The Lethal Encounter (11 page)

To be honest, he thought to
himself, he had been very glad to see her. The initial shock as a result of
their boardroom meeting yesterday had subsided somewhat – to be replaced by an
oddly comforting feeling of familiarity and he knew he would have to make
contact with her again. So saying, even he was not oblivious to the startling fact
she was an employee at his company - and one several layers below him. Had she
not been, he was sure that their liaison in Cannes would have been eventually
conclusive and undoubtedly mind blowing. But the fact of her position DID make
a difference.....not to him maybe (it would not have been the first time he had
had a fling with a member of staff after all) but definitely to her.

What was it about this girl
that attracted him so? Although she was undoubtedly beautiful, Peter had
enjoyed his share of gorgeous women and, whilst they were physically satisfying
(or not as the case may be), more often than not they had something missing.
Katie was that elusive combination of beauty, sexiness, intelligence and
independence that Peter was finding increasingly interesting, and, seemingly,
hard to find in the other woman who were attracted to him. It was also an
undeniable fact that the social circles in which he moved seemed to produce a
certain type of woman, who now suddenly appeared to him to be hollow and simply
after one thing. Despite the fact that there were many girls who would testify
that this description described Peter rather than themselves, the irony of this
passed Peter by completely.

Yes, he concluded, of course
he wanted to have sex with Katie, but he also wanted to get to know her. He
grinned to himself. What on earth was happening to him?

His, still single, friends
would complain that he was going soft and losing touch with his manhood.....all
that sort of thing. His mother, of course, would be delighted – she was
constantly griping about his dating habits and inability to hold down anything
remotely akin to a long term relationship.

As for him, he was almost
overcome by these feelings and the thought that he might never see her again (well,
not under any romantic circumstances anyway) made him feel rather panicky - a
sensation that he was not totally enamoured with but was prepared to embrace
all the same.

He gazed out of his top floor
windows and picked out the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral on the skyline. The
lights of London speckled and glowed and the reflective hue lit up the clouds
that were scudding across the darkened sky.

Peter sighed. He had enough
on his plate at work at the moment and this constant distraction, a kind of
annoying itch brought on by a chance meeting, was playing havoc with his mind.
He either had to do something about it or move on, and, in all his experience
of women and relationships, he knew it was probably better to move on. He would
ring one of his usual dates and go out with them tomorrow.....have a good
dinner and maybe even some physical release. Only then would he feel he could
get on with his life.

With a decision of sorts
made, he put his glass down on the nearby table and made his way along the
corridor to his bathroom. He switched on the lights and turned on the basin
taps, bending slightly to let the water play over his hands. He undid the
buttons of his shirt and let it drop to the ground before removing his trousers
and underwear. He turned to the shower and flicked it on, knowing that the
automatic temperature control would mix the water to how he liked it best. He
waited a minute before climbing into the cubicle and letting the water play
down on his body. He reached for the shower gel and began soaping his torso.
Before he knew it, the image of Katie had loomed up in his mind and he felt his
cock start to grow. With one hand he gently stroked his growing member and with
the other he massaged his nipples. He could smell her now as he pictured her
getting under the water with him, imagining the feel of her body and he rubbed
his hands over her skin. His cock was fully erect and he felt his stomach
contract with pleasure. His hand moved more quickly up and down his shaft as
his pelvis pushed forward. She was now leaning back slightly, her legs opening
and her hands cupping under her breasts. She leant forward and put her hands
around his neck, jumping up onto him and then sinking back down to impale
herself on his throbbing penis. As he was enveloped in her warm softness, Peter
felt himself start to come and his semen pumped out into the flowing water. He
leant back against the shower wall, his breath coming in quick gasps. For a
moment he could not quite believe what had happened, not only because
masturbating was a relatively rare pastime for him, but that he wished more
than anything that Katie was still there with him, even after his orgasm had
subsided.

He switched off the water and
got out of the shower, grabbing a fresh towel from the rail. He wrapped his
body up and stared at himself in the mirror above the sink. Despite his earlier
decision to move on, this incident made him think yet again.

“Either this has to stop or
you are going to have to do something about it,” he thought to himself
ruefully. His life was just too busy to let something like a woman get in his
way.

The next day, Peter strolled
into the office and called to Nancy to get Sue in sales on the phone. She
nodded and turned to her screen to find the number. As Peter got behind his
desk, the phone rang and Peter picked up the handset.

“Sue, Hi. Peter Jarvis. How
are you?”

“I'm fine thanks. What can I
do for you?” replied Sue, with a slight edge in her voice. Peter, normally
fairly good at picking up cues and tones in other people's voices, did not
notice.

“How's the Logistics France
deal going? I know I came to the initial meeting but I've got something else
going on down there and I thought I could somehow leverage one against the
other.”

“Fine thanks, Peter. Katie,
who I think you met the other day, is heading up the team and she will be going
down there again in the next day or so to finalise the project plan. David is
the technical lead.”

“Great, great. Look I don't
want to tread on anyone's toes but I might go down to Cannes as well to see if
I can make this other thing happen. OK?”

Sue paused. All that idle
gossip about Katie and Peter suddenly took on a truer edge and, despite her
normally cool demeanour, Sue felt a pang of jealousy.

“Well, I'm sure Katie can
handle it but....” she started.

“To be honest Sue, I'm not
asking for your permission. If I go, I go. I was just letting you know - OK?”
Peter's voice rose slightly and he put the receiver down with a bang. He was
behaving ridiculously. It was his company for god's sake and here he was asking
a relatively junior manager permission to do things. He pushed his chair back
and walked out to Janice.

“Book me a flight to Nice for
tomorrow Janice please. I'll stay at the usual place - and let Pierre know I'm coming.” Janice raised her eyebrows and winced. This would mean a lot of
diary changes and excuses to people who may have waited a long time to see her
boss.

“Sure Peter,” she responded
grittily and turned to her task, wondering what had caused the change in
plan. 

Later that day, Peter caught
up with an old friend in one of their favourite watering holes. As they sat and
nursed their drinks, Peter couldn't help but fill his friend in.

“Do you remember that girl at
university? God, what was her name? She was in our economics lectures…..blonde,
long legs. I had a real thing for her and it was not just how she looked. Well,
it’s the same with this girl. There's something about her Dave, not sure what
but she's got under my skin.”

“Did you actually sleep with
her?” responded Dave as he finished his drink. He had known Peter Jarvis for
many years and seen a procession of women come and go. He had a huge admiration
for his friend from a business point of view, but his ability to deal
rationally with intimate relationships was not his strong point.

“No, we were cut short by a
phone call…..hers I might add. We were just getting started and it was going to
be amazing.” Peter responded.

“Well, there you are then. A
clear case of unfinished business. A classic schoolboy error on your part if I
may say so. My advice is to get in there, finish it off and then move on….just
like all the others before.”

“Oh Dave, you're such a
source of inspiration,” replied Peter. “And you're probably right. God, am I
really getting old and pathetic. This mooning about is doing my head in.”

“Trust me Pete. Get it over
with and you'll feel a whole lot better.”

With his friend's words
ringing in his ears, Peter walked back to his apartment. As he climbed the
stairs, he realised that David was probably right. He would make sure he saw
Katie down in Cannes and he would make sure that the so-called business was
concluded.

For his own sake, he needed
to move on with his life.

CHAPTER 8

Katie arrived at the hotel in
Cannes at about 4pm the following day. As usual the sun was shining strongly
and she had to screw up her eyes when she looked out to the sea. She was glad
to be back and knew that a few days away from London would clear her head. She
walked into the lobby and up to Reception.

“Bonjour. Katie McGovern pour
deux nuits.” She said, getting out her credit card from her purse.

“Hello, Miss McGovern,
welcome back,” responded the clerk, annoyingly speaking English to her. How was
she ever going to improve her language skills if no one would speak to her! She
signed the registration form and looked around her.

As she did so, her heart gave
a massive jolt. Coming into the lobby was none other than Peter Jarvis himself.
His confident stride and purposeful air created a tidal wave of activity as he
walked up to the desk. Katie was speechless! What on earth was he doing here?
She didn't know whether to rush into his arms or remain aloof so, predictably,
she did the latter, pretending not to notice him even though her breath was
coming in short gasps and her heart was beating madly in her chest.

“Hi there Katie. I hope you
don't mind me joining you for this trip. Sue said it was OK.”

Sue! She had not mentioned
anything to Katie when they had spoken this morning. Why hadn't she? Did she
really think there was something going on between them? Oh God, this was going
to be a nightmare.

“Hi Peter. No, Sue didn't say
anything. Are you down here on other business?”

“Well, no, not really. I want
to come with you to Logistics France - to see if I can add anything to the
deal. I hope you don't mind.”

“No, not at all.” Katie
responded whilst at the same time minding a lot. In fact, the last thing she
wanted was Peter here as a distraction.....and a distraction he would surely
turn out to be.

“Great. Shall we meet for
dinner then? Say 7.30 here? See you later.” Peter moved off without waiting to
hear a reply and left Katie fuming at the desk.

Later, in her room, she faced
a quandary. She tried to evaluate the situation with a clear head and rational
logic but she knew that she had reached a crossroads in her life and she just
did not know which way to turn.

She could ring Peter and
politely tell him that she did not think it appropriate to go out with him -
but that would be strange. They worked for the same company, would be going to
business meetings together and he was her boss. There was just no logical
reason why she should not go to dinner. It would be obvious that Katie had a
“problem” with him.

On the other hand, she could
go to dinner and remain in control and aloof....keeping all the chatter on a
purely business level. They would eat, talk business, touch on a few personal
details out of politeness, and then say goodnight at the end of the evening.

There was, of course, a third
option but that thought just sent her insides into a spasm of nervousness mixed
with anticipation and desire.

She picked up her phone and
punched Josie's name into the finder. The number flashed up and started to ring
as Katie put the handset up to her ear.