Chapter 5 – Falling For You All Over Again.
If you had been walking along Fifth Avenue that morning, you might have seen a young couple walking towards Times Square. The woman would have been about five foot six, with long blonde curls and a flirtatious manner. The gentleman would be just over six feet with dark hair and his arm round the woman. If you'd heard them chattering, then you would hear one of them laughing away at something the other had said, and every now and then a sweet nothing, meant only for each other. You would know they were in love.
"…Are you sure you won't come up with me?" Steffi pleaded with Cole as they stood at the bottom of the flight of marble stairs leading to Thomas Carter's office. "I could tell him you'd made an appointment that I hadn't told him about or something…" She was holding Cole's hands and standing close into him. Cole shook his head.
"I'm here for another few days; I think I could delay my appointment."
"I don't want you to go," Steffi said, and she made a face. "I'm falling for you all over again, and I don't think I can let you go anymore." Cole tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes.
"Okay, I will come up. But only because I can't stand to see you disappointed," he said with a smile. "And also, we need to work out what time to meet for lunch."
"Lunch?"
"I can't go twenty seconds without you before I miss you – what kind of effect do you think hours are going to have on me?"
"Good point… okay; well let's go up by the elevator today."
"Why?"
"Cos I have a plan." She grinned flirtatiously, and Cole followed her into the elevator. He didn't notice when she conjured an 'Out of Order' sign, and he was looking the opposite way when she stuck it on the doors.
Two minutes later, the doors opened and Steffi and Cole sprang apart from their steamy embrace. Steffi walked out the elevator and smoothed her clothes down, and Cole loitered in the hall for a few minutes, adjusting his tie and doing his shirt's top button up again. Steffi sat on her chair and buzzed through to Thomas Carter's private office.
"Tom? Yes, sorry I'm late; I think my alarm is broken. Appointments for today?"
"Yes please, Carmella," Tom's voice came through the intercom, as clear as if he was standing next to you. "And don't worry about being late today, it's only the second time since you've been here, and the first time was because that nice Mr Gregory proposed to you during breakfast."
"That's one major memory you have there, Tom. Now then, you have an appointment with a Mr Cole Turner now, and then you're clear through to half past four, when you have a business dinner with Mrs Van der Kampen."
"Ah yes, dinner with Claudia. Don't worry about pretending you don't know about us, Carmella, because as long as the wife doesn't find out then I don't care who knows."
"Very good, sir. Mr Turner will be waiting for you in the foyer, but unfortunately he is not quite used to New York traffic and has been delayed. He says he's about five minutes away." Cole came into the office and went over to Steffi's desk.
"Turner? He's a good man, believe you me. If you hadn't got your Mr Gregory, I might have recommended that you and Cole met up some time." Steffi looked at Cole, and stood up.
"Yes sir… will you excuse me now Tom, I have some typing to catch up on." She flicked the intercom off before he could answer and gave Cole another passionate kiss. Cole sat her on the edge of the desk and let her run her hands through his hair, not caring if he looked like he'd been dragged through a bush backwards when he saw Tom. He was about to sweep the items off Steffi's desk when the smashing of a glass made him spring away from her. He looked at the open doorway to Carter's office, and saw Thomas Henry Carter himself standing in the middle of it, looking red with rage. Steffi had also seen him, and was desperately trying to bring herself back to her usual neat self. Then, Tom's face broke into a smile.
"I take it you and Mr Turner are already well acquainted then, Cam?"
"We know each other a little bit, don't we?" Cole grinned at Tom. "Hello there, Tom. What's all this I hear about you and Mrs Van der Kampen?"
"I don't know, it depends what I'm hearing about you and my Cammy," Tom said, his big round face split in two by his smile. He went over to Cole and shook his hand warmly. "So, killed any witches lately? Or are you still in that peaceful phase?" Tom looked at Steffi, and his smile grew when he saw her confused face.
"Tom… are you joking? Or are you a demon?"
"My dear, of course I'm a demon. And I also know that your name isn't Carmella at all. It's Stephanie Miller. I think I probably know more than you give me credit for, in fact." Cole grinned at Tom.
"You really are quite sly, Mr Carter. What else do you know about Steffi?"
"Well, her history with you came up a few times in my research, I know who her parents are, and her brothers… pretty much everything. But, of course, the first thing I had to find out was whether she was demonic or not. I can't have mortals in my personal staff, not if they want to live anyway. Steffi came to work for me as soon as she came to the city – in fact, I'm the one who set her up for the course in secretarial work, and I'm also the one who ensured that she passed."
"Wait – does that mean you changed my mark in my finals or something?" Steffi said, after regaining her composure and her tongue.
"No, no, no, of course not. I just made sure you studied and really applied yourself – I wanted you to get this job with me, I wanted you to make something of yourself. It makes me happy to see you like this."
"What, with my legs wrapped around Cole?"
"No, with your job and your qualification. You and Cole is just an added bonus for me, I always thought you two were good together." Steffi blushed, and Cole went over to stand by her proudly. "Now then, boys and girls, can I get on with my business meeting without you two leaping on each other like wild beasts?"