Page 15 of About Last Night
Bloody Jez. He’d probably kept her in the dark deliberately to back-foot her.
Claire dropped her smile and nodded in agreement. ‘That’s our illustrious leader for you; not exactly a great disseminator of information.’
‘Except when he’s being “wronged”; then you can’t shut the man up,’ Lula stated, not even trying to hide her bitterness.
Claire knew all about Jez and his philandering, manipulative ways and she’d been working on the broadcast assistant’s desk when he’d come in and told Lula he was giving her show to Darla.
‘Good luck in your meeting,’ Claire said, resting a hand gently on Lula’s shoulder and giving her a supportive smile.
Lula got the impression a lot of the staff members were on her side, even if most of them hadn’t said anything directly to her for fear of word getting back to Jez and losing their jobs too, but the thought gave her a tiny surge of courage.
‘Hey, perhaps this guy will give Jez the old heave-ho and step into the breach himself?’ Claire added, gazing longingly at the closed conference room door. ‘I have to say, despite the crankiness, I wouldn’t mind him sticking around here for a bit. Total eye candy.’ She wiggled her eyebrows, gave Lula one last smile, then turned and walked off to deliver the food to the man in question.
Lula sighed and rubbed at the corners of her temple where the pain had concentrated. Great. Now she was facing asex godboss with a bacon sandwich. Could things get any worse?
Tristan wasn’t exactly at his best and brightest.
After tossing and turning for hours, he’d woken early that morning, his head spinning with dreams about Tallulah, and even pounding away on the running machine in the hotel gym hadn’t relieved any of the frustration that still clung to him.
He’d arrived at the radio station at eight thirty, eager to get this mess wrapped up and back to some real work, expecting to catch up with Jez straight after he’d finished presenting his Breakfast Show.
Apparently, Jez had had other ideas though, leaving word with the receptionist that he had another meeting to attend before he could see Tristan.
It had not improved Tristan’s temper. The guy knew how to take liberties, that was for sure.
To pass the time before his meeting with Tallulah, he’d looked round the station and chatted to some of the staff – who seemed friendly and happy with how Jez ran things there – and was now stationed in the migraine-inducing canary-yellow conference room, attempting to answer some emails before she turned up.
He was barely able to concentrate on what he was doing as flashes of the night before kept interrupting his thoughts. Every time he remembered something else she’d said or done to entice him to sleep with her, his frustration levels rose another notch.
She’d totally played him.
Abandoning his emails, he stood up and paced around the room, glancing out of the window to stare blankly towards the thronging streets of Covent Garden below.
The most infuriating thing was that he’d genuinely liked her.
A lot.
Recalling how she’d made him laugh last night gave him ahollow ache in his chest, followed swiftly by a low sensual pull deep in his pelvis as his thoughts moved onto how she’d pushed him against the wall and run her tongue all over him, her cool hands stroking him to fever pitch…
Damn it. He really needed to stop thinking about her in that way. He was supposed to be conducting a serious interview with her in a minute and he needed to keep things professional.
For the sake of his pride, if nothing else.
He ran a hand carefully over his hair, smoothing a few rogue strands back into place, then sat back in his chair, stretching out his tense back and shoulders. He wasn’t going to let her get to him again with those pseudo-innocent eyes and soft pouty lips. Or the sweet intoxicating way she smelled. Or the way she moved that spectacular body of hers…
His thoughts were interrupted by one of the staff members bringing in the breakfast he’d requested and placing it reverentially onto the table in front of him.
He smiled at her. ‘Thanks.’
Her cautious nod and tentative returning smile made him frown as he watched her leave the room. Perhaps he’d been a bit fierce with them all this morning? He wasn’t exactly in the best mood to meet new people. Or maybe they were worried about their own positions here. After all, it looked as though it had been a while since anyone had audited the station – Jez had been pretty much left to his own devices – and, in his experience, the staff didn’t like it when new people were introduced to the equation. It usually meant change.
He’d take a look at the accounts as well while he was here, so he could satisfy himself he’d done a thorough job. He hated leaving loose ends.
Looking down at the food he’d ordered, he realised he wasn’tactually hungry any more. Pushing it to one side, he checked the time on his phone.
Right on cue, there was a knock on the door and it opened slowly to reveal the woman he’d not stopped thinking about since she’d walked out of his hotel room a few hours earlier.
Tallulah’s face was pale in contrast to the dark circles around her eyes and her hair was pulled back into a severe twist, perversely making her seem younger and more vulnerable than the woman he remembered.
