Oh god. Okay, so let me explain myself. Recently I have done an entire revamp of my life, due to a lot going on personally, and I seemed to forget writing for a while, which is why you all haven't seen me, but recently I realized that I do in fact love this shit, and you all deserve it, and I am going to continue. So now, in my life-revamp, this exists, so here it is, Chapter 6! Enjoy. xo

-Des

Eli leaves, taking with him the caring side I'd seen just moments before. In his place, Mr. Goldsworthy stands, his mouth lifting in a small, business-like smile as he greets each guest personally with a handshake. I stand beside him, shaking hands with everyone, and introducing myself to them all, and I even compliment one woman- Tia, as I later learn- on her choice of shoes.

The only man who doesn't bother to shake hands with me is the very last, and who I assume to be the big man of the company. He's a bit big, like my uncle Dan, but instead of black, his hair is white, and his face is wrinkled with age. His outfit screams money- black, with white pinstripes running down vertically- and I can't help but get a Godfather feel from him. He shakes hands with Eli, for a second longer that polite, and I notice the rings that sit on each one of his fingers glinting gold in the sunlight.

I watch Eli's shoulders as he tenses up, giving a short nod as the Godfather releases his hand, and turns to me. He eyes me like a piece of meat, not even bothering to by sly when his eyes fixate on the small gap of cleavage above my blazer. I feel my face flame up in anger as he stares for a moment longer, before ignoring my outstretched hand, and taking his seat at the head of the table which faced our "screen," a self satisfied smirk on his face.

I take a deep breath, and turn to Eli, waiting for instructions, when I see that his face has gone absolutely livid. His fists are clenched at his sides, and I can see the muscle in his jaw prominently from clamping it shut. I place my hand on his shoulder, and he turns to me. He must see my concern, and fear, because he visibly relaxes, taking a calming breath of his own.

"Go sit down in a chair. As far away from Mason Polizzi as possible." Mr. Polizzi, so that was the Godfather's name. "I want you to take notes of how things go, reactions, facial expressions, and anything I mess up." he says the whole thing through clenched teeth, and my gut clenches in fear, but I nod anyway. I quickly scurry into the chair that will be closest to him when he presents our pitch, and I open up my Mac to a blank document.

Eli stands at the front of the room, and opens his arms wide, with a smile. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I'm glad you could all make it today. As I'm sure you all know, we're here to discuss the possibility of merging Gold Publishing Inc. with Mason and Company. Now, let's begin with a brief presentation on the subject."

And it goes on, with Eli highlighting the main points of the Presentation, and everyone listening intently. Even the Godfather listens, although his face seems to be more angry than impressed with our facts on his company, and how ours is, well, better. Still, Eli continues, never faltering, and I find that as he continues, I have nothing to put down for him on the Document I've opened, and the cursor merely blinks at me, patiently waiting.

Has cute butt. I write, fully intending to remove it once the actual document is done, but for now, it's the only actual insight I have to Eli's performance. Every word is articulated, each syllable seems to be pronounced, and even his words ending with t sound sharp, and perfected, as if he was an actor, performing in the movie of his career. Everything about it was stunningly perfect, and well, so is his butt.

I continued to add to the list, only focusing on the people we were pitching to, rather than my boss with the cute butt. Clearly some people were to perfect to find flaws in, so it was pointless to focus on him. Of course he's perfect, I think to myself, the man is gorgeous, kind, and intelligent. Of course he can't just mess up one simple word. I very nearly roll my eyes at the irony, but I keep myself in check. I know how important this meeting is, and I can't go messing it up by looking unprofessional.

Mr. Polizzi seems tense, perhaps we shouldn't have begun with the Powerpoint, and instead talked up his company first. I write, watching as the Godfather's clenched hands twitch. He seems angry, and the only reason I can think of is that.

The others seem to be focusing on what he's saying, some even nod along with him. Tia, and the other woman seem enraptured by Eli, and I almost wish I could take back the compliment about Tia's shoes. I imagine walking over and dragging them out the door by their hair, but I realize how ridiculous that is. Eli's attractive, and I don't even have the right to begin to feel jealous. I brush it off, but add Winning over the ladies in the room rather well. It's spiteful, but I feel my lips twitch in amusement at myself.

Looking back at Eli, I see that he's looking at me, at least for the moment. Anyone else would think that he's just trying to jog his memory, but after spending the week with him, I know him better. I know that the slight furrow between his eyebrows means that he's disgruntled, unable to comprehend something. His eyes, although mostly blank, show his confusion to me, and I give him a small look of my own. What's he going on about? I think to myself, and realize that I've zoned out. Perhaps he is searching for his next point, and I've fucked up.

But he's still talking, mentioning numbers and data. It's then that his eyes flick to my computer, and back to me before looking back at our little audience. Oh, he wants to know what was so funny. I glance away from him to see if anyone else noticed our eye conversation, but everyone still watches him studiously, without a single change in face. God, he's good at this.

"To sum things up for you, we're not the bad guy. We're not asking for you to surrender your company to us. With a few minor adjustments in the way the business is managed, it will still be the same company, only it'll have a Gold Publishing Inc. logo on the front door." Eli says, no longer addressing only me, but his eyes are still on me. I give my head a small shake, and widen my eyes slightly, trying to convey the word later without drawing anymore attention. In the document, which I've worked up to about a page and a half of notes, I add maintain eye contact with those you are trying to persuade to your side.

"What do you say, Mr. Polizzi?" Eli asks, seeming professional yet hopeful, but underneath I detect an irritation. I can't help but feel like it's my fault. Of course not, the man probably hasn't been told no before. It seemed likely. He's the kind of man who was used to having everything at his disposal. I feel myself sit up a bit straighter with pride. I rattled Mr. Elijah Goldsworthy, king of cool, calm, professional, and bored. And of course sexy. I mentally roll my eyes at myself and brush the thought aside. He is so far off limits that he is practically in Azkaban.

Mr. Polizzi stands, and although he still looks unhappy, he walks around the table, his team standing up with him in case he simply chose to leave, and he walks around the table. "Mr. Goldsworthy, I trust that what you say is true, and there will be minor changes." His accent is thick as he speaks, and he extends his hand towards Eli, opened for a handshake. "I expect that you will stick to what you say." Eli reaches forward and gives Mr. Polizzi a wide, charming smile, and opens his mouth to speak, when suddenly Mr. Polizzi pulls him forward so that they are face to face. I rise, my chair nearly falling over. Eli blinks, holding up a hand to stop me, but seemed otherwise unaffected entirely by the close proximity. He arched an eyebrow at the man, questioning him silently. The Godfather's jaw clenched, and he spoke lowly. "If you dare try and do more than you say... If I feel that you have so much as set a toe over the line, you will not like the consequences."

He releases Eli's hand, and Eli immediately stands straight once more, having been bent down towards the man who was at least a head shorter than him. "Why, Signor Polizzi, I would never dream of it." he says, calm and casual as if the Godfather's threat hadn't even truly existed. He gestures to me and I eye him in confusion. He narrows his eyes at me in irritation, and makes a signing motion with his hand. I breathe out a quiet oh and scramble for the paperwork. I hand it over to Eli without a word, and he sets it down on the table in front of the Godfather, who had yet to stop glaring at him. "Now," he starts, and puts a pen down on the paper. "Do we have a deal?"

-x-

"Well that went well." Eli says as he closes the door behind Mr. Polizzi's assistant who scrambles out of the room behind everyone, already shouting about the next meeting, and a dentist appointment.

"Are you crazy? The man threatened your life. Are you sure this is the kind of company you want under your wing?" I splutter, feeling like a mess. The entire signing process had taken another hour and a half, and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, the sky mostly shades of purple now. I could feel fatigue in my limbs, and I knew that I must look absolutely horrendous, but after watching Eli's life flash in front of my eyes, I can't seem to make myself care. All I want is a nice hot bath with the fancy bath salts that the hotel provides. Just thinking of it makes my back throb once.

"No matter. He'll come around. They always do." he says, rolling one toned shoulder carelessly, as if it happens at every meeting. He arches an eyebrow at me and points a finger my way. "No one likes admitting that they're not top dog, but he'll accept it eventually." He then flips his hand so that his long fingers are extended towards me, palm up. "Now then, the flash drive with my notes." he says, and I feel my face flush.

"Oh, right. Sorry." I say, walking over and saving the document onto the little, black thumb drive before -unsafely- disconnecting it and handing it over to him. His fingers close around my hand, and I freeze, my eyes flashing from our hands to his eyes, which seemed to have darkened considerably. I can't look away, and suddenly my throat feels dry. His tongue peeks out from between his full lips, and runs a trail from one side of his bottom lip to the other, my eyes greedily tracking the entire movement. I swallow hard, and let out a shaky breath. He's got to kiss me, or something, anything. I've never wanted anything more than to know what those lips would feel like pressed against mine. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, gnawing on it lightly, and then-

Then his hand is no longer wrapped around mine, and the moment seems to have passed. He turns, putting the drive in his pocket as he collected his paperwork. "How about dinner tonight, in celebration?" he asks, his back still to me as I try and compose myself. I can feel my face flush, and I take a deep breath, trying to reign in my control.

"Right, dinner. Sounds great. Where will we be dining?" I try and sound normal, but I can just faintly hear my voice shake.

He doesn't seem to notice as he turns and flashes me a smirk. "Oh, that's a surprise Ms. Edwards. Be downstairs in the lobby at seven." he says, and turns, leaving me feeling annoyed, confused, and turned on, which I was beginning to see was normal when dealing with Elijah Goldsworthy.

Well. I made you all wait only about a year for this. I promise you that in the next chapter, we'll start seeing some real action. Anyway, I should have it up tomorrow to make up for my shitty activity the past month. Oy I am a failure to you all. -Sighs- Love me, anyway?

Review, Rate, Favorite.

xoxo

-Des