The utter arrogance of the man! Stephanie had heard rumours about Tom before, about his attitude towards women. Oh, women were good for charming and bedding, but when it came to producing front-page stories, he was top dog. Or so he thought. Well, she wasn’t going to let him steal this one away from her. With rising anger, she stormed into the room after him.
Her anger very quickly dissipated however, when her sudden appearance in the room drew the attention of most of Carlton’s group. They seemed to fill the small room completely, having taken over all of the leather-seated booths. She halted like a rabbit caught in headlights. Okay, so now she had Carlton’s attention at last, as his eyes made a slow assessment of her body in the black satin dress which clung and outlined her every curve, but now that she had it, did she want it? His gaze homed in on her in a predatory way, as he lifted one arm and rested it casually over the back of the booth in which he was sitting. She had to find somewhere to sit; she couldn’t bear this man’s scrutiny any longer.
In desperation, she scanned the room for Tom. He had seated himself in another booth with a group of young women, where he was happily chatting away to them. Typical! Now she could either continue to stand there in front of Carlton, looking as if she didn’t have a friend in the world, or she could join Tom at his table and face the patronizing comments that were bound to follow. She’d bide her time with Carlton. Moving decisively into the room, she headed for Tom.
“Mind if I join you?” Stephanie asked, hovering next to his table.
Although Tom was well aware of Stephanie’s every move, he glanced up at her then, feigning surprise.
“We’d be delighted,” he replied, smiling and moving across the seat a little to make some more room. Her eyes moved to the tiny space he’d created for her between himself and the side of the booth. She hesitated. Tom appeared to be amused at her discomfort, but he didn’t wait long before shooting out a hand to grab her wrist, pulling her forward and forcing her to occupy the small gap next to him. She sat stiffly in her seat and turned to speak to him under her breath.
“I know what you’re up to Tom.” She fixed her eyes on him.
He smiled politely. “Really? And what’s that?”
“You want in on this story and another woman into the bargain. Well it won’t work with me.”
Amusement flickered across his face, not for the first time that evening. “Well, if it doesn’t work with you, at least I’ll not be short of other female company tonight,” he replied, glancing back towards the group of women they were sharing the booth with.
“That’s right. Why not diversify Tom? Now that you’ve slept with every other female journalist at the newspaper, life must be a little boring for you.”
He swung his head back to her. “My god Stephanie, you obviously have rather more faith in my powers of seduction than I do. Much to my dismay,” he said, placing a hand across his heart and looking forlorn, “I can’t admit to winning over every other female at work. You haven’t been talking to them have you? Putting them off? It’s just that there are one or two women who just won’t play ball.”
She gritted her teeth with annoyance and he laughed loudly, slipping an arm around her waist and leaning towards her to whisper in her ear.
“Don’t believe everything you hear at work Stephie. Would it surprise you to know that I’m extremely selective when it comes to the women I take to my bed?”
His warm breath teased her ear whilst his fingers on her waist stroked shivery sensations down her side. She didn’t like being this close to him; it unnerved her. She had always avoided him in the office; she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. His character and appearance reflected contradictory qualities in him which she found impossible to fathom out. He could be charming and smooth one minute, yet determined and hard the next. His eyes were soft and beguiling, his mouth sensual as he smiled and teased. But the angles of his face were hard and tough, his nose jutting out sharply, his jaw square. The thick hair on his head was as untamed as the man himself, but he needed to do no more then run a quick hand through it to give him that ruffled, rugged look that all the women seemed to fall for, hook line and sinker. But not her. She wriggled herself away from him as much as she could and fixed her eyes in front of her.
“It might surprise you to know that I’m not at all interested in the women you choose or don’t choose to take to your bed Tom. I’m here to get information out of Carlton, and you’re cramping my style.”
He laughed. She’d not last five minutes with Carlton, but he’d let her have her space…for now.
“Well I wouldn’t want to do that Stephie. I’ll leave you to approach Carlton,” he said, standing up and moving to another seat with a dozen or so female eyes following him.
She watched as he moved away. She was glad. So why did she now feel as if she’d been well and truly left to the wolves? She had to pull herself together. After all, this was what she had gone there for, to talk to Carlton. She had his attention now, so what was stopping her?
Turning her head, she sought Carlton through the crowd. He was holding a whiskey glass in his hand, peering into it thoughtfully. She willed her eyes not to move away from him and it seemed to work, as he looked up and across at her with interest. She smiled at him and crossed her legs, allowing him a glimpse of her calf and knee. His eyes were now glued to her. He motioned to a woman in the group, who was standing near to him, and she bent so that he could talk into her ear. Then the woman looked across at Stephanie and began to approach her table.
“Mr Carlton over there would like to know if you would care to join his table, since you seem to be on your own.” The woman had a soft, sing song voice, and she seemed to have had her fair share of alcohol.
“Thank you, I would,” Stephanie replied, rising to follow the woman back to the table and throwing Tom a look over her shoulder as she passed him.
Sitting next to Carlton in the booth, however, she began to feel that this whole idea was a huge mistake. If it weren’t for Tom, she probably would have given up on the idea earlier and gone home. Now she was faced with the daunting task of appearing interested in Carlton in order to find out more about his business. Where would she start?
Carlton introduced himself and the other people around the table to Stephanie, and luckily, the women joined in with the conversation, putting her a little more at ease. He was quick to supply her with more drink, as he made vague comments about the drinking establishments in the area and the vintage of the wine, although he was more interested in leering at her legs than listening to anything she had to say.
Tom watched Carlton’s eyes on Stephanie and he itched to run over there and pull her away from him. The man was vile. Not only did he make a business out of other people’s addictions, but he collected women like objects. Well, Stephanie wasn’t an object. Okay, so she was snooty and cold at times, but she didn’t deserve to be manhandled by a man like him. He felt a small tug on his arm and looked down to see that the woman he’d been talking to had linked her arm with his and was gazing up at him dreamily. Just what he needed! True, she’d had quite a lot to drink that evening, but she looked completely spaced out. Then it occurred to him that she could well have been spaced out. What the hell were they doing there with people like that?
Stephanie glanced across at Tom to see he that was looking directly at her. The woman at his side had apparently fallen asleep, with her head rested on his shoulder. On seeing Stephanie’s distraction, Carlton reached towards her lap and put his hand on her leg, trying to draw her attention back towards him. At that moment Tom abruptly stood up, and the woman’s head fell back onto the headrest of the booth. He strolled towards Carlton’s table and bent to shake hands with him.
“Evening, Tom Phillips here. I can see that you have met my partner, Stephanie White.”
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