Chapter 5 ~ Paris Martinez's POV

"So you are telling me that you understand everything?" Emma asked me, her voice dripping with so much surprise that I had to laugh.

"Yes, I do," I laughed again. "Come on, I am a medical person. You know, we understand the most hardest shit. This is child's play."

"Oh, really?" She flipped open one of the files which suddenly caused me to jump back a little. She asked me a question very quickly which I already anticipated so I answered almost immediately. I brushed off the imaginary lint from my shoulders and giggled at her shocked expression.

"Wow, I'm so impressed," She squeezed my hand softly. "You'll do so well at your presentation."

I nodded quickly until her words settled in. "Presentation? What presentation?"

Her face was blank as she said, "Oh, I thought you knew. You are going to be presenting how well you understand the analysis of files to Mr. Melendez this afternoon."

I was out of my chair in an instant, pacing about my office, "What the hell? I can't do that. I'll turn into a mess!"

Emma stood up too, reaching out to put a pacifying hand on my shoulder, "You'll be fine. You are awfully good at this, remember that."

I was not convinced. "But why did you not tell me? I would have prepared in front of my mirror or something. Jesus, what am I going to do now?"

"Look Paris, preparing in front of your mirror would have not helped matters, trust me. What are you scared of? He is your boss. This is going to be a normal occurrence. And it slipped my mind and I thought he already mentioned it. "

"Yeah, yeah. You're right, I guess," I smoothed my hands over my skirt shakily. It was going to be fine, I would just say my presentation and be out of his office in no time.

"So when do you think the private meeting is going to hold?" I sat back down at my desk, arranging files that were already in order. I was that nervous.

"I don't really know," She sighed. "Maybe in an hour or…" She was cut off by the phone. Mr. Melendez was calling me.

My eyes went wide, as did Emma's, as I answered the phone. "Hello, sir?"

"My office, now," He said coldly and the line went dead almost immediately.

"Asshole," I muttered. "What do you think he wants?"

"I think it's probably about the presentation," She looked amused as she said this. "I should probably leave. I'll see you later. You'll tell me about everything when you're done yeah?"

"Yes, of course. Bye and thank you," She smiled warmly at me from the door and left.

I braced myself as I walked into his office.

He had taken off his suit and the top buttons of his shirt were open, his hair tussled all about his face. The asshole looked… good.

"Good morning, sir," I hated that my voice came out shaky. Calm and confident was what I was working for and that has been destroyed now.

"Miss Martinez," He barely looked up from his MacBook. "I take it you know why you are here."

"Yes, yes. Even though I just started learning about the analysis three days ago," I muttered the last part but he seemed to have heard it because his lips perked up in an amused smile.

"So, I have heard that you've made a lot of progress from Emma. Dazzle me."

"Of course sir. Of course," I cleared my throat for what seemed like the umpteenth time since I entered his office. "T... the... a.. analysis of... b...u..siness pro...posal and other w...w..ork f...f...fil..files is really v..v..very sim.. simple," I cleared my throat again. "T..he wor..worker j..just has to..to..."

Mr. Melendez cut me off with just a wave of his hand and he used the other to massage his scalp. That was how annoying my voice was.

"I am very sorry sir," I had to dig my fingernails into my palm to stop myself from stammering. "I... I tend to stammer whenever I get nervous."

"Yeah, no kidding," He was no longer amused, I could tell, this man was irritated out of his mind.

"I...I am very very very very sorry," as an afterthought, I added, "Sir."

He sighed and he tried to smile, standing up, "Paris, breathe, okay? I'm just your boss, right? Just imagine I'm not here and you are… um… talking to yourself in your bathroom or something."

He lost me when he called me Paris. It was like my name was made just for his mouth. He had never really called me by my first name and for some reason… I liked it.

How am I supposed to hate this man now?

"Paris? Paris? Miss Martinez?"

I snapped out of my reverie almost immediately. I smiled sheepishly as I answered him, "Thank you, Sir. I'm okay now, thank you."

He nodded and sat back down, motioning for me to continue.

This time, I explained everything without a hitch. I did not stammer although I did not keep eye contact with him as I spoke, I was super proud of myself if I do say so myself.

I could tell that Mr. Melendez was impressed too, he shook his head, seeming disbelieving that I just explain everything that might have taken him years to learn. "And you are sure that you had no idea about any of this?"

"Nope," I smiled, popping the 'p'

"Wow, I don't know who to praise. Is it Emma or you?" He smiled as he asked this, leaning gently backward.

"You can praise us both. Though it might hurt you to praise two people at worse," I smiled teasingly and I was both shocked and pleased when he smiled back at me.

"Well, you might not be entirely wrong."

I laughed thoughts of how I was supposed to hate him at the back of my mind.

"I should resume my duties, Sir. Thank you."

"Sure."

I hurried back to my desk and called Nina quickly. She was about to have her ears full.