Bro-mance 101 (12 page)

“
Ramon would kill me if I let you leave this show
,” Devlin
vowed.
  “
He says
our
ratings
are
the highest the show has seen in months
.
”
 

Zhané
removed her headphones and placed them in her lap. 
“Is that what this is all about?” she
tease
d.  “The ratings?”

He shook his head.  “No.  It’s our chemistry.  Ramon sees it.
 
And so do I.” 

The smoldering gaze she sent
him caused a spark of heat to ignite inside him.
 
He
leaned in and
stroke
d
her
silky
cheek
s with both hands
.  Then, he
d
id
what he’d been wanting to do ever since
sh
e
sashayed into
the studio
a few hours ago
wearing a
slinky
green
dress and stilettos. 
He pulled
her in
to
his arms. 
When their lips touched, it was
like fanning the embers of
a slow burning
fire.  He knew that in a matter of seconds, those embers
had
the potential to flare into a raging inferno. 

Like a starving man, he generously feasted on her pliant lips,
pulling and sucking the soft flesh
, and
stroking her mouth.  It seemed as if he would never get his fill of her. 
It had b
een a few months since their encounter in the elevator
, but e
ver since
that day
, he’d been hungry for more
of her
. 
The only thing stopping him was his fear of
what would happen next
.  He was
hesitant to start a physical relationship
with
Zhané
knowing there would be strings attached.
He couldn’t fool himself into thinking that
he could have wild sex and walk away unaffected
. 
Besides,
Zhané
had already left her mark on him.  He thought about her constantly. 
Even now, with the show ending for the night, he wasn’t ready to let her leave. 
He didn’t want to be alone tonight. 
The question was did she feel the same?
 

Reluctantly, he ended their potentially explosive kiss
.
  The pads of his fingertips s
lipped from her cheeks past her chin and seductively
caressed
the hollow of her throat
.  Then, his lips took the same path, gently nibbling the graceful lines from her earlobe to her chin.  The scent of her soft perfume tickled his nose.  He wanted nothing more than to
pull up that sexy dress, lift her on top of his lap, and
bury himself inside her.  He
craved the feel of her. 
He m
issed
the painful pleasure of
her nails clawing at his back. 

Zhané was a straight-shooter who’d made him stand up and take notice. 
After his breakup years ago, he didn’t think he would ever have romantic feelings for a woman again.  He used females to take care of his physical needs, b
ut
he
wanted more than a few one-night stands
with
her
. 
“
Zhané
,” he whispered in her ear, “
c
ome home with me tonight
.
”
 

Zhané
smiled
as Devlin continued to press butterfly kisses along the long column of her throat. 
S
he loved the
feel of his lips on her skin
.
Everything he did was so erotic.
Already, a wa
rm
river of
lava w
as starting to flow through her.  She
was going to have to change
her
panties if he kept this up.  “You want me to come home with you?” she clarified.  “Why?  Y
ou
h
ave some shoes for me to try on?
”

Devlin chuckled, obviously catching her reference to the comment he
’d
made to Cynthia earlier.  “
No, I already know you’re the perfect fit.
”

She laughed as he
pulled away and
laced his fingers with hers.  His hands were so strong
–as were other appendages of his body
. 
She
was itching
to take him up on his offer
for a
sleepover
. 
He looked so sexy tonight.  He felt
so good.  So right. 
She’d m
issed his kisses. 
She thought about him
morning, noon, and night
. 
No
t even a
sp
ur-of-the-moment
three-day
weekend in
Vegas with Tina
had been able to
erase the memory
of
her
elevator
encounter
with Devlin
. 

Zhané
squeezed his hands.  “Do you
know what you’re asking?
” she
probed
.  “
The
last
time, we got carried away.
But now, we have time to think about our actions.
”
 
This was the first
time
he’d even touched her
since they
’d begun
co-hosting together
. 
O
ther than his light flirting,
Dev
had
been a perfect gentleman. 

“
That’s my quandary.” 
His dark eyes sought hers.  “
I’ve been thinking about you too much. 
I don’t know what it is about yo
u
,
Zhané
,
but I can’t get you out of my mind.”

Her heartbeat st
ammered
.  She was pleasantly
surprised
to learn
that
Devlin was experiencing
a type of
misery
identical to her own
, but this revelation confirmed the two of them were
headed down
a slippery slope
. 
She couldn’t deny that j
ust being around
th
is
man
gave her a high that couldn’t be duplicated from boardrooms and RFPs. 
“
I feel the same
way about you
,
”
she admitted.
“
I don’t
want to put a damper on things, but
what
the hell
are we
going to do about this?
”
 

H
e grinned
.  “
You’re too much of a woman to let get away. 
You stimulate
me physically and mentally.  You’re equal parts femininity and strength, both traits that turn me on.
”  The pads of his thumbs stroked her palms.  “
You’ve
got me thinking in a new direction. 
I like our vigorous debates.  I think between the both of us, we
perfectly re
p
resent both sides of an issue.
 
I guess I’m trying to say I think we’re an a
mazing combination.
”
 

“So tell me how you really feel
,
”
she teased.

“
Zhané Williams, you are a woman worth taking the plunge with.
”

“
What
exactly
does that mean?
”

“
Woman, you’
re all that
!
  I want to keep you around, and not just in a co-host capacity.
”
 

She was tempted to return his megawatt smile, but she was trembling on the inside. 
Her disaster with
Malik
had shaken her confidence. 
She’d mistakenly believed
that
r
elationship was the real thing. 
She didn’t trust herself to tell the difference now. 
“I don’t know about this,” she
hesitate
d.  “If there’s anyt
h
ing I learned from you it’s that I’ve got too much going on to dedicate
myself
to a relationship.  I don’t want to make the same mistake I made w
ith
Malik
.
”  She pulled her hands from his.  “
You deserve better.
”

Devlin cupped her face.  “
Baby,
I appreciate
you saying
that.  But you and I are different from you and
Malik
.  You two
had
numerous
issues,
the biggest of which was
that you
didn’t
make time for each other. 
That’s not going to happen with us
,” he
assured her
. 
“
You’re already making time for me.
”

That was t
rue.
Initially,
Zhané
was only
supposed
to
co-host
once or twice a week
.  Yet
,
somehow she
found herself
at KLUV Studios
e
very
evening after work
verbally trysting
with Devlin
on Bro-mance 101
.
She’d been w
orried
that
her
career
would suffer, but it hadn’t. 
Now, s
he got her
“
Devlin
”
fix every day, and she was e
ven more productive
at work
.
It was as if she and he
fed off each other
.  T
heir boundless energy
t
rickl
ed
into all asp
e
cts of her life.

Looking back, she realized h
er relationship with
Malik
had
been
drain
ing
.  The last
month or two
,
it
had become
a
chore to be with him. 
Conversely,
spending time with
Devlin
invigorat
ed her. 
She too,
enjoy
ed their debates. 
She loved the way he looked at her with
that
seductive gleam in his eyes.
She
purred whenever
his velvety voice washed over her. 
She
admir
ed his intelligence. 
She
reveled in
his attentiveness. 
Even when he was talking with listeners, he made her feel as if she were the only woman in the world. 

Devlin
i
s definitely not
Malik
. 

“So what do you think?”
Devlin
asked
her
.  “Can we make a go of it?”

Ramon
rapped on the glass
divider
,
interrupting their private moment to signal
that
t
he commercial break was ending
.  He gave them a
‘
thumbs up
’
sign and a grin so wide
Zhané
thought his face would split in half. 

Taking his
cue,
Zhané
hurriedly donned her headphones,
unmuted the
microphone
,
and took the next call. 
“Welcome back to
Bro-mance
101 with a twist of spice
,” she
announced
. 
“
You’re on the air with
Zhané
and Devlin.”