A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 8

Stephanie sat in the passenger seat of Tom’s car with her arms crossed, and she fumed. Just when she thought that perhaps she’d misjudged him after he took care of her the night before, he’d started his damn seduction techniques on her. He obviously couldn’t help himself. He just had to have every woman in sight swooning after him. Well he’d met his match with her. She’d not give into him that easily. Okay, so she’d had a small moment of weakness in the store cupboard, but he’d bloody well purposely wheedled out of her what to do to make her go weak at the knees in that stupid conversation earlier with Carlton. She actually thought that she’d behaved with a fair amount of control, considering that he’d teased her to distraction in a most sensitive place. God, why couldn’t she have just made something up? That he’d kissed her on the cheek or…or…somewhere that didn’t have quite the same effect. The problem was, in the back of her head, Stephanie suspected that wherever he’d kissed her, the effect would have been the same. Damn it, now that kissing and Tom were in her brain, she’d not be able to get them out. He’d opened up a great huge can of worms which she’d always managed to keep shut, and now she was wondering how to get the worms back in!

“I don’t suppose that you’d like me to take you back to my place,” Tom said brazenly.

She turned to him slowly, a look of disbelief on her face. “Right, that’s it! Pull over,” she ordered furiously.

He swung his head to her. “Calm down, I was only kidding.”

“Oh really. So if I'd have said yes then you wouldn’t have gone along with it?”

He grinned. “Why don’t you try it and see?”

She growled with anger. “Pull over I said! We need to talk.”

“Only if you promise not to get out and go charging off down the street.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Just pull over will you?”

“All right, all right.”

He indicated to pull onto the side of the road. Perhaps he’d pushed her too far. Maybe she was going to batter him. He grinned to himself. He rather liked the idea of that. Stephanie and anything physical seemed like a good idea to him. He finally switched off the engine and turned to her. She moved in her seat so that she was facing him.

“I want to make some things very clear before we go any further,” she began firmly. “If you and I are going to work on this story together, then you have to understand that, one, you can’t pull the kind of tricks you tried out in there, two, we work together in a professional capacity only, and three, there will never be any kind of sexual relationship between us. Is that clear enough for you Tom?”

He sighed and looked deeply into her eyes as if to find some indication that she hadn’t really meant all of that. He saw only the icy look that he’d seen so many times before in the office.

“Okay, now I want my say. If you want my help in this, and let’s face it you really do, for your own safety, then one, you’re going to have to chill out quite a bit more. That comment was only a joke. I was flirting with you, teasing you, whatever, but you don’t need to over react every time I make a throw away comment.” She took a breath as if to defend herself but he halted her and continued. “Two, I may have a weak moment every now and then.” She frowned and he proceeded with more feeling in his voice. “I’m a human being! Unlike you who seem to have the resolve of Mother Teresa! And three,” his eyes moved over her face and he sighed again. “I like you Stephie.” He reached out and swept a lock of silvery blonde hair away from her face with one finger. “I think you’re stunning.”

She brushed his hand away. “You think the same about every other woman you meet.”

He watched her intently for a while before speaking. “I don’t know why you would think that.”