Proposal To Love Page 0,1

floor, coffee cups spilled and water splashed in every direction. She turned from looking like a supermodel, albeit a petite one, to a mischievous elf, with just a smile. She had dimples on both sides of her luscious mouth and her cat-like eyes twinkled as if she knew all the funny secrets in the world. It was quite a sight and caused shock each time a new person experienced her smile.

Jim sighed, wishing he could remember some joke to tell her so he could see her smile. Boy, was she a sight to behold. Darcy interrupted his thoughts and got him back to the business at hand.

“Not a problem. I can do this,” she said, grabbing her notebook and standing up. She grabbed a pen, and then rushed behind her boss out the door. A few seconds later, Darcy raced back to her desk and grabbed her glasses, then right back out to the hallway again.

“Are you sure Michael Attracelli is going to listen to me?” she asked, trailing behind him as she went through her papers to find the notes on the bid the senior vice president had originally rejected.

“Yep, the one and only.”

“Why is he going to listen now? What changed his mind?”

Jim pressed the call button for the elevator. “I did. I was talking to him and mentioned your idea. He seemed interested so I told him I’d get the two of you together to discuss the idea.”

Darci grimaced. “Remind me to keep my mouth shut in the future.”

“Bah!” he said and waived her concern aside. “You’re ready for this,” he said. “And if not, you’re no worse off than you were five minutes ago except that you’ve finally met Michael.”

“How do I greet him?” she asked. “Is there any formal policy?”

Jim glanced back to the nervous beauty, his eyes rolling. “He’s not royalty; he’s just a vice president.”

Darcy had a great sense of the absurd and was willing to make fun of herself when she was acting silly, like right now. “Yeah, but he’s sort of a God in the industry. It seems like he should have some sort of title befitting that reputation, don’t you think?” the imp in her joked. “Vice President just doesn’t due him justice, I’m guessing.”

“How about God of IT?” he quipped, pressing the button on the elevator that would take them to the executive floors.

They stepped into the elevator together. “No,” she said, shaking her head while she stared up at the lights indicating the floors they were passing. “It has to be more glorious. How about…God of Information?” she asked.

Jim didn’t respond but chuckled at her.

“Why not?” she asked, a few moments before they came to the top floor, “I mean, it’s reputed that he knows everything. Therefore, he must be at least a century old. I’m hoping that if I make it to that age, I’ll get a God-like title as well.”

She missed Jim’s astonished expression because the doors opened and they walked out into the subdued atmosphere of the executive floor. It was dramatically different on this floor, Darcy thought as she made her way down the hallway behind Jim who obviously knew where Michael Attracelli’s office was. Her office was on the sixth floor and was filled with mostly technical people. They called to each other with their ideas or barged into offices unannounced to bounce ideas off of each other. Some people didn’t even bother with going to an office. They would just shoot ideas to a co-worker in the hallways. There was a great deal of joking and letting off of steam when the tensions rose or deadlines drew near.

On this floor, it was very quiet. The doors were mostly closed and people scurried about busily, looking very important and harried. She suspected that no one really joked on this floor and meetings were scheduled to discuss ideas, not tossed about while walking to get a cup of coffee. It was very serious business up here on the fifteenth floor.

They stopped in an impressive lobby-like area with a secretary quickly typing on a computer. She looked up when Jim entered and smiled her greeting. “He’s waiting for the two of you. Just go on in,” she said, waiving towards a double door that was open on one side.

“Thanks, Donna,” Jim said and nodded for Darcy to follow him through a set of closed double doors.

Jim knocked, but didn’t wait for a response before entering. They walked into a large office filled with modern, steel