A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 15

Tom moved to the oven and took out the chicken, whilst Stephanie slid off the counter top. She looked down at her blouse and peeled the wet material away from her skin, shaking it by the collar as she attempted to dry it out. Tom’s attention was diverted from the chicken to Stephanie, and he spilt some hot fat onto his hand as he carelessly placed the dish onto the hob. He cursed and dived towards the sink, turning on the cold tap and holding his hand under the water.

“What have you done?” Stephanie exclaimed, rushing to him and glancing down at his hand.

He grimaced. “It’s okay, I just burnt my hand a bit.” He pulled his hand out from under the water to study it.

“Keep it under there,” she urged, pushing his hand back. “You need to keep it cold for a while or it’ll continue to burn.” He stood with his hand under the stream until the water made it numb with cold. “How does it feel now?” she asked.

“It’s ...” he began but changed his mind. “Actually it’s really, really bad.” For a split second she looked quite concerned until he continued. “I don’t know how I can bear it if you aren’t able to make me feel better.” She rolled her eyes at him, took hold of his hand and, to his amazement, she raised it to her lips and kissed it. Just as he thought his luck was in though, she abruptly dropped his hand, saying,

“It seems all right to me, come on let’s put the meals out before they get cold.” And taking two plates out of a cupboard, she began to dish out the food.

“Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’ll set the table,” he replied, reaching into the fridge for a bottle of white wine and hoping that it would help her to loosen up.

They sat in the lounge at the dining room table to eat their meal and chatted about past articles they had written, before Stephanie eventually broached the subject of the Carlton story.

“Do you think that we’ll get a telephone call from him?” she said out of the blue.

“Carlton?” He knew exactly who she had meant.

“Hmm.” She was hesitant to bring up the subject again but he had said that they needed to discuss the story and share everything, and they would be working on it again the following day.

“I’m not sure. I’m also not sure if I want him to call or not. If he does, it could be even more risky for us now if he suspects something.”

She sighed and put her fork down. “Look Tom, I suppose that I owe you an apology for today. It wasn’t the wisest of moves on my part.”

“No.” He couldn’t disagree.

“Still, if I could have just...” She watched his expression change and stopped. “Yes well, we’ll just have to see if he phones or not and go from there.”

He nodded and changed the subject. “By the way, I was right to take the risk...about the potatoes,” he added, “you’re not a bad cook Steph.”

She smiled. “Well, I suppose that you’re not bad yourself Tom.”

He wondered if she was referring to his cooking or to himself in general.

They finished the meal, discussing cooking techniques and recipes, and it surprised her that of all subjects they could have talked about, he was interested in that one. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to enjoy spending time in the kitchen, but then how did she know what kind of man he was? She had to admit to herself that she may have had preconceived ideas about him.