“Are these your figures?” asked Mr Newton, a man that made paint drying seem exciting.
“They are the figures that Sonia and I came up with alongside the original accountant, but after doing a little more research on your company’s figures they were scaled back,” Steph admitted honestly.
Steph saw her phone flash before her and smiled as she saw the message from Jon appear on her screen.
You are scary corporate Steph this morning! I love her and she makes me hard. What I wouldn’t give to lay you across this desk right now darling! Jon x
Her smile broadened as she looked across at him and arched one eyebrow as she turned her phone screen down on the desk.
Ms Downing continuedto debate each point and made several barbed references to Sophie’s input. Steph allowed a couple of comments to go before she put a hand up to signal that she should halt after some inference that Sophie’s appointment was more to do with who she had shagged rather than her work record.
“That is enough, Ms Downing! Miss Marley may have naively allowed your claims to go unchecked, but had you been completely transparent in the first place she would never have offered you the possible deal she did, would she? But you need to stop bitching and look at the deal that is on offer and if you’re not interested then just say and we can all get on with our day can’t we? Oh, and I would have thought that as a young woman in the corporate world you’d seen and experienced the difficulties of working and competing in a man’s world without throwing your contemporaries to the wolves by recycling such misogynistic accusations.”
“Maybe Ms Downing and I could have a twenty minute break and we could confer?” asked Mr Newton seemingly realising that this deal was seriously at risk of being whipped out from beneath them for his colleagues attitude alone.
“Take half an hour, my assistant will be down in a moment to get you anything you need,” said Jon, getting to his feet. “Sonia,will you take Sophie and go through the finer details of the deal? Steph, my office, please.”
Sonia and Sophie left together followed by Jon and Steph and as they approached the lift, Sophie appeared to be listening to whatever Sonia was saying intently. Jon continued walking with a purpose towards his own office, but Steph smiled as she passed them.
“Miss Pryor?” called Sophie, stopping Jon and Steph in their tracks.
“Yes.” Steph turned to face the other woman.
“Thank you, for sticking up for me back there. I think Ms Downing was ready to make me totally culpable,” said Sophie.
“Look Sophie, I know where your culpability in that deal lies, but they lied to you, to us all and you should never have been given the amount of unsupervised freedom you were, so I would never have allowed Ms Downing or anyone else to throw you under the bus. Someone tried to do it to me once and I was lucky enough that there was somebody in my corner who stuck up for me.” Steph smiled warmly, remembering the way Jon had defended her against Jack Baker.
“Well, thanks anyway.” Sophie smiled as the lift arrived.
Following Jon into his office, Steph was surprised when he pinned her against the back of the door as he closed it and kissed her hard, crushing her mouth before coming up for breath.
“You were fucking amazing, darling, although I don’t think you should expect a Christmas card from Ms Downing.” He laughed emphasising the Ms.
“I wouldn’t accept it if she did send me one!” pouted Steph reaching up to run her fingers through his hair making him laugh.
“I do, however think you could be in for a Christmas card from Sophie now.” He grinned, snaking an arm beneath herjacket and into the blouse he had untucked to stroke her bare back.
“Maybe, but I meant what I said to her, she should never have been given so much freedom,” Steph reciprocated, untucking Jon’s shirt from his trousers to stroke his taut stomach muscles.
“And you hold me responsible for that?” Jon stared down at her inquisitively.
“Yes, well, her line manager, but if there is no protocol for that, I suppose it would be you,” she told him making him laugh.
“Are you bollocking me in my own office for the way I run my company?”
“Maybe,” she admitted, making him laugh even louder.
“God I love you when you are bossy, corporate bitch!” He pulled her skirt up, exposing her thighs.
“What are you doing, Mr Brooker?” she asked indignantly.
“Well, as you have gone out of your way to turn me on this morning I thought that maybe we should make up for lost time after your sex ban.” He arched a brow making her laugh, a throaty laugh as she smacked his chest. “I love that you wear such sexy underwear beneath your corporate image and I love that nobody else knows what is underneath your well cut suits,” he told her breathing heavier.
Steph opened her mouth to speak, but a message alert on her phone interrupted her thoughts and Jon’s attempts to seduce her. She freed herself from between him and the door and laughed as she saw the message from Lindsay.
“What?” Jon asked as he tucked his shirt back into his trousers.
“It’s Lindsay, she has found some hot pants for our holiday,” Steph revealed, grinning at Jon’s horrified expression.
