Chapter 8

"Whit…" Lauren whispered down the phone whilst desperately trying to do something with her hair in the office toilet. "Come on, answer the bloody phone gril"

"Lauren are you alright in there?" She heard Joey call out "I can hear voices" she pulled a desperate face to herself in the mirror, trying to think on her feet and come up with a plausible answer.

"Yeah, erm talking to myself" she groaned really? Talking to myself? That was the best she could come up with. Essentially it was true, she was talking to herself because her so called friend wasn't answering her damn phone.

She heard Joey suppress some laughter and felt a little relieved. "Ok…" he trailed off.

"Hello" Whit answered the phone in a panicky voice "Lauren… you ok?"

"Thank god" she whispered, this time making sure it was much more of a hushed tone "Finally you answer the phone, what took you so long?"

"What took me so long?" Whit asked her voicing becoming a loud piercing shrill "What took me so bloody long? Lauren Branning, do you have any idea what time it is? How worried we are right now? The film finished half hour ago and you STILL aren't here" Lauren held the phone away from her as she listened to Whitney rant, "Are you okay Lo, I mean nothing happened right?"

" Not yet…" She heard Whit laugh and she cursed herself for saying that "No whit I'm fine, it's just something happened at work, Joey's here and…"

" Wow wow…Wait, Joey as in Mr club man is there ? With you? Alone, just the two of you?" Lauren hummed a desperate response as she paced the length of the toilettes.

"Yes he's here and we're alone and he wants to go for dinner and I'm freaking out… like honestly what do I do?"

"alright, just take a breath… calm yourself and get a grip"

"Whit! You're not helping" Lauren groaned as Joey called out to her again.

"Lauren are you alright in there? You are taking ages" Joey asked a bit apprehensively as he leant up to the door, praying that she didn't walk out with him leant against it.

"Oh yeah I am fine, I'll be out in a sec" She called out before she lowered her voice yet again " please Whit… tell me what to do. I'm totally freaking" she flushed the toilet and then turned the taps on to give the impression she was nearly done.

"Ok, you like him ye?" Lauren nodded before realising she couldn't be seen and gave a verbal answer. "Well there's nothing to figure then is there. Go out there and have a good night, If he want's to take you for dinner then let him, he obviously likes. Plus you already slept with him once… you must have been good"

"OKAY… we are done talking. I'm really sorry I missed the film. I'll talk to you tomorrow ok?"

"Okay, okay, I will wait till I see you tomorrow to interrogate you, I want all the details!" Lauren rolled her eyes and giggled. She knew it was true too. Whenever one of the girls would go out on a date the next morning was spent cooped up on the couch whilst gossiping like crazy about every single minute detail of the night before…it was just how the girls were.

"Yes alright! Bye" Lauren said immediately cutting the call off before Whit had the chance to say anything else. She then looked in the mirror one more time and couldn't stop the smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Joey had asked her out.

She knew that she really shouldn't be thinking too much into offer as he most probably was just asking out of generosity as she helped him with the paper work. But she couldn't help it, the huge butterflies flying around in the pit of her stomach was definitely adding to her excitement. It doesn't matter if she lets her have fun for one night. Checking the mirror one last time just to make sure she looked presentable, she took in a deep breath and turned the handle on the door. When she noticed Joey wasn't where he was when she ventured to the toilet she began to worry.

"Oi!" She jumped a mile for the second time that night and brought a hand up to cover up her heart. She knew who it was by the sniggering behind her.

"Joey! That is not funny at all!" She didn't give a damn that he was her boss at that moment as she began to swat him on the arm.

"Ouch…alright, I'm sorry" Joey whined stepping back; you could hear in his voice that he was ready to burst out laughing again "I was just getting you back for scaring me earlier"

"Erm that's really unfair- I did not scare you intentionally I was scared too remember…but you…you…well you just did it for the fun off it which is just really mean" she pouted.

Joey couldn't help the big smile that was forming on his face. Now, he must admit that Lauren in the office was pretty big turn on and he did lust after her nearly every time he was in the same room as her but he had never actually felt the immense amount of lust he did that night in the club; and part of that reason was because he loved to see her feisty. And a feisty Lauren hadn't exactly made an appearance in the office the past month…but now. Feisty Lauren was defiantly back. And he liked. He liked a lot.

"I'm sorry" He said sincerely; however the smile was still evident on his face. When she turned around not convinced at all he had to try his hardest to remove it. "Hey babe, I really am sorry, I didn't think you would get that freaked out about it, I'm sorry, I will make it up to you…dinner is your choice?" The way he called her babe just rolled off his tongue like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She swiftly turned around looking hurt and upset, however in the inside she was smirking like crazy.

"You could have given me a heart attack." She proclaimed, she could play this game quite well, she thought.

"What from one scare?" he really had to fight off the urge to burst out laughing again; however the look In Laurens eyes got him a little concerned so he shut up and listened.

"No really Joey, you really could have. I have a heart condition and too much stress on it can cause me to have a heart attack at any moment, which includes people jumping out from the dark and scaring you. So I am pretty damn lucky that it hasn't caused one now since it's happened twice tonight"

Joey looked like he just saw a ghost. "Oh god Lauren, I am so sorry, I did-" However he didn't finish his sentence as he noticed Laurens face light up and the sweetest laugh ever to suppress her lips. "No? You just made that up didn't you?" He asked shocked.

Lauren just grinned and patted him on the back "What can I say, my friends always say I'm a drama queen" she moved away from him and walked towards the stairs.

"That was mean… do you have anything at all wrong with you?"

"I did have a heart condition but that was when I was little… I just exaggerated the truth a tad." Joey shook his head and followed her out to the car park. "Forget your car… I know a little place in walking distance"

Lauren smiled and just followed him as they walked a little awkwardly down the street. Their hands brushed together occasionally and she was sure on more than one occasion he was doing it deliberately. "How much further is it?"

"Not far why?" Lauren shook her head, but shivered. "Are you cold?"

"A little"

Joey shrugged his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders, pulling her into his side. "Better?"

"Ye, thank you"

As Joey said they were at the little restaurant in now time, he held the door open for her and led her to a table. It turned out the place was a French bistro. Joey eat there often and got the shock of his life when Lauren began talking fluent French to the waiter.

"You know French?" he smiled as she thanked the waiter who set their food down.

"I do indeed. My uncle lived out there for a while so I picked up a bit when I spent the summer with him a few years back. It's not perfect but ye…"

"Well I think you sound very sexy when you speak it…"

"Err thanks" she replied feeling a pink blush form on her cold cheeks. Joey looked up his food so he could look in her face and couldn't help but love the coy smile etched on her face. They ate their food in relative silence and Joey paid the bill, much to Laurens annoyance. "So we should be going home…"

"I guess…" Joey trailed off as they walked the short distance back to office. They were both standing at their cars ready to leave when Joey sighed. "Look why don't you leave your car here… You can stay at mine, I have a spare room or I'll drive you home, I don't mind"

Lauren thought for a second, beginning to panic slightly, then Whit's words from earlier were in her head… Have a good night. She nodded at him and climbed into the car as he opened it. Joey didn't live far away so after about 10 minutes they were at his. She looked out the window as they parked onto a private car park outside some very swanky looking flats. From what she could gather in the dark, he lived by the docks, the view was amazing form where she was standing and she knew it would only be better for the widow.

"Come on" Joey locked the car and proceeded into the building making sure Lauren was close behind. "Here we are" they'd gone up a couple of flights of stairs so she knew he wasn't on the ground floor but he wasn't too high up. Joey stepped inside the lights automatically switching on as he walked in.

"Wow" Lauren sighed walking over to the window right away. She was right. It was a beautiful view, you could see a lot from this window. His apartment looked out right across the Thames, the lights of the other apartments cast orange glows across the water as it lapped lightly against the river bank. "It's beautiful"

"Ye it is…" she turned to see Joey, but he wasn't looking at the view, he was looking at her. He stepped forward as she continued to look out the window, but instead of the view her attention was on his reflection. She watched intently as he carefully swept her hair over her one shoulder. His lips falling to the base of her neck for a brief second. She shivered as the warmth of his hands could be felt on her hips; closing her eyes she allowed her body to feel everything. Joey looked up and noticed her eyes closed in the reflection. "You're so beautiful Lauren…" His fingers pushed her jacket to the floor, it hitting the wood with a soft clatter.

"Kiss me…" she whispered in the most minuscule voice ever, but he heard and he complied, cupping her face in his hands and letting their lips meet in a soft, passionate kiss.

only one for today hope you enjoyed ! xxx