Chapter Four

He and Eve had been working together for a couple of years, and this wasn't the first time that the cheapskate network had put them up in the same room. At least it was a twin room this time, and quite a large one. There was a chance for some privacy: not like that guest house in Berlin. It had always been awkward for Alan - he was a married man, and a pretty shy one at that. Alan never held anything back from his wife Melanie - he'd told her about the logistics of working abroad for a network who's foreign affairs desk was still trying to save money after spending so much covering the Gulf War. Melanie knew that it was part of her husband's job description to spend a lot of time alone in close quarters with his reporter.

'Unzip me, would you?' Alan obliged, and Eve stepped out of her dress.

She had danced semi-professionally while was at college and was used to getting undressed in front of other people. More than that, she had nothing to worry about when she did. Back home, Melanie read magazines full of pictures of thin, toned women and articles saying that she shouldn't worry because not everyone could look like a model. Melanie was good-looking, but she was a thirty-seven year old waitress with three kids. Eve was twenty-five with a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, a personal trainer and membership of a gym. When Alan was at home, he lay in bed with Melanie, telling his wife that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, but they both knew it wasn't true.

The funny thing was, Eve was more jealous of Melanie than the other way around. When they'd covered some event at EuroDisney, Alan and Eve had shared a double bed thanks to another booking error. They'd got drunk and had a big heart to heart. If nothing else it proved that their relationship was going to stay Platonic no matter what. Eve had told Alan that she envied him his wife, she didn't have anyone back home. Whenever she met someone now, she could never be sure whether they wanted her or her fame. So she stayed lonely.

Eve was standing there in that lace underwear she'd paid a thousand dollars for in Paris. Alan was the only person who had ever seen her in it.