Page 22 of Embracing Love

Chapter 10

Tanya returned to her office with hope reinstated. With Gabriel Valois appearing more amenable and on her side, the all-important Flight campaign could now move forward.

Michael Zimmerman would be appeased—and all the delays in getting this thing started would slowly melt to the background.

She floated back to work in a bubble of happiness that this high profile account was moving ahead. It had nothing to do with Gabriel Valois. Nothing to do with the thought that sometimes she felt her heart start to race a little. It was nerves, she told herself. Nerves because she had to tread carefully around the man, make him think she was soft and gentle, always smiling at everything he said.

But they were starting to get on much better. Lately, during their last few meetings he’d been like a changed man which took her by surprise.

She turned to walk towards her office and almost screeched to a halt. The bubble shattered: Michael Zimmerman walked towards her, his smile slick, his eyes hard.

What the hell was he doing here?

“Hello, Tanya.” It was brusque, short. He stopped, and she stood motionless. Had he come all the way here just because he was worried about Flight?

Why hadn’t Nadine forewarned her?

“Hello, Michael. I didn’t know you were coming.”

He fidgeted with his cuffs, something quite unlike him. Michael Zimmerman didn’t fidget. Being together without the safety net of Nadine or even Sandra around them was going to be strange. “It was a last minute decision, Tanya. Would you excuse me a moment, please? I have a phone call to make. I’ll be with you once I’ve finished.”

He left, and she turned into her office, her chest heaving, and her newly resurrected spirits completely flattened.

Her thoughts turned to Nadine in anger. The crafty little… she of all people would have known Michael was on his way.

Why hadn’t she told her?

Or, were they sneaking up on her? Was this a bid to catch her off guard?

It couldn’t be because of Gabriel and that incident a few weeks ago--could it? Had Gabriel Valois made Zimmerman so worried that he’d come to Paris to see for himself.

If she’d known of his visit she would have been prepared but now she felt like an employee in a shady securities firm about to be audited by the IRS. She had nothing to hide but a little prior warning would have been helpful.

The only thing she had going for her, assuming Michael was so worried about the lack of progress with Flight Europe was that the meeting with Gabriel this morning had gone well. At least she would have something positive to share with her boss when he came back later for ‘the talk’.

True to his word Michael wasn’t away for long because no sooner had she managed to calm herself down than he reappeared at the door.

“All dealt with.” He said, striding confidently into her office. She wondered when he had arrived. It wouldn’t surprise her if he landed only recently because this man never rested. Most times he would land at the airport and go straight to the office. For a man of his years he was surprisingly full of energy.

But she’d known that anyway, having been intimate with him before…

Heat rushed and painted her cheeks at the memory of that ill-fated week. She tried unsuccessfully to blot out the episode because working for him was made harder due to that very encounter.

“Is this a surprise visit, Michael? Because nobody mentioned you were coming.”

“I was passing through.” He looked at her intently.

Passing through? People passed through a McDonald’s, they didn’t pass through Paris, from San Francisco.

“How is the Flight campaign coming along?” he asked, once more adjusting his cufflinks, a movement that had her on her guard again.

Thankfully she could say this honestly, “We had a great meeting this morning. Mr Valois and myself.”

Call me Gabriel, he’d told her. An image of Gabriel Valois flashed before her, throwing her slightly off track. She collected her thoughts, while Zimmerman, with his cuffs suitably in order and his hands steepled together in front of him fixed his gaze on her. “Good,” he replied, then. “Because I was slightly concerned that it was going too slowly.”

She didn’t buy his ‘slightly concerned’. This man was very much worried. Why else would he shoot his way over here so fast?

“This is what we agreed on this morning. I’ve just come from meeting with him.” She opened up her file and showed him changes that Gabriel had requested which she had to run past Nadine, and she in turn would speak to Russell Trent. She’d get them couriered over as fast as she could once she had spoken to Luc and had him create some mockups for the new design.

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