FIVE

James rushed forward and pushed the double doors open with shaky hands, Nick noticed and heaved a frustrated sigh and proceeded to enter the room. There were seven people inside the conference room, that including people from Blake and Co, Donnie and a few employees from Stone Corp who all stood up as soon as Nick entered. "As you were" He said taking a seat at the end of the table.

Kim stared at the man with wide eyes and thought he must be a fallen angel. Nickolas Stone was as the paper described him except the photos of him didn't do his looks any justice though, the man was a greek God come to life. His raven black hair was glossy and trimmed to perfection, it had a messy look about it that made it seem like he had been running his fingers through it, his black suit hugged his figure so well his tailor must have been proud to see it on him. He should be well over six feet Kim thought because he seemed to tower over everyone in the room his bright green eyes were the show stopper. She noticed a plaster above his left eyebrow and thought whoever caused such an injury no matter how small needed to be sued, tried and jailed for damage to God's gift to mankind. Kim felt a nudge on her leg, she had missed what had been said because she wasn't paying attention instead she had been drolling over her new potential client.

"I'm sorry" She mumbled blushing, she looked forward to this meeting with Stone Corp for days and now she was about to mess it up, Kim could feel Nick's eyes on her she swallowed hard and rubbed her wet palm on her skirt. She had picked out her clothes the night before with careful consideration when she heard about how particular Nickolas Stone was, a pink satin long sleeved shirt, a white suit skirt that reached her knee, a matching colored coat and a nude stiletto heels to finish the deal, in her opinion she looked like a very independent young woman.

"I believe some introductions are in order" Donnie said breaking the awkward silence since Nick was content with staring at Kim "Miss Blake, if you please".

"Of course" Kim said trying to avoid Nick's gaze, he was making her uncomfortable, why wouldn't he just stop looking at her. He was looking at her like she had done something bad and he knew about it. "It's nice to finally meet you Mr Sone, I'm Kimberly Blake and these are my associates Britany Quick, Tom Dunlop, and Charlie Evans".

Kim wasn't sure what to make of the bored look on Nick Stone's face, he looked like he couldn't care less about who they were and he made no show of trying to hide it. "I'm glad you trust us enough to take care of your legal affairs and I promise you won't be disappointed".

"Oh I'm sure I won't be" Said Nick, nodding Kim gave him a small smile then frowned. Where had she heard that voice before she mused or perharps she was mistaken. "Would you prefer I call you Kim or miss Blake" Everyone turned towards him with a stare of surprise. He definitely didn't mean that, Kim thought but decided to answer him anyway.

"Miss Blake is better, that sounds more professional don't you think?" She said trying to maintain the smile on her face.

"Kim it is then" Nick said surprising Kim, was the man deaf or just stupid she had just said he couldn't address her by her first name.

She looked at her collegues who just smiled widely at her, she sighed they were indirectly telling her to just go with it. She wanted this alliance as much as they did, working for Stone Corp would do her company well. The business world was rough and competitive, Stone Corp was at the top of the food chain and they only worked with the best it was good enough that a big organization like that approached her and if words got out that Blake and Co legal practioners was their legal team, well that would be the icing on the cake. "Of course Mr Stone, if that makes you happy".

"Oh it does. If you've gone through the contract and everything seems fine with you, then we can proceed with the signing".

"Yes of course" The contract was well written and Kim was satified with the contents which was why she wondered why they changed their legal team.

As if reading her mind Nick smiled and said. "Don't worry, as long as you do your job well and handle my company legal affairs without mistake we should be good".

Kim could only stare at him, boy the man was really good looking and was that a dimple she spotted at the side of his right cheek when he smiled. "He's really handsome yeah we all know that, but can you stop looking at him like that and focus here" Britany whispered in her ear snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Here you go" Donnie said handing Kim the contract and a pen, she thanked him and signed her name. She quite like Donnie after meeting him a couple of times, he was nice and he seemed like a gentleman he was tall and lean with baby blue eyes, he was a good looking man perhaps not as much as Nick Stone, startled by her thought she shook her head and tried to listen to what Tom was telling her.

"Well that's it. Congratulations Miss Blake" Donnie said shaking her hand.

"Donnie let go of the lady's hands" Nick said rolling his eyes at his friend. Frowning again, Kim was sure she had heard the man's voice before she couldn't remember where if she couldn't remember it was probably nothing to worry about. Boy how wrong could she get.

"So Miss Blake, how about dinner?" Kim thought she heard wrong, Nickolas Stone didn't just ask her out and that too in front of his employees and hers.

"Excuse me?".

Standing up from his chair, Nick walked to her and smiled as if the others in the room didn't exist. "Come on Kim we are no longer strangers now are we" Kim could only blink at his familiar use of her name, it rolled off his tongue like he had been calling it for years, it sent shivers down her spine. "Dinner. You and me. Tonight".

Looking back and forth between the pair and sensing from the way Nick and Kim had been staring at each other, Donnie couldn't help but suspect that something was going on between the both of them. Holding his hands up he said. "Back up both of you. Did you know each other before?" Kim answered No the same time Nick said Yes. Yep, Donnie thought, something was definitely up between these two.

"No, we don't" Kim said glaring at Nick. Was he insane or what, she had never seen him in person before what sort of sick game was the man playing at.

"Oh but we have honey" Nick said with a feral grin. He had arrived at the meeting ten minutes late, he had worn a bored look throughtout the entire introduction and now he was causing a scene and embarassing her, he was smiling infact he looked like he was having the time of his life. "Although it hurts me that you don't remember even though it was such a memorable meeting".

Starting to get angry Kim said through gritted teeth. "I'm sure you must have mistaken me for someone else Mr Stone".

"I don't think so. I mean how can I forget the person who almost killed me" He said and Kim's vision went black.

"What!" Everyone in the room said in unison, wait why could she still hear them? She was supposed to have fainted but oddly she was still standing? Oh she's just immobile she thought, she must be paralysed by shock.

Kim's hands shook as perspiration formed on her forehead. She had forgotten about the accident because she had been so busy preparing for this meeting and the police officer never gave  her a call like he had promised to do and she never did get a look at his face before he disappeared. What do I do? She thought, there was no getting out of this one but it wasn't even her fault, okay maybe trying to break traffic rule was but she had offered to take him to the hospital and he had refused.

"Kim is this true?" Charlie said giving her a questioning look just like everyone else was.