The Only Way is Up

Part Sixteen

Crossing the room he carried three drinks, placing them in front of her, "Pornstar Martini for you, with Prosecco chaser..." When she raised an eyebrow in question at the name of his choice, he added, "the girl behind the bar said it was the best cocktail they had."

He had a vodka, or rather a straight white spirit.

Taking the glass she tilted it towards his and smiled, "cheers."

He reciprocated before taking a decent slug at his drink, "I love your hair like that." She looked up suspiciously, but he was smiling, "you have an amazing neck..."

As compliments went it was unique, and she had to take that as a positive thing, if this was a line, a way to make her feel better...there were far more successful things he could have said.

"Neck?" He nodded with a rather innocent grin, and it was infectious. "And that suit hangs well on you."

He wiggled his eyebrows, "was that a compliment?"

She gave a non committed shrug, "don't know, an observation maybe?"

Smiling he sipped at his drink, "you don't want to give anything away, do you?"

"To you? Definitely not. You'd used any snippet against me, I know that."

He studied her for a moment, a long and rather shiver inducing look, he truly had the ability to make her feel bared to the soul. Then he suddenly wrinkled his nose, "no, I wouldn't do that to you Nicole. I promise."

Blushing she reached for her drink, Maxim chuckled, "so tonight, what do I need to know? What are the office politics?"

Safe topics. She smiled, "well my boss is Tim, he took over the role from Vincent my ex about eighteen months ago. Big boots to fill. He's quite conservative, doesn't cope well with the pressure of the situation. He'll probably get blind drunk tonight through stress. I'm one of four teams under him, we manage the bigger accounts, two teams for personal accounts, and then I'm one of the teams for large commercial accounts. Lisa is my significant other. You'll notice her, very short dark hair, tall, stunning. They're the important ones."

"Except for the ex?"

She grimaced; she hadn't wanted to think about him, not here. She was calm when she wasn't thinking about him. Vincent was just a man, she knew that, but to her he seemed to represent everything. All she had ever wanted, all she'd ever had...and now, all that she'd ever lost. Which seemed like everything. Taking a deep breath, she sipped at her drink for a moment, then she looked up at him, "I don't like talking about him, he has so much power...he turned up at my work today, he's trying to get to me I think."

Maxim was nodding knowingly, "he's got control over you, he knows that you still care for you. It's easy for him. You have to stop that."

"And that's where you step in?"

He gave a half nod, half shrug, "maybe, though we'll have to see tonight brings. What will he think that you're there with me? Will he be jealous?"

Nicole could do nothing but shrug as she had no idea, "he was always a jealous man...but he told me that he hates me..."

"So he won't care that a twenty four year old man is besotted with you?"

Her eyes darted to his at those words, and he was smiling. Of course it's a line; he's here to help you out! "I think that is the last thing he'll expect."

Maxim shook his head, "I disagree, I'm just here to push if things get out of control...or you lose your nerve, the last thing he expects is for his ex to arrive looking like she fell out of a magazine, perfect, beautiful and confident. THAT'S what will stun him."