburn coloring and her eyes looked sexier than ever.

She could tell that she
looked good just by the look on Ethan’s face. She didn't need to check in the
mirror. "Shall we go?” she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"No earrings I can
help you with?" he asked, a look of longing flickering across his face.

"No, I think we're
good." She linked her arm through his and they made their way towards the
drinks lounge. Walking together, with their bodies occasionally bumping into
each other, was natural. They didn’t talk. They didn't need to.

As they walked through to
the drinks reception, Ethan asked, "You gonna be okay with this? No
instructions on what not to do and how to behave?" She shook her
head.  "You've done good," was all she said and bought her
arm, linked through his, closer towards her body.

As they approached the
room full of company employees, Nadine felt apprehensive for a minute.

I don’t really want to
be here.

She looked at Ethan and
saw him hesitating too. “Here we go,” she muttered as they cut a swathe through
the room, acknowledging everyone they passed. Michael Zimmerman, Sandra, Mario,
Stefan and Thierry were standing in a group, with their partners.  

Ethan caught sight of
someone he hadn’t seen before and turned to Nadine, raising his eyebrow,
"Can that really be her husband?" he whispered. He took a beer from
the waiter who wandered past and getting a glass of champagne for Nadine.
A short, squat, bald man in spectacles, not unlike Alfred Hitchcock, stood next
to Sandra.  Looking in the direction of Ethan’s gaze, "That's him
alright, Mason.  And yes, that is her husband," Nadine whispered as
they made their way to the group.  With their initial welcomes over with,
and seeing that Sandra wasn't going to introduce her husband to them, Nadine
stepped in. The bright red lipstick on Sandra's lips might as well as have been
smeared blood, she had a rather vampish look about her tonight. "Ethan,
this is Mason, Sandra's husband. Mason, this is Ethan."  Mason looked
happy to have someone to talk too. There was something off in their
relationship and although they were standing together, Sandra and Mason could
not have been further apart. Sandra leaned across her husband, devouring
Ethan's casual appearance in one go. "Late again Ethan," she mocked,
her pristine sharp white teeth so perfect against her blood red lips.

"Nadine was working
again. You know how dedicated she is." With his hand firmly around
Nadine’s, he pulled her closer to him, “Aren’t you honey?”

"Nadine, what do I
keep telling you? Too much hard work is no good. You need to give yourself time
to enjoy life a little too!" Michael Zimmerman joined in the conversation.

"What were you
working on?" Sandra enquired. She still hadn't said a word to her husband.

Nadine lied beautifully,
"I was just taking a look at Noble Vintage’s history, doing some
background reading and stuff."

Nadine lied
beautifully.  She had looked through the Noble Vintage website for details
but this was a few days ago. It was an account she really wanted to get her
hands on because she knew she could do wonders with it. Sandra retreated and
asked no more questions but she did her best to include herself whenever Ethan
was talking.

Nadine and Ethan mingled
around a little and moved to a different group. They caught up with Melissa who
was hanging around with the other secretaries.  And now that there were no
business meetings to attend, Nadine had started to relax a little too.

Ethan whispered something
to Melissa who nodded and then he disappeared off to the side. "What are
you two talking about?" asked Nadine curiously.  Her champagne glass
was almost empty and she looked around for a waiter. 

"Nothing,"
smiled Melissa, a little too quickly. "Ethan says you've been working too
hard and you were exhausted earlier."  She looked around the
room to see where he had gotten to.

Nadine felt more relaxed and
was pleased that the weekend with Ethan gone well. Zimmerman seemed happy with
her and she seemed to have pulled off that the idea that she was in a stable
relationship. Now all she had to do was work on the part about relaxing more
and working less.

Melissa gave Nadine yet
another friendly smile as they both waited for Ethan to return.  What she
had omitted to tell Nadine was that Ethan had gone to get her double vodka and
lemonades from now on, because he felt she needed to loosen up and chill out a little.
He had asked Melissa if Nadine was alright to drink a couple of glasses. The
last thing he wanted to do was to make her ill. He came back a short while
later, laden with a tray of drinks. Glasses of champagne for Melissa and her
two friends, another beer for him and what looked like a glass of lemonade for
Nadine.

"What's this?"
she asked, sniffing the glass.

Winking at Melissa when
Nadine wasn’t looking, Ethan answered, "Lemonade with a touch of
vodka."

"I really wanted
more champagne," said Nadine, looking around in vain but the room was
swarming with people and the waiters were few and far between.

"You'll fall asleep
and get tired really quickly if you have that all night. Try a little pick me
up," Ethan suggested.

They sat down for dinner
and this time Ethan made sure that they sat with Melissa and her friends and a
few other people who were not related to upper management in any way. He wanted
to get away from Sandra in particular and as much as he was getting to like
Michael Zimmerman and finding more to talk about with Mario, Thierry and
Stefan, he thought Nadine needed a night away from all matters related to work.

He got her one more glass
of double vodka and lemonade and saw a more gregarious Nadine emerging. They
enjoyed their meal and talk was not just about work but of things outside
work.  Being a younger crowd the atmosphere was easy and they had a great
time.  At one point in the evening, just before the blueberry cheesecake
and petits fours arrived, Ethan leant across, brushing Nadine’s ear with his
lips, “I've had a wonderful time here with you." The words sent goose
pimples springing up on her skin. Nadine, completely relaxed and unaware that
four shots of vodka had helped her to achieve this Zen-like state, felt totally
at  ease. She shook her head and stretched out her neck, turning to face
Ethan who sat with his fist on his cheek, looking at her.

"You have no idea
what a world of good you've done me these two days," she said softly in
his ear, running her finger across his cheek. "We still have tomorrow
Ethan. Though we have to check out after breakfast,” she murmured, not without
a hint of sadness.

"And we still have
all of tonight. To talk," he added, not wanting her to think  that he
had anything else in mind. 

The waiter arrived with
the deserts, forcing the two of them to move apart.

"What happens
now?" asked Ethan.

"Just more drinks
around the bar. People milling and talking, probably more networking."

"You want to mill
and network?" he asked, gently wiping away a smudge of cheesecake on her
lip.

"No," she
whispered.

"Shall we get out of
here then?"

She nodded her head
vigorously. A little too vigorously which led Ethan to think that perhaps he
needed to ease up on the vodka.

"Sure you won't get
into trouble, or get a black mark from Zimmerman for disappearing?" he
asked in a hushed tone. "I know how important your career is to you.
Wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize that."

Nadine couldn't work out
if he was being serious or messing around, but he was right. She had been
always career focused and goal driven. But right now, she felt light and happy
and she was with Ethan and she didn't really care what Zimmerman, or Sandra,
for that matter, would make of that.

"No. Let's go, when
everyone gets up," she whispered in his ear, so close to him now, that her
lips almost brushed his skin. This very motion sent shivers of excitement down
Ethan's back. He fought hard not to take her face in his hands and to kiss her
passionately. He knew he would not be able to control himself if he did. But he
also knew that Nadine had had a few drinks, courtesy of him and he didn't want
to take advantage of her. That had not been his intention at all. He had simply
wanted her to relax a little. After all, was this not what Michael Zimmerman
had been telling her also?

Soon, after the deserts
were cleared and before the coffees came, people started to drift off and talk
to friends and colleagues on other tables. Without saying a word and both
thinking the same thing, Nadine and Ethan sloped off. They felt like naughty
school children playing hooky from school.

They wandered out of the
hotel lobby and made off for one of the Roman gardens in the vast grounds of
the hotel. The night air, infused with the aroma of jasmine and lavender, was
intoxicating.

They walked silently and
as one along the stone path. Ethan slipped his hand easily into Nadine's who
took it and held it, squeezing it tightly from time to time. "This is nice
isn’t it?" she murmured, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.