A Very Corporate Affair book 3 (The Corporate series) (7 page)

"Hey baby, thanks for getting that information over. Every single one of those directors we saw this morning has sent their CV's over already. They must be keen. I spoke to the Americans, they are arriving Monday morning, so we'll have the initial meeting here at ten."

"No problem." I pulled out my iPhone, and added it into my schedule. I took a file from my bag, "Here are the notes from our meeting with Paul this morning, with his recommendations." He didn't look away from his screen, so I placed the file on his desk, and sat down opposite.

He looked up. "Right, here's how I see it so far, on the board for the umbrella company will be myself, as managing director, you, as company secretary, and legal, Oscar, as our banker, Ranenkiov as HR director, Andrea Mills as director of administration, Andrei Orlov as sales and marketing director, Jacqueline Martin as director of information technology, and Vladimir Sutin as director of real estate and property. That still leaves me with at least another eight places to fill, most importantly a finance director. The Conde Nast one is a woman," he looked at his notes, "Gail Hayward. She seems efficient enough, but...." He trailed off.
Sexist bastard.

"You don't need to make any decisions until you've met the Americans. There's no big rush. Anyway, it may take Paul a while to come up with the right people."

"Yes, of course. What do you think about appointing Oscar as chairman?"

"You'd have to sound him out about that, he might not want that much involvement, I mean, it's not like you two are great friends is it?"

Ivan shot me a look, "we're friends, why would you think otherwise?"

I just shrugged, and changed the subject. "What about Joan Lester?"

"I think she's best placed to continue as MD at Conde Nast. I don't want to completely strip them of their top management. She runs it very well. I saw that their advertising revenue has grown in the last three years. Quite some feat in this climate." I nodded in agreement. "I think then that we'll meet the Americans on Monday, then make our choices. I'll book Lassiter on Tuesday morning when we have a clear idea of the skills that this new board needs."

Outwardly, I was listening to him drone on. Inside I was trying to come to terms with his total lack of respect for me, and his contempt for our sex life. Suddenly, he didn't seem so pretty anymore. I noticed the unattractive sneer of his lips as he spoke of women in business, and the unpleasant way he chewed his biro when he was thinking. I was jolted back to the present when he asked me a question. I stared at him rather blankly. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."

"You're about a million miles away. Come back to the present." He clicked his fingers in front of my face, smiling as he did it.
Do that again lover boy, and you'll end up with broken fingers.

"Yeah, I'm struggling to concentrate today."

"I noticed. Excited about seeing your friend I expect?"

"Yes, yes I am.”

"Look, why don't we wrap up for today? I need to get back and see the girls, get them ready for the drive down to Sussex. You can get back and see your flatmate."
And you can spend the evening with Penny Bloody Harrison.

"Great. I'll speak to you soon." I grabbed my handbag, and left. If he was perplexed that I didn't kiss him goodbye, he didn't say anything. In truth, I couldn't bear to be that close to him.

The lift couldn't come quick enough, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I stepped out of the tower. I needed to form a plan to extricate myself from him, without massively damaging my career. As I walked home, I thought about different ideas, including calling the headhunter who had approached me a few weeks back. Changing law firms might be a solution to the problem.

I stopped for some fresh milk, and had just finished paying, when Paul approached.
Oh great, just what I need.
"Hello Elle, have you got time for a quick coffee?"

"Umm, I was just on my way home."

"It won't take long." He took my elbow, and steered me into Costa, sitting me at a table, before going to get two lattes. He put mine down in front of me, and sat down. "I dropped a bit of a bomb on you today," he said.

"Yeah well, serves me right for listening I suppose."

"Have you spoken to him about it?" I shook my head. I didn't particularly want to dissect the grisly detail with Paul, who was, after all, a client. "Are you going to speak to him about it?"

"Oh yes. I don't ever plan on going within six feet of the man ever again. At some point, he might notice, but then again, he might not." I paused, "why does he hate Oscar so much?"

Paul shifted in his chair. "He doesn't hate him, he's jealous of him. If you notice, he tries to emulate him in a lot of ways, the immaculate suits, fancy restaurants, that type of thing. Oscar was born into it, it's all second nature to him, his 'normal' if you like. Ivan's hangups come from being the son of peasants, shot like cattle, and his arrival in the UK as a poverty stricken immigrant. He can never have what Oscar has, no matter how wealthy or knowledgeable he becomes. Oscar was born with a title, a bank and a castle."

"I can understand all that, what I don't get is why he was so vile about me. I can understand that I'm not his cup of tea, but why say all those terrible things?" 

"I think that's more complicated. I suspect it's more to do with his own overblown ego than anything else." I looked quizzically at him, he went on; "He knows that in many ways, he can't compete with Golding, and has no real idea why you left him. I think he's assumed that if you walked away from Oscar Golding, you'll walk away from him too. It's human nature isn't it? To push someone away before they walk of their own accord. I also suspect he was trying to ensure that I wouldn't be interested."

"You sound as though you're trying to apologise for him. It doesn't explain Penny Harrison though."

"I'm not apologising. It must have been horrible listening to the man you love speaking about you like that. I just felt that I should explain it a little, as I figured you must be quite hurt about the whole thing." I nodded, not wanting to admit to Paul that I was, in fact, devastated. "As for Penny Harrison, I don't know if he is or isn't still seeing her. Again, that could be ego or bravado talking. He wanted to paint you in a certain light, and making out that you were dull in bed to the point of having to see someone else, well, that's all part of it, don't you think?"

"I don't know what to think to be honest Paul. Now, there is something I'd like to discuss confidentially with you."

"Go on."

"I'd like to discreetly look around at other law firms. I think it may be the only way to get away from Ivan and Retinski without anybody losing face."

"How do you think your boss would feel about that? Surely they'd rather support you, and keep you, rather than lose you, and probably Retinski as well?"

"I don't want to leave, I really love the firm I work for, but I don't want to be tainted by being 'the girl who lost the Retinski contract'."

"I see. I can certainly sound out a few people. You have a stellar reputation. Are you set on being in Canary Wharf? Or are you happy to go back into the city?"

"I'd prefer the city if possible. Then I'd be completely away from it all."

"I'll see what I can come up with."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that, now, I don't want to be rude, but I really have to go." We said our goodbyes, and with a growing sense of anticipation, I headed home.

Chapter 5

I walked into the flat, to be greeted with the smell of roast beef in the oven. I dumped my handbag on the island and called out, "Hi, I'm home." James bounced out of the laundry room.

"ELLE! I'm so glad to see you. Feels like I've been away forever."

I stood staring at him. He looked like an entirely different person. "You look so different, great, but like a different person." He pulled me into an awkward hug.

"Still the same, just less hair. You look a bit thin. Have you not been eating properly?"

"Not really," I admitted. "Let me look at you." I stood back to get a better look. "James, you are seriously hot. I bet the ladies went nuts for you in America." He pulled a face.

"Not terribly keen on American women, whiny voices and all that. Now, first things first. Glass of wine? Dinner's going to be a little while, and we need to catch up." I watched him as he sorted the wine. His curly brown hair was cut fairly short, not clipper cut short, but enough to look tidy. His jaw was strong, quite sharp, and had a hint of a cleft on his chin. He looked tanned and fit, which seemed to make his twinkly blue eyes even more pronounced. In short, he was drop dead bloody gorgeous.

While our dinner was cooking, he told me all about his time in the States, the friends he'd made, and the work he'd done. Reading between the lines, it sounded as though he'd been a bit lonely and homesick.

During dinner, I told him an edited version of leaving Oscar, my work at the factory, getting together with Ivan, losing mum, and finally, the events of earlier on. He listened to the recording, and cringed. “Penny Harrison’s not a relation of yours I hope?” I asked. He shook his head.

"Sounds like it's been rather eventful. Seems like you need this holiday. Only a week to go, are you excited?"

"I truly can't wait. I bought a kindle, some new bikinis, and I brought a lovely sundress back from the south of France." I thought of all the beautiful clothes left behind at Ivan's houses, including my red ballgown and rubies, and felt a little sad. There was no way I was asking him for them though.

"Well, hopefully this holiday will make you forget all about that rotter. A bit of drinking and sunbathing will do you the world of good."

"Yep, you're right. By the way, did you call Janine?" I watched his face pink up slightly.

"Yeah, I called her. She's left Trystan, come back to the UK. Wants to meet up."

"How do you feel about that?" I felt a pang.
Jealousy?

"I'm meeting her tomorrow. I've been in love with her since the moment I met her. I need to find out if I'm truly over her, whether or not I can move on."

"Hmm. Well, that was a stupendous roast. I think I've put all the weight back on that I lost while you were away." I patted my tummy.

"It's still early. Shall we go out for a drink? I've missed proper beer."

"Is that wise on top of wine? You know how you get, hangovers and all that. Plus you normally moan when I let you drink." I bumped his shoulder to let him know I was teasing. I quickly changed into jeans and a vest, and we set off down the river path to the Dog and Duck.

It turned out to be one of those rare, fun evenings, where people seem extra friendly, the drinks seem colder, and the sun doesn't seem to go in for ages. It almost felt like we were on holiday already. At half eleven, we were thrown out by the landlord, so that he could close up. I started when Roger stepped in front of me.

"Mr Porenski asked that I see you home safely."

"Mr Porenski can go fuck himself, or Penny fucking Harrison," I slurred, "and you can stop tracking my phone Roger, s'creepy. I'm not his girlfriend anymore." I could hear James laughing beside me. I didn't often swear.

"You appear to be rather well refreshed, let me assist you getting home." He stood his ground.

"The lady said no thank you," said James.

"Yep, that's me, the lady, the prissy, uptight lady." James and I both giggled.

"Don't forget you like vanilla," slurred James.

"And Russian sizemeat." We both howled with laughter, and staggered on, leaving a rather bemused Roger standing by his car.

"Think you might have let the cat out the bag." James slurred the words out.

"Don't care. He's a twat, not like you. You're ok."

"Glad to hear it....oof, shit, did you put that lamppost there?" James rubbed his forehead.

"Nah, was probably that twatty Ruskie. Lets blame him."

"Yeah. Bastard."

"Do you feel sick?" I was feeling pretty ropey.

"Yeah, a bit."

"His fault too." We both laughed, but we were both staggering, and I was trying not to get seasick, as the pavement had begun to sway.

Oh god, let me die now,
I thought, as I tried to peel my eyes open. They felt as though lumps of lead were holding them closed. I rolled onto my side, thinking there might be less gravity holding them shut in that position. I opened them, only to stare into the shocked blue eyes of James, laying beside me, who had clearly just woken up too. I glanced down. We were both stark naked, and laying on top of the duvet in my room.
Shit shit shit.
What the fuck have I done?

In the absence of anything much to say to redeem the situation, I muttered, "morning."

"Morning...this is a...surprise." He moved to cover up his man parts.

"James, I'm really sorry, I don't remember...."

"Neither do I."

"Did we?"

"I don't know."

I closed my eyes, as if my mortification would be less if I pretended he wasn't there. When I opened them, he was still there, laying on his front. "I can't get up right this minute Elle." He said, blushing almost purple. I frowned, it taking me a moment to catch on.

"Oh, I geddit, yeah, I'll leave you to it. I'll go make us some coffee. I hopped off the bed, and pulled on my robe. James didn't take his eyes off me. I wandered out to the kitchen, seeing the trail of clothes leading from the front door to the bedroom. It was a total blank from walking away from Roger to waking up this morning.