The Christmas Party by Carole Matthews

in a way that he never could with Kirsten. His wife saw Fossil as the enemy and didn’t want to hear anything about it.
    Now, however, Melissa had become clingy. She demanded to see him more and more. She phoned him at inopportune moments. More than once he’d had to duck into the bathroom and run the shower while he spoke to her so that Kirsten wouldn’t hear.
    There was no doubt they’d had some fun together, but now it had to end. Melissa just didn’t seem to understand that. He’d tried not returning her calls, wriggling out of her constant pleas to see him. She was older than him and much wiser: you’d think she’d know the score. He loved Kirsten, of course he did. This was something else entirely. Something very separate to his marriage.
    ‘Hello, Tyler,’ she said. ‘How lovely to see you.’
    Her eyes held his for longer than was sensible and he hoped no one had noticed. Kirsten in particular. He and Melissa had to have a talk tonight. He wanted this to be a clean break where they remained good friends and, more importantly, she didn’t feel the need to confess all to Lance.
    Lance’s PA appeared. Veronica was a competent woman as well, far too dedicated to Lance and completely impervious to Tyler’s charms. Not that he hadn’t given it a good go. Yet, whatever he did, there was no way that she’d part with any useful inside information for him.
    ‘Do come and have your photographs taken,’ she urged and ushered them towards an area of the reception room where a studio set of a winter wonderland had been created, with a backdrop of a snowy scene complete with twinkling stars and Christmas trees laden with fake snow. The floor was covered with fake snow an inch deep.
    They were shown past the waiting junior staff and Veronica slotted them into place at the head of the queue until the photographer was ready for them.
    First, Lance and Melissa stepped forward. Both grinned obligingly for the camera, staged faces that they were used to showing to the world. Then he and Kirsten joined them. Kirsten stood next to Lance while he went to Melissa’s side. Fake snow engulfed his shoes. Melissa slipped her arm around him and he felt her fingers forage beneath his dinner jacket to caress his bottom. Not good. Not good at all. He needed to stop this
now
. Before Melissa thought it could go any further. But how?
    He glanced at Kirsten, whose smile was frozen in place. Lance’s arm was round her and he wondered if the chairman was doing the same to his wife. Old goat.
    Then, as they were all beaming cheesily for the camera, he saw Louise arrive and it wasn’t the flashgun going off that had his eyes popping out of his head. She looked unbelievably delicious. How could he not have spotted this before? It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed she was quite fanciable at the office – but not in this way. Now that she was scrubbed up, she was an absolute stunner. She was wearing some demure black dress, but looked as sexy as hell. Her hair was swept up, showing off her long, slender neck. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. He viewed it as a perk of the job to have an affair with his assistant, which had got him into trouble more than once. After the last incident, he’d sworn off office relationships. He’d let Human Resources pick his new assistant and this one was bright all right. Louise was as sharp as a tack. He was only surprised that she wasn’t further up the ladder already. He’d only made a few half-hearted attempts to flirt with her, but she was having none of it. Not that it had bothered him. There was always someone willing if he felt the urge.
    But tonight he was seeing her in a different light. Louise looked truly ravishing and he decided that whatever it took he needed to get to know her better.

Chapter Eight
    I stand frozen to the spot on the verge of the reception room. This house is completely awe-inspiring. I’ve never been inside a place like this before and it’s almost overwhelming. I wish