The Lethal Encounter (12 page)

After the fourth ring, Josie
answered.

“Hi Katie, where are you? Are
we still on for tonight?”

Katie realized with a guilty
start that, in all the hurry, she had forgotten to cancel her drink with Josie.

“Oh Josie, I’m really sorry
but I'm in the south of France again. They arranged a sudden meeting and here I
am. We’ll get together as soon as I get back, I promise. Anyway I have a
problem,” replied Katie. “None other than Mr. Peter Jarvis has just walked into
the hotel and asked me out to dinner. What do I do? Help!”

“What do you mean.....what do
I do? This is the man of your dreams.....or certainly your lusts. Go out with
him, have fun and see what happens. What is there to think about?”

“Oh Josie, it’s not that easy.
He's my boss! Worse than that he's my bosses' bosses' boss! People are already
talking and stuff. I could lose my job over this if it got out.”

“Well, you could but you
might have had a lot of fun doing so. Take my advice. Go out with him and run
with the flow. Anyway, you can't exactly say no, can you?” said Josie.

“No, I suppose you are right
there, but what happens if he wants to…..? You know.”

“Well, you're a grown up girl
aren't you? You know how things work? Go for it.”

“OK. OK. I will.” Katie
paused, smiling to herself. “How's life your end anyway?” She knew Josie would
make her feel better and her friend was not disappointing her this time.

“Not bad considering. Like
you I'm on the verge of have a steamy affair with the boss. Hey, maybe we
should all just get together for a happy foursome! Sorry love, I've got to go.
Have fun.”

With that, she was gone and
Katie slowly put the phone down on the bed. Her friend was right. Of course,
she should go tonight and everything would be fine - whatever happened.

Katie thought about the night
ahead and immediately realised that she had nothing suitable to wear. Sure, she
had brought some business suits, but left all her evening stuff behind. She had
assumed she would be either eating on the go or by herself. Oh my god! She
would have to go out and get something. It would be a disaster for her credit
card but at least she would look the part - whatever that may mean.

She grabbed her handbag and
phone and rushed out of the room and along the corridor to the lift. Once
outside the hotel, she took stock of the situation.

Hang on, she said to herself,
I thought you had decided to give this whole adventure a miss? The chances were
high that it would go terribly wrong (although she had no idea now, after all
that had happened, what the criteria were for the events to go “right”) and she
could even lose her job and her self respect over it. In fact, her head told
her coldly, it was pretty much a lose/lose proposition. She should call him and
say she had a headache or something.....and she should do it now to prevent
anymore agonising or a potential hit to her credit card.

But, her heart reasoned with
Josie's words ringing in her ear, she was hugely attracted to Peter Jarvis (she
didn't even try to deny that) and the opportunity to spend the evening with him
excited her greatly. She even allowed herself (purely in the interests of a
balanced argument of course) the luxury of thinking what could happen. Before
she could stop herself she found herself muttering “Mrs. Peter Jarvis” to
herself, but then quickly realised the stupidity of what she was saying.

It was in this state of huge
indecision that she entered her favourite shop on the Rue d'Antibes. She
wandered over to the dresses and, in a slight dream, found herself selecting
several to try on, even though her mind was still churning with doubt. She
attracted the attention of a sales assistant who took her over to one of the
changing rooms, gently removing the clothes from her slightly sweaty hands and
hanging them up on the row of hooks on the wall.

Katie ensured that the door
to the cubicle was closed before slipping off her skirt and blouse. She tried
on the blue dress to begin with and, after straightening it, looked up to the
mirror to see the effect.

A disconcerted and slightly
red faced image stared back at her. God, what a mess, she thought as her hands
went up to her head to straighten her hair. She tightened the belt around the
dress and tried to be critical about her appearance. Not bad, but could be
bettered.

The second dress was far too
tent-like for her but the third garment was, in her view, pretty perfect. The
colour matched her eyes and the gentle V revealed a hint of cleavage, dropping
to simply follow the contours of her hips and thighs. This was perfect.....and
it would go fine with one of the pairs of shoes she had with her. With a final
look in the mirror, she slipped the dress off and put her own clothes back on,
before making her way out into the shop to pay. Such was her dreamlike state,
it was only after she had inserted her credit card into the machine that she
saw the price. She paused as she was about to enter her PIN, not even sure that
her credit limit would stand such a charge. Nonetheless she pushed the buttons
and waited for what seemed like an age for the approved sign to come up.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she handed the console back to the assistant who
smiled sympathetically before folding the dress up and putting it in a bag that
she had pulled from beneath the counter.

Walking back to her hotel,
her brain was still mulling over the options but her actions seemed to
demonstrate that the matter was now out of the hands of the head and most
definitely into those of the heart. Anyway, after spending so much money, it
would be positively gut wrenching not to go out and enjoy the
evening…..whatever the outcome.

With this thought in mind,
she turned into the hotel and, feeling the warm breeze of the Mediterranean on
her neck and legs, she returned to her room.

At 7.15, Katie had already
had a long shower and had then moisturised her body all over. Her stomach was
full of butterflies and she felt as nervous as she had been on her first date
way back when she was sixteen. His name had been Jamie Fisher and she had an
almighty crush on him, not that it had developed into anything serious. She
combed through her hair slowly before carefully applying some make up. She did
not want to appear too glammed up but she knew exactly how to accentuate what
she thought was her best features. After drying her hair on the slightly
laborious dryer supplied with the room she tossed her head forward and back
before gazing critically in the mirror.

Her eyes shined bright back
at her and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

Not bad even if I say so
myself, she thought as she slipped off the bathrobe and put on a fresh set of
underwear. She then retrieved the bag and put her new purchase on. She was
pleased with the result. Slightly demure, but with a hidden hint of
mischievousness that she felt set exactly the right tone.

With a last fluff of her
hair, she picked up her hand bag, stepped into her shoes, collected the key
card and left the room. It was time to go!

CHAPTER 9

Walking out of the lift into
the reception area, Katie immediately spotted Peter. He was dressed casually in
a white linen shirt, jeans and a dark blue jacket and his hair was slightly
mussed, something he seemed aware of judging by the number of times he pushed
his hands through it. To her dismay, he was talking to a stunning blonde woman
dressed in a tight cocktail dress that accentuated her rock hard body. As Katie
approached, they kissed cheek to cheek and the girl sauntered off seductively
(although that's what it seemed like to Katie).

At that moment, Peter spotted
her and a genuine smile beamed out. He turned toward her and held out his hand.
Not sure whether it was the right etiquette to kiss her boss, she opted for a
lingering handshake and a gaze into his eyes.

“Katie, hi. I'm so glad we
could do this. Do you have a favourite place to eat? Or are you not bothered?”

Katie smiled.

“Well, I love the restaurant
I was at the other night actually. I don't think I really made the most of it,”
she added with a little smile. Their eyes locked for a split second.

“Great, let’s go shall
we.....or would you like a drink first?” said Peter, taking her arm and leading
her gently towards the entrance.

“No, let’s go straight to the
restaurant, we can have a drink there.”

As they left the hotel and
went out into the still warm sunshine, Katie could not help but feel great.
Despite her agonizing, the thought of a good night out with someone for whom
she felt a genuine warmth thrilled her to the core, and she realised that any
doubts that may be lingering were slowly slipping away.

As they walked, together but
apart, Peter talked about childhood holidays in the south of France. His parents had not been wealthy, but they had inherited a small villa in the
foothills towards Grasse and they had come down as a family (with his older
sister) at least once a year. He talked animatedly about these visits and
marvelled at the changes the town of Cannes had undergone in the last twenty
five years. Katie could not believe how similar his childhood had been to hers
and she said as much as they relived holiday memories with each other.

They reached the restaurant
and descended down the stairs that Katie had walked but a few days ago. So much
had happened (or so little depending on how you looked at it) in those days, it
felt like a different world to Katie. The Maitre D’ welcomed them warmly, and
Katie wondered if he was used to seeing Peter arrive with different women on
his arm. She shrugged off these insecure feelings and followed Peter to the
table.

“Do you know what I thought
when I first saw you in here the other night?” Peter suddenly asked as they sat
down.

Katie was taken aback by the
question – not only for its directness but by its obvious intimacy, unless he
was about to ask her a work question which didn't seem likely. She stared at
him but could only see genuineness in his face.

“I couldn't possibly say,”
she answered diplomatically. Peter stared back at her and Katie could feel her
stomach do a flip. How annoying was that? She thought. Why had this man got
such a hold over her?

At that moment, the waiter
arrived with a bottle of champagne and an ice bucket and the immediate spell
was broken. Peter turned to the man, thanked him and then watched the cork
being skilfully removed and the drink poured. The silence was broken by the hum
of the background voices and the soft sound of the waves lapping gently onto
the beach.

“You were saying?” Katie said
gently.

“What? Oh yes. Anyway, what's
on the agenda for your meeting tomorrow? I'm seeing the managing director for
lunch but I want to try and add some value if I can.” Peter responded.

Katie was a bit taken aback
by the sudden reversal back into work mode. The last thing she wanted to be
reminded of was the fact that this trip really was for work and actually she
was only having dinner with the boss of her company.

“Well, I'm due to meet the
project team at ten and we're going to run through all the implementation
timelines and resource allocations. David will be joining us, but he couldn't
make it tonight.”

“OK, well I'll sit in and see
if I can add anything. I'm sure you've got it all wrapped up though.” Peter
said and he handed her a glass full of bubbling liquid.

“Cheers. Here's to a
successful deal”

“Cheers,” replied Katie. She
was disappointed and wanted to steer the conversation back to the intimacy of
the earlier walk to the restaurant.

“Shall I tell you what I
thought when I first saw you?” she said.

Peter paused and replied.

“That would be interesting.”

“God.” Katie said.

“God, what?”

“No, no what, just God,” said
Katie and then burst out laughing. Peter smiled back and the two clinked
glasses again.