Chapter 58

Natalie POV

"What are you doing, Tristan?" I asked the moment one hand cupped her face, while the other slid down the curve of my waist. My question came out as a whisper, which surprised me.

"Helping you relax around me. We can't go to the meeting with you looking like this."

"Like how?"

Tristan leaned closer to me, bringing his lips to my ear and my body jolted as his hot breath fanned my skin.

"Like a simple touch from me will send a wave of electricity through you. One simple touch, like this." The hand that was on my waist found my fingers and he intertwined his with mine, which were already clammy.

I shut my eyes in pleasure and pressed her lips in a firm line to prevent herself from making even the slightest sound.

He buried his face in my neck, inhaling my inviting flowery scent. The impulse to trail his lips up my neck tugged at his heart, but he acted against it. Instead, he just stood there, registering my scent in his mind and trying to decipher what flower I smelled like.

"I can handle this," I finally said, and he suddenly wanted to prove me wrong by pushing me against the wall and pressing his whole length against my body and trailing long kisses on every part of my body, till my knees went weak from his touches, and all I could think of was him and what he did to me. But instead, he pulled away from me, creating some distance between our bodies.

"Good. So, shall we?" I nodded in reply, a tinge of blush still on my face and we headed out of the hotel.

The meeting place was a twenty-minute drive from the hotel, and as soon as they arrived, Tristan rounded his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His grip on my waist was firm, hinting at his possessiveness of me. No sooner had we entered than reporters thronged them, wanting to get statements from them as to their affair, which has blown the internet.

Tristan respectfully told them to fuck off, not sparing any details at all about his relationship with me, and they managed to escape them.

We got to the conference room, joining the other members of the team. Tristan gave pleasantries and looked around in search of Felix , whom the others were also waiting for.

Ryan, whose seat was opposite to Tristan, cast him and I a look, and we both acknowledged his presence— Tristan, with a smile, and me with a slight nod. Tristan gripped her hand, squeezing it gently without glancing at her, and she took a breath.

Not later than five minutes, Felix joined them, and the meeting began. After the introduction, they got straight into the business of the day, and Tristan had to reintroduce his proposal, in more practical terms to everyone.

His presentation took about ten to fifteen minutes, as he presented a graphical representation of his ideas and the prospectiveness of the same in the coming years.

Just as Tristan expected, several rebuttals were made by some members, all of which he'd carefully thought about the previous night. He'd analyzed his ideas and had thought of how to tackle every question that would be brought up in the question of his ideas. One by one, he addressed the rebuttals with logical and practicable solutions. This took nothing less than twenty minutes.
Tristan was about to resettle on his seat when Felix raised a hand to ask a question that Tristan had not considered in his analysis.

How could he not think of that?

"So, how do you intend to work that out?" Felix prodded after Tristan went silent for a little while. Tristan was on the hot seat, as he thought carefully of how to answer Felix ' question.

Shit! What would he do?

"Quite easy, Felix." All heads turned from Tristan to me who got off my seat, an air of confidence all around me. The question was about something their competitor had which they didn't. From the looks of it, they had already had a meeting with Broadway Enterprise before this particular one with F and A, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of their proposal.

Felix was aware that Tristan would be interested in his activities, and as such, he'd distracted him from looking further at his day-to-day dealings by frolicking with women, while he gave an audience to their rival party. Finding nothing fishy in his dealings, Tristan had ordered his men to quit monitoring Felix ' activities.

"While it is true that this idea and approach is novel, and hasn't been tested yet, and would therefore need tons of investment, it is no doubt the best we need if we're concerned about skyrocketing our target audience. In F and A, we've put this into consideration and that's exactly why we collaborated with Trialvire Ventures, the popular upscale marketing firm in the States, and without question one of the best in the world."

I stepped out, showing them all evidence of F and A's collaboration with Trialvire, by projecting it on the screen. I also placed a call to the managing director, who joined the meeting via Zoom. In a video, he explained how they intended to go about the marketing strategies, leaving everyone stunned. After his call ended, I continued.

"With the value of our services and products, the spike in cost will surely be no cost for alarm, as our target audience is quality-driven consumers. Hence, the recent drawback in our marketing strategies is not a cause for alarm, and in case you're wondering why we didn't adopt the services of Trialvire Ventures to F and A, here is the take value.

We'd rather use their marketing strategies for Gatrich's project, and in the long run, the same effect will consequently touch on F and A."

Applauses rang through the room as soon as I stopped speaking and everyone stared at me in admiration, Tristan inclusive.

I gave him a wink, and he suddenly composed himself before giving a smile.

"That was brilliant. Natalie —"

"Sutton," I added, smiling at Felix, before taking her seat.