A Sticky Situation (Xcite Romance) (4 page)

BOOK: A Sticky Situation (Xcite Romance)
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‘Thought not. Read them. All will become clear on the work front.’

‘Is it true about Graham leaving then?’ Sally felt a wave of sadness at the prospect of losing her much loved boss.

‘Read the email, Sal!’ Carol laughed kindly. ‘Then go and find Cameron and talk to him.’

‘But what shall I say?’

‘No idea.’

‘Oh thanks, Carol, some help you are.’

‘What are friends for!’

Chapter Seven

SHE HAD TO FIND Cameron.

Sally consulted her watch for the third time in a minute. Where the hell was he? There were only ten minutes left until they had to be back at work, and she really wanted to talk to him before then.

He wasn’t at the stand, there was no sign of him in the bar, and a glance towards Reception told her that Cameron wasn’t there either. Wishing she’d taken the time to find out which room he was in, Sally watched as the other trade stand staff began to lay out clean glasses, fresh leaflets and pens on their respective tables. Something she really should have been doing herself.

Doubling back to the foyer, Sally hung about by the lifts, hoping they’d open and Cameron would walk out. She did not want to have to say what had to be said with an audience; especially as that audience might include David. Plus, if she waited much longer she’d lose her bottle; every nerve in her felt like it was about to snap already.

There had been two emails from Graham, hidden amongst a myriad of messages she’d hoped to avoid until the following week. One was an announcement to the whole department that Graham was retiring at the end of that month. The second was from Graham to her personally and, as Carol had predicted, it explained a great deal.

Reading fast, scanning through the paragraphs, she learnt that Graham was speeding forward his retirement so he could go and see his daughter in Australia now she was pregnant. Thus, Cameron would be stepping into his shoes considerably sooner than he’d anticipated. Sally read out loud to herself, imagining the trusting look on her boss’s face as she did so. ‘I know Cam is in good hands with you, Sally. I know you won’t disappoint him, me, or Zelcon.’ A small stab of guilt hit Sally firmly in the stomach. Somehow, she felt she had done exactly that. Every time she thought about the previous night a frisson of confused lust raced through her; now it was joined by the fear that she’d let Graham down. What if I’ve messed everything up for him? What if Cameron and I can’t work together any more and Graham can’t go to Australia?

Steeling herself, Sally read on, her tone sounding hollow as it filled the empty bedroom. ‘My biggest regret is that I had intended to push forward with a recommendation I made to the management team, creating a new position within the company for you. A fresh layer of employment between myself and you as Marketing Public Liaison Supervisor. It is your sales skills that have given Zelcon its good profile in the academic world. I know you have always shunned promotion, but you have earned it. I have discussed this matter with Cameron, but naturally he wanted to see you in action at the conference first, ahead of committing to my proposal. I’m sure you’ll understand that he will have to see for himself that you don’t always have soup on your lapels! I know you’re the best – so prove it to him girl. He’s a nice lad, and you’ll be able to teach him a great deal.’ Sally blushed, thinking all she’d managed to teach Cameron so far was that she could give a wicked blow job! ‘He is well qualified, and being young and full of ideas, should be able to take Zelcon comfortably into the future.’

Graham had gone on to thank her further at length, and Sally found tears welling up

She had to do something before their working relationship totally disintegrated. She had to talk to Cameron. She had to find out for sure if it was him who’d sent the notes, if he’d planned their encounter in the cupboard, and, most important of all – where his other tattoo was!

Time had run out. Despite willing her watch to tick slower, she had to open the stall again so those few delegates who hadn’t done the rounds already could be impressed by what Zelcon had to offer, sip champagne, and take home pens, which she had no doubt, most of them gave to their children.

The last thing Sally felt like doing was expounding the virtues of the company’s latest funding ventures. What she really wanted to be doing, she was shocked to find herself thinking, was sitting astride Cameron, with his dick stuffed up inside her. Sally could feel a blush start on her cheekbones at the mere thought.

Working on auto-pilot, taking out the champagne glasses one by one, placing them in neatly regimented lines on the table, Sally reasoned that she still wasn’t sure she even liked Cameron James. She had to admit that Carol was right though; she would be a total fool if she didn’t at least try and get to know him. If sex is like that when we’re annoyed with each other, what would it be like if we weren’t? But how the hell was she going to start a conversation when every opening line she thought of sounded either twee, cross, or churlish.

She was still on her hands and knees behind the table, when she was suddenly aware of a presence behind her. ‘For God’s sake Sally, will you get up, I’m not a bloody saint you know!’

Standing up too quickly, the world swam a little as Cameron stood rather closer to her than common sense should have allowed in the circumstances. ‘Bloody hell, you gave me a fright. It’s a miracle I didn’t knock the glasses over.’ Sally unconsciously began to fiddle with her hair as he looked at her, his face creased into a frown, his eyes uncertain, but no longer shaded with resentment.

‘It’s always a miracle when you don’t knock into something, Miss Briers!’

‘Cheek!’ Sally felt a smile taking hold at the corner of her mouth despite herself, it was such a relief that their conversation had been kick-started, however bizarrely, without any sniping at each other, ‘And you don’t have to tell me you’re not a saint, Mr James. I had worked that out all on my own.’

He looked at her carefully, surprised by her obvious flirting. Ever since their stilted afternoon of frosty silence, Cameron had been going over and over in his head what he might say to Sally, how he could convince her that he hadn’t planned for them to have sex. He hadn’t planned to admit he’d engineered her getting soaked either, because then he’d have to explain why, but he had begun to think he might have to.

Cameron knew she’d had lunch with that odious bastard Riley, but something must have happened to make her at least decide to be civil to him; more than civil perhaps. Cameron couldn’t help wondering what the hell David had said to her to bring about this lack of hostility.

‘Did you have a nice lunch?’ He kept his words light; making it sound as though he hoped Sally had enjoyed every morsel of the food she’d eaten in Riley’s company, while simultaneously wondering how much she had spilt. His desire to lick her clean was worse than it had ever been, now he knew she was as incredible to play with as he’d hoped she would be.

‘Not really.’

Unable to prevent the grin that flashed across his features for just a second, Cameron spoke as sincerely as he could, ‘Sorry about that.’

‘No you aren’t you bloody liar.’ Sally forced her mouth not to turn up at the lips, and keeping her tone low as the first delegates began to target their stand, she said ‘It was a very eventful lunch hour. I found out a lot of things. You and I, as they say in all the worst TV dramas, need to talk.’

Cameron opened his mouth to reply, but the delegates were all in earshot now, so he thought better of it, inclining his head a fraction in understanding instead. A small ray of hope began to rise, accompanied by a mild stirring at his groin. Perhaps he hadn’t messed this up completely after all. He gazed from Sally to the table, his expression calm, but inside he was a silent mass of passion for the woman standing in front of him, her own face a careful blank, her eyes guarded but shining, ‘We have no ice buckets for the champagne. Will I get them, or will you?’

Working like a well oiled machine once again, Sally marvelled at how much could change in only 24 hours. She hadn’t dared to offer to help Cameron carry the buckets from the store cupboard, as she clearly couldn’t trust herself to be in confined spaces with him. However, her compulsion to determine the whereabouts of his second tattoo was beginning to get out of proportion.

She was reminded of a similar fixation she’d had with a fellow student at university who’d been covered in freckles. Her desire to find out exactly how much of his body they had covered had fast become more important to her than the relationship itself. Sally feared this might happen again. Trying hard concentrate on what she was doing, and failing miserably to do more than smile encouragingly at the clients and not spill champagne, it became more obvious to her as the morning wore on, that Carol had been right from the very start. Cameron did like her. Sally resolved not to go into any private spaces with him until they had proved to themselves that they could behave like civilized grown-ups for once, and have a serious conversation. If they were alone, she honestly couldn’t see any talking being done.

At the thought of what they might do instead of talking her bra suddenly seemed incredibly restricting, and her nipples pressed against its black satin.

*      *      *

The evening session seemed to last both a lifetime, and was over frighteningly fast. Cameron wasn’t sure what it was Sally meant to talk about exactly. She had had a very determined expression for the past two hours, and as the clock ticked round to ten thirty, his unease was growing as much as his erection. He wanted to take her somewhere alone, somewhere outside of the hotel. Preferably somewhere where she would become sticky enough for him to have to clean her up.

It was with a jolt of surprise that Sally saw David approach the Zelcon table just as Cameron had disappeared to the store alone with the “not to be trusted” ice buckets. It had only been a couple of hours since they’d sat across a dining table from each other and failed to eat, yet in her single minded attempts to stay focused on work and the conversation to come, Sally had forgotten all about him.

‘You want to see if we can finish a drink together?’ David, his hands confidently half hanging out of his pockets, leant back against the table, looking mildly smug.

Swallowing back her habit of always trying to please everyone, and therefore automatically saying “yes” to everything, even if she didn’t want to do something, Sally apologised, ‘Sorry, David, I have a work meeting now.’

‘At this time of night?’ David lounged back further, ‘Come off it, honey. Not even Cam is that mean.’

Sally wondered why on earth she had thought David was a nice bloke, ‘As you told me yourself, there are changes afoot at Zelcon, and as we are out of the office this week, we need to meet when we can. This is the only spare time we have today.’

‘Tomorrow will do – surely? I thought I’d take you to a Chinese place I know a short walk away.’

It dawned on Sally that this guy wasn’t used to women turning him down, ‘I’m busy, David, but thank you for the kind thought.’

‘Why don’t I have a word with Cam, I’m sure he’ll see sense.’

‘See sense about what?’ Cameron’s abrupt appearance behind Sally made her heart thud with relief and a yearning she wouldn’t have thought possible a few days ago.

As she turned to explain to Cameron what was going on, David butted in, ‘I came to take Sally out, but she says you have a work meeting. Come on, mate, cut the girl some slack. Let her out to play.’

Cameron looked from Sally, who was obviously annoyed at David’s highhandedness, to David, who still seemed sure he was going to get his way, ‘The meeting was at Sally’s request. As my Zelcon stalwart, I am bound to grant her wish. Sorry, you’ll have to find another beautiful woman to make you look good tonight.’

David was about to protest, but a glance at the closed expressions on both their faces told him to give in gracefully before he made a fool of himself. With an “it’s your loss” shrug to Sally, he swaggered towards the bar.

Once he’d disappeared Cameron said, ‘Where was he planning to wine and dine you?’

‘Chinese a short walk away.’ Sally didn’t turn towards him, she was still coming to terms with the fact that Cameron had referred to her as being beautiful in front of David.

‘Sounds good, I’m starving. Shall we go?’

‘Won’t David be there?’ Sally really liked the idea of leaving the hotel for a while, not to mention that the prospect of eating a whole meal without having to leave the table sounded divine.

‘So what if he is there? We can ignore him.’

Hunger making her decide quickly, Sally nodded. ‘On two conditions: one, I can take these bloody shoes off once we’re sat down; two, you won’t give me a hard time if I spill stuff.’

‘Trust me,’ Cameron found he was struggling to keep his words level, ‘I don’t care about your shoes, and when off duty you can pour a whole pot of noodles over yourself for all I care.’

Immediately, he regretted having that thought. Already he could picture himself bent over Sally, circling and coiling strings of noodles around her breasts; her nipples the only part of her tits visible. He would eat each string off her delicious flesh ...

Rather huskily, Cameron said, ‘Come on, woman, if we don’t leave soon then we aren’t going to get this talk you say we need, because I happen to know that the store cupboard hasn’t been locked up yet.’ With that he grabbed the startled Sally’s hand, sending darts of longing through her entire body, as she was marched out of the hotel.

Chapter Eight

WALKING NEXT TO EACH other, Sally was very aware of the space between them as she tried to match Cameron’s lengthy stride with her own. Not great at walking in a straight line at the best of times, she had to concentrate not to accidently bump into him. Taking short steps around the hotel in high heels was one thing, but for any distance longer than a few feet, Sally preferred flat boots or trainers.

It felt good to be out of the artificial environment of the hotel. The late evening was pleasantly breezy, and the lightness of the summer meant it wasn’t yet dark.

Almost full, the restaurant buzzed with the low hum of private conversations, and the tempting aroma of sweet smelling cuisine hung in the air. Sally knew this had been an ideal choice for their planned talk. Intimate, and yet not obviously romantic; it was busy, but not so noisy that she couldn’t hear herself speak.

In only seconds the ultra efficient staff had them seated, menus were presented, and a basket of complimentary prawn crackers was placed centre stage on the red clothed table for two.

Cameron dived into the crackers, and to Sally’s relief, didn’t appear to care that tiny crumbs from his snack were dusting his shirt. She followed suit, fractionally more relaxed as she ate now that her companion had been the first to make a mess. Was she finally sitting down to a meal she might actually get to finish?

‘So …’ Cameron leant forward, his eyes scanning the menu, ‘I don’t know about you, but I really can’t be bothered to decide what to eat. How do you feel about sharing the set meal? No worries if you don’t fancy it; I just really can’t be arsed to make any decisions at this time of night!’

‘Perfect.’ Sally, who didn’t care what she ate providing it came soon, added, ‘Can we have noodles instead of rice though?’

Cameron’s brain did a mental somersault as it replayed the image of Sally hidden under a pyramid of noodles. ‘No problem,’ he said in a rather strangled tone.

Relieved that the waitress’s arrival meant he could focus on ordering their food and a bottle of wine, Cameron used the distraction to calm the rising hard-on he could feel against the cotton of his boxer shorts. He really hoped no one would be asking him to stand up from his seat in the next ten minutes.

Once the waitress had departed, an awkward silence, only punctuated by the occasional crunch of the fast disappearing prawn crackers, descended on the table. Sally fiddled with the stem of the empty wine glass. She’d been so sure of everything she needed to say after she’d spoken to Carol at lunchtime. Now, face to face with Cameron, she didn’t have a clue where to start.

Their conversation was delayed further by the swift arrival of the wine, which Cameron went through the polite ritual of tasting, before the waitress placed a wine cooler directly next to their table, plunging the bottle of Pinot Grigio into its icy depths.

Sally began to giggle. She couldn’t help it. The sheer strain of the last 24 hours, combined with exhaustion from a fitful night’s sleep, and the build up to the conversation they still weren’t having, tipped into hysteria the moment she saw the ice in the bucket.

The smile that lit up Cameron’s face as he looked at her was so wide it was almost like being with a different person. Sally’s laugh was infectious, and he joined in as he dipped a hand into the ice, pulling up a single cube. ‘I will never think of these things in the same light again.’

A frisson of lust shot up Sally’s spine as she remembered how good it had felt when Cameron had used the wasted ice against her. Their laughter stopped abruptly. They both stared at the cube, knowing they were thinking the same thing.

For a second Sally found she couldn’t swallow, her throat was dry and lumpy, and she took a quick gulp of liquid from her wine glass. Her eyes remained on the cube of frozen water. It was melting fast in Cameron’s warm palm. She hadn’t noticed how large his hands were earlier. She’d felt them, but until now she hadn’t looked at them. They were chunky, with surprisingly long fingers, yet smooth and uncalloused. An office worker’s hands; but with the strength of a manual labourer. An extra shudder of arousal zipped through the nerves in Sally’s neck.

The water trickled across him, and they watched entranced, as droplets of moisture escaped through the gaps between his fingers, spattering the side plate beneath. Sally felt hypnotised by each splash of water against the china, her chest taut; her mouth drier than ever. Eventually, Cameron closed his fist over the ice. He held it firm for a while, his eyes fixed on Sally. Then, suddenly he wrapped it in his napkin as he wiped his hand dry, his own breathing obviously shallow.

‘Sally, I ...’ Cameron knew he had to tell her how much she had been occupying his thoughts over the past few weeks. How he’d hated it at first, resenting her creeping into his fantasies, but how now he wanted to live out those dreams, those dirty thoughts of cleaning her up again and again with his tongue. Not only that, but he wanted to get to know her properly. He took a deep breath and tried to get his words out again, ‘Sally, I don’t know how to start this. It seems a bit late in the day for small talk; the thing is ...’

He silently cursed at the appearance of their starter, a giant plate of crispy seaweed and prawn toast, which cut him off mid sentence.

Picking up some toast rather gingerly, Sally gestured towards him encouragingly, ‘You were saying ...?’

‘Yes, well, the thing is, well, ummm, I’m your boss. More or less your boss. On Friday I will be anyway ...’ Cameron rolled his dripping napkin into a ball and placed it on the side plate next to him, his gaze remaining on it as he spoke, ‘... and I can’t stop thinking about you. Which is not great, you know, because of me being your boss I mean.’

Sally felt the blush that had been climbing through her hit her face, and her cheeks began to colour as she listened. He still wasn’t looking at her, but was studying a spoonful of seaweed as he piled it onto his plate.

‘You can’t imagine how difficult it’s been working in the office next to you, trying to concentrate on learning the Zelcon way of doing things, when all I really wanted to do was to stare at you through the connecting window.’

A piece of prawn toast plummeted from her fingers, hitting her plate with a small clatter. Sally couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘But you hate me – hated me. You always seemed so cross with me compared to how you were with the other girls!’

‘Hate you?’ Cameron almost denied it completely, but thought better of it. Talking softly now, he said, ‘I didn’t hate you, Sally. How could I? But Graham went on and on about how amazing you were at your job; how organised, how much the clients loved you. And all I saw was a rather clumsy woman with a gorgeous cleavage, who was habitually dotted in blobs of soup and crumbs, and who walked into doorframes that had been in the same place for years.’

Sally picked up her fallen toast and shook her head ruefully. ‘I am clumsy. I can’t seem to help it. Always have been. It doesn’t stop me being good at my job, though.’

Cameron raised his eyes briefly to meet hers. ‘I know that now.’ He lowered his gaze again, pushing his food around his plate with the chopsticks, ‘Now I’ve seen you in conference mode. It’s like you’re a completely different person out there on the sales floor!’

‘It’s how I cope with the stage fright. I make believe I’m someone more confident, less likely to tip stuff up. Sadly, I can’t maintain it all the time!’

He sighed, ‘Look, I’m sorry I misjudged you, but that didn’t stop me from fantasising about you. You worked your way into my subconscious, woman, even before I wanted you there.’

Having assumed that Cameron had been about to go on and talk about work, and tell her it was now impossible for them to work together, Sally was more than a little surprised at his confession, and found herself wanting to clarify it. ‘You thought about me?’ She felt a self-conscious flutter of embarrassment. Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself sternly, you’ve sucked his cock for heaven’s sake! Gathering herself, Sally leant forward across the table, and unable to keep the surprise from her voice whispered, ‘You thought about me in an erotic way before we came to Oxford?’

Taking a gulp of wine, Cameron sat up straighter, and stared directly into Sally’s eyes. It suddenly seemed pointless to be shy about this, especially considering what they’d been doing this time last night, ‘Yes, I did. You might not like how I thought of you though – in my fantasy I mean.’

His eyes had taken on the same seductive twinkle Sally had seen when she’d been crouched beneath the trade table earlier that day. ‘Try me. I don’t shock that easy.’ She took a bite of crispy toast, chewing thoughtfully as she added, ‘If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.’

Cameron grinned. ‘You’ve been doing it too?’

‘Not until we got here, but yes …’ Sally began to bluster. ‘It was Carol’s fault at first, teasing me about us being away together in a posh hotel; and then, well ... you popped into my head at an unexpected moment.’

Cameron didn’t need to be told what the nature of this unexpected moment had been. Sally’s pink cheeks said it all, ‘Tell me about it.’

Sally contemplated telling him about how he’d gate-crashed her tradesman wank fantasy, but decided it might be wiser to make him wait, ‘Maybe I will, some day.’

‘Well, I’m not telling you mine until you tell me yours.’

Sally giggled, her tense shoulders muscles unknotting a fraction, ‘Are you aware you frequently sound like a petulant child?’

‘Oh, eat your dinner, woman, it’s going cold!’

Smiling, Sally took the last mouthful of seaweed, not noticing that a tiny fragment had disappeared from her chopsticks down her cleavage.

Cameron had noticed, and had to virtually sit on his hands to stop himself reaching forward and fishing it out of her clothes, accidently on purpose, caressing her wonderfully huge nipples as he did so. To divert himself, he said, ‘I heard this morning that the management team at the top of Zelcon have okayed the new position Graham suggested for you.’

Doing her best to snap back into professional mode, Sally listened, trying not to wonder if they’d end up going to bed together after their meal. ‘What is the post exactly?’

‘I’ve yet to give it a proper title, but basically you would keep half your current job and take on some of mine. Then a part time position would be created so you could have an assistant to fill the remainder of your current job.’

‘Would I still do this bit? The conference stands? I wouldn’t want to give this up.’

‘That would stay the same, but whether your new assistant would accompany you, or whether I would, hasn’t been discussed yet.’

Sally was surprised by how disappointed she felt at the prospect of someone else doing the conference tours with her. Only a few days ago, she couldn’t have imagined doing them without Graham, now the idea of not having Cameron around during this time was unthinkable. It was a disconcerting realisation, and a new wave of confusion stepped in, as the waitress arrived with their main courses.

‘As long as I’ve still got a job.’ Sally stared at the pile of aromatic crispy duck, sweet and sour chicken and egg fried noodles, ‘I mean, do you still think you could work with me?’

‘Why ever wouldn’t I?’ Cameron appeared genuinely shocked. ‘We don’t work in the same room or anything, and assuming this all comes off OK work-wise, we’d be on a more equal footing.’

Sally found herself mumbling as she replied, ‘I thought you might not want me around all the time, now you’ve, um, seen so much of me ... if you get what I mean?’

‘You are adorable!’ He reached out to her, and clutched her palm, his warmth instantly sending shockwaves of longing throughout her.

‘I am?’

‘Yes.’ Cameron retracted his hand as his eyes fell on the noodles, and he had to shut his eyes for a moment.

‘Cameron, are you OK?’

‘Of course I am,’ he snapped, and Sally recoiled at his harsh tone.

‘Hell, Sally, I’m sorry; but like I said earlier, I’m not a bloody saint.’

Laying down her chopsticks, fighting the temptation to poke him with them, Sally folded her arms, ‘I refuse to eat until you tell me what the hell is going on. What do you mean you aren’t a saint?’

As if coming to an instant decision, Cameron attracted the attention of a nearby waitress, ‘I’m sorry, we’ve unexpectedly got to leave. Please could we have this all boxed up as a take away, and I’ll go and pay.’

Watching the waitress carry out his wishes without question, Sally was just going to ask what the hell he thought he was playing at, when she caught the devilish gleam in his eyes. Her stomach flipped. She had no idea what he was planning, but she had a feeling she was going to enjoy finding out.

BOOK: A Sticky Situation (Xcite Romance)
10.99Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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