A Dangerous Affair Chapter 10

Flirting in the office

Brick was a tall, slightly overweight man in his fifties with short, wiry, brown hair and a fiery temperament when pushed. His eyes slowly rose from his paperwork when Stephanie and Tom walked into his office together, and he watched them suspiciously.
 

“Sir, may we have a word with you?” Stephanie asked.
 

Brick said nothing but gestured for them to both take a seat opposite him.
 

Once seated, Stephanie began. “Sir, it concerns the Carlton story. Tom and I have come across some information which changes things slightly and we’d like a little more time to follow up on our findings.”
 

“May I be so bold as to ask what these findings are?” Brick asked with some sarcasm.
 

Stephanie was being purposely vague. She had the feeling that if she gave away too many details about the way they had found that paper in the old theatre, then Brick would start asking some awkward questions. She was hoping to avoid that.
 
“Well, it would seem that the man we need to research is not Henry Carlton after all, it’s his father, Hugh Carlton. He’s the man with political connections,” she informed him.
 
“And Henry?”
 
“We were right, he is dealing drugs but that’s all.”
 
Brick raised an eye brow.
 
“All?” he said incredulously.
 
Stephanie began to tense. “No, I didn’t mean to trivialise the fact, but it’s his father who will give us the big story.”
 
Tom watched the interaction between Stephanie and Brick thoughtfully.
 

“What actual evidence do you have that this Hugh Carlton has anything to do with the crimes in the city?” he put to her.
 
“His son is a drug dealer!” she said, as if she couldn’t believe that he’d asked the question.
 
“Okay, so write your story about Henry then. You have nothing to suggest that the father is involved.”
 
In truth, Brick suspected that there was a bigger story in all of this but he was testing Stephanie to see if she was determined enough to warrant the extra time he’d have to allow them to continue with this work.
 
“But sir...” she began.
 
Tom jumped in then. “Boss, do you want the big story or a second rate story about a sleazy drugs dealer?” he said, quoting Stephanie’s own words. Brick turned his attention to Tom and contemplated him for a moment. “I’m keen to work on this with Stephanie boss, and we will get our story,” Tom said adamantly.
 
“Why are you two working on this together now? You’ve never worked on anything together before.” Brick knew what Tom was like. Although he was a top rate journalist, he was also incorrigible when it came to women, and Brick couldn’t help but think that Tom had ulterior motives in pushing for this work with Stephanie.
 

 tephanie’s eyes darted to Tom nervously. What the on earth could either of them say? That he had offered to watch out for her after she’d got spaced out on Carlton’s pill!
 
Tom was struggling to come up with an answer. What the hell could he say? That he’d been infatuated with Stephanie for months and that he was desperate to spend as much time with her as he could! Tom chose to focus on the one thing that Brick was always insistent on.
 
“Let’s face it boss, Steph can’t work on this alone, when guys like these are involved. She needs me there for safety.”
 
That didn’t really answer Brick’s question, but Tom had brought up a good point. What’s more, he was the best person to help out in such circumstances. One thing Brick was certain of, Tom would look after Stephanie.
 
“All right, I’ll give you the time to work on this, but I want to know how things are progressing. I want details at every stage, and if you don’t come up with anything significant soon, then we drop this. Understand?”
 
Stephanie and Tom couldn’t hide the fact that they were thrilled with his decision.
 

“No problem boss. We’ll get to it now,” Tom said, jumping out of his chair and heading for the door, closely followed by Stephanie.
 

Once out of the office, Stephanie leant back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. “That wasn’t very pleasant.”
 

“Nah, but Brick just likes to keep us on our toes. Bet he’s just a soft touch underneath,” Tom grinned. Stephanie wasn’t convinced.
 

“Well, I suggest that we start by researching the political party Hugh Carlton is involved in, now that we know what it is,” Stephanie said.
 

“We do?”
 

“Yes, it was on that paper I found,” she informed him.
 

“I think I’d like to take a closer look at that paper of yours. It may shed some more light on the matter,” Tom said, moving in the direction of his desk.
 

“Be my guest,” Stephanie said, instinctively heading for her desk, which was in completely the opposite direction.
 

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they realised that they were moving away from each other. They turned on their heels and stared at each other for a few seconds.
 

“The paper is in my desk,” Stephanie said, indicating the direction of her desk with a thumb gesture over her shoulder.
 

“Bring it over to me then,” Tom said, glancing across the office.
 

Stephanie fiddled with her earlobe. “Err... wouldn’t it be easier if you just followed me to my desk?”
 

“No, I don’t think so,” Tom answered bluntly.
 

Stephanie sighed. “Look, we can’t work together if our desks are at opposite ends of the office, so why don’t you work from mine?”
 

“You work from mine,” he countered.
 

She growled with frustration. “Mine’s better,” she said quickly.
 

He crossed his arms and stood there stubbornly with his legs astride. “I think you’ll find that you’re wrong there.”
 

She ran an exasperated hand through her shoulder length blonde hair. “What are we going to do?”
 

“Hmmm.” Tom over exaggerated considering the question. “I know,” he grinned, “we’ll take the best desk there is.”
 

“Mine?” she said hopefully.
 

“Nah, Brick’s.”
 

She burst out laughing. “Do you want to survive to see this story in print?”
 

He chuckled and watched the transformation of her face when she smiled. “You should do that a lot more often Stephie.”
 

She wasn’t following. “What?”
 

“Smile. You could light up the room with it.”
 

She felt a sudden strange sensation in her stomach. Where did that come from?
 

“You know what would make me smile?” She paused. “If you worked with me at my desk.” She wondered if that would make a difference.
 

“Hmm,” he scratched his head, contemplating her statement. “All right then. We work at your desk.”
 

A stunning smile lit up her face.
 

They spent the majority of that afternoon searching through the newspapers, noting down details about the spate of crimes that had been affecting the city recently, and also researching the political party that Hugh Carlton had been funding. Their faces were alight with animation every time they found a new article which provided them with more information and allowed them to see a pattern emerging. Tom would read out excerpts form the odd, ridiculous story he found, making Stephanie laugh when he pondered who had written them, and how Brick would have responded had the articles been attributed to their newspaper. On several occasions, Stephanie felt Tom’s hand on her waist or back as they moved around her desk, reaching for the newspapers and files. She wasn’t stupid, she knew what he was doing, and if he pushed his luck she’d have strong words with him, but for now, she’d let it go. She hated to admit it, but she found that he was an extremely engaging person to work with, and it seemed quite flattering having the attention of a man like that. She’d have to be careful though. She didn’t want to get too used to it.
 

 “Here,” he said, passing her yet another article, “You’re going to love this one.”
 

She looked up at him and smiled, taking the newspaper off him. He winked at her and she laughed. She’d been laughing and smiling all afternoon, as had he.

Author's Note

Anyone reading this?

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

Aw, they might make a cute couple and i knew she was afraid to fall for him! i think the thing about which desk they should work at was funny and cute at the same time.
Lol. "I say mine is better.'- she sounds like a child. ^^
tephanie’s- u forgot the S but that was just a typo.