She turned away as she felt the increasingly familiar sensations and flutterings that were the consequence to his wink. “If you’re all done, I will meet you in the foyer downstairs and take you home.”
“I am just going for a tour of the department and then I will be done for today.” Rosie’s obvious excitement really was contagious if Steph’s own was anything to go by. Then, after Steph heard another voice in the background she added, “About another half an hour if that’s okay?”
“Yeah, fine, I’ll see you downstairs in half an hour then.” Steph, hung up and was heading back towards Jon.
“I could occupy you for half an hour if you’re at a loose end.” He was already pulling her across his lap and she had zero objections to whatever he had planned.
“I thought you were very busy.” Steph smirked, making no attempt to move from the position she was currently occupying.
“I am and for now it’s your brain I’m after.”
Her mouth that had been smiling turned into a slight pout that made Jon chuckle.
Opening some files on his computer, Jon began to explain, “I have the quarterly figures coming in and it was my plan to go through them and then send them off to Dave for him to give them the once over before we all met up to discuss them next week. Now, I would still like to do that, but as you will no longer have a base here my idea was that you could work on a temporary contract here for a couple of weeks and go through all the quarterly figures and meet next week to discuss our findings. Then, if I am not a complete nightmare as a boss, maybe we could extend the arrangement. What do you say?” he asked as he began to twirl her hair around his finger.
She said nothing for a few seconds.
Jon spoke again, “It’s a good idea, isn’t it? You really want to say yes, don’t you?” He laughed as he pulled her head backgently by her hair that was still wrapped around his fingers until she was looking up at him and as he smiled down at her she smiled back at him.
“I hate you.” She still smiled.
“Is that a yes?” Another wink followed his question, as did the sensations and flutterings she’d felt earlier.
She turned around so that she was straddling his lap. “Only on a temporary basis,” she insisted.
“Whatever you say, darling.” He grinned, pulling her mouth to his until they both jumped as the intercom on his desk rang.
He stretched around her and hit the button to answer, “Yes, Andrea?”
“Sorry to disturb you, Mr Brooker, but Jack Baker is calling again and he is most insistent that he needs to speak to you about Miss Pryor.” The other woman sounded awkward knowing that Steph was in the office with Jon.
“Then put him through!”
Steph turned around again so that she was sitting across his lap now with a frown as Jon wrapped one arm around her waist and held her gently.
“Showtime, darling,” he told her as his call was connected.
Twenty-Two
“Jack, sorry to have kept you waiting, but I’ve had a rather hectic morning, so what can I do for you?” Jon asked calmly.
“I wanted to discuss our contract, specifically the clause that gives you the services of Miss Pryor,” started Jack.
“Go on.”
“Well, we have had to let Miss Pryor go.” Jack’s shameless lies left Steph staring at Jon open mouthed.
He put a finger across her lips. “I see, well, I don’t, but maybe you could explain.”
There was a long pause before Jack spoke. Steph heard his breath falter several times, each time making her more and more inclined to swear at her former boss at the other end of the telephone line. Jon, sensing her angst, rubbed his hand in circular movements across her back, calming and soothing Steph, allowing Jack to speak, oblivious to Steph’s presence.
“It would be wrong of me to discuss the exact details with you, with anyone, especially as you have mutual friends, but there were a few indiscretions we uncovered and we had no choice but to let her go,” he explained, sounding truly sincere.
“I appreciate that Jack and although we do have mutual friends I wouldn’t allow that to cloud my judgement. Business is just that and shouldn’t be played with or jeopardised,” Jon told him.
His words caused a small smile to pull at Steph’s lips as she thought that was her lover’s way of telling her former boss that he had done exactly that by switching her with Martin.
Without waiting for comment, Jon continued, “She was a real asset though, but I’m not sure we’ll need that kind of support from you any longer as Miss Pryor was very thorough in her original dealings with my people.”
