Fast And Loose. Justine Elyot

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СКАЧАТЬ ex. She’d never mentioned it.

      I found myself looking at her in a different light, picturing her with Tom.

      ‘Wrenched my ankle tottering about on high heels last night,’ I said. ‘Thought I’d sprained it, but it seems better this morning. Just a bit of a twist, probably.’

      ‘Oh, you went out? You didn’t tell me. Where did you go?’

      ‘Oh, just a bar. With my flatmates,’ I said, feeling sure my evasion hadn’t got past Tilda. She’d notice the colour that was heating my cheeks, for one thing.

      ‘Just A Bar. Yeah, one of my favourites. Cheap Street, isn’t it?’ she teased.

      ‘You know. My local. It wasn’t a big night out or anything.’

      Change the subject, for God’s sake.

      ‘If you say so. I’d have said it was an all-nighter, though, judging by those rings around your eyes.’

      ‘I need this coffee, that’s for sure.’ I lifted it to my lips and cast around the office, desperate for an alternative topic of conversation. ‘Is Miles in yet?’

      Tilda wheeled back her chair a fraction, giving me an uncomfortably keen look.

      ‘You weren’t out with him last night, were you?’

      ‘Miles? God! No!’

      The man in question appeared in the doorway, pulling his hood off his face, looking as unshaven and dishevelled as ever.

      ‘Ladies,’ he said, in his sullen Mancunian accent. ‘Did you get one in for me, Til?’

      ‘You can get your own. It’s Ella who looks like she really needs one.’

      ‘Yeah?’

      He sat down, yawning, on my other side and dumped his backpack under the desk before swivelling to stare at me.

      ‘Why’s that then?’

      ‘Oh, just thought she looked a bit tired, that’s all,’ said Tilda archly. ‘Like she needs a bit more sleep.’

      She gave Miles a meaningful look which was lost on him, but which I at last understood. Tilda had been making these weird oblique remarks to Miles about me for weeks. And now I understood why – everybody knew that he fancied me.

      It was nice to be in on the secret, even if I was the last to know.

      ‘Oh,’ said Miles. ‘Why’s that, then? Late one, was it?’

      This seemed to satisfy Tilda that we hadn’t been secretly at it all night long, and she turned to her desk to log in.

      ‘Just a few drinks with my flatmates,’ I mumbled, following suit.

      Miles grunted and lumbered off to the coffee machine.

      Not my type, I thought, following him with my eyes. Too simian, and that stoop – why didn’t he walk tall? Like Tom. Mmm. Tom. Bleurgh.

      My phone rang twice. An external ring. Unusual, especially for this time in the morning. Mum or Dad?

      I picked it up.

      ‘Morning, Foxy.’

      I nearly dropped the receiver.

      ‘Oh’ was all I found to say.

      ‘You can walk, then?’

      ‘Just about.’

      He chuckled. ‘I mean, your ankle.’

      ‘Yes,’ I said, bending low to the desk to avoid being overheard. ‘That’s what I meant.’

      ‘Just wanted to make sure I hadn’t…incapacitated you…in any way.’

      ‘I thought you had a breakfast meeting.’

      ‘Yeah, done that. Stale croissants, bloody cheek. Anyway, speaking of bloody cheek…’

      ‘Were we?’

      ‘Mm, I’m thinking about cheeks now. And I don’t mean the ones on your face.’

      Tom! It was on the tip of my tongue, but a throat-clearing from Tilda brought me to my senses. I would have to keep my words neutral or risk the third degree.

      ‘Though I’m not into drawing blood,’ he continued thoughtfully. ‘So literal bloody cheek isn’t quite what I have in mind. A nice bit of red flush, though…mmm.’

      ‘Did you call me for a reason?’ I muttered, beyond flustered.

      ‘Yes, I did,’ he said. ‘Did you set up that account on Safeword.com?’

      ‘Oh…not yet. I’ll do it later.’

      I’d made a start but my brain had failed to co-operate, too preoccupied with Tom and his wily ways. I was in no mood to be penning kinky come-hithers to strangers after all that.

      ‘You’d better,’ he said, his voice like raw-edged silk. ‘Or you’ll know about it when I see you.’

      Now this sounded promising.

      ‘Oh, will I?’ I said, trying to keep my tone light enough to deflect any attention from my neighbouring desks.

      ‘Yes, you will,’ he said. ‘And I’m getting a sense that you’re testing me. Do I have to prove that I mean business?’

      I gulped. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’? Which was the right answer?

      I couldn’t resist it. Despite the danger that surrounded me, I put my lips close to the mouthpiece and said, ‘Maybe you do.’

      I could almost hear his smile at the other end.

      ‘Oh, dear, Foxy, you do have a habit of letting yourself in for it. OK then. As soon as you put the phone down, you’re going to go to the Ladies’ and do two things for me. One, pull the cups of your bra down and keep them that way for the rest of the day…you are wearing a bra, I take it?’

      I gave a little yelp of indignant laughter. Mistake. Tilda was on the case right away, her neck tilted in my direction.

      ‘Of course,’ I hissed.

      ‘Just checking. I know what you’re like, Ms Cox, you rampant little animal. So, yeah, the bra is number one. Two, take off your knickers and put them in your bag for the rest of the day. You are…?’

      I tutted and huffed. ‘Yes, again.’ I paused. ‘Oh, God.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Do I have to?’

      ‘Yes, you have to. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby at six, to make sure.’

      Now СКАЧАТЬ