Page 67 of Out of the Shadows
There’s no apology in the woman’s voice and without bothering to spare us a further glance, she pushes her trolley into the boardroom and begins to collect up the used crockery from the breakfast meeting.
I open my mouth, to tell her no and that she and her trolley need to piss off.
“Yes, we’ve finished. Haven’t we, Mr. Stern?”
Daniel’s gaze rests on me. For a man who was just about to become the happy recipient of an illicit blow job, he’s quickly got himself back under control. Everything about him is smooth, cool and professional. I, in contrast, am a hot, sweaty, disorientated — and very frustrated — mess.
“Yes, I think so. Mr. Russo.” My voice is strangled and croaky. I clear my throat. “For now. Thank you for your time. Perhaps we can return to the subject a little later? Pick up where we left off?”
“I’ll check my diary to see if I can fit you in.”
And with that, he sweeps past me and disappears from the boardroom.
* * *
“Where have you been? I need to go through this with you.” Fiona holds up a bundle of papers.
“I had a few things I needed to discuss with Daniel after the meeting.” I also needed to spend time sorting something else out, behind the locked door of a toilet cubicle.
Back at my desk and under some semblance of control, I make myself busy and avoid Fiona’s gaze. I had been confident Daniel and I are doing a good job of concealing our relationship, but after what happened in the boardroom I’m no longer as sure as I was. What I only meant as a joke, a tease, got out of hand way too quickly. It was stupid and dangerous. It was also as hot as hell.
I clear my throat.
“You really should do something about that cough. You were hacking away throughout the meeting. Honey’s good, it’s nice and smooth.”
I know what else is nice and smooth in my throat but it’s certainly not honey.
“Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind.”
Fiona settles herself at my desk, getting ready for us to work together on the papers.
“You’re getting on well with Daniel all of a sudden.”
My shoulders stiffen. “What do you mean?”
“When he started it was obvious you didn’t like him, although I couldn’t for the life of me work out why, but now you’re all chummy. So what’s changed?”
Fiona leans over and helps herself to one of the sweets I’ve got open on my desk. Popping one into her mouth she stares at me, waiting for me to answer.
I take my time, because I’m figuring out what, exactly, my answer should be. The fact that she’s noticed the shift in my and Daniel’s relationship has more than left me feeling a little bit rattled.
“That’s over exaggerating it, but yes, I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Hard to imagine why. I think it’d be very difficult to get off on the wrong foot with Daniel. I mean he’s a tough boss and expects a hundred and ten per cent from us all, but he’s got a way about him that makes you want to go the extra mile. Plus he’s really brought this place alive. So what got you on the wrong foot?”
She’s not letting it go and I need to tread carefully.
“He reminded me too much of somebody I used to work for, and who I clashed heads with. That wasn’t Daniel’s fault, it was mine. I suppose I just had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to him, that’s all.” Which isn’t a total lie, I suppose.
She reaches for another sweet, and I push the bag towards her.
“I suppose the team building event we went to worked, then, because you’ve been a lot more mellow towards him since then.”
I grab at the lifeline she’s offered me.
“Yes, I guess so. And he was a great help when I twisted my ankle.”
She laughs. “Yes, everybody was saying that he was kind of like your own private Florence Nightingale.”
