The CEO and the Scientist (Forbidden Love Contest)

How to Make an Exit

I cringed inwardly as the drunken man next to me laughed at another of his own jokes. The octane of his breath was almost enough to get me high, as well. I'll never understand people who come to a company event and proceed to get hammered. When has that ever been a good idea?

"Come on, schweetheart... that wasch fun" hiccup "funny. At leascht give me a schmile." The slurring and red eyes are the only thing that kept me from slapping his face. Not that he'd be able to feel it at this point. Instead, I picked up my small pocketbook and stepped back from the conversation table.

"Sorry, while I'm certainly going to miss your dazzling and fully enlightened repartee, I'm afraid the meter on my horse-drawn carriage just ran out."

As I turned to walk away, the man grabbed my arm causing me to lose my balance and as I wobbled I heard one heel of my brand new stilettos snap.

"Wench!" He seethed, apparently able to understand the veiled insult after all. Regardless, he'd just crossed a line and so I delivered two very rapid but very forceful blows – one to the base of his windpipe and one to the pressure point two inches below his navel. The last one caused an immediate dark stain to start spreading at the crotch of his pants.

"Give me a smile, sweetheart!" I whispered in his ear, then turned and walked out of the ballroom, my clunky limp making a smooth exit impossible. Once in the hallway I stopped and stepped out of the ridiculous shoes; shoes that I had paid a stupid amount of money for because my best friend had said they were an exact color match for the form fitting Navy blue dress I'd found at a local boutique.

I hit the button for the elevator to come and take me down to the real world, a world where I'd shortly be curled up on my couch with a good novel and a glass of red wine. The whole night had been out of my comfort zone, starting with getting all dolled up to standing in front of the top management of the global company I work for being recognized for my recent discovery.

The elevator arrived with a ding and I nearly slumped with relief. Stepping in I turned and hit the button for the lobby and the doors started to slide closed just as I heard a voice asking me to hold the door. A tanned hand grabbed the door to stop its progression and I hit the open button.

The man slipped in and the doors finally closed. "Thank you, Kate." The distinct Scottish accent caused me to look a little closer at the tuxedoed man sharing the small space with me. It was the CEO of my company who'd flown all the way over from our London headquarters for tonight's presentation. I gulped slightly and felt my face color.

"Yes, sir... Mr. Thomson." I glanced at the elevator and wondered if I'd have to speak anymore before we made it the 32 floors to the lobby. He must have noticed my embarrassment because I heard a slight chuckle to my right.

"Don't worry; if you hadn't put Mr. Jackson out of his misery when you did he'd probably have talked his way out of a job."

My eyes widened and before I could stop myself I swivelled my head around to look at him. Just then, the elevator slammed to a stop and the lights went out.

<-------------------------------------------------------------------->

In seconds the battery powered back-up lights came on and I found myself staring at Samuel Thomson in the soft amber glow. He seemed to be as stunned by this turn of events as I was, but recovered first and pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket.

"I'll call Shawna and see if she can get someone to fix this as quickly as possible." I just nodded and pulled up my newsfeed to see if there was anything unusual happening in the city. It didn't take long before I saw what the problem was and my shoulders sagged and I stepped back to lean on the elevator wall behind me.