"Stephanie?"

The brunette's small, smug smile waned.

"Why, Adam, why the shocked look?"

"No offense," the blond man began, "but get off of me - now..."

Now Stephanie's smile completely vanished.  As she stood up, straightening her short, tight skirt, she looked downright upset.  Then, shifting her gaze back to him, she spoke again.

"I thought you wanted to be the WWE Champion..."

"I do," Adam replied, "but not like this - never like this!"  He shook his head for emphasis.

The brunette's pout suddenly became a bit of a scowl as she stared into the tall Canadian's green eyes.

"Really?  Well, let me tell you something, Adam Copeland!"  She half-leaned on her desk, supporting her weight with her left hand, while the right was holding her hip.  "Guys like you in this business - they get enough decent pushes, but they never amount to anything.  You may get shots at the World Title, but that's all you get..."

The blond man stared at the young woman in shock, taking in the look in her blue eyes.  Despite her now sly half-smile, there appeared to be a fierce gleam in those orbs - almost a challenge.  She looked smug, almost satisfied.

"I don't believe you...I've gotten chances before, and-"

"And chances are all you're going to get..." Stephanie interrupted him.

By now, Adam was glaring at the brunette.  This woman may contain a ton of power, but she also possessed a ton of nerve as well.  And here the bitch was actually threatening him.

"You'd be so quick to fuck me to get me ahead, huh?" he asked, deciding to take a new tack with this.  "And what about Paul?"

Stephanie's sly grin disappeared again, only to be replaced with a sour expression at the mention of her fiance, Paul Levesque.  In her opinion, the man might call himself "The Game," but she wasn't all that impressed.

"What about him?"

"Um...Well, there's a little matter of you being engaged to the man..." Adam put in.

"Paul does not own me!" Stephanie exclaimed.  "I do as I please!  And what's more - he does the same...The only reason he's even with me is to further his own career," she admitted bitterly.

Adam wasn't really all that surprised by the admission.  "Really?" he asked.  "Then why would he go so far as to propose?"

"Because my dad threatened him..."

Now the blond man was a little surprised.  Before he could question her, the brunette explained.

"Daddy began to resent the fact that Paul was having all his fun with me - and getting all the power in the company to be World Champion, hold onto the title for so long and so forth...Finally, it got to be too much for him, and he had a private little talk with Paul..."  She ran a hand through her long hair, rolling her eyes a little as she continued.  "And anyway, that whole thing ended with a marriage proposal..."

"You don't seem too happy about it..."

The woman shrugged.  "I never really saw it as a serious relationship, and neither did Paul," she explained.  "When we started out, he was still living with Joanie...And he never intended to leave her, either...So, basically, if Joanie hadn't broken up with him, they would still be together - and we sure as hell never would have gotten engaged..."

Adam nodded, realizing how sad all of this sounded.  Well, to each his - and, in Stephanie McMahon's case - her own.  But he supposed when you really got down to it, the boss' daughter and Paul Levesque deserved each other.

"Oh well..." he said, and he stood up.  "I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way you wanted.  If there's nothing more to say, I'll take my leave now."  With that, Adam headed for the door, but Stephanie grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

"Oh, come on, Adam!" she cried, both sounding and looking pathetic in the Canadian's eyes.  "Paul is such a jerk, and I just want some companionship from a nice guy for a change..."

The tall blond man turned back to stare at her in disbelief.

"Yeah, well...Sorry, no can do...You've got the wrong nice guy."

The brunette's expression grew furious.  "Fine!  You know what?  You will never become the WWE Champion - never!  I'll see to it..."  She poked a finger at him rudely.  "Now, go on - get out of my office!"  She seemed on the verge of grabbing something off the desk to throw at him.

Calmly, wordlessly, Adam did exactly as he was told - and walked out of the room without looking back.