And yet, I hated to think of the look on her face when she put two and two together. That was why I didn’t want Nick involved as well. Seeing where a man like him had ended up would be like a window into the future for me. I never wanted to promise a woman more than dating because I didn’t want to risk hurting them, and the ease with which I kept things casual had only proven to me through adulthood that I was cut from the same cloth as my father. But my knowing it was one thing; seeing people’s disappointment was entirely another.
I’d leave it for now. Noelle had her plans and was highly motivated. I supposed I should have been happy too, but mainly I felt frustrated that I’d had to involve her in the first place. And yes, it was annoying that I found her so attractive and she had zero interest in entertaining even flirting between us.
Work was exactly what I needed. It was a place where things ran as they should. The crisp suits, the office banter, the permeating smell of coffee, aftershave and perfume, made me feel like I was back where I belonged. There were no long-lost relatives to uncover, no disappointingly predictable anecdotes to listen to – well none that were relevant to my family heritage. And there was no red-headed time bomb strolling along beside me, ready to start interrogating random strangers and pushing all my buttons.
That wasn’t to say there weren’t other women making my life difficult though.
After the morning meetings, Georgina called me into her office for a chat. Patrick eyed me curiously as I went, and I wasn’t surprised. It was hard to imagine what she wanted to talk to me about that he wouldn’t be involved in.
She shut the door over and motioned to the glass table over in the corner of the office. The windows joined there, creating an amazing panoramic of the surrounding city – but I kept my eyes firmly on the table.
‘How are you getting along Stephen?’ she asked, tucking her skirt under her and slipping onto the chair next to me.
‘I expect that’s really for you and Patrick to judge isn’t it?’
‘No. I’d like to know how you’re feeling. Performance-wise, you won’t be assessed until the accounts are fully in your control. I want to know whether you’ve got everything you need at your disposal. How is Patrick doing, handing over the reins?’ She linked the fingers of her hands together and leaned over them towards me. She was wearing a white cream sleeveless dress with a V-cut at the neckline. I found it a lot easier to keep my gaze from wandering inappropriately with her than I had when I was around Noelle. ‘I’d like to know that you have everything you need.’ She reached out and laid her hand very lightly, very softly on top of my bare forearm for a moment. Brief enough that I didn’t get uncomfortable but long enough that I noticed she’d lingered. Did she do this to everyone?
‘Right, well. Yes. Patrick is being very thorough. I hope I’ll be a good fit to take over from him as I understand his logic. Ideally, I would have liked a face-to-face introduction to the top accounts.’
‘Have you mentioned it to him?’
‘I did the first week.’
‘Well, chase him on that and let me know what he says. If it’s a problem with the client’s availability while Patrick is still here, I can always introduce you myself at a later date.’ She tossed her wavy black hair. ‘On that subject, we’re arranging a bon voyage party for him on his last Friday. I’d like you to come along. Your knightly duties will not prevent you from coming, I take it?’
I searched my mind for what she was referring to and then remembered our conversation when we were leaving on Friday. I gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Of course, I’ll be there. Is it a surprise?’
‘Yes. I’m holding it on my yacht.’ She went over to her desk and plucked a business card from a marble dish and a sleek ballpoint pen, one high heel lifting in the air, as she balanced on one leg to lean over for it. I recalled how Noelle had leaned over the back of her sofa when I arrived yesterday morning to get that character template. How her T-shirt had slid up her thigh…
Georgina was coming back over, but she didn’t return to her seat. She stood beside me, the smell of her perfume encircling my head, and scribbled the details of her yacht’s location on the back of the card, sliding it in front of me, with one finger. ‘I’m there most weekends in the summer. I take it out and watch the sunset over a bottle of champagne. It’s a very relaxing experience.’
‘Sounds idyllic.’
‘I hope to see you there.’
I took the card and slipped it in my pocket with another smile, but I didn’t agree out loud. I’d already said I’d be at the party and I wasn’t entirely sure that was what she was referring to this time.
‘Do let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to discuss,’ she called after me as I returned to my desk outside her office.
‘Everything okay?’ Patrick asked quietly.
‘Yes. She just wanted to know how I felt things were going.’
‘That’s considerate of her.’ He lifted his eyebrows at me in a way that suggested it wasn’t the way she usually operated. I chose not to elaborate, and he changed the subject. ‘I thought I saw you at the weekend. Out jogging.’
‘Oh, you might’ve done. I go out most mornings.’
He explained he’d been going in the opposite direction on Saturday, that he’d started jogging himself only a couple of months ago, and we were so busy talking about it and exchanging our user profiles for Fitbit challenges I didn’t hear the approaching click of heels until Georgina’s hand was on the back of my chair.
‘Have a good lunch, Stephen,’ she all but purred in my ear, ‘perhaps we can schedule in one for ourselves soon.’
There was no time to answer before she was striding over to the lifts. Patrick cleared his throat and diverted his attention back to his phone. Excellent, he probably thought I’d lied to him about what I went into her office now.
Or…was I reading too much into it? Did she just want a normal lunch? Would I even have been questioning this if she was a man? Maybe Noelle’s accusation was close to the truth and I didn’t know any other way to see things than through the lens of sexual attraction. Perhaps I was being utterly sexist and assuming too much about our every interaction just because she was an attractive woman?
‘I don’t know,’ Nick said over the phone to me, after I’d told him what was happening during my lunch break. ‘She does sound like she’s flirting with you. And it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with being flirted with. You’ve got plenty of experience.’
‘Why does everyone keep talking about me as though I’m the office bike?’ I groaned as I walked around the block, no real destination in mind.
