Moving To Timbuktu

Vanessa's POV

I was wearing a black suede pants and matching white top paired off with purple louboutin shoes, and I wanted to puke all over them. Today was my first day on the job-well, technically, I've been working here for three weeks- and it was my first time heading a presentation. And by heading, I meant powerful men and women were going to sit around a table with fancy beverages we got just for this occasion and I was going to stand in front of them and attempt to make sense for at least two hours.

Draw up the best design that will wow even the most cynical of all critics then I'm your girl. Speak to a group of more than five people? Yeah, that was not happening.

Except it was, because Mr Sandeep had insisted. Who is Mr Sandeep, you ask? Well, he's the man who is about to either make my career or ruin it so bad I'd have to go find a rock to live under. The thing is, about two weeks ago, Mr Sandeep came across one of my designs and decided to hire our advertising agency for their next line of products. Yay!

And he wanted me to be the head designer for the whole line. Cue the happy dance.

It wasn't just the fact that Mr Sandeep was my first client that had me over the moon, it was the company he worked for. Gray's.

If we sealed the deal, my career would be solid for life. Even if Corey's and associates fire me tomorrow, all I needed was to name-drop Gray's in an interview and I had a brand new job!

Then Mr Sandeep called two weeks ago. He wanted a live presentation, done not by the head of my department but by the designer. My happy dance not only stopped, it relocated to Timbuktu. I had a nausea inducing stage fright. I'd been fighting it since I was a child and now, standing in this large, way too cold air-conditioned room waiting for the representatives from Gray's- a fortune 500 company- the only thing I could do was force my breakfast to stay down in my stomach where it belonged.

The door opened unceremoniously and two men and a woman all wearing gleaming black suits that probably cost double my salary strolled in. Vaguely, I saw my boss, miss Cheryl shaking hands with them but then HE entered and my heart stuttered and it relocated into my nether regions as the bacon I'd had for breakfast lodged into my throat.

Everyone from my company gasped when they finally saw him -except for me, I was too busy trying not to pass out. THE Callum Gray was here.

He was built like a tank and had inky black hair that was artfully disarrayed. His black suit -similar to his companions but somehow managing to stand out from theirs- molded to his body, but it was his eyes that arrested my soul. His eyes were an arctic grey that would have frozen hell over. The second they locked on my wide blue ones, I understood one thing. I may have never met him before today, but he was the one who could wreck me in more ways than one.

He raised a brow at me and I promptly barfed all over his Italian leather shoes.

I heard several shocked gasps and a squeak from him but I kept hacking all over his feet. I had nothing left to throw up but I was merely waiting for the ground to swallow me up. There was no way I could get up and not see the expression on anyone's face.

My boss was frantically apologizing to the outraged men and women with words I couldn't process at the moment.

"Are you okay?" A voice rumbled and then large, rough hands were on my back, soothing me.

I stared up into grey eyes steeped with concern. He was handsome, Uber rich and nice! I gasped in his embrace as he held me.

"I'll take her, sir." A voice simpered, interrupting the moment Mr Gray and I were having. "C'mon." The voice turned brisk and then I was grasped under the shoulders and dragged to the restroom a few floors down from the conference room. I was dumped in front of a sink and a curt voice asked "Do you need to vomit again?"

I turned and found the speaker to be Chloe, my supervisor. The fire in her face, despite her calm tone told me how much she was cursing my existence at the very moment. Unfortunately, so was I.

I washed my mouth with water twice, gargled three more times before I stared at her reflection in the mirror and shook my head in the negative.

So to recap, a top excutive in a fortune 500 company had offered me a career altering opportunity, and for some bizzare reason, the CEO of this company had come in person to see my presentation -something which was beyond miraculous, it was on the scale of impossible- and I barfed all over his shoes. Forget living under a rock, I was moving to Timbuktu. Once I could find a way to leave the building before Cheryl ripped me to pieces, that is.

There was a knock, then Cheryl's voice announced. "Are you in here Vanessa?"

I groaned, my face turning red. "Please hide me." Chloe didn't even glance at me as she went to the door and opened it.

Bitch.

I swear that woman's a robot. No emotions, no words unless she absolutely had to speak, which meant we didn't really get along since I tend to say everything that came to mind. But her disdain for me had gotten worse ever since Mr Sandeep requested that I be in charge of his work.

"Vanessa?" See? Now that's how a human being was supposed to sound. Concerned. Sympathetic. Not staring mutely like a freaky robot that wanted to end me. "Vanessa?" My boss called again, her voice alarmed. Right, I'd been spending the entire time muttering to myself instead of replying her summons.

"Yeah. Yes. I'm okay." I blabbered, offering her a wan smile.

"If you're fine, why did you puke all over Mr Gray's shoes?" Chloe piped up.

"Ugh, don't remind me." I groaned covering my hands with my face. "I...I don't know. I was nervous and..." I twisted my hands, trailing off.

Chloe's eyes hardened as miss Cheryl's brows furrowed.

"Let me get this straight. You puked your guts on a client's shoes, thereby denting this company's image simply because you were nervous?" Chloe stated derisively.

I shrunk further into myself. I fvcked up, I knew that, but I just didn't know what to do to fix it.

"There's no need to get emotional. Mr Gray was actually worried that something is seriously wrong with you, as I'm l. He hasn't left yet, so you need to get back out there and set things right." 

Bathrooms have windows right? I wasn't too big, so I should be able to fit through one, I hoped.

"Vanessa! Are you listening to me?"

"Yes..um, yes." I replied, nodding frantically. Unfortunately, she took my assent to mean that I wanted to go back out there.

"That's good. Freshen up and come to con 2. We moved there after...well, you know." She turned me to face her. "He's the holy Grail for our business. You can't mess this up. So do whatever it is you need to do to fix this. Securing this account is vital to your continued employment here in our establishment." And with that implied threat, she was gone.

Chloe glared at me bitterly. "This is an opportunity people kill just to have. Don't fvck it up. Some of us don't have rich parents to rely on." She glared at me some more before marching out of the restroom.

Oh. My mouth hung open for a second as it all clicked.

Chloe didn't hate me for getting the opportunity of a lifetime, she hated me because I came from a rich home. 

She must have decided that since I had rich parents, that meant everything was handed to me on a silver platter. Only if she knew how wrong she was. Materially, I was okay, but I never had attention from either of my parents. I was closer to the nannies than I was to the two people whose genetics I shared. They didn't even love each other, so how could they love a product of their union?

I saw my eyes getting wet and reined in my emotions. Cheryl would have probably told them I was on my way and if I didn't show up, the hole I'd dug myself in would only get deeper and then I'd be fired for sure. I removed my top that was now stained with vomit residue and leaving me in an undershirt. I eyed my appearance critically, but then shrugged. This will have to do. I had literally no other options.

Blowing out air, I walked down to con 2, the second conference room that was used for meetings. I opened the door and came face to face with Callum Gray.

The room they were in was smaller and not decked out to accommodate uber rich executives. His eyes shot to me and held mine appraisingly. For a second there, I'd thought he was worried about me, but his eyes were as cool as ever.

"Hi, um, hello Mr Gray. it's nice to have you here." He raised a brow in my direction and I flushed. What the heck was wrong with me?!

"You owe me new shoes." He rumbled. Oh, his voice. It was deep and low timbered and close to making me orgasm in my pants.

What? I shook my head and concentrated on his ruggedly, masculine face. "Yes. Yes I do. I'll run to the boutique and buy new ones right after this meeting. I promise."

A few people snickered and Callum Gray smiled. His smile was anything but pleasant though. "Nice offer, but I have a personal tailor that designs all my shoes and I really truly doubt that you can afford him." The snickering rose to a chuckle and I went beet red.

I ignored them as much as possible and launched into the presentation in a thin, high voice. What did I say for the better part of one hour? I had no idea, but Chloe, for all her nastiness, stepped up and took over and also helped with the slides. No one interrupted or asked any questions, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, I was yet to figure it out. 

When we finished and the room brightened once more, I was sweating and feeling slightly dizzy.

"Not bad. A bit amateurish, but interesting." Mr. Gray proclaimed. He got up and so did his entourage. Mrs Cheryl tried to say something but he was out the door.

Did that mean he didn't like it? Oh Lord. I was so fired.