Chapter Eighteen
Elena
When I woke up on Monday morning, I was happier than I had been in a long time. Noah and I were better than ever, and for the first time since we had done anything romantic together, I knew exactly where we stood. He liked me, and I liked him, and we were an exclusive couple now. It changed everything.
I climbed out of bed and stepped into the shower. When I turned on the hot water, it steamed up the bathroom, and I felt queasy and hot. I turned the water temperature down until it was only lukewarm. I never showered with water this cold, but I felt like I was burning up.
When I stepped out of the shower, I looked at myself in the mirror, combing my hair. I brushed it back from my face. The last week had been stressful with the amount of work we had to do for the product launch and the investor's meetings, the photos emerging on top of it and having to deal with rumors. I hadn’t slept a lot on Saturday night, thanks to Noah. It was normal for me to be getting sick. My body could only take so much, and it had been a challenge the last while.
After showering, I dressed and made myself breakfast. When I took a bite, nausea flared up, and I put my plate with eggs and bacon in the fridge for later. I would skip eating for now. I hated feeling nauseous.
At the office, I put down my bag and listened to the machine for voice messages that might have been left after hours. When there was nothing, I walked to the coffee station to make Noah his coffee before I took it to his office. Noah was already in, which was unusual for him. He came in later than I did on a normal day. I heard him talking before I reached his office. When I stepped into it, a woman stood with her back to me. She had long black hair, perfectly styled, and a body to die for.
“I don’t have time for this,” Noah said he was irritated. “Please, leave.”
“You can’t treat people like this,” the woman said, then she turned around and nearly bumped into me. She glared at me, her icy eyes spitting fire. When she stormed past me, Noah sighed.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“No one you need to worry about,” he said. He smiled at me, tension leaving his features. “How are you?”
I returned the smile. “I’m great,” I said and offered Noah his coffee.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said taking it from me.
“I’m still your secretary,” I countered, and he couldn’t argue with me. I set the cup down on his desk and headed toward the door again.
“Elena, stay a moment,” Noah said. “I want to talk to you about something.”
I swallowed. “That sounds ominous,” I said.
Noah laughed. “It isn’t.” He sat down on the edge of his desk. I sat down in one of the chairs and looked up at him.
“You did so well for the company, suggesting ideas for marketing and ways to keep the investors interested. It means a lot to me, so I want to reward you.”
I shook my head. “It was nothing,” I said.
“It wasn’t nothing. You saved the company. I want to give you a promotion, let you put that fancy degree to use for a change.”
I blinked at Noah. A promotion? This wasn’t the first time I’d heard him say it, but it still seemed surreal.
“I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to do it now after everything had come out in the papers.” I had thought he had only said it to show the investors he was on my side, that I wasn’t to blame for it all.
“That’s true,” Noah said, nodding. “And you’re right, it’s not a good idea to do it now. But I want you to know it’s going to happen as soon as it’s possible. I want to make you the head of the subscription project so you can oversee operations. We’re at the beginning of a long road for this product, and I need someone able and qualified to handle it. Seeing that it was all your idea, why not?”
I opened my mouth to speak, couldn’t find the words and closed it again without saying anything. I couldn’t believe this was happening. It was bigger than anything I had expected. When Noah had asked me for advice, I had given him an idea because I liked him and I hadn’t wanted to see him fail. I would never have guessed that this was what would come of it.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said. “Thank you.”
Noah chuckled. “You don’t have to say anything. I should be thanking you, in fact. You’ve done a lot for the company.”
I was still at a loss for words. When I had taken the job as a secretary I hadn’t had ambitions to move up in the company. It was all coming to me as a surprise, but it was a fabulous surprise.
“Well, what do you say?” Noah asked. “It’s not official, but what do you think about it?”
I nodded. “I think I would love that.”
“Right. Well, now that that’s done, there’s another order of business to take care of,” Noah said. “I’ve scheduled a press conference for later this afternoon.”
My mouth dropped. “What? That’s so soon.”
“I have something I urgently want to say.”
“But I’m your secretary. I’m supposed to be the one to schedule these things. You’ve arranged so many meetings lately I can barely keep up.”
Noah laughed a genuine from-his-stomach laugh. I hadn’t seen him this relaxed and happy in a while, and it made me feel warm thinking that it was because of me.
“What is this press conference about?” I asked.
“Guess,” Noah said, and he had a twinkle in his eye.
The product was about to be launched and after the media attention with the photos of Noah and I had been released, the world was watching us so much more closely. A press conference was exactly what we needed to announce the launch date and build that final hype.
Which was why we were in front of the SI building with a bunch of reporters surrounding us by two in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful, clouds hanging like puffs in the air, and Noah looked professional and in control on the podium he had set up for the press release.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking the time to be here today,” he said. “I have exciting news. We’re launching our latest product at the end of the month.”
The reporters erupted in a frenzy of questions, and Noah answered a few of them before silencing them with a wave of his hand.
“That brings me to the next topic. None of this would be possible without the woman I’ve fallen in love with, Elena.”
He looked at me and all cameras were turned to me, flashing. I was taken aback, not expecting the sudden attention. Noah hadn’t told me this was going to happen.
Maybe, if he had, I wouldn’t have been here but stayed hidden in my office. Maybe this was how he’d planned it all along.
“There are a lot of rumors going around that this is an office affair, that it’s all about sex and money. I’m here to tell you that’s not true. Until recently my relationship with Elena Hayes has been completely professional.” That part wasn’t entirely true. We’d had sex in his office twice, after all. “But when my daughter fell ill, Elena brought work to my place, and she met my daughter. Things progressed from there when I realized she has the biggest heart and a beautiful mind. Every man needs a good woman by his side, and I have Elena.”
The press was quiet long enough for him to finish his sentence before they broke loose with questions and photos. My ears were ringing. I heard nothing else after he’d said he’d fallen in love with me. I couldn’t believe he was so upfront about it, making it a public announcement so soon after admitting his feelings to me. I couldn’t believe this was happening, my fairy tale unfolding before my eyes.
“Elena,” Noah said into the microphones, holding his hand out to me. I didn’t want to go up there, be in front of everyone, but he was smiling at me, mouthing that I was okay. And after everything we’d been through, he deserved me standing up there and proving that I felt the same about him as he felt about me. So I took his hand and stepped up to the podium, next to him. He put his arm around my waist, pulling me against him, and the cameras flashed, taking photo after photo of the two of us together.
“I hope that this clears everything up,” Noah said. He turned to me, cupping my face in hands and pulled me in for a kiss. I froze against his lips, but he had the same effect on me he always had, and I melted. I forgot about the cameras flashing and the questions being shouted that neither of us would answer when our lips were locked.
When Noah let me go, breaking the kiss, I laughed. He smiled at me, and he took my hand as we turned and faced the press together. I let Noah answer all the questions while I stood by his side, beaming.
I noticed someone toward the back of the crowd and she looked familiar. Dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and cold blue eyes that gave me a look of such disdain, I shivered. I remembered where I’d seen her before. It was the woman that had been in Noah’s office earlier. She hadn’t been quite so hostile, then.
Who was she? Noah had told me not to worry about her, so I wouldn’t. And seeing that she was here, she was probably a reporter or something. It would make sense why she would want a story from him, why she’d been in his office earlier.
When the press release was over, and we walked back into the building, the reports finally dispersed.
“That was insane,” I said, feeling out of breath even though we hadn’t done anything physical.
“I thought it went well,” Noah said. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m walking on air,” I admitted. “And overwhelmed. You could have given me a heads up.”
Noah chuckled, pulling me a little closer to him and kissing me on the forehead. “You would never have come out to do it with me if you knew. And I needed you there. I needed them to see us together.”
He was right. I wouldn’t have done it. But they had seen us together, and it would change everything.