As soon as they arrived home, Stephanie apologised to Tom, informing him that she had to get ready for the party straight away if she wasn’t going to anger her father by turning up late. Tom wondered about Stephanie’s father. He seemed to have quite a lot of influence over her, and for some reason that unnerved him. Tom poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle in the fridge and sat down in front of the TV, but very quickly made his mind up to go out himself that evening. Anything was better than sitting there waiting for her to return and thinking of her with that’ boyfriend’ of hers.
When she eventually came down the stairs, entered the lounge to say goodbye and pick up her keys, he found himself even more affected by the thought of her with another man. She looked stunning. He’d seen her in eveningwear before a few times now, but she never failed to leave him breathless. His eyes traversed her body and followed her around the room as she collected up her belongings and placed them into her clutch bag. She wore a long, straight dress in a sleek material with a split down the one side. It was in a deep red colour and had a satin band around the waist, which formed part of the dress and continued around it to shape a criss cross at her lower back. Her hair was scooped up to reveal long, gold earrings.
“Well, I have to rush off now Tom. You know you really don’t need to stay here for me. If you feel like going back home, I’ll understand.”
He watched her for a minute and was unaware of the flicker of sadness that she could see in his eyes, making her feel terrible about having to go.
“I told you I’d stay, and I’ll stay, but I think I’m going to go out as well tonight. Phone me when you are on your way home will you Steph?” he asked.
She smiled at him. “Okay. Have a nice night Tom,” she said. And on impulse she walked over to the sofa and kissed him on the cheek before leaving.
Only two hours later, Stephanie parked her car on her front driveway and turned off the ignition, looking anxiously at her house and wondering if Tom had gone out yet. She sincerely hoped so,as she really didn’t relish the idea of having to explain to him why she was back so early. She got out of the car and walked up to her front door, taking a deep breath and unlocking it to enter.
She realised immediately that Tom had not yet gone out when she heard the soft sound of music coming from the lounge. Damn. She opened the lounge door and prepared herself for a questioning. Tom looked up in shock to see her standing there. He was pouring himself the last of the wine out of the bottle, and he had changed into a dark suit, white shirt and tie. She momentarily forgot her planned explanation when she saw him.
She smiled. “You look smart Tom. I’d expected you to be out by now.”
He stopped in mid movement as he was bending over the coffee table to pour the wine. “I could say the same for you! That was a quick party.”
Her smile faded. “Yes well,I’m tired, but don’t let me ruin your evening out Tom.”
Ruin his evening out? It had just got a thousand times better! One, thank God she wansn't with her so called ''boyfriend'' for any more of the evening, and two, he had a chance of spending more time with her that night...if he played his cards right.
“Hey look, I’m all worked up for a night out now, and you are all dressed up looking gorgeous as always, so I don’t know what went wrong with your evening tonight, but why don’t you now accompany me to the casino?”
She did a double take. “Casino?”
“Sure, there’s nothing like it to cheer you up, and by the looks of things, you could do with cheering up,” he observed.
She seemed uncertain. “I don’t know if I’m in the mood for it to be honest Tom. Besides I don’t have a clue about casinos.”
He smiled. “Well it’s a good job that you have me to show you the ropes then isn’t it? Come on,” he said, putting down the bottle, “let’s go now. I’m all ready and I think that you owe it to me to come along, since I can’t go if you don’t,” he reasoned.
What could she say to that? “Okay then, since you put it that way, how could I spoil your fun?”
He turned off the music and approached her, holding out his arm for her. “You couldn’t,” he smiled. “Besides, you have to come because you’re my lady luck.”
She gave a wry laugh. “I’ve not had an awful lot of luck tonight.”
He grinned down at her. “He sure as hell hasn’t got lucky tonight either.” She glared back at him and his grin widened. “Well, I’m feeling lucky tonight.” Her eyes widened with shock. What did that mean? “I’m on a winning streak,” he added with a laugh.
She tutted at him, but inside she was suddenly extremely pleased that she had caught him before he had left.
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