Chapter 2 Her First Presentation

Richard's POV

"You're late." Sandra had told Charlotte. She was used to picking on people, and Charlotte just happened to be a victim today but she was right. Charlotte was supposed to have been here even before I came in.

"Can we discuss those later?" I butt in, interrupting Sandra before she turned what was going to be a meeting into a lecture. "Let's begin already."

When it was Charlotte's turn to speak, I watched as her eyes scanned the place. She was trying not to give too much away, but was failing at it at the same time. She bit the insides of her lip now and then, something I figured she must do a lot, when she was anxious. She looked calm and collected, "Why was a meeting having her all worked up?"

She looked towards my side, our gazes locked for a second before she threw her face away. If I was doubting that she was nervous, I was certain now. I had faith in her that she could hold her own, and that was exactly what she did.

Each of us had presented, but it seemed as though more questions were thrown towards Charlotte after her presentation. I sat silently all through, watching as she fought them off. She tried to maintain her composure, but I could see through her facade. A little more and she could burst out crying.

"It's still under review, we would have to take a much better look at it. You know this already, don't you?" I asked Fred and he nodded in agreement. If he did, why was he now making Charlotte look stupid, explaining the whole thing?

Charlotte was stunned, her eyes said it all as they locked with mine. Beads of sweat had formed on her head, and those knuckles had turned white. I could sense her unease and I watched as she relaxed, heaving a sigh of relief. Poor Charlotte.

And just as the meeting had started, it ended. I was relieved to finally get a break for about two minutes. Thankfully, I had diverted their attention away from the project I hadn't been able to complete. They had wanted to talk about it too, but I waved it off. We needed to be fully prepared, if we were going to start going the Artificial Intelligence route.

We had plans to launch a social media app, sometime later this year, and we had hoped it would compete with Facebook in a short amount of time.

I was the first to leave the room the moment the meeting was over, and I had never felt more relaxed since the day began. It had been hard keeping my eyes off her. She was elegant in every way, from her voice to the way she sauntered with her steps. Her skin was delicate and her lips were so inviting. I smacked my head

"Excuse me?" Charlotte suddenly spoke, behind me catching me off guard.

Ignoring her, I hastened my steps. She tried to match it but kept falling behind. I was close to the elevator and she knew I was going to take it. I pleaded inwardly for her to stop, I was hoping she'd get the memo that I didn't want to talk to her, but did that stop her? Not!

"Excuse me? Sir Richard?" My heart skipped a beat, at the sound of my name escaping those lips that I desperately wanted to kiss.

"I would like to thank you-"

I pressed the button on the elevator and watched as it slid open. Charlotte had stopped a few steps behind me, finally getting the obvious signal, Leave me alone.

She watched me get in, and a look of disappointment crossed her features, as she watched the doors close. In those remaining seconds of the doors closing, I stared at her trying to capture the tiniest details on her face. This was the closest I had ever been with her. She had a faint scar on her temple that I never noticed until now.

"I wanted to-" She had opened her mouth to speak and that was it, the doors closed and I didn't hear another word she said.

***

Charlotte's POV

My hands were nailed to a fist under the table, when Fred disclosed the news to me. I was going to be presenting at their next board meeting, but he seemed to have forgotten that I was only an intern. Although I had graduated high school at the top of my class, and had gotten accepted at both Stanford and MIT but had chosen to attend Cambridge instead, I was still shy at heart. All these feats and I was nervous to give something as simple as a speech. My thoughts had faltered at the thought of him also being there, Sir Richard but thankfully the meeting had gone well.

Sir Richard had come to my rescue, if it weren't for him, I could have teared up in the room. I had tried thanking him but he had given me the cold shoulder. I shrugged it off as him probably having a bad day, but I believe a little thank you could have gone a long way.

It was Saturday morning and I was curled up on my bed, it was that time of the month again. My periods are not always an exciting moment for me, there are days where I would want to throw up and magically on some other days, I won't even feel a thing.

Thankfully, I had a lot of time to rest my head from all the work. I had made a cup of chocolate to ease my cramps as I proceeded to work on a program, but he crossed my mind, Richard, the sophisticated snub.

I had never had anyone treat me that way. I was always the outstanding one amongst my peers, I would receive comments about my hair and face, even on days when I didn't wear makeup.

I now believed the rumors about him, the other interns had been right. He had a lackadaisical attitude with his colleagues, barely kept a conversation and never really showed emotions. Each time I smiled at him, he would always return it with a stoic expression. Nevertheless, there was something about him that intrigued me. It was his charisma, he never really mingled with the women in the office although, the ladies threw themselves at him.

He remained calm and collected as he went by his day job, so he never noticed the way I stared at him when he wasn't looking. When we went downstairs to have lunch, I would watch as he ate his in silence. Fred would be flirting with the ladies but not him, he would remain quiet with his purple headset on. He went around with that headset a lot, everywhere, except the meetings.

Whenever the ladies talked about him, there was this tinge of jealousy that stirred within me. Sir Richard was good-looking for his age, his body stature underneath his clothes was an undying witness to a possible workout session. I had once wondered what he did for cardio, did he jog in the mornings, or perhaps he worked out in the bedroom at night, with his bulge peeking out of his pants?

I stopped myself. I usually felt horny during my periods and this wasn't right to think about. "Sir Richard would never be mine."