Chapter 16 : Let me do this for you

The situation between Ellie and Gabriel was making Nathaniel a little bit uncomfortable so he prefered to get out of the conference room and walk right past Ellie but she hadn't even noticed him as she was still captivated by Gabriel.

It's been barely a minute since Gabriel is there and Ellie has already forgotten that I was there so I preferred to get out of this room and then go to the elevator. When I got to the top floor I saw Jennifer sitting behind her counter. I wanted to say goodbye to her but she seemed to be taking a really, really important call so I walked right out the door. But suddenly...

"Hey! Where do you think you're going like that?", shouted Jennifer.

"Uh...Who's that ? Me?", Nathaniel replied surprised and then turned around.

"Yeah. Where are you going like this ?", said Jennifer.

"Uh...I was actually going home", replied Nathaniel.

"But you can't leave like that, we don't finish until 5:30 p.m", Jnnifer replied but then rubbed her neck and said shyly : " besides that you were going to leave without saying goodbye to me"

"Actually I... had...Larry's permission to leave earlier today. And I had planned to say goodbye to you but you seemed to be taking a very important call so I didn't want to bother you", replied Nathaniel.

"Oh ! that wasn't that important", Jennifer replied quickly to Nathaniel.

"Ah, OK ! Well, see you then", he finally said but was immediately interrupted by Jennifer who shouted : "Hold on !"

"Yes", replied Nathaniel.

"Will you be at the party tonight ?", asked Jennifer confidently.

"What a party ?", replied Nathaniel, surprised.

"The one organized by Larry to celebrate the success of Ellie's presentation. Didn't you know ?", said Jennifer.

"Not really", replied Nathaniel.

"Well now you know it. So are you going to go", she asked again curiously this time.

"Maybe. I don't know yet. I don't really have the right clothes for these kinds of events", Nathaniel replied hesitantly, not sure about his answer and then asked : " And you ? Are you going to go ?"

"Yeah maybe too. And don't worry too much about your clothes. You just have to put that, it's also very good", replied simply Jennier.

"Ok then. But I'll go there only if you go there too? Deal ?", replied Nathaniel.

"Deal", replied Jennifer confidently.

"But actually I don't know where it is going to actually happen", replied Nathaniel .

"Don't worry, I know where it's going to happen. On the rooftop of The Palisade Hotel'', said Jennifer.

"I don't know where it is too", replied Nathaniel terribly ashamed.

Jennifer then laughed

"Ok that's fine. Just give your phone number or I'll give you mine if you prefer and we'll keep in touch", she said.

"Okay. See you tonight then", Nathaniel finally replied and then gave his phone to Jennifer and finally left.

Meanwhile,

Finally this presentation was over, I could start to breathe a bit; everything went pretty much as planned, even if I would have liked Hélène to be there. She could not attend the presentation because she was still on a business trip at this very moment but she promised me that she would be there for the after party.

Larry organized a little one to celebrate the success of the presentation. All JPI employees will be there, as well as all the senior members as well and of course my mother but also some famous personalities. The second phase after this presentation will be a launch party for the new drug bioprex, we are just waiting for the green light from the Ministry of Health and finally we can start the production and sale of this new product.

I spent the rest of the day chatting with committee members and my mother, with some foreign investors as well and then I let everyone leave the office earlier today so they can get ready for tonight's party.

When I got home, an intoxicating smell of men's perfume pervaded the whole house, mostly coming from Nathaniel's bedroom so I headed there. And that's when I saw him in front of the mirror, he was completely shirtless and was trying on several costumes on him at a time. It was so cute to see him so nervous.

"Uhm...What are you doing ?" I asked while laughing.

"Oh ! It's you. Which of these costumes do you think suits me the best ? The blue or the grey ?", Nathaniel asked clueless while turning around.

"Well, it depends on the occasion you are going to wear them", Ellie simply replied.

"For tonight's party which one would suit me best ?", Nathaniel said nervously

"Oh! You know about that ?", Ellie replied a little surprised.

"Yes, Jennifer informed me", Nathaniel simply replied, still holding the suit in his hands.

"Ah! Yes, Jennifer", Ellie replied while rolling her eyes but Nathaniel didn't notice it as he turned around to look at the mirror.

"So which one suits me best ?"he asked again nervously.

"The blue one, it goes well with your eyes", Ellie replied calmly while pointing at the midnight blue suit that Nathaniel is holding in his left hand.

"Yeah, that's what I said to myself too but I wasn't sure", he replied and then quickly put on his shirt and buttoned it incorrectly.

Then Ellie approached him and said while laughing : "Wait, you buttoned your shirt wrong."

"Oh! Yeah! Thanks", he replied.

But then Ellie unbuttoned his shirt slowly and said : "Shhh! Let me do this for you", and then looked at him deeply in his ocean blue eyes.

"It's the least I can do for you after you helped me out today", Ellie then said.

"But I didn't do much for you today you know", Nathaniel replied nervously and then looked away.

"Nathaniel ! You helped me a lot this morning and during the presentation too", she said while buttoning his shirt slowly afterwards too. When she was done with the shirt she took his tie and tied it to his neck too but as she was much shorter than Nathaniel so she had to stand on her tiptoes to tie it. And when she almost slipped, Nathaniel caught her up while holding her by her waist. They then look deep into each other's eyes with Ellie's hands around Nathaniel's neck and Nathaniel's hand on Ellie's waist.

"And done", Ellie said, removing her hands around Nathaniel's neck and then giving him a little pat on the chest.

"I should go get ready too", she finally said and then left Nathaniel's room.

About one hour later,

Nathaniel was heading to Ellie's room to warn her that he was going to be leaving soon, instead he found himself speechless for a few minutes when he saw Ellie wearing a ruby red satin evening dress with a plunging V neckline.

"What ?!", Ellie said, laughing, when she noticed that Nathaniel was looking at her.

"Uh...Nothing. You are just gorgeous", he said, still captivated by her.

"Thank you, you're not bad as well", exclaimed Ellie while trying to close her dress.

"Wait ! Let me help you! Let me do this for you too", Nathaniel said and then closed the zipper of her dress slowly.

"Can you help me with this necklace too ?", Ellie asked softly.

"Yes, of course", Nathaniel replied and then took the necklace, leaned over and put it around Ellie's neck.