‘‘You’re not kidding!’’

  I’d been avoiding anything to do with the media ever since the incident at the studio. I hadn’t seen a newspaper since Jackson had held up the one showing the pictures of my accident there. It appeared I had been causing a much bigger stir than I had realised. In an elaborate hoax my drawer had been filled with newspaper clippings, the biggest two being the one I had already seen of my fall from grace and one that I hadn’t known existed. Another double page spread which had been folded in half to fit in the drawer. As I pulled it out and apart to look at, a pile of condoms that had been tucked inside fell out landing all over the floor and desk, there were two large pictures, one of me being carried over Mitchel’s shoulder as we had left Chic and one of my being cradled in his arms as he had walked me to the waiting car the previous evening. The headline read Action Hero or Hero getting action?

  ‘‘What the…’’

  I was cut off as my colleagues all stood clapping and cheering. Even Jeremy who wasn’t known for his sense of humour had come out of his office and was leaning against the doorjamb smiling. I started laughing but when I cast a look to Mitchel, he had such a look of disgust on his face I stopped abruptly. He grabbed a handful of the condoms and leapt to his feet. ‘‘IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE?’’ He yelled so angrily the whole room fell silent; Jeremy looked like he had soiled himself.

  ‘‘Mitch,’’ I put a hand on his arm but he shook it off raising a fist full of condoms in the air.

  ‘‘Wrong size! These are nowhere near large enough,’’ he laughed showering them like confetti over as many people as possible. Relief filled the air when everyone realised he had been teasing and hadn’t really been offended at all. Laughter filled the air and somehow within seconds Mitchel was suddenly transformed from an unapproachable enigma to everyone’s best friend. He schmoozed the whole team shaking hands, taking selfies and signing autographs for the next hour, while I checked my e-mails and sorted through my mail.

  Finally, Jeremy tried to restore some kind of order by reminding people that they still had a job to do and reluctantly people returned to their desks. Mitchel came back to join me. My chair was on casters and he wheeled me out from behind the desk, pushing me to one side so he could roll his own chair into the prime position in front of the computer.

  ‘‘Hey, what do you think you are doing?’’ I asked annoyed.

  ‘‘When I assume a role, I have to completely immerse myself into it.’’ He was grinning.

  ‘‘Is that what we are going to do now? Role play?’’ As soon as they hit the atmosphere, I knew I had used a poorly chosen set of words.

  ‘‘Mm, interesting,’’ Mitchel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before leaning in and purring sexily in my ear. ‘‘What could we role play? When acting we are always taught to keep as close to the truth as possible, makes it more believable if it’s real. I suggest we find you some specs, to help you adopt the persona of this super sexy supervisor who is reluctantly having to train an unbelievably handsome new entrant.” He paused to smirk at me, I frowned at him as he maneuvered himself back to continue whispering in my ear. ‘He frustrates you as he keeps getting things wrong, your blood starts to boil and you have to open the top few buttons of your blouse to try and cool yourself down, you lean across the desk to grab a pencil, accidently brushing against him as you do so, you notice he has a package in his lap, a very large package, you lean back rubbing the end of the pencil across your plump, moist lips whilst sliding the glasses you are wearing slowly down your nose to look over the top of them and straight at him, as you ask to see what’s inside. He’s nervous and shy,’’ I snort derisively, ‘‘you open the drawer to grab a notepad and instead find it stuffed full of condoms, what do you do?’’

  ‘‘I stab him with the pencil and kill him!’’ I say bluntly.

  ‘‘At least he’d go with a smile on his face.’’

  ‘‘Not if she stabbed him in the carotid artery and he bled out all over the desk!’’ I expostulated, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. ‘‘I need a coffee!’’

  ‘‘Your wish is my command!’’ he chuckled.

  Mitchel rolled his chair back and stood before working his way around the whole room asking if anyone wanted a drink and what they would like, he finished at Mike’s desk which was the one by the window he had been admiring earlier, before going on his mobile. Twenty minutes later an array of drinks, pastries and cakes were delivered by a convoy of three staff from the nearest coffee shop. Mitchel sat on the corner of Mike’s desk drinking coffee and chatting until I watched them shake hands and they both headed in my direction.

  ‘‘You could have made the coffee? You didn’t have to order it in.’’ I pointed to the refreshment station in the far corner of the room.

  Mitchel and Mike looked at each other as if it was the maddest concept they had ever heard.

  ‘‘Mike has something he would like to ask you?’’ Mitchel smirked.

  ‘‘I just wanted to know if you would like to switch desks with me?’’

  I looked at Mike as if he had just grown two heads. ‘‘Why?’’

  ‘‘I just think I would really like it over here, it’s…’’ He struggled to find the right word, ‘‘cosy!’’

  ‘‘Bull! What’s going on?’’ I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes as I looked at him.

  ‘‘Nothing,’’ he shrugged his shoulders.

  I looked from Mike to Mitchel, who was expressionless, just observing a regular chat between two colleagues.

  ‘‘No, it’s fine, I’ll stay where I am.’’

  ‘‘Please,’’ Mike sounded sincere.

  ‘‘You can’t possibly want to switch.’’ I tried to get back to my computer and continue with my work.

  ‘‘I do, really,’’ Mike touched my arm affectionately.

  ‘‘No!’’ I wasn’t buying it.

  ‘‘Please,’’ Mike was imploring me, ‘‘I really want to switch.’’

  ‘‘Really?’

  ‘‘Really!’’ He sounded so sincere.

  ‘‘OK, fine!’’ No sooner than the words had escaped my lips, Mitchel and Mike sprang into action, switching out drawers and equipment. Jeremy came to his open office door and raised his hands in bewilderment before deciding not to get involved and sitting back at his desk. Within ten minutes Mike and I were settling into our new spaces. Mike looked genuinely happy.

  ‘‘What did you offer him,’’ I said to Mitchel witheringly when we were alone.

  ‘‘I don’t know what you mean,’’ Mitchel was nonchalant and continued tidying my new desk. ‘‘What time do we finish?’’

  ‘‘Finish? I don’t feel like I’ve even started. We’ve only been here a couple of hours total and it’s been one of the longest working days of my life!’’

  ‘‘You’ll miss me when I’ve gone!’’

  ‘‘Yeah,’’ I admitted softly. ‘‘I will!’’

  We smiled at each other.

  ‘‘We’ve got another half hour,’’ I advised him, ‘‘why don’t you go call Jeremy’s daughter while I take some calls?’’

  ‘‘I can’t, when I asked him if he wanted a coffee Jez gave me her number but said she wouldn’t be home until after seven tonight, can’t I listen in on some calls? Show me what you do I’m interested.’’

  ‘‘Jez?’’ I raised my eyes at his familiarity. ‘‘Do you promise not to interfere or try to strangle yourself with a headset?’’

  Mitchel raised his right hand putting his left over his heart. ‘‘I do!’’

  I connected a second headset to my phone, Mitchel and I both geared up. I pointed to my computer screen to explain what was about to happen.

  ‘‘Ok, in a minute I’m going to change this icon...’’ Using my mouse, I hovered my cursor over my screen and specifically a little red dot with the word busy aside it. ‘‘…to green and it will say available. We then get a customer assigned, their profile will appear on screen telling us some personal details, name, address, date of birth etc, as well as how long they have been a client and what sort of policy they have.’’ I gestured to the phone, “we then connect the call using this button, find out what they need and when we are done disconnect using this button here.’’

  ‘‘Can I press your buttons?’’ Mitchel asked cheekily.

  ‘‘Fine.’’ I sighed despondently. ‘‘Ready?’’

  Mitchel kissed me on my temple. ‘‘Always!’’

  I flicked the electronic switch to show we were now able to take a call and a profile appeared on the screen.

  ‘‘Go,’’ I said to Mitchel, expecting him to press the button to connect us.

  There was such a long delay we lost the customer.

  ‘‘Why didn’t you accept the call?’’ I looked at him confused.

  ‘‘I wasn’t ready.’’

  ‘‘What do you mean, it’s not like you have to say anything?’’

  ‘‘I was reading her details, I was only half way down the page.’’

  I laughed, ‘‘you have to be quicker than that!’’

  ‘‘I like to take things slow, when it matters!’’ He had that mischievous glint in his eye.

  ‘‘For heaven’s sake, do you ever let up?’’ I rolled my eyes at him.

  ‘‘You do that a lot.’’

  ‘‘What?’’

  ‘‘Roll your eyes at me!’’

  ‘‘I wonder why!’’

  Mitchel chuckled and another profile hit the computer screen. Mitchel’s hand was hovering over the button on the telephone. I pressed my finger on top of his forcing him to connect the call.

  I introduced myself with the name of the company, my name and had to give the disclaimer that the call was being listened to although I didn’t say why or who was listening. I addressed the customer by her name and built her trust by confirming how long she had held her policy and the type of cover she had, I finished by asking how I could help. Mitchel raised his eyebrows and nodded at the efficiency of the spiel.

  ‘‘I was phoning to ask if I can claim for my television, it got knocked over and the screen has smashed.’’ The caller sounded confident as she spoke, Mitchel and I could hear raucous children laughing in the background.

  Before I could speak Mitchel interjected. ‘‘Do you watch a lot of movies?’’

  I spun sharply to glare at him.

  ‘‘Um…a few?’’ Our customer sounded confused.

  ‘‘Who is your favourite actor?’’ Mitchel asked coolly.

  ‘‘Um…Bradley…’’

  Mitchel cut the call with a flourish before the customer could finish her sentence.

  ‘‘What the hell!’’ I yelled.

  ‘‘If she lied about her favourite actor, she would lie about her claim, probably just trying to upgrade from a 40 inch to a 70. Just saying.’’

  ‘‘Mitch,’’ I tried not to laugh but sometimes he made it near impossible.

  Another call came in.

  ‘‘Behave yourself!’’ I warned.

  Mitchel accepted the call and before I could open my mouth, he started reeling off the whole introduction speech, verbatim, just amending my name for his own and the client’s personal details to reflect what was being shown on the screen. I was so impressed he had picked it up after only listening to it once, I couldn’t help but give him an impressed nod of approval.

  ‘‘Um… Did you say, Mitchel Dalton?’’ The young lady was obviously shaken.

  ‘‘I did,’’ Mitchel upped the ante with his sexy drawl.

  ‘‘THE, Mitchel Dalton.’’

  ‘‘The one and only!’’

  There was a sigh, a crash and we heard someone shout, ‘‘quick, Emily’s fainted!’’

  I disconnected the call.

  I changed the little electronic icon on the screen from available to busy. ‘‘Do you know what? I think maybe we should wrap up and go home.’’

  ‘‘Great,’’ Mitchel stood, once again forgetting about the connecting wire on his head set which was jerked off his head with such force, it flew across the desk knocking over his coffee cup. I scrambled to pick it up before realising it was empty.

  ‘‘Thanks for your help,’’ I laughed at the incredulous expression he was wearing. ‘‘Let’s go home, before you undo all your hard work from this morning and I really do get fired.’’

  ‘‘I like the way you said that.’’

  ‘‘What?’’

  ‘‘Home!’’

  His words echoed those that Jackson had once spoken and for the first time since lunch I started to wonder where he was and more importantly who he was with.

  Twenty-Four

  It took us over an hour to get out of the building, I had to give it to Mitchel he certainly knew how to work a crowd. I loved the way he made everyone feel important, maintaining eye contact and really listening to what they had to say. Most Fridays after work, the whole team would go and have drinks at a little bar down the road to unwind, everyone was aware Mitchel was flying home the following day so tried to eagerly persuade him and I to go for drinks with them that Wednesday night instead, everyone was clearly hoping that they could marvel in his charismatic presence a little longer. In another life, I’m sure he would have gone and been the life and soul of the party, instead he had to lie and say we had dinner plans just to be able to get out of the building. He said something to his security as we left, then once we were in his waiting car, his detail jumped in their own vehicle and peeled off in a different direction.

  We went back to his apartment and flopped on the sofa with a couple of glasses of wine.

  ‘‘Thanks for today.’’ I looked at him remembering how panicked I had been that morning, ‘‘It was an interesting day but it was fun.’’

  ‘‘Yeah, we did have fun, didn’t we?’’ He looked pleased with himself. ‘‘Good job it was me and not Jack that took you.’’

  ‘‘Why?’’

  ‘‘He’s not that good an actor, probably would have just threatened your boss instead of trying to win him over peacefully. He wouldn’t have answered your calls and tidied your desk like I did either, that’s if he even let you out the door to go in the first place.’’ He mused jokingly.

  ‘‘Hmm, win him over peacefully,’’ I reflected, ‘‘is that what you were doing when you nearly took his head off with that kick?’’

  We clinked our glasses and both burst out laughing.

  ‘‘What’s the plan now?’’ I asked, ‘‘I need to pack my stuff up but then Jackson was supposed to take me home.’’

  ‘‘Have you spoken to him?’’

  ‘‘Not really, he called me then hung up on me, that pissed me off so when he called back and shouted at me, I hung up on him. He tried a couple more times after that but I was still annoyed so let the calls go to voicemail. I haven’t listened to the messages yet. Have you spoken to him?’’

  ‘‘Yeah, a couple of times. You were annoyed because you were told he had gone to see Mel, weren’t you?’’ Mitchel guessed correctly.

  ‘‘When did you speak to him?’’ I racked my brain trying to think when we hadn’t been together.

  ‘‘When you ran off, when you went to the bathroom at lunch and when you were checking your e-mails at work.’’

  ‘‘Oh,’’ I knew about the first call as Jackson had informed me when we had spoken. The other two came as a shock.

  ‘‘He was with Mel, but not in the way you’re imagining.’’

  ‘‘What were they doing then?’’ I looked at him intrigued.

  He patted my knee, ‘‘Call him.’’ I’m going to jump in the shower and change. He smirked, ‘Oh, let him know he needs a new pair of sunglasses!’

  ‘‘You didn’t?’’ I said remembering the expensive pair Mitchel had given my boss.

  Mitchel laughed and started to strip as he headed towards the bathroom.

  I got my mobile out of my bag. I didn’t know whether to just dive right in and call Jackson or to listen to the messages he had left me first. In the end I decided forewarned was forearmed and went to the messages first. There were three. I pressed one on my handset to listen to the first message, even though he was furious it didn’t stop my heart doing a little leap when I heard his voice.

  ‘‘JAIME, WHAT THE FUCK! DID YOU JUST HANG UP ON ME? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? CALL ME BACK NOW!’’

  Prick!

  I’m not sure why, but I saved the message instead of deleting it before moving on to the next one, his voice was calmer but I could tell he was still annoyed.

  ‘‘Hi it’s me, Mitch text, said he found you, why’d you run off? Call me.’’

  The last message his voice was softer still, laced more with concern than anger.

  ‘‘Baby, call me, I know you’re mad, just, call me… please!’’

  I saved both of those messages too.

  I blew out a breath and dialled his number, he answered after one ring.

  ‘‘Hi,’’ I said staunchly.

  ‘‘You’re still mad.’’ Hs sounded wary.

  ‘‘You hung up on me!’’ I was brusque.

  ‘‘You hung up on me too.’’ His voice was soft.

  ‘‘If you hadn’t hung up on me, then shouted at me, I wouldn’t have hung up on you! Although if I had known at the time you had left me in bed to rush off and see Melanie Freeman…’’ I spat the name, ‘‘you wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to hang up on me because I wouldn’t have answered in the first place.’’

  ‘‘I promise you, it’s not what you think,’’ he tried to deflect the conversation, ‘‘how was work?’’

  ‘‘Don’t try and change the subject, where were you?’’ I was trying to stay mad but it was hard since he sounded so deflated.

  ‘‘Mel and I, we had a meeting, but we weren’t alone there was another person with us.’’

  ‘‘All the time?’’

  ‘‘Well no, not all the time.’’

  There was a long pause while I waited for Jackson to fill in the blanks, he didn’t so I spoke again.

  ‘‘Where are you now?’’

 

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