"I'm so nervous and you're not helping," Stephanie moaned as she sat next to Paul in Laura Molinaro's outer office the following morning. Paul looked at her and was amused as she scanned around the office with wide eyes and shook her head slightly, "Look at this place. I've never been anywhere even close to being like this before. Some people have so much money."

This was one of the things Paul liked most about Stephanie. He was not sure how he would describe it, not necessarily naivety, innocence maybe. She seemed to be so easily awed by things and it always brought a smile to his face. "People have money? You do realise the company pays for all of this right?" Paul had a grin on his face as he posed the question.

"I'm not stupid Paul," Stephanie defended herself indignantly, "but you can't tell me Laura doesn't have money. The kind of money I'm never going to have."

"Never say never Steph."

Stephanie turned and grinned at him. Apparently she thought his comment was a joke but she changed the subject, "Why won't you even tell me what you said to her yesterday and what you agreed to?"

Paul looked at Stephanie again and was once more struck by how stunning she looked even despite the slight swelling that was still visible around her left eye. She had done a great job with her make up which meant it was actually tough to tell that she had been punched in the face less than two days before. She was wearing the most expensive dress she owned, a sleeveless navy blue number. Paul had meant it when he told her she looked incredible when he had first seen her in it earlier in the morning. "Look Steph you don't know this woman like I do okay, let me do the talking in there and things will work out," he almost whispered to keep Laura's secretary from overhearing. He doubted that the woman would run to Laura telling tales but maybe she would do anything for some brownie points. Who knew? Safe was better than sorry.

It did not escape Stephanie that again her question about the meeting the previous day had been avoided but she let it go with a smile, "I don't understand business talk Paul and you do so if you want to do the talking go right ahead."

They had both assumed that Laura was in her office as they had been told to sit and wait by the secretary but this was proved not to be the case as she breezed in from the hallway dressed in her usual dark suit pants and this time a cream blouse that seemed to make the darkness of her skin tone stand out even more than usual. Paul silently bemoaned the fact that her beauty was only skin deep and that she was in fact a disgusting human being as she greeted Paul and Stephanie almost cheerfully, "Good morning," then without waiting for a reply she had walked past them whilst issuing orders, "Paul join me in my office, Stephanie wait out here for a few minutes please."

Immediately wary of a double cross of some kind Paul was quick to question Laura as he stood to follow her, "Good morning, everything okay?"

Laura was inside her office by the time she replied, "Come in and close the door."

Not really having any choice Paul did as ordered, leaving Stephanie outside as he awkwardly closed the door, struggling with his crutches. As he did so Laura's perfume filled his nostrils. Whatever the presumably expensive fragrance was it was incredible. He found himself wondering why he could not encounter Laura without thinking about how hot she was, after all he despised the woman. Maybe that was the reason. He had certainly never fucked someone he hated before, or a married woman for that matter. That would be a thrill of some kind in itself.

"Oh, sorry. How is the knee this morning?" The concern in her voice seemed genuine to him as it interrupted his thoughts but he figured that it probably was. Of course she was concerned about his recovery, she wanted him out there pushing her ratings up. That was obviously what she actually cared about, not his health. He was an asset to her not a person and it made him begin to get angry already as he replied, "I need that scan. You said someone would contact me and nobody did."

"No one called you yesterday?" Laura demanded as she took her seat behind her desk.

"That's what I just said."

A quiet but furious growl escaped her throat as she closed her eyes, "I swear sometimes people think I give orders as a joke. Take a seat Paul. I apologise for this, when we're done here I'll go look into this personally and someone will wish I hadn't."

Paul took his seat, wondering briefly if his complaint had just cost someone their job. The irrelevant thought quickly disappeared from his mind as it returned to what Laura was going to have him do in exchange for Stephanie's own job. He felt his blood begin to boil again as it always seemed to very quickly around Laura. It was so unfair and it was going to be hell, "Look I agreed to what you wanted and we shook hands on a deal so just do the right thing and have Steph in here, have her sign the new contract and apologise to her for the upset she went through."

"I'm giving you the chance to change your mind."

Paul bristled and his voice raisd, "We made an agreement and shook hands. You think you're the only one here who places any value on their word?"

His anger drew no reaction, "Fine. Have you told Stephanie what was agreed?"

"Not yet and neither will you," Paul insisted, "I'll do it later when this is behind her."

"Okay that's fair," Laura said and then she rose from her chair, "This animosity between us can end here Paul or it can continue. It's up to you. Frankly I don't give a damn either way." With that she offered her hand to Paul across the desk. His first instinct was to tell her to stick her half baked olive branch up her ass and if he had been the only one to consider he almost certainly would have done but again he felt a sense of responsibility to Stephanie forcing him down a different path. Knowing that things would only get worse if he ignored the peace offer that had just been made Paul stood and shook the hand without comment.

"Send Stephanie in, she's owed an apology," Laura ordered after the handshake was done.

"Damn right she is," Paul growled as he made his way to the door and awkwardly opened it. He sent Stephanie into the office and sat down to wait for her. He quickly convinced himself that he did not trust Laura or her offer of a truce and that both he and Stephanie would continue to be targeted as long as Laura believed they were together. The crazy bitch clearly got some kind of enjoyment from tormenting him and she was not going to stop this easily, he simply did not believe it.

Therefore he was going to have to end this thing with Stephanie before she lost her job over it, it was the only option. He had avoided her losing her job this time but only at the cost of ruining his own life for the next few months. It was obvious that she was set on the idea of being with him but it was best to break it off now before she got too attached. It was the best thing for both of them but especially Stephanie.

He had to wait for just under ten minutes for Stephanie to emerge from the office. When she did so she had a broad smile on her face. Paul awkwardly stood again and as they walked out of the office side by side he asked, "What did she say in there?"

Stephanie was still smiling, "She was very nice. I don't know why you dislike her so much, you were totally wrong about her doing this to get at you. She looked into what happened with my contract and luckily although that guy called me in and told me I was being released luckily no one had actually signed off on it yet so Laura tore into him and she's personally made sure that it can't happen and she's extended my contract by a year. She apologised for the upset that I was caused and in the new contract I signed she's improved my pay slightly to compensate me for it. I've now got a two year contract and I'm making more money. I really can't believe it and this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't rushed down here to speak with her yesterday Paul. I can't thank you enough for whatever you said to her."

Managing not to shake his head at how unbelievably naive Stephanie could be at times Paul kept his response simple as he wondered how on Earth Laura had managed to do what she had done to Stephanie and still come out of it looking good. The woman was something else. "You're welcome," was all he said.

"We should go have lunch somewhere to celebrate," Stephanie bubbled excitedly as they entered the elevator to go back down to the lobby.

"Look Steph, we need to talk. Let's go back to my place okay?"

A look of concern appeared on her face, "That doesn't sound good."

Paul avoided answering Stephanie's questions as best as he could as she carefully drove his Mercedes back to his condo. When they arrived and walked in Stephanie asked, "Shall I make us some coffee?" She headed to the kitchen area as though she already knew the answer but she was wrong.

"Let's just sit down and talk." Paul was not looking forward to this at all and wanted to get it over with as soon as he could. He awkwardly sat on the couch and waited for Stephanie to join him but she said, "Put your legs up, rest your knee. You've been doing much more than you should with it the last couple of days."

It did feel good to relax and rest the knee which was throbbing again. He may have been using crutches but being out and about still inevitably meant the knee was moved a lot more than it should be at this early stage especially as it was potentially injured again. Paul looked at Stephanie as she sat on the floor by his side, looking up at him and he dreaded what he was about to do and the upset it would cause to this amazing, kind hearted girl. Reluctantly he began, "Steph listen. I don't really know how to say this as I'm not good with words when it comes to things like this so I'm just going to tell it how it is. We need to end this thing between us before it gets started. If we don't you're going to lose your job over it and I'm going to have my life made a living hell too. Between them Trish and more importantly Laura are going to see to both of those things."

As predicted Stephanie looked wounded and taken completely by surprise, "End it? Why would you say that? I want to be with you. And what the hell does Trish have to do with it?"

Paul sighed, "Laura made me agree to do something to save your job. Until my knee injury is healed and I'm back in the ring I'm working on the creative team. I'm working for Trish. That's right my bitch soon to be ex wife is now my boss. It's going to be a living nightmare and I'm going to hate it and believe me they've got their sights on you too."

Defiantly Stephanie took his hand as though holding it would mean she was unable to leave and insisted, "I don't care. I want to be with you." Paul's head was quickly becoming a mess of emotions. He had told himself persistently to avoid another relationship, to avoid women altogether but at this point there was no denying that he had genuine feelings for Stephanie. Not love, it was too soon for him to love someone again but she was a beautiful woman and she obviously had a heart of gold. It was for that reason that he was determined she would not get hurt or have her dreams destroyed on his behalf, this thing had to end.

Paul squeezed her hand, "You don't even know me Steph. Hell I don't know you either. All we know is we find each other attractive and we enjoy each other's company. That's not love and it's not a reason to ruin your dreams. I'm sorry but this can't happen between us. Believe me I'm ending this because it's for the best for both of us, especially for you. That's the only reason."

"Don't say that. Please don't say that. This is not for the best and it's not what I want. I want you. Being with you is what's best for me."

It sounded to Paul as though Stephanie was almost begging him to change his mind and already words were starting to desert him as Stephanie's words and the devastated look on her face cut into his heart like a knife, much more than he had expected it to but still he stumbled on, "You're a great girl and you've been amazing these last couple of weeks but I'm not going to see you get hurt over me. You may think you love me but we don't know enough about each other and we've not spent enough time together for that to be true. Just go Steph. Don't make it harder than it already is. This is how it has to be."

There were tears in Stephanie's eyes now, "Paul please don't do this. I do love you. Suddenly her tone grew angry which surprised Paul a little. He had never heard an angry word from Stephanie before, not even after Trish had punched her, "You're going to give in to Trish and Laura? They want to make you miserable so you're just going to let them?"

"I'm trying to do what's best..."

Stephanie's face had darkened somehow and when she cut him off her voice was almost a shout, "No! You're a fighter Paul, that's what you do, so fight." She seemed to calm down in a few seconds after the outburst before continuing, "Fight Laura and fight Trish instead of admitting defeat before they even start. I know what I see in your eyes Paul, you have feelings for me and I have feelings for you. Tell me I'm wrong."

Her statement was true so he could not deny it. He did have feelings for her but having feelings was very different to love and she did not seem to realise it. "Steph this your dream job, you said that yourself. I know what Laura is like and I definitely know what Trish is like so be under no illusions what you're letting yourself in for here. I really was just trying to do what's best for you."

"You are what's best for me. I'll worry about Trish and Laura if I have to." With that she stood and leaned over him and held both sides of his face as she kissed him long and slow and she tasted so good. Paul wondered what the hell he had been thinking of, Stephanie was right, fuck Laura and fuck Trish. Maybe this would turn into something with Stephanie or maybe it would not but one thing was for sure, neither of those miserable bitches would be the ones to decide it for him.