Craig looked at the young woman at the front of the room. Today she had put her hair neatly in a bun, which while making her more professional, did not suit her, except, he admitted to show off her long graceful neck. The demure black suit and stiff white shirt which she wore still couldn’t hide her perfect figure and he could feel a stirring within him. He was surprised to see how slick and professional a presentation she gave, and couldn’t help but be impressed with their plans. He had to admit that many of their ideas were fresh and innovative and knew that they had won the contract very much on their own merits, as he saw the way the still rattled members of the interview panel reacted.
There had followed a ten minute period of questions from the interview members which Bill had mainly answered. Craig did not participate in this but had watched Kira, who was doing her best to ignore him. He had smiled, catching her every now and then peeking over at him, her eyes quickly darting forward when she saw him openly watching her. She was fighting hard to hide her nervousness, moving a little closer to Bill he noticed with little satisfaction. Well Bill Thompson wasn’t going to save her this time he thought to himself.
After they had finished he moved over to shake hands and talk to the panel members, smiling and laughing with them for a few seconds, before leaving without a second look at the pair who were so closely watching his every move. The panel had been very complimentary and smiling happily, had informed them that they would hear by the following afternoon. Kira had smiled professionally back, knowing that the project was dead in the water the moment Craig had entered the room.
On leaving Kira looked over apologetically at Bill
“Oh Bill, I’m so sorry” she cried
“You know he will kill our involvement don’t you”
Bill had smiled weakly back at her
“Not to worry Kira” he said trying to hide the concern in his voice
“I’m sure there will be other hotels, and wasn’t our plan to go round them anyway to see if we could get some more business”
She had bit her lip. Damn Craig Kent. She knew how much Bill had sunk into this project and in a small voice offered
“Maybe if I pull out, you might still get the job”
Bill had smiled warmly at her
“No Kira...but thanks, if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t even be here”
Together they had sat down, dejected and quiet, drinking coffee. At any other time they would have been ecstatic at how well the presentation had gone, but now the whole trip seemed a pointless pipedream. Sighing they had moved off in their own directions planning to meet up again that night for dinner, both agreeing to spend the rest of the day doing their own thing. Bill had wanted to explore some of the casinos to look at the different architecture, something that had made her laugh
“Bill, of course I don’t think it’s geeky” she had said her eyes twinkling with mischief causing him to chuckle back at her
“Of course you don’t” he smiled “I’ve seen your notebook”#p#分页标题#e#
Kira had laughed back before kissing him on the cheek, still feeling guilty at having lost them the much needed contract.
Left alone, Kira had decided on a shopping trip, thinking that perhaps some retail therapy might help lessen the disappointment of that morning. Returning to her room, she had quickly changed into more comfortable and casual clothes, happy to be out of the stuffy suit as she had pulled on a light blue summer dress which buttoned up the front, and releasing her hair, letting it flow down her back and around her shoulders. As she had picked up her over sized bag and sunglasses her phone had rang, and on answering was surprised to hear one of the panel members from the interview that morning.
“Miss Black”
“Yes” she answered
“Could you please come down to the Interview room again?”
Kira had frowned
“I’m not really dressed….” She began before the woman had cut in, her voice friendly
“That’s OK, It’s a more informal talk”
Hanging up she had made her way back to the requested room where she was met by the woman who had phoned her.
“Where is Bill” she had asked in surprise, no sign of him anywhere
The woman had shifted uneasily
“We couldn’t get in contact with him” she said, moving forward before Kira could ask any more questions
“Could you follow me please?”
The woman had led her to another room where she had knocked gently on the wooden door, before opening it and indicating to Kira that she should enter. She had been surprised that the women had not joined her, as she had moved into the wood panelled luxurious office. Looking around herself her eyes had been drawn to the desk which dominated the room gasping in surprise at seeing Craig sitting behind it.