A Dangerous Affair Chapter 9

Embarrassment at the office.

Stephanie took a deep breath, opened the office door and entered. She strolled across the room with as much casual grace as she could manage, considering that inside she was a mass of tension. Turning her head slightly, she scanned the room to see who had arrived that morning; or if she was honest with herself, she really wanted to see if Tom was there yet. Before she spotted Tom however, she was disturbed to see that one after another of the male journalists seemed to be looking up at her and following her progress across the room with a strange fascination. What on earth was going on?
 
She reached the sanctuary of her desk and slid into her chair, picking up the day’s newspaper, which had been placed in front of her, and holding it up as if she was studying its contents. Okay, why was everybody staring and grinning at her? If that arrogant b*****d had told everyone in the office what had happened that night she took the pill, she’d skin him alive! She lowered the newspaper a little and peered over the top of it. Immediately she had eye contact with Barker, one of her colleagues, and he smiled and winked at her. That was it! Tom was dead meat!
 
She flug the newspaper onto her desk, sprung out of her chair and headed for the far end of the room where Tom’s desk was situated. As she rounded the corner, he looked up at her with a smile. He had his feet on the desk and was sitting eating a bowl of cereal.
 
“Hi gorgeous. What’s up?”
 
She placed her hand over his legs and onto the desk, leaning over him with her other hand on her hip. “What the bloody hell have you said to them?”
 
Her body language spoke of only angry frustration, but at those close quarters, Tom was suddenly incapable of coherent thought. He almost dropped the spoon he was holding. His eyes were in direct line of her tight fitting white blouse and, with her hand placed on her hip, the material was stretched across her chest. He could see the outline of her bra, almost imagine what was underneath it, as his eyes strained to see further into the material. His gaze travelled up her body to her face, and he gave her a guilty smile. Well, she could take that as one of his weak moments.
 
“Said to who?” He looked bewildered.
 
“You know who. Everybody! What have you said to them?” She leant even closer to him and his eyes widened. “You’re going to tell me every single thing you said. In detail!”
 
If there was anything sexier than Stephanie sitting so close to him, it was Stephanie when she was angry. He wasn’t keeping up. He hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, so his eyes focused on that incredibly tempting pair of glossy pink lips instead. She was pulling him closer to her like a magnet. He was mesmerized. He didn’t even realise that he was slowly moving towards her until she growled with anger and abruptly sprung back, standing up and glowering down at him.
 
She put her hands on her hips. “Tom Phillips, if you don’t tell me this minute what you’ve said to them, you’re going to be in more trouble than you could imagine!”
 
God he hoped so! He sat back in his chair and assessed her with a lazy smile as he continued to eat his cereal.
 
“Calm down tiger. What am I supposed to have said and to whom?”
 
“Don’t play the innocent with me,” she pointed a finger at him. “What have you said to everyone back there about the other night?”
 
He huffed. “I think you must be going through one of your paranoid moments Steph.”
 
“Oh no I’m not. There’s something going on, and you’re going to tell me what you’ve said.”
 
“Look, help me out here a bit. What do you think I’ve said?” He casually spooned another helping of cereal into his mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully as he watched her. She faltered. She dreaded to think what he’d said and she really didn’t relish the thought of verbalising it. He watched her struggle.
 
“That I took that pill for a start,” she eventually came out with.
 
“I never said a word about that. I wouldn’t do that to you…or anyone else in here,” he replied adamantly. She believed him. But what else had he said then?
 
“You said ‘for a start’,” he pointed out.
 
“What?”
 
“You said that you thought I’d told them about the pill ‘for a start.’ So what else do you imagine that I’ve told them?”
 
“Forget it,” she shrugged, turning abruptly to walk away. She felt uncomfortable continuing with that conversation.
 
“No hold on,” he said, catching hold of her arm before she left and pulling her towards an empty seat by his desk. She slowly and reluctantly sat down. “If we’re going to be working together this needs to be cleared up.”
 
She sighed. “I just thought that you might have said,” she shrugged. “That you might have intimated…something.”
 
“Something?” he pushed.
 
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, I thought that you might have intimated that something happened between us.”
 
He grinned. He looked pleased, smug. But about what exactly she didn’t know.
 
“Well, I never told them that something had happened between us.”
 
“So who did you tell then?” she frowned.
 
“Nobody,” he smiled.
 
She groaned. “This is a ridiculous conversation. Nothing happened between us anyway!”
 
“Ah, now I wouldn’t say that nothing happened between us,” he grinned. He was playing with words, toying with her. It was working.
 
She shifted awkwardly in her seat. “What is supposed to have happened between us then?”
 
“Yes, I can imagine that you probably don’t remember that part of the evening. But it’s okay Steph, I stopped you before you went too far. Well…” he grinned, “…it was a bit of a struggle, but I stopped you in the end.” He winked at her and watched as the colour drained from her face. She stood up suddenly and he laughed, pulling her back into the seat.
 
“I was joking Steph, nothing happened at all. Even on drugs, you’re the essence of virtue.”
 
“You’re downright evil you know Tom. Like the very devil himself!” She narrowed her eyes at him.
 
“Yep,” he looked proud of the fact. “So, how come you got your knickers in a twist about me blabbing to all the people in the office then?”
 
“There’s something going on. All the guys were staring at me when I walked in!”
 
He threw his head back and howled with laughter. “My dear Stephanie, there’s nothing going on at all. They do that every morning!”
 
“What? Why?” she frowned.
 
He chuckled. “You can’t be that naive surely.” She failed to reply. “Well, to sum up, I’d say, from my perspective at least…” a smile played around his mouth as he uttered those words, “… that they were mentally undressing you as you walked through the door.”
 
Her eyes widened in shock and, to her utter mortification, she felt a blush wash over her face. He put down his bowl, sat back in his chair and folded his arms to contemplate her with amusement.
 
“Well, well, well, that’s something I haven’t seen before. The confident Miss White blushes,” he laughed.
 
“Oh shut up!” She stood up again and crossed her arms defensively. “When you’ve quite finished your silly games, would you mind joining me in Brick’s office? We have a story to discuss with him, remember?” She turned and stormed away. He thought it wasteful not to take the opportunity to appreciate the sight of her sexy bottom wiggle before she disappeared out of sight.

Author's Note

Anyone reading and liking, or not liking, this?