Chapter 3

To save time Jane and Nik shower together. There wouldn't have been enough time for both of them to shower and neither one of them was willing to stay dirty. If they wouldn't have been in a rush, Nik would have had a difficult time keeping his hands and his eyes off of her.

Once they are clean and mostly ready the doorbell rings. Nik, being the only clothed one, rushes to answer it. His assistant walks in with a few tote bags of items. Nik grabs them and brings them to Jane. "This is what my assistant was able to get for you. He isn't the best with women's fashion, but hopefully, you can make some of these pieces work for you. As soon as you are ready, we will head out. I will be waiting in the living room to give you some privacy." Nik would love to stay and enjoy the show, but he can't go into work with a raging boner. Damn.

"Thank you so much. I promise I'll be quick." Jane takes the bags and runs to the bathroom to get dressed. It takes a few tries, but she settles on an outfit. A long-sleeve white blouse and a black knee-length pencil skirt. She has to wear her undergarments from the previous night. She shakes the dirty thoughts from her mind. She doesn't have time to ogle Nik inside her head right now. She also picks out a light gray blazer and then grabs her heels from last night before making her way to the living room.

"That was much faster than I thought. How'd you do that?" Nik glances over at her outfit. Jane looks remarkable even in the plainest office wear. "Do you have your bags or do you want to just stop by later to grab everything?"

"Bags? I just had my purse last night."

"Well yeah, but all those clothes. You can take that too. I don't need it."

"Oh. Well, I don't feel comfortable carrying that all into the office with me. Is it okay if I come over later tonight to grab the stuff? I can buy you dinner in return," Jane offers. She really lucked out.

"Works for me. Let's go."Jane and Nik leave the fancy apartment complex, walking out to a cab that waits for them on the street. Once they are both inside, they share the addresses of their destinations with the driver. Oddly enough they are headed to the same office building. 'He probably owns one of the software companies on the lower floors of the building," Jane thinks.

They arrive at their building. Nik tips the cab driver. Jane doesn't have time to wait for Nik. She is pushing it. She runs inside the building and catches the first elevator up to her floor. She feels bad for not saying bye to Nik, but she knows they will see each other later. Who knows, maybe they will meet each other in the lobby after their meetings?

Nik had his assistant call to push back his meeting until 11 so he has plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee and check his emails before heading up. "Shit," Nik whispers under his breath. He forgot to get Jane's number. How are they going to be able to get into contact now? He guesses he could wait for her after his meeting. Then he remembers that she is already in her meeting and may get done before him. Just his luck. Hopefully, she remembers to wait for him. Surely, she'll realize that she has no way to contact him, right?

Jane walks out of the elevator and is greeted by the new front desk gal, Susie. Susie is too busy on the phone to notice Jane slip by. Jane stops by her desk to grab the reports she needs for this meeting. The CEO is stopping in today to discuss the new products that are coming out.

Jane works for a large pharmaceutical corporation. She is part of the research division and is the head of the new insulin project. She will have to present the team's most recent struggles and breakthroughs along with an estimate of when they will be able to complete their work. A few members of her team will be present as well to back her up if need be. She doubts she'll need it, but she always loves having her coworkers present. She enjoys the input they give and their ability to troubleshoot new problems that arise from the stakeholder end of things.

She takes a deep breath and enters the largest conference room. She is surprised to see that no one has shown up yet. She could have sworn the meeting was at 10 and that she was way late. She takes a seat towards the head of the room and pulls out her phone to check her emails. 'Meeting Pushed Back' is the subject line of her most recent email. She opens it to find out that she has plenty of time to kill.

She decides this extra time would be the perfect time to grab something caffeinated. The events of last night really took it out of her. Her cheeks flush as she remembers what happened in Nik's bedroom. "Agh, this is not the time nor the place to be thinking about stuff like this." Jane taps her palms against her cheek to snap out of it.

"Thinking about what?" A familiar voice echoes through the mostly empty conference room. Jane turns towards the double doors to see Nik standing there.

"What are you doing here? How did you know where I was?"

"I didn't know where you were. I have a meeting in this room in about thirty minutes or so," Nik says while glancing at his wristwatch.

"Oh. I have a meeting here in thirty minutes too. Don't tell me . . . you can't be the CEO that is here to discuss new products and research with us?" Jane asks, dumbfounded that she hadn't put two and two together with what she learned about Nik last night and him having a meeting at the same office building around the same time. She feels like such an idiot.

"Oh. Yeah, I am the CEO of Pharmcorp. Did you not know who the CEO of the company was? How long have you worked here?"

"I have been here since I finished grad school, so three to four years or so. I haven't really thought about it, nor have I had a chance to meet the CEO before now." Jane shrugs her shoulders before placing her face in her hands. This is unreal.

"So what were you mumbling to yourself earlier? Are you worried about something?" Nik takes the seat at the head of the table. He turns his chair so that he's facing Jane now.

"Ah, nothing! It's nothing!"

"I don't believe that for a second. You have to spill." He slides his chair closer to hers. He leans back, folding his arms over his chest, eyebrows raised. He can't wait to hear what she has to say, from the looks of her, it'll be interesting.

"I-I was thinking about l-last night. For some reason I-I couldn't get it out of my head." Jane can feel the heat from her face spreading down her neck and over her chest.

"Oh were you now? That's not appropriate for this type of setting." Nik teases. He sits up, placing his hand on her thigh. "So tonight, how are you going to take me out to dinner when you don't even have my phone number?"

"Oh crap. That's a good point. Is it okay if we meet after this to get everything sorted out?" Nik's hand is warm. It almost covers the width of her thigh. She rubs her legs together to ease some of the tingling sensations that she feels from this contact.

"Yeah, alright. That works for me. I am going to head to the restroom before this long-ass meeting starts. See you in a few." Nik stands and exits the room.

Jane can still feel the residual heat from where Nik's hand was resting on her thigh. This can't be good. She can't have a fling with her boss's boss, right?

Nik splashes water on his face to calm himself down. Of course, the girl he has taken an interest in is one of his employees. This is so fucked. He knows he can't keep seeing her but the thought of not being able to feel her skin against his angers him. God is a cruel being to put him in this kind of a position with a beautiful creature like Jane.

Nik grabs a paper towel to dry off before heading back into that conference room. This meeting is going to feel much longer now since he is going to be in such close proximity to her.

Jane looks over her notes as the other members of the conference filter into the room. Her team members take their seats right next to her. They all discuss their strategy for presenting the material. Jane is having a hard time focusing. Hopefully, she doesn't screw this up too bad for everyone. This is an important project, the amount of people that could benefit from this type of research is immeasurable. She shakes the insecurities out of her thoughts. This will go well. She is determined to get through it with no problems.