“Don’t be so pedantic. It’s an office, that’s all. I will see you at half past ten.” Jon hung up, leaving Steph staring down at the receiver.
“And goodbye to you too!” She sighed before returning to her emails.
It was justafter quarter past ten when she received a call to say that her visitors had arrived. She asked for them to bedirected to the lift to her floor where she would wait for them. She had just reached the bank of lifts when one of them arrived containing Jon.
“Miss Pryor, how lovely to see you again.” He grinned.
“Mr Brooker.”
“How is your head now?” He looked down at her intensely.
“Fine, thank you, but I expect no sympathy for my self-inflicted ailments.”
“Then you will not be disappointed,” he said, still smiling.
“I rarely am with you.” She smiled back thinking she was incapable of not being happy around him.
“Rarely?” he asked sounding affronted.
“I didn’t mean for that to sound quite as it did, sorry.” She could feel that she was about to ramble.
“Your skirt is very tight across your arse!” he said bluntly.
“You don’t like it?” she asked unable to fathom what was going on in his eyes and behind them in his mind.
“Your arse? I certainly do like it.” He grinned again. “I’m its number one fan. You need to walk in front of me today,” he told her.
“You are most unprofessional, Mr Brooker!” she chastised him.
“You wait til lunch if you think this is unprofessional,” he said darkly.
“Your tie is crooked,” she stammered as she resisted the temptation to stretch up and straighten it for him.
He opened his mouth to speak when one of the other lifts opened to reveal Sonia and three suited men who looked at Steph as one asked, “Miss Pryor?”
Steph nodded and extended her hand to each of the men in turn who introduced themselves as Peter Robertson, Jonah Mason and Gordon Alexander from the Richards retail group. She then introduced them to Jon and Sonia before leading themacross the accounts department and into the office she was struggling to call her own.
They all sat around her desk with the exception of Jon who remained standing as Steph’s temporary assistant appeared.
“Can I get you all some tea or coffee?” asked Rosie, making Steph grin broadly to be reunited with her former assistant, albeit temporarily.
“A pot of each and five cups, please.”
“Five cups?” asked Peter Robinson.
“Yes, Mr Brooker isn’t staying for the meeting,” Steph said bluntly making Jon smile.
“Alas, no, I have other plans today, but Miss Pryor is more than capable of answering any questions you have,” Jon assured them.
“But the deal . . .” began Jonah.
“The deal is for you to sell to Miss Pryor and Ms Hansen, not me. Miss Pryor will undoubtedly ask some awkward questions, but if you can convince her that your company is worth investing in and she is happy with the figures, then the deal is on. She is the one you need to impress, not me,” Jon said to the three gentlemen before turning to Steph. “One o’clock in my office please Miss Pryor, and Andrea will arrange lunch.”
Steph nodded. “Of course, Mr Brooker.”
“Oh and thanks for dropping everything this morning, Sonia,” he said as he looked at the other woman before turning to leave.
“So, gentlemen, why don’t you tell me what the deal is you are offering and then we can renegotiate it,” said Steph as Rosie reappeared with the tea and coffee.
