Game, Set And Match

Instead of the wan, anorexic creature he’d feared he’d see, if he ever met her in person, Lorraine Whittle was no shrinking violet. She no longer had that crazed half-starved look that had been popular back in her youth. She was now sleek, toned, proportionately curved and well-muscled.  She had lost the scantily clad and vulgar dressing and in front of him stood a quiet, regally dressed woman in an expensive Vera Wang gown.

At close range, he was bronze skinned, toned and stacked with bulging muscles, with wavy black hair and unusual gray eyes framed by long curly eyelashes and sported a small diamond chip in his right ear. He easily topped six feet two inches in height, with broad shoulders and lean hips. He had light gray eyes that twinkled with amusement in contrast with a hard, stern face defined by a square chin, chiseled jaw, and bushy thick dark brows. That was the only thing on his body allowed to grow wild as everything else was expensive and well-tailored down to the flashy diamond studded watch on his hand.

“I would never would have made the connection Lorraine Whittle,” he said, in a deep, baritone voice.

Lo tried to smooth her features into a semblance of outward calm despite the panic she felt on the inside. This was not how she pictured their conversation going, now who knows what he thought before she was given a chance to explain herself. Now, once more, her reputation had preceded her. She wanted to scream at the Gods and hurl invectives for all the bad karma and negative publicity that had been hounding her lately. Good manners, however, caused her to hold her head high and keep her poise.

“Mr. Jameson, finally we meet in person,” she said as she tried to keep out any sign of being upset or irked out of her tone of speech.

“If I had known you wanted to meet me I would have arranged something sooner.”

“I’ve tried many times to get in contact with you through your company.” She assured him dryly. “Your secretary kept giving me the run around, many times, in fact.”

Even the irritation in her voice and the fire in her eyes was a turn on. He held out a glass to her. “Champagne?”

Lo refused it with a shake of her head as she studied his face. Lorraine watched him for a moment, still momentarily impressed and amused by his indifference to Rosie. She had a seat to clamp down on the wetness his appearance was generating. Keeping her expression pleasant and neutral, she looked him in the eye. She felt convinced that he saw her as a big fat joke. He found her amusing and was just toying with her emotions when the situation called for brevity and seriousness. She had to let him see the urgency of her situation, her job and future was at stake. Had she known he was expected to appear at tonight’s function, she would have come prepared to corner him with her folder of all the threats she had been getting and been better prepared to plead her case.

 Now desperation had crept in as this was her once in a lifetime opportunity and she couldn’t afford to let the moment pass. She had looked forward to his company putting an end to the dreaded threats that kept popping up on her fitness app. However, they just shuffled her around from department until her case was put in the low priority list, tests were inconclusive they would need more time to do a detailed investigation. That was time she didn’t have she had already lost a lucrative offer due to the negativity, she couldn’t afford anymore backlash.

Phillip looked to see if the photographer was still present at the function hopefully he had gotten his shot and left.

“Phillip, I hate to lay things on you so thick when we just met but I need your help.”

“Go ahead Lo, speak your mind, let me know what’s troubling you.”

“Up to last week I’ve appealed to your company to get some assistance with these aggressive threats I’ve been getting on my tennis app but your company has been silent and unresponsive, why is that?”

“Oh, sorry to hear that Lo, first, let me apologize on behalf of my company. I won’t be able to address your issue first hand until I’ve looked into the matter myself. I can promise you this though, I will work through my team to have your problem resolved as quickly as possible.”

“Thanks Phillip, I can’t express how much of a relief to know that my situation is now in capable hands, please keep me posted as to any developments.”

“Sure, now that we have that out of the way, just relax Lo and tell me a bit about yourself?”

“Well, I’ve recently moved here to set up my relatively new business, I can say it’s not without its daily challenges but I love it here, the warmth and friendliness of the people have come a long way in making me feel welcome.”

“What type of business are you running?”

“I operate a small tennis club, we are big on multimedia we have our own Twitter, Facebook and Instagram page as seen on the card I handed you earlier but the avenue that has given us our most popularity is the tennis app that your company helped us develop. I’m surprised you don’t know much about it.”

“My business is large and global so we hire the best teams worldwide to act in my stead on good faith. Only the most pressing matters that would affect the overall outcome of the company would reach my desk.”

“Well, that is understandable, I guess.”

Phillip was such a tease and a pleasure to be around. He had her laughing and forgetting her own personal problems in no time at all. It felt good to be in the company of a handsome and intelligent man.

“You are an amazing woman, Lorraine.” He said seriously. “I would love if you gave me the opportunity to show you around and get to know you better.”

“Sure. I would love to spend more time with you.” Shortly after that they exchanged phone numbers with Phillip promising to call and arrange their dates.

Phillip left the party shortly after speaking with Lo. Not wishing to have another ghastly encounter with the formidable Rosie. He tried not to make it so obvious that he was fleeing and did a round of socializing with a few of his more important business acquaintances. After a few farewells he stepped out into the cool night air and signaled to one of the porters to have his Lamborghini brought around. While waiting, his thoughts flittered back to Lo. What was it about this particular woman that made him want to see her again? She was an attractive woman but he had dated more beautiful women than her. Hold that thought, his car was finally here he needed to get out of this place before he changed his mind and went back in, there was something about Lo that drove him wild.