A/N: Thanks again so much for all the reviews, I really appreciate them. There's only a couple more chapters of this story so I hope you enjoy the nearing conclusion. If you want, leave a review, they are much appreciated and loved. :)

"Paul, stop!"

"Why?" he asked, playfully going in for her neck again.

"Because I'm trying to work for one," she told him. "I've been trying to work for the past thirty minutes and you keep interrupting me."

"I'm just trying to spend time with you," he argued. "Ever since I was cleared to travel, it seems liked you've been avoiding me."

"Well, I've got lots of work to do," she said, starting to get up, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down into her chair, "What the hell do you think that you're doing? I just told you that I had to work, and you're distracting me."

"I want to talk," he said seriously, staring her right in the eye and not relinquishing his hold on her arm. "Now."

"I don't feel like talking right now," she said to him. "I've got to get these papers to my father before the show starts. That's the long and skinny of it, Paul, okay, I've got work, and I can't cater to your every whim or be with you at every moment."

"No, I want to talk right now, I'm not going to let you leave here without talking to me."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, knowing that Paul wasn't all that mobile right now so getting away from him wouldn't be that difficult. She wanted to make her escape right now. Ever since he had told her that he was okay to travel with the company and could continue his rehab with the company trainers, she had a growing pit of annoyance in her stomach. She felt like he was hovering over her at every second.

"I. Have. To. Go," she told him slowly and in no uncertain terms. "I know that you don't have work, but I do."

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting weird ever since I got injured," Paul told her. "You've just been acting like you don't want me around."

"How astute of you," she responded drolly, "now will you please let go of me?"

"No, I'm not going to," he said. "Stephanie, tell me what's the matter? We were so good together before I got injured, we could barely keep our hands off of each other, and we were happy. What the hell changed?"

"Well, maybe I got used to you being gone," she snapped.

"Did you?"

"Look, I really don't have time for this, so can we leave this talk until later?"

"Are you cheating on me?"

For the briefest of moments, Stephanie thought of Chris. She wasn't cheating with Chris, but she was talking dirtier to Chris than she ever had to Paul. There was a thrill to what she was doing with Chris because there were no consequences to be spoken of with that. She would eventually tire of her game, and then she'd drop what she was doing with Chris. It was a fool-proof plan to spice of up her otherwise dull life. But no, she wouldn't classify that as cheating since she hadn't even touched Chris at all.

"No, I'm not cheating on you," she answered with a roll of her eyes as she pulled away from him finally. "And don't you dare suggest that I am doing something like that. I'm not the type of person who cheats, Paul. I just got used to being alone and now you're here and must you always be hovering around me!"

"I thought you would want to spend time with me after not seeing me!" he protested.

"Well, maybe I don't! Did you think of that!"

"Maybe I don't even want to be around you anymore! You've changed, Stephanie, and trust me, it's not for the better," he told her.

"Oh please, cut it with the clichés, they aren't going to work on me. You're blowing a lot of hot air. I haven't changed at all, if anyone has gotten more annoying and clingy, it's you. It's like you don't even trust me, asking me if I've been cheating on you."

"Well, with the way I'm acting."

"I'm just tired of you!" she yelled at him.

"Fine, fine, it's over there, fine, I don't even give a rat's ass," he said, picking up his crutches and hobbling to the door. If the real Stephanie decides to come back, tell her to find me because this recent incarnation is a bitch."

"Oh fuck off," she told him, slumping down into her seat after he had stormed out of the room. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking over what had just happened. She wished that she could be contrite or sad, but she was actually just a little bit relieved over the entire thing. Ever since his injury, Stephanie had just gotten more and more frustrated with him.

There was a knock at the door and Stephanie sighed before calling out, "It's open." Chris walked in and she sat up a bit straighter in her chair, "Chris…"

"Hey, I kind of heard…yelling, and wasn't sure if I should come in," he said, giving a look around. "I'm guessing that Paul left."

"We kind of broke up," she said, shrugging slightly as if to show him that it was no big deal, "but what did you need?"

"I'm sorry you broke up, is this a bad time?" he asked tentatively. "Because, you know, I can always show up whenever…"

"No, it's not," she said, "sit down. The thing with Paul was a long time coming. We just aren't…"

"Yeah, I get it, divorced guy over here," he laughed, pointing to himself. She smiled at him, unable to fully disassociate from him because of that charm of his. Chris just had this natural charm that really put people at ease and made you like him.

"Yeah, sorry," she said. "It's really no big deal, what did you need?"

"Well, I know this is going to sound repetitive, and I know that I've been bugging you way more than I should, but I really don't want to go to your dad with this again., but....well, I was wondering if there was any way that you could find out who of the females here has my cell phone number."

"Your cell phone number?" she asked, feigning confusion even though she could clearly see where this conversation was heading. She gulped a little bit, trying to put her best face forward. She had the added bonus of blaming any weirdness on her fresh break-up.

"Yeah, well…okay, so…that girl I told you about, the mystery woman, well, she called me last week, on my cell phone. I wasn't going to bring it up, but then I thought more about it, and if she has my cell phone number, who's to say that she doesn't have my address, and what if this chick is a stalker?"

"I doubt that," she told him with a slight scoff.

"You never know, Steph, the way this woman talks, I mean, you should hear it," he said, shaking his head.

Except she actually knew what was being said to him, "Maybe it's just someone trying to pull a prank on you," she reasoned, wondering if she was coming off like she was actually praising this person, who was well…her, but she didn't want Chris to be thrown onto her trail.

"Well, whoever it is, I just want them to quit, it's not cool, this entire thing," he said.

"I would think you would be flattered to have someone so interested in you, and to talk dirty to you, maybe they really want you and just don't know it," she told him, throwing him off of her again because there was no way that she could fall for Chris. He was a nice guy, sure, but there just wasn't any chemistry there.

"Well, okay, it is a little flattering," he admitted, "but in a really creepy way. I mean, if there's a woman that honestly wants me to do the kinds of things that she's describing, well…I mean, I'm not saying that I wouldn't be open to dating someone, but this woman is just…too…I don't know, this whole thing is weird."

"I understand," she told him.

"So yeah, do you know who might have my number?"

"Honestly, no," she said, and she didn't, how could she possibly have that information? "I don't know who would have your number."

He sighed and cursed under his breath, "Well, whoever it is, I hope they find some other target soon because I'm pretty tired of them. It's getting to be a really big distraction and I'm still settling into this job."

"Yeah," she said sympathetically though she had no intention of quitting her little game.

"But here I am, bitching about my stupid problem and you just broke up with your boyfriend, I'm really sorry about that, Stephanie."

"Don't be, he was a jackass, and he was starting to really get on my nerves," she told him.

"Well…I could've told you that," he joked, and she laughed, nodding. At least they were on the same page about something, even if it was about Paul. "Well, thanks for the help anyways, do you think you might need a hug to get through the rest of the night."

She didn't need a hug since Paul really was getting on her nerves and she wasn't the least bit broken up, but she thought for a moment, and shrugging, stood up and circumvented her desk. Chris stood up and took a step towards her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her. He intended for it to be a short hug, but he ended up pulling her closer. Stephanie, for her part, stood there at first, but then pulled her arms up to wrap around him as well, hugging him back. She was starting to feel a spark of sorts between them, but she chalked it up to the fact that she was playing a little game with him.

He pulled away and gave her a warm smile, "Hope you feel better."

"I'm fine, I swear," she said.

"Okay, got it," he winked before leaving.

She went back and sat in her chair, taking a deep breath and staring at her cell phone which had been sitting on her desk. She picked it up and pulled it open, flipping through her numbers until it landed on Chris's. She had his number, obviously, and she contemplated calling him, but she couldn't, not on this phone. She looked to the phone that was sitting on her desk, the untraceable one and she thought about picking it up and dialing the number, and talking to him, telling him things that she didn't want him to do, telling him things that she wasn't doing. She thought about it.

Instead, she put the phone down on her desk, looking at it as if it had burned her and she couldn't hold it any longer. Damn him for making her not want to call. She was having such fun with him, with everything that she was doing. It was a game, nothing more, nothing less, but she had suddenly become his confidant, and something tweaked inside of her knowing that it was honestly upsetting him. She wasn't cruel, she didn't want him to be distraught over something like this, but then she remembered that he had said that he was the tiniest bit flattered by the attention.

She smirked at this. If he was flattered, that meant that a little part of him liked the calls. She picked up the phone in her office, but then put it back down, remembering that she could get caught. She stood and went to the door, locking it before strolling back to her desk and picking up the office phone. She dialed the number she had come to memorize and waited for him to pick up.

"Chris speaking."

"Hello Chrissy, miss me much."

"I'm hanging up," he said indifferently.

"Please don't, I know you like my calls, Chrissy," she told him. "I know that you really want me."

"No, I really don't, thanks though."

"But I really want you," she purred. "You have no idea how much, just feeling you touch my skin would set me on fire. Your touch has to be so soft." She was thinking back to their hug now, and now she was starting to honestly be uncomfortable as well.

"Yeah, well, I'd never touch you, so whatever," he hung up on her, and she was honestly shocked that he would do so. She stared down at the phone in disbelief, shocked that he had been so abrupt with her. She put the receiver down gently and sat back in her chair. It looked as if her game was over with if Chris wasn't going to be an unwilling participant in it anymore. She closed her eyes and realized something very startling, something that made her snap her eyes open with shock.

She might actually feel something for Chris.