A Dangerous Affair Chapter 37

A Chapter by Repgreece

Fun in the rain

By the time that Tom and Stephanie arrived back at her house, both of them were exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Stephanie went upstairs and Tom followed. When she came out of the bathroom, she said goodnight to Tom before entering her bedroom and climbing straight into bed. Tom went into the spare bedroom, took off his suit and shirt, and then went back to Stephanie’s room. He climbed into bed behind her, and she looked back at him with uncertainty, but when he pulled her against him and held her tightly in his arms, she realised that she really wanted him there. Besides, she was far too tired to argue with him, so she held onto his arms, which were wrapped around her, and closed her eyes. Surprisingly, Stephanie fell asleep almost instantly,but Tom lay awake for hours, despite the fact that his body craved sleep.

Many thoughts went through his head that night. He wondered again about Stephanie’s father. Who was he that the Carltons should know about him? The words of Henry Carlton also went through his head over and over again. He wasn’t so concerned about Henry anymore, as he was now in custody, but his biggest worry now was Henry’s father. He looked down at Stephanie sleeping in his arms and he felt so amazed that she had put so much trust in him. He wanted to protect her, to keep her safe; he felt honoured to be able to do so, although he feared that he had let her down in some way that evening. He tightened his arms around her and kissed the back of her head, nuzzling into her hair and breathing in the reassuring perfume of her. He’d die before he let anyone touch her again.

When Tom awoke in the morning, Stephanie had already got up and he was surprised that he hadn’t noticed it beforehand. He bolted out of the bed, a little disconcerted by her absence, but he was relieved to hear noises coming from downstairs and he found her making coffee in the kitchen.

“What time is it?” Tom asked, sitting at the kitchen table.

She turned and placed a mug of coffee in front of him. “Time we should be getting to work. I want to figure out Hugh Carlton and wrap this whole thing up. The sooner the better.”

“I’ll second that,” Tom said, watching her face and trying to assess her mood. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I just want this finished.”

He jumped up off the chair, picking up his mug. “Let’s finish it then. I’ll just get changed.”

In the car on the way to the office, Tom broached the subject of explaining last night’s events to Brick. To his surprise though, Stephanie was vehement in her insistence not to tell him about her being taken by Henry.

“But don’t you think we should be open about everything? We need to work together on this, and I don’t like the idea of any secrets being kept,” Tom pointed out.

“Please Tom,” she begged, “don’t tell him about it. He’ll panic and stop me from working on the story. He’ll probably stop me from working full stop!”

Tom frowned in confusion. “Why would he do that? Okay, he may want to pull you off the story, but in the end we are involved in it now whether we like it or not. The best thing is to work together on it and see the thing through.”

“I know that, but if he realises how close I came to being taken he’ll react. He worries about my safety.”

“As do I, but he can’t stop you from working for god sake, you can prosecute employers for things like that!”

She looked out of the window and replied quietly. “He knows I wouldn’t do that.”

Tom was surprised by her attitude. “Why the hell not? That’s not like you Steph; you don’t normally let people get the better of you.”

She went quiet and he began to think about her reaction. “What has Brick got over you Steph that you are so anxious about this?”

She became uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. “Nothing. Can we just drop this now Tom? Let’s just see what we can find out about Hugh today and go from there eh.”

Tom decided to leave it for now, but he was well aware that he’d hit a raw nerve with Stephanie about Brick. He didn’t know why, but he’d find out.

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Stephanie and Tom were called into Brick’s office when they arrived at work, in order to fill him in on their findings the day before. Tom strolled into the room and picked up an apple that was sitting on Brick’s desk, throwing it into the air and catching it. “You’re not going to believe this boss, but it isn’t looking like any of these offences we think are connected with Hugh are real.”

Brick scowled. Tom never failed to agitate him with his arrogance. He was about the only employee he had that would dare to be so familiar with him. He snatched the apple off Tom and placed it back on his desk.

“Not real, what do you mean?” Brick asked.

Tom continued to fiddle with items on Brick’s desk while Stephanie explained more.

“Well sir, none of the offenders have criminal records, none showed any aggression, and we have also found out that it is likely nothing has actually been stolen.”

“Hey boss, Stephanie has come up with something. She has the name of the top newspaper working on these stories and she wants to go speak to someone there, find out where they’re getting their information from, because between what we’re finding out, and what is being printed, something doesn’t fit.” Tom was keen to get out of the office that day. There was only so much office work a man could put up with. Besides, he figured that they could find out more by speaking to people, and that meant getting out of the office.

“Okay, go and speak to the newspaper, but get someone to phone them first so they know to expect you. We don’t want to go upsetting anyone with over arrogance,” he said, brushing Tom’s hand away from his desk. Tom grinned. At last, they could get out of there. He turned to leave.

“Oh and Stephanie,” Brick added before they left. “Make sure that you do most of the talking eh. I’m leaving the diplomacy to you.”

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When they arrived at the newspaper it had started to rain so Tom held a newspaper over their heads as they ran from the car into the reception area. The receptionist directed them to an office on the first floor, and when they walked out of the lift, a woman was there, waiting to greet them.

“Hello, we were expecting you. That nice gentleman from your office just phoned, and now here you are.”

Tom and Stephanie exchanged quizzical looks, wondering who on earth the woman could be talking about. They couldn’t think of anyone in their office who could be described as a ‘nice gentleman.’

They looked blankly at the woman. Silence. She jumped and laughed loudly.

“How rude you must think me, sorry my name is Daphne.”

They shook hands and followed her into her office. Tom looked back at Stephanie. Was she thinking the same thing? This woman seemed a bit over the top!

“Please, do take a seat” she offered.

They sat.

“So, I assume that ‘the nice gentleman’,” Stephanie grinned, “ filled you in on why we are here,” she said, watching as the woman put her hands down on the desk and knocked over a glass of water. She jumped up and attempted to save the papers on her desk from the stream of water that was running slowly across it. However, on pulling the papers suddenly away, she in turn knocked over a pot full of pens. Tom put his head in his hand.

“Err, here, this might help,” Stephanie said, reaching over to a box of nearby tissues and handing her some. “So…the information we were hoping for?” Stephanie hinted.

“Oh yes, yes.” The woman put a flustered hand through her hair. There was a pause. Two pairs of eyes watched her expectantly. “Oh, I see, yes. We had some phone calls.”

They both sat poised, waiting for her to elaborate.

“And…” Stephanie prompted.

“He gave us details of the crimes committed.”

There was an exchange of looks between Stephanie and Tom. Stephanie pushed Daphne for more information and tried to remain polite, but she couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of the voice.

“Yes, we had gathered that, but what we’d like to know is who made the phone calls?”

“Oh, I see,” Daphne said, laughing nervously.

More silence, more waiting. The holding of breath.

“Oh, we don’t actually know,” she finally replied. This woman was beyond belief. How on earth had she got the job? Both Tom and Stephanie let out a loud sigh. “But I could find out,” Daphne added.

Tom and Stephanie’s heads shot up.

“Yes, that would be very helpful, if you could,” Stephanie encouraged her.

Daphne left the office and Tom groaned. “Is she for real? What did she say her name was? Dafty? Or was it Daftly? Dippy? Dopey?”

Stephanie laughed, slapping him on the arm. “Stop it.”

“Ah come on, she’s probably got the other six dwarfs in there too!”

A mischievous look came over Stephanie’s face. “So, who do you think made the phone call?” Tom had simply shouted out across the office for someone to telephone the newspaper before they had left. Tom smiled slowly. Stephanie grinned. “Hey, do you think we could fix her up with Bob?”

Tom howled with laughter. “Stephanie, you know you’re a very wicked woman sometimes.” He winked at her. “I like your thinking!”

Stephanie chuckled. She had no doubt that it was his influence on her. She also realised that she was smiling again, and the laughter seemed to release some of the tension that had built up after the events of the night before. She had to hand it to Tom, he was great fun to work with.

Daphne came back into the room with an anxious expression then.

“I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but the person who dealt with it has left the office.” She looked up suddenly with more enthusiasm. “But you could wait for him.”

Tom cleared his throat. “How long is he going to be?”

Her smile faded. “No one knows.”

Stephanie saw the look on Tom’s face and jumped up suddenly. “Well, in that case, we must be off, but we would appreciate it if he could contact us when he comes back.” She blocked the woman’s view of Tom who growled at her as Stephanie pushed him out of the door.

They made their way back to the reception, and Tom ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“So, what now?” he asked.

“Back to the office I guess,” she replied.

He groaned.

It was still raining heavily outside so Stephanie decided against running across the car park in favour of edging her way around it, sheltering under an overhang on the building. She suddenly came across a leaking pipe above however, out of which a stream of water was gushing. The water was falling onto her path, which was also half blocked by the back of a parked car. She looked down with concentration, trying to figure out how to get around the car without getting wet. By this time, Tom had already gone out into the rain and was now on the other side of the stream. As he watched her distraction something in his mind suddenly clicked. She was however oblivious to the wicked look on his face as his arm shot out and he gave her hand a sudden sharp tug, bringing her teetering forward directly under the stream of water. Her mouth fell open in shock as she took in a huge gasp of air when the water fell over her face, down her blouse, skirt and onto her feet. It was a bold move, and he knew it, but he felt suddenly playful. He wanted to see her smile and laugh, like she had upstairs.

Of all the cheeky, arrogant…well, two could play that game. She took a step back and he waited for a response. She smiled sweetly and yanked at his hand in return, bringing him under the water suddenly also. He laughed out loud at her temerity. Still holding her hand, he lifted her arm over her head and swung her around, bringing their arms down to catch her around the waist as she stood with her back to him. He kept one arm around her waist, but lifted his other hand to her face, where he ran his fingers down her cheek. His hand slid on her wet skin, down to her neck, where it continued to the opening of her soaked blouse. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. He hadn’t intended it to, but he could sense her excitement and it pushed him on.

Trailing his hand further down, his fingers caught briefly on the v where the first button held her blouse together. He continued to move his hand downwards over the wet material until he reached her waist. Then he placed both hands there, at either side of her waist, running them back up her body as he bent to slide his lips on the wet skin of her neck. She was suddenly burning, although the water was cold. Her head fell back onto him and her breathing quickened. He moaned into her skin, thrilled at her reaction to him. Then he took her earlobe into his mouth, whilst at the same time bringing his fingers to her open lips and tracing their shape. He could feel her heavy breathing on his fingers and she had a sudden urge to feel them in her mouth. As if he had read her mind, he pushed them past her teeth and onto her tongue. She stood there, a mass of sensations, unable to move or think or do anything but revel in the feelings he was building in her. She put her hand backwards, grabbing onto his arm, and he could feel her nails digging into him as she fought for control. His head fell down onto her shoulder then as his body throbbed with need for her.

“Stephie, oh god… Stephie. Do you know what you do to me? What you’re doing to me now? There isn’t a moment of the day when you’re out of my mind sweetheart. Let me kiss you Stephie,” he begged.

“Mr Phillips! Mr Phillips! Is that you?” came a shout out of nowhere.

Somewhere in the back of his head, Tom registered the woman’s voice and cursed loudly as he wrenched himself away from Stephanie and looked sideways to see Daphne running towards them.

“Damn woman!”

He closed his eyes and struggled to bring his breathing back to normality. Glancing at Stephanie, he saw her also take in a few deep breaths and look to the sky as she bit her lip with a pained expression.

“Mr Phillips, I’m so glad I caught you. I’ve found something that may be of use.”

“Hmm.”

As she came to a halt in front of them a frown suddenly crossed her face.

“You’re all wet,” she observed.

“Yes, it’s raining,” Tom said, gesturing to the sky.

“Oh, why are you out in it then?” she asked.

“Talking to you! What did you want?” His reply came out a little more harshly than he had meant it to and she looked taken aback.

“I have this for you,” she said handing him a small tape, “it’s a tape of a message which was left on one of our answering machines. Maybe you could use it.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said vaguely, looking around for Stephanie.

“Bye,” the woman shouted as she ran back towards the building.

Stephanie had already made her way to the car and was looking dubiously at the seats as she contemplated getting in.

“Don’t think we thought this out too well,” she mumbled.

“No, wasn’t doing a lot of thinking at the time,” he said, grinning over the top of the car at her.

She glanced anxiously at him. “How are we going to explain this?”

“Well, it is raining.”

“Not that much!”

“Well, we’ll have to go back to your place and get changed,” he grinned.

She tutted. “We’d better be extra quick then. And no more fooling around,” she warned.

He sulked. She tried to look stern but she couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face as she got into the car.