The bright neon light made the faces of the people gathered around the conference table look ashen and tired. They had been negotiating about the contract now for almost 4 hours, and it was the third time they had been meeting during the last two weeks because of that. The conference table was clattered with empty bottles of mineral water and apple juice, and the used coffee cups piled up in the middle, but no one cared for another break, everyone just wanted to get things done and over with.
Sarah couldn't help but let her thoughts drift for a moment while the lawyer of the other party was reciting some more paragraphs from some literature she never had heard mentioned anywhere, and as she scanned the mostly annoyed or bored faces around the table, she once again was hooked by the intelligent grey eyes of the opponent's consultant across the table. He was a handsome man, in his late thirties she figured. His dark grey suit was well tailored, his shirt, only a shade lighter, matched his eyes and his tie was held by an exclusive design pin. His light brown hair was cut short, and, she had noticed that at the very first meeting already, there was no traces of a wedding ring on his manicured yet masculine hands. With a blush she noticed he was staring at her in return now and had that breathtaking smile that sent her heart racing, and she hurried to look down into the papers before her, pretending to study them with full attention.
She wasn't aware that she herself was quite a sight in this mainly male dominated domain of financial business. Her short blonde hair and deep blue eyes caught the eye of many of the men she had to deal with, and when, as she often did, she sucked the end of her pen with her full pouting lips while listening or concentrating on a subject, more than one of them had imagined giving her something to suck worth the effort. Sarah was oblivious to all that. She never had considered herself as pretty, lest stunning, and little did she know about the effect her deliberately masculine attire had on underlining her femininity even the more. She was wearing a white men's shirt and a dark green jacket, around her neck she had bound a matching green and blue tie with a golden pin. The only concession she made to her gender was the short tight dark green skirt, that stopped at hand's width above the knee and showed plenty of her long slim legs in graphite coloured stockings and ending in dark blue high heels that picked up the colour scheme of the tie again.
The air in the conference room was thick now and most of the jackets had been taken off during the long negotiations, as had been Sarah's. When she finally had recovered from the embarrassing moment of being caught looking at the attractive man opposite her she straightened her body and leant back, causing the white cotton shirt to tighten over her ample breasts, the tie outlining the valley in-between. Once again she shifted her body and stretched her legs, without noticing that her neighbours on either side were glancing quite tantalised under the table whenever she pushed back her chair or changed the way her legs were crossed.
The lawyer was still explaining some not too substantial things about the credit insurance, and her eyes fell on the list with the participant's names in the folder in front of her. Mr. M. Evans – that was him with the sparkling grey eyes and the sexy smile. She started to muse about what the M. might be standing for, while now her own company's lawyer started his speech. Could be Mathew, Martin, Michael ... She was interrupted in her thoughts by the sound of closing folders around her and with relief watched the CEO's of both companies shake hands – so that meant they had made it – finally. In the overall turmoil of gathering papers and congratulating each other on the success of the deal and a brilliant future, the word was spread that they all would meet in the hotel bar in 30 minutes to celebrate. As the room was starting to empty, her boss turned to her "Miss Sanders, I know it is not your job, but would you mind mailing a copy of those contracts to the headquarters before coming down to the bar? You see – I am not that good with these modern technical things myself ..." he smiled at her in his helpless but charming way, and Sarah couldn't but respond with a big smile and taking the pile of papers from his hand she said "No problem Sir, just leave them with me..." He waved back to her and with a "Thanks Miss Sanders." He was gone.
Sarah took a deep breath and opened the top button of her shirt, loosening the tie a little, before she headed to the little office that was right next to the conference room they had booked for the day. With a low buzzing sound the computer started his warm-up routine while Sarah's thoughts returned to Mr. M dot Evans. They had met three times now, and although Sarah had had a feeling of mutual attraction at first, he had been friendly but distant during the meetings, and although she had thought to notice an interested sparkle in his eyes when she half-heartedly had suggested to take a drink at the bar after the last meeting, he had declined. She was not surprised, thinking he was just Mr. Handsome in person and probably had better offers to refuse than hers, but nevertheless, she felt a little disappointed. With a sigh she returned her attention to the computer screen and entered her password to start the program when she heard the door in the conference room open and lock again. Assuming it was her boss to see if she was doing ok she called "I will be done in about ten minutes, Sir!". But instead of a reply the office door opened and in the frame stood Mr. Evans. His shirt was opened too and the tie hanging loose around his neck gave him a renegade look, his jacket casually dangling from his shoulder. Sarah's heart missed a beat before she could gather her composure again and ask" Sir, is there anything I can do for you?"
