The Lethal Encounter

by Amy Alexander

  Katie knew she could not do that. For her in a relationship it was pretty much all or nothing. She could not do “casual” and, even if it meant losing someone as attractive as Peter Jarvis, then so be it.

  With this fresh resolve in her mind, Katie slowly undressed and had a shower, cleaning the effects of the day away. Afterwards she dressed casually and, unable to face the outside world again, studied the room service menu before picking a simple club sandwich and a glass of white wine.

  Then, feeling drowsy, she turned the TV onto BBC World and relaxed back against the pillows with a book.

  She must have dozed off because she was awoken with a start by an insistent knocking on the door. She looked at the bedside clock and noticed the time was 11.35pm, much too late, she thought, for room service to be up collecting her tray.

  She pulled herself off the bed and walked to the door, wrapping the robe she had slipped on earlier, around her more tightly.

  She opened the door fractionally to see who it was and was bowled over to see Peter standing in the hall. With her heart going into overdrive, she opened the door as little wider.

  “Hi Peter, everything OK?”

  “Katie, Katie.....everything's not OK. I've had a boring dinner and I wanted to see you.”

  Katie realised that the man in front of her had probably had a few drinks, perhaps a few too many if truth be told.

  “What's happened to dear sweet Lenka?” Katie replied somewhat bitchily. She knew it was probably not the thing to say and would play into the ego of a man like Peter Jarvis, but, like that morning, she could not help herself.

  Peter waved his hand, as if to push such a suggestion well into touch.

  “Oh, she's just a fixer, no one important. So, can I come in for a drink?”

  At that point, Katie's anger swelled up to the surface. This was the way he treated his women and she was going to have no part of it.

  “I tell you what Peter, why don't you just fuck off.....”

  And with that outburst, she slammed the door on an astonished Peter Jarvis.

  She leant against the door with the pulse in her head pounding. There was no sound from outside but, after a few moments, she heard his footsteps retreat down the corridor.

  Only then did she return to her bed, fall down on it and bury her head in the pillows.

  If there had been any lingering doubt left in her mind as to any possibility of she and Peter ever getting together, it was now extinguished once and for all.

  CHAPTER13

  Peter Jarvis returned to his room disappointed. True, he knew that his behaviour had been a bit forward but the drink he had consumed at dinner had overcome any reservations he might have had. He had genuinely thought that Katie would have opened the door and welcomed him, but he had read her wrongly.

  He sighed. This just proved that women were complicated creatures and, looking back over the last few days, he tried to understand what was going on. OK, he should not have skipped Cannes quite so quickly and, because he had, he should have left her a message or rung her to explain why he had left.

  But he hadn't and she had not bothered to ring him anyway so she was partly to blame there. And what was all that stuff this morning at breakfast been about? The comment about “his Cannes girl” That had been quite embarrassing in front of Lenka and he knew that the cool Czech girl had been somewhat amused at her behaviour.

  “I think she has a thing for you,” had been her comment in the cab later and Peter had laughed it off.

  But now, thinking about it, the outburst demonstrated to Peter that Katie must have been jealous (what other explanation can there be?) and that, in Peter's mind, meant that she must be attracted to him.

  Whilst the mere knowledge that a woman was attracted to him was nothing new to Peter, he was still struggling to separate the kind of attraction that the opposite sex has towards handsome, successful men - attraction that is born out of an “aura” and is rarely long lasting, and the attraction that has its roots in love. He knew that many of the women with whom he had enjoyed relationships had purported to “love” him, but he never really felt that they had really loved him, merely intoxicated by his character and position. Up to now, he had never really worried about this - it certainly did not make him sad or insecure - and that, he finally concluded, was probably because he had never really loved them back in the true sense of the word.

  And there was no doubting that his feelings for Katie were something new and very, very different from previous relationships. She was under his skin and the amazing sex that had occurred between them, far from enabling him to “get her out of his system”, had left him yearning for more. It was these feelings, combined with the drink of course, that had been his motivation for going up to her room tonight.

  Now it had all gone wrong and Peter knew that he was being distracted by this roller coaster ride. It had only been a week or so, but already his work focus was slipping and he thought people were beginning to notice. In his position, that was unacceptable and tonight's events had brought everything to a head.

  But what to do? The thought of never seeing her again on an intimate level filled him with a sense of loss, a feeling that was new and alien to him. But he knew that he would have to get some kind of closure if life was going to proceed with any sort of normality, and serious relationships had not and could not feature top in his priorities. His company was his only mistress and she was demanding enough. No, there was no room for anyone else, whatever the circumstances.

  He sat down at the desk in his room and opened his laptop, clicking the wireless access button so he could catch up on his mail. As he watched his inbox fill up, he suddenly realised that, for the first time in his business career, his email and work was not the things most uppermost in his mind. It was a sobering thought and one that he was struggling to get his head round.

  He clicked on the first message, one from Andrew, his FD. It was the minutes of the last management meeting and he double clicked to open the document. It contained nothing new, merely a reflection of what had been discussed at the time. The company was doing well, the monthly management accounts had been to budget and the current year forecast looked solid…..something that was crucially important now that the company had external shareholders.

  Peter had big plans for Shire Electronics and was intending to put his thoughts for the company’s five year outlook on the top of the agenda at next month’s board meeting. Expansion, he knew, could either come from organic growth or by acquiring other businesses and he wanted to get feedback from the ten board members before concrete plans could be drawn up. There was also the possibility of Shire being bought out by a bigger company, something that would enable Peter to liquidate his large shareholding and become a very rich man. For a moment, he allowed himself to think what he would do just sitting around with a pile of cash in the bank, but he could not really see it. He was someone who needed fresh and constant challenges.

  Just over an hour later, Peter looked at his watch and closed the lid on his computer. He was now tired and knew that he would sleep well, despite the earlier drink.

  He undressed and stepped into the shower to fully clear his head. He then drank two glasses of water and climbed under the duvet after setting his alarm for six a.m.

  He plumped his pillow and curled his arm up underneath it. As he drifted off to sleep, a vision of Katie appeared behind his eyelids. It was her in that restaurant in Cannes and she was there sitting opposite him. Her eyes twinkled and her hair formed a brown halo around her face. That was the last image he saw before he fell into a disturbed sleep.

  CHAPTER 14

  If Katie had been aware of Peter Jarvis' confused state of mind over her, she might have felt more confident about pressing home whatever advantage she had. But, in her ignorance, she was now convinced that he was merely a serial womaniser who took what he wanted, when he wanted. In fact, all her negative instincts that had told her just this from the beginning of their brief en
tanglement were proving to be correct.

  Despite her feelings and confusion, she was one hundred percent sure that she was not going to become some sort of casual mistress, however attracted to the man she was. The thought of hanging around waiting for the knock on the door was just too awful to contemplate.

  With this thought firmly in her mind, she crept down into the lobby the next morning, having already filled out the quick check out card and left it in the required box near the lifts. She made her way quickly out of the main doors and caught a taxi to the airport.

  The traffic was heavy out of Prague and Katie was only just in time for the flight back to London. She had not even had time to peruse the small number of duty free shops at the airport and the long queue at the customs desk at Heathrow did nothing to lift her mood.

  Once back in the office, she dropped an e mail to Sue outlining her visit. She also noticed that Sue had postponed their arranged meeting until tomorrow and wondered what she should read into that, if anything. She then turned her attention again to the French job. As she did so her mobile phone rang and, noting it was a withheld number, put the phone to her ear.

  “Katie, Hi, its Mary here. How are you?”

  “Oh, hi. Fine thanks. Just got back from Prague, so a bit frazzled.”

  “Good, good. Look Katie, I presume you are in the office, so if you have a moment, just listen to what I have to say. Is that OK?”

  “Sure Mary. Go ahead.”

  “I've been speaking to my client and they were very impressed with you. They want to offer you the position of Lead Sales Consultant in their London office…..to start as soon as possible. Salary will be pretty much as we discussed, but we can meet and hash out the full details over the next day or so.”

  Katie's heart leapt. She knew that she had made a good impression, but had not really forced herself to actually think about the job, not only because of other distractions, but also it was one of those things that until you are offered something concrete, it’s difficult to focus on it.

  “Wow, that's great.....I mean, that's good news. Look Mary, can I ring you later to discuss fully?”

  “Sure, I understand. Give me a ring when you can.”

  Katie put the phone down on her desk and stared at the screen on her desk. Her neighbour looked over the partition.

  “Good news, eh! Go on share it with us…..I could certainly do with some,” whispered Beth.

  “Oh, it’s nothing.....just something I need to tell my parents,” lied Katie, feeling sure that Beth would see through it.

  “Um…..not sure I believe you on that, but what ever. How was your trip?”

  Katie felt herself lying for the second time in a minute.

  “Fine, just a routine fill in for David.....who's ill.”

  “Yeah, I know. One of my projects is stalling because of it.”

  “I just had to go to a catch up meeting.”

  “And did you bump into our erstwhile leader whilst you were out there? I hear he was in Prague as well.”

  Katie started and looked at Beth.

  “I didn't know that. What a pity. We could have got together,” joked Katie, hoping that she could get away with a bit of a double bluff.

  “Mmmn. The rumours are wild at the moment that he's got a new squeeze on the go…..there's some real cat fighting going on amongst the Peter Jarvis hopefuls. It’s quite funny really.”

  Katie looked at her colleague. Whilst she was very nice and an exceptionally good sales person, she was not in the Peter Jarvis school of girlfriends. Her oversize frame sat awkwardly in her chair and her unkempt hair was pulled back casually into a long, untidy pony tail.

  “Really? People think he is seeing someone who works here?”

  “That's what they say. Of course, I spurned him.....turned him down flat when he came on to me recently. Can't be doing with that sort of pretty boy, even if he is a multi millionaire.”

  Katie smiled.

  “You too? I told him to fuck off myself. I can't stand those “women-fall-at-my-feet” kind of guys!”

  Beth laughed.

  “If only we could be so lucky!” she said giggling. “He can come to see me in my bed any day.”

  Katie sat back in her chair relieved. Another awkward situation had passed without mishap and now she had an opportunity to reflect on her earlier phone call.

  How did she feel about leaving? She enjoyed her work and most of the people here at the office. However, the happenings over the last week or so had un-nerved her and certainly the prospect of a higher salary definitely excited her. She could even start looking for a bigger flat, or at least make some alterations to her present one.

  And then the thought occurred to her that a job move could maybe clear the way to extend her relationship with Peter, but as soon as it materialised she realised it was a pipedream. To say she was confused was the understatement of the year. On the one hand she had convinced herself that he was just a womanising bachelor, after nothing more than some, albeit fantastic, casual sex, but on the other, a part of her was clinging to the hope that he was serious about her, that he did care.

  If she no longer worked for his company, would that clear the way for them to try and make a go of it? It would certainly make the relationship succeed or fail on its own merit.

  However, as soon as the thought had popped into her head, she knew that she would have to try to make the job decision in isolation of any of the other factors. That would be hard but she needed to at least try and go about it in a rational way.

  Whatever, she knew she needed some good company and a glass of wine to discuss it, so she picked up her phone, flicked through her favourites list and punched Josie's number. After a few rings, her friend picked up.

  “Hi Katie, where are you? My god, what's happening? Let’s get together.”

  “Hi Josie. That's why I was ringing…..are you around tonight by any chance?”

  “I am as it happens. I'm meeting Fran in the pub near Holborn tube. You know the one where we spent that New Year's Eve and I ended up with the barman.”

  Katie laughed. Only her friend could catalogue London drinking haunts by who she had got off with.

  “Great, I'll be there about six…..got a lot to catch up on.”

  “Too right we have. Got to go. See you later.”

  Katie put her phone down and turned back to her work Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Beth staring at her and she wondered if her colleague had heard any of Josie’s words. She smiled at her and Beth, rather guiltily, averted her eyes back to her own computer.

  Katie ensured that she finished promptly that evening and, as she made her way across London to Holborn, she looked forward to seeing her friends. God, she hadn't seen Fran for weeks and knew that there was a lot to chat about. She walked in through the doors of The Admiral and scanned the room for familiar faces. A hand shot up and beckoned and she made her way to the far corner of the bar where Josie, Fran and Mary sat.

  “Fran, its fantastic to see you and Mary, god, I haven't seen you since Brian and Sarah's wedding. You look fantastic.”

  Hugs were exchanged and, after Mary had gone to the bar to get Katie a drink, Josie piped up.

  “I was just trying to fill Fran and Mary in on your big news.....but then I realised that I was way out of date, so we need you to get us up to speed with as many lewd details as possible.”

  Katie laughed. She was very glad to see her friends and reached for a spare glass and the new bottle of wine that Mary had just brought back. She unscrewed the cap, filled her glass and offered it to the others. She then returned it to the ice bucket that was perched on the edge of their table.

  “I tell you. The last few weeks have been unbelievable. I've told Josie some of the details but you know the boss of my company.....Peter Jarvis?”

  “You mean THE Peter Jarvis.....bachelor extraordinaire and man about town…..yes we've kind of heard of him.” said Mary. She glanced at Josie who was nodding knowingly and the
n back at Katie with a dawning realisation on her face.

  “You don't mean you've....you don't mean that's who this is all about?” Mary said with an amazed expression.

  “My God Katie.....that is the best bit of gossip I've heard in ages. I saw him on the tele the other day. He's gorgeous!” continued Fran. “Tell us all now.”

  Katie quickly filled them in on her various trips, from the moment in the restaurant in Cannes to the verbal spat in Prague yesterday.

  When she told them about what she did, they whooped in excitement.

  “And that's not all.” Katie continued. “I got offered another job today from a rival firm.....better position, loads more money…..can you believe it?”