One Night Only by Stewart Lynsey M

Author:Stewart, Lynsey M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

16

Stacey

How did I find myself here again? Oh, that’s it, I remember now. I couldn’t say no to my boss. I was perched on the bottom rung of the journalism ladder, glass ceiling shining above me and the climb tempting.

I also wanted to move on from thoughts of yummy escorts and flashes of the best sex of my life, cementing my new status as a single woman firing out sexual sparks and rainbows. But sitting opposite Orlando at a noodle bar in Soho, I could see the sparks were flickers and the plan to move on was never going to happen with the guy who’d met me straight from work, still wearing his lab coat.

‘So, Anna tells me you’re a pharmacist?’

‘That’s right,’ he replied, taking a spoon and fork and setting it alongside his chopsticks.

‘What does that involve, exactly?’

‘I administer prescriptions.’

He took a sip of his freshly pressed apple juice. I knew it was fresh because he’d insisted on it. Really insisted. He’d only just got back from the counter where he watched them do it himself, just to be sure.

‘Oh. Interesting,’ I replied.

Orlando was making this hard work.

‘You’re a journalist, aren’t you?’

‘Yes.’

Silence had never been so mortifying.

‘Must be an exciting job,’ he said, holding his glass up to the light inspecting it, running his finger along the rim like it was the new habitat for a trillion diseases. ‘All those breaking news stories.’

‘I don’t work for a news publication. I work for Upfront.’

‘That ridiculous women’s magazine?’

‘No,’ I replied, narrowing my eyes. ‘It isn’t ridiculous, but I do work for Upfront.’

‘Anna is the editor of that rag? I’m really surprised.’

‘Excuse me?’ I whispered, looking around to see who overheard and could join in my astonishment. ‘I’m sorry, but you’re incredibly rude.’ My gaze settled on a guy who kind of looked familiar. A broad expanse of back, a ripple of forearm, and as he turned…the brightest smile in the room.

‘Oh, crap.’ I shielded myself with my hand, tapping a waiter on the arm. ‘Hi, we’re ready for the bill now. Would you mind bringing it over? Quickly. Thanks.’

‘We haven’t even eaten yet,’ Orlando said. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘Listen.’ I leant in and lowered my voice, still covering myself behind my hand. ‘I’m sure you’re a lovely guy but you’ve just described the publication I work for—the one I love and feel privileged to be part of—as a rag.’

‘I’m sorry if I offended you,’ he protested. ‘I was just…surprised that you worked for a magazine that favours talk of sex.’

He said it like it was a dirty word, or a nasty smell he couldn’t shake from underneath his nose. Images of Matt from Saturday night came back to me, his face as he came, the pure exhilaration and enjoyment of two bodies merging together. It was the total opposite of the screwed-up face Orlando was offering me now.

‘That’s not OK,’ I replied, shaking off the sex memory shivers. ‘To ridicule my place of work and—’ I stopped myself, and took another look at his troubled face.

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