Authors: Linda Francis Lee
Tags: #Romance, #Sex in the workplace, #Fiction
Sinfully Sexy (7 page)
"That's fine. I'm happy to work with anyone on this project. If you'll
assign someone else, I'll get started."
Chloe groaned. "There is no one else."
"No assistants?"
"Nope."
"No in-house producer?"
She sighed. "I've been serving as in-house producer since we had to let
our last one go."
"So what do you propose?"
Chloe flopped down into the matching chair across from Julia's desk,
pushing her glasses up with one finger pressed to the bridge. "I guess
I have no choice but to work with you on this."
"You make it sound so horrible."
"It is."
"Come on," he teased. "Was I really that bad last night?"
They both knew he wasn't. But she still wasn't willing to surrender her
I've-never-met-you stance.
"You really aren't going to give up, are you?" he asked.
"I've been called tenacious."
"A better word might be stubborn."
"Thank you."
"Fine. Have it your way. But we'll need to get to work right away."
He stood. Unfortunately he stopped just in front of her, planting his
hands on the arms of her chair. His dark eyes sparked with humor, and
his incredibly sensual mouth tilted up at one corner. "If you want,"
he said, "we can start in the bathroom."
He pushed away and was gone before she could chuck her notepad at his
head.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: A month
Chloe Sinclair
Station Manager
Award-winning KTEX TV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Worry
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Status
Katherine C. Bloom
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Not yet
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Will do
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The line of men and women vying to be on KTEX TV's new reality show,
The Catch and His Dozen Texas Roses
,
snaked around the building and down the street. From all appearances,
West Texas's
entire eighreen-to-thirty-four-year-old demographic had turned out, and
not a few fifty and older were mixed into the line.
Did these people have no pride? Chloe wondered as she sat at the long
folding table in what had been, until an hour ago, the lunchroom at
KTEX. Now it was the interview room, hastily set up to accommodate the
hundreds of men and women who had turned out to vie for their fifteen
minutesâor two weeksâof fame.
Trey Tanner sat next to her.
She had a stack of photos and resumes sitting in front of her. She
could feel him studying her as she
made a great production of going overâor pretending to go over, given
how uncomfortable she feltâ
the resumes of each applicant.
"I don't think we'll have trouble getting our bachelor or our twelve
Roses," he remarked, his dark eyes glittering with humor.
Sitting next to him was bad enough. Having him smile at her made her
want to scream. Scream in frustration over the way her heart sped up.
She was not allowed to feel anything for the man. She was supposed to
be doing mental penance for her complete and utter lack of good sense
last week. But whenever her gaze happened on him, she couldn't help
herself from glancing at his mouth. The only
thing that saved her was that every time he opened that very same
orifice, something completely
arrogant and autocratic came out that made her think CEO instead of
underling. This man didn't act
like he knew the first thing about taking orders from anyone.
"What?" he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
"Nothing." She shook her head and refocused on the stack in front of
her. "We'd best get started if we plan to interview everyone out there.
We will have to go fast, and even then it will take hours."
"If you had let me go through the photos, I could have narrowed the
search down quite a bit. I would have weeded out the undesirables."
"What are you talking about?"
"The dogs, dirtbags, and do-gooders."
"That's completely unfair! And mean."
"Have it your way. If you're willing to take the time, so am I. I aim
to please." He smiled, though it looked really forced and really
suspicious. Chloe studied him closely.
"Let's get started," he said. "Where's our first hopeful?" he called
out.
KTEX's twenty-three-year-old receptionist appeared in the doorway
faster than she had done anything since coming to work at the station.
She was dressed in a way that Chloe had never seen. She either wanted a
job on
The Catch
or she was
interested in Trey Tanner.
Chloe glanced down at her own sensible skirt and low heels. It was as
if she had not only lost every
trace of sexy, but had headed even farther in the opposite direction.
"Bring in the first candidate," Trey instructed.
"Yes, sir." The woman turned to go.
"Lucy! You report to me." Trey glanced over at her as she ridiculously
added, "You can bring in the
first applicant."
Trey chuckled and Lucy rolled her eyes. Chloe decided she could learn a
thing or two about commanding people.
The first candidate happened to be a man. He introduced himself as
Leonard Parsimmons.
"Thank you for coming in, Leonard," Chloe said kindly.
He wore a short-sleeved button-down shirt tucked into neatly pressed
khaki pants. He couldn't have
been taller than five-five, though his resume stated
five-seven-and-three-quarters. He had sandy blond hair that fell
forward onto his forehead, and another glance at the resume put his
weight at 139 pounds. He was a slight man with a shy smile.
"Next," Trey said, startling them.
"What?" Chloe demanded. "We haven't even asked any questions."
"As you said, we have to go fast or we'll be here all day."
"But we have to ask questions."
Trey gave a weary sigh and sat back.
Chloe looked at Leonard. "Mr. Parsimmons, what is your favorite color?"
For the next few minutes, they talked and laughed. The man was a
delight, kind and sweet, and Chloe loved him. By the time she finished,
she actually walked him to the door.
"I think he could work," she said, returning.
An expression of disbelief spread over Trey's face. "You've got to be
kidding. We're supposed to make people want to watch the show, not make
them change the channel as fast as they can."
"He's great!"
"He's horrible."
"Give me one good reason why."
"Would you date him?"
"Sure."
"Really? He's going to make you hot and wet? Can you even imagine
sleeping with him?"
Chloe choked. "You're awful."
"I'm not awful. I'm just trying to get at the truth."
"The truth? Oh, sure. I recognize your type."
"What are you going to do, compare me to Leonard? Stereotype us both by
saying he's kind and gentle and I'm a Neanderthal who thinks sex is a
game and my only goal is to score?"
"Exactly!"
"You're wrong. I enjoy women and I enjoy them in bed. I admit it. But
women rarely admit what they really want."
"Aaawwwk!" She was so appalled her head felt like it did an
Exorcist
spin.
"Women say they want Ashley," he continued with bold assurance, "when
they really want Rhett."
Her mouth fell open.
"They say they want sweet and sensitive, but they really want a strong
man who's confident enough
to protect them."
She could feel her lips flapping as she tried to find words to express
her disgust. "You . . . are . . . the
 . . . most arrogantly atrocious man I have ever had the
misfortune to meet."
The next
Catch
candidate
entered, an overmuscled bodybuilder who didn't appear to have a neck.
"Oh, look," she hissed quietly with a saccharine-sweet smile. "A man
whose knuckles scrape the ground. Your hero."
"I'm not talking about Tarzanâ"
She snorted.
"I'm talking about someone like"âhe considered, then continuedâ"John
Wayne. The sort of man
who doesn't take no for an answer and saves the town at the end of the
day."
"Male Behavior 101 learned on the Turner Classic Movie station. I'm
impressed."
He wiggled his brows.
This time she was the one to hurry the candidate along. "Next!"
A woman entered. The minute Trey smiled at the voluptuous blonde, Chloe
knew that this was going
to be the longest few weeks of her life.
"Tammi with an i" smiled and cooed at Trey, leaning over whenever she
had a chance to show off her Pamela Anderson breasts. Like that would
get her the job.
"I think she's a perfect choice," Trey said once Tammi left the room.
"Just the sort of woman who will keep viewers away from the remote."
"Could you be a little less predictable?" she countered. "Besides, this
is supposed to be a family show,
not Wet Dream TV."
He laughed out loud.
They interviewed three more women in a row. And Chloe had the idea to
ask the questions from the
Sexy!
quiz.
"If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would you be?"
Trey's lips spread in amusement, and then he asked her what her
response would be. She refused to answer, though not one of the women
said llama.
Chloe decided to leave out that question after a woman named Jazzy
Jamison, wearing heavy black eyeliner and long red nails, looked Trey
up and down and said, "I'd come back as a fierce, man-eating lion who
roared."
When she exited, even Trey agreed she was a little scary.
At least they could scratch another off the list.
It took them hours, but by five that evening, they had narrowed the 347
interviewees down to five men and twenty-five women.
By late afternoon the following day, it was time to make the final
decisions. "I really think Sherry Webb would be a good Rose," she said.
"Miss Brains?"
"Do you have to give them all names?"
"You're the one who started it by referring to 'Tammi with an i' as Ms.
Boobs."
She cringed. "It was wrong and mean, and I never should have said that."
"Too late."
"How about a deal? I'll let you choose Tammi if you let me choose
Sherry."
"We're going to make decisions based on bargaining?" he asked.
"You'd rather pull names out of a hat?"
"I was thinking we should consider attributes that would make them
appealing to a television audience."
"You're obsessed with channel changing."
"You should be, too, since you manage the station."
Now that was a little embarrassing, since he was absolutely right.
"I'm starved. We never had lunch," she said, her head throbbing from
the process.
"Then let's eat." He looked around as if he expected a waiter to
materialize, then appeared surprised
by the sparsely furnished lunchroom.
"You looked confused," she said.
"No, not at all. We'll go out."
"We don't have time. We can order something."
"You do that?"
"Don't you?"
"Actually, no, I never have."
"What planet did you say you're from?"
He blinked. "A regular planet. Let's order."
"What do you want?"
"What do you want?"
"Why are you avoiding the question?"
"I'm being the polite, kind, sensitive man you say you desire."
"Then pizza."
He made a face.
"You don't like pizza?!"
"I love pizza. Order any kind you like."
She went to the phone and called Pepe's Pizzeria. Trey was on his cell
phone, sounding all commanding, when she turned back. She left him in
private, thankful to get away from his unnerving presence.
Twenty minutes later their meal arrived. Trey had come to look for her,
and when she pulled money
out to pay, he stopped her.
"Let me get that."
Such a gentleman.
But suddenly the gentleman jerked to a halt as he stared at his wallet.
He didn't have any cash. He
started to pull out a credit card, then quickly pushed it back as if he
didn't want her to see it, and flipped his wallet shut. "I'll have to
owe you on the pizza." He didn't look happy about it.
She could tell he made a mental note, and she felt certain he was the
sort of man who always paid for
a woman's meal.
In the lunchroom, they had to tackle the final decisions regarding the
cast of
The Catch
. But the
task
was made bearable by the large, thin-crust pepperoni pizza.
Chloe picked up a piece and stopped just before biting when she noticed
Trey was looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
He shrugged, then dove in. He picked up a slice and took a bite. "This
is good." He sounded surprised.
"If I believed in aliens, I'd swear you were from some other world. Are
you sure you're from St. Louis?"
"Positive. Born and raised. Family still there."
"Are you from a big family?"
"Not big. Just my parents and brother who you met, and I have a sister.
I also have a grandmother who
is a whirlwind. In fact she's originally from El Paso. She met my
grandfather when he was stationed at Fort Bliss."
"Tanner. What kind of a name is that?"
He went very still, then he muttered a curse. She swore he was on the
verge of saying something, then seemed to think better of it.
"I don't have any idea what kind of name Tanner is."
"Why do you look like the type who'd know everything about your family
and where they came from?"
Because he was, Sterling wanted to tell her. He did know everything
about his heritage. The Prescott heritage.
It was all he could do not to tell her who he really was. But it was
too late now, and the truth was, not only did he want to prove to his
brother that he could do this, but Sterling felt a deeper need to prove
something to himself.
He also wanted to know more about this woman.
She intrigued him. And she certainly wasn't intimidated by him. A rare
combination in his world. As
rare as him having pizza at a folding table in El Paso, Texas.
Even when Prescott Media was foundering, his family had lived in the
same grand manner as it always had. It wasn't until his grandmother had
come out of her widow's grief that she had realized what was happening.
That's when she came to Sterling.
Shaking the thought away, he watched as Chloe tipped her head back, the
slice tilted up as she tried to guide a long string of cheese into her
mouth. She was enchanting, innocent, and completely unconcerned with
what he thought of her. No posturing or posing.
"Tell me about you," he said without thinking.
She nearly dropped the pizza. "What do you want to know?" she asked
after a long second.
"Anything."
"There's nothing interesting to tell."
"How old are you?"
"None of your business."
"Do you really prefer men like Leonard?"
"Leonard was nice."
"Leonard was a bore."
"Next question."
"Fine. Tell me about your family. Your mother, your father. Do they
live here in town?"
He would have sworn she grew flustered.
"No personal questions," she said.
"Why not?"
"Because it's none of your business."
"You've been asking all the same sorts of questions of these
candidates."
"Maybe, but they're interviewing to be a
Texas Rose
. I'm not."
"Fair enough. Then tell me what animal you'd be reincarnated as."
Red seared her cheeks.
"That embarrasses you?"
"A little."
"Then why did you ask the women?"
"If you must know, I took a quiz and I answered with llama. Don't
laugh."
"I won't. I'm impressed. The llama is a hardworking, trustworthy animal
that is underrated."
"Exactly!"
"The only downside is they spit."
She stared at him, amazed, and for the first time since she had walked
into the conference room, her defenses wavered.
"They do spit! Not many people know that."
"I think a llama is a perfectly respectable reincarnation choice."
She gasped. "I said the same thing!"
With an amazed and surprised smile, Chloe took another bite of pizza, a
stringy piece of cheese popping off to curl on her lip. Sterling
watched as she chewed, her lips moving, and he wanted to kiss her.
Instead he reached out and wiped the cheese away, restraining himself
from pulling her onto the table
and satisfying his urge. But the piece of cheese didn't go away.
He wiped again and it finally came off, only to stick on his finger. He
shook it, then shook again, then before he knew it Chloe was laughing.
Laughing at him. Sterling Prescott, notorious ladies' man. And
assign someone else, I'll get started."
Chloe groaned. "There is no one else."
"No assistants?"
"Nope."
"No in-house producer?"
She sighed. "I've been serving as in-house producer since we had to let
our last one go."
"So what do you propose?"
Chloe flopped down into the matching chair across from Julia's desk,
pushing her glasses up with one finger pressed to the bridge. "I guess
I have no choice but to work with you on this."
"You make it sound so horrible."
"It is."
"Come on," he teased. "Was I really that bad last night?"
They both knew he wasn't. But she still wasn't willing to surrender her
I've-never-met-you stance.
"You really aren't going to give up, are you?" he asked.
"I've been called tenacious."
"A better word might be stubborn."
"Thank you."
"Fine. Have it your way. But we'll need to get to work right away."
He stood. Unfortunately he stopped just in front of her, planting his
hands on the arms of her chair. His dark eyes sparked with humor, and
his incredibly sensual mouth tilted up at one corner. "If you want,"
he said, "we can start in the bathroom."
He pushed away and was gone before she could chuck her notepad at his
head.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: A month
Julia,
I hope you know what you're doing by giving Prescott Media a toehold in
KTEX. It hardly seems possible that we can create and air a program all
within a month. What happens if it doesn't work? Will we be deeper in
debt? Is this creating an even greater opportunity for Prescott to
swoop in and offer you a price that is even lower but impossible not to
accept because we are in worse straits than before?
ChloeI hope you know what you're doing by giving Prescott Media a toehold in
KTEX. It hardly seems possible that we can create and air a program all
within a month. What happens if it doesn't work? Will we be deeper in
debt? Is this creating an even greater opportunity for Prescott to
swoop in and offer you a price that is even lower but impossible not to
accept because we are in worse straits than before?
Chloe Sinclair
Station Manager
Award-winning KTEX TV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Worry
You're
giving me heart palpitations, Chloe. Me, Miss Never Have a Care. I
really don't like this
new life. But now with my father gone, I don't have any choice. Do you
have a better idea that
will save the station?
giving me heart palpitations, Chloe. Me, Miss Never Have a Care. I
really don't like this
new life. But now with my father gone, I don't have any choice. Do you
have a better idea that
will save the station?
As
to the month, you produced Kate's big golf show in two weeks. I don't
see a problem.
Juliato the month, you produced Kate's big golf show in two weeks. I don't
see a problem.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Status
Have
you told Julia about your nocturnal encounter with Trey Tanner yet?
Kateyou told Julia about your nocturnal encounter with Trey Tanner yet?
Katherine C. Bloom
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Not yet
I
haven't had a chance. But I will. Just as soon as I can get her alone.
Chaven't had a chance. But I will. Just as soon as I can get her alone.
Â
Â
Â
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Will do
All
right. I'll do everything I can to ensure the success of the new show.
I've already scheduled
short promos to run announcing the cattle call for talent.
We'll announce it on the news.
Kate, I'd like you to say something on
Getting Real
. We'll certainly get
the word out. I just can't imagine any woman in her right mind would
want to do this.
Chloeright. I'll do everything I can to ensure the success of the new show.
I've already scheduled
short promos to run announcing the cattle call for talent.
We'll announce it on the news.
Kate, I'd like you to say something on
Getting Real
. We'll certainly get
the word out. I just can't imagine any woman in her right mind would
want to do this.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
FIVE
So she was wrong.The line of men and women vying to be on KTEX TV's new reality show,
The Catch and His Dozen Texas Roses
,
snaked around the building and down the street. From all appearances,
West Texas's
entire eighreen-to-thirty-four-year-old demographic had turned out, and
not a few fifty and older were mixed into the line.
Did these people have no pride? Chloe wondered as she sat at the long
folding table in what had been, until an hour ago, the lunchroom at
KTEX. Now it was the interview room, hastily set up to accommodate the
hundreds of men and women who had turned out to vie for their fifteen
minutesâor two weeksâof fame.
Trey Tanner sat next to her.
She had a stack of photos and resumes sitting in front of her. She
could feel him studying her as she
made a great production of going overâor pretending to go over, given
how uncomfortable she feltâ
the resumes of each applicant.
"I don't think we'll have trouble getting our bachelor or our twelve
Roses," he remarked, his dark eyes glittering with humor.
Sitting next to him was bad enough. Having him smile at her made her
want to scream. Scream in frustration over the way her heart sped up.
She was not allowed to feel anything for the man. She was supposed to
be doing mental penance for her complete and utter lack of good sense
last week. But whenever her gaze happened on him, she couldn't help
herself from glancing at his mouth. The only
thing that saved her was that every time he opened that very same
orifice, something completely
arrogant and autocratic came out that made her think CEO instead of
underling. This man didn't act
like he knew the first thing about taking orders from anyone.
"What?" he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
"Nothing." She shook her head and refocused on the stack in front of
her. "We'd best get started if we plan to interview everyone out there.
We will have to go fast, and even then it will take hours."
"If you had let me go through the photos, I could have narrowed the
search down quite a bit. I would have weeded out the undesirables."
"What are you talking about?"
"The dogs, dirtbags, and do-gooders."
"That's completely unfair! And mean."
"Have it your way. If you're willing to take the time, so am I. I aim
to please." He smiled, though it looked really forced and really
suspicious. Chloe studied him closely.
"Let's get started," he said. "Where's our first hopeful?" he called
out.
KTEX's twenty-three-year-old receptionist appeared in the doorway
faster than she had done anything since coming to work at the station.
She was dressed in a way that Chloe had never seen. She either wanted a
job on
The Catch
or she was
interested in Trey Tanner.
Chloe glanced down at her own sensible skirt and low heels. It was as
if she had not only lost every
trace of sexy, but had headed even farther in the opposite direction.
"Bring in the first candidate," Trey instructed.
"Yes, sir." The woman turned to go.
"Lucy! You report to me." Trey glanced over at her as she ridiculously
added, "You can bring in the
first applicant."
Trey chuckled and Lucy rolled her eyes. Chloe decided she could learn a
thing or two about commanding people.
The first candidate happened to be a man. He introduced himself as
Leonard Parsimmons.
"Thank you for coming in, Leonard," Chloe said kindly.
He wore a short-sleeved button-down shirt tucked into neatly pressed
khaki pants. He couldn't have
been taller than five-five, though his resume stated
five-seven-and-three-quarters. He had sandy blond hair that fell
forward onto his forehead, and another glance at the resume put his
weight at 139 pounds. He was a slight man with a shy smile.
"Next," Trey said, startling them.
"What?" Chloe demanded. "We haven't even asked any questions."
"As you said, we have to go fast or we'll be here all day."
"But we have to ask questions."
Trey gave a weary sigh and sat back.
Chloe looked at Leonard. "Mr. Parsimmons, what is your favorite color?"
For the next few minutes, they talked and laughed. The man was a
delight, kind and sweet, and Chloe loved him. By the time she finished,
she actually walked him to the door.
"I think he could work," she said, returning.
An expression of disbelief spread over Trey's face. "You've got to be
kidding. We're supposed to make people want to watch the show, not make
them change the channel as fast as they can."
"He's great!"
"He's horrible."
"Give me one good reason why."
"Would you date him?"
"Sure."
"Really? He's going to make you hot and wet? Can you even imagine
sleeping with him?"
Chloe choked. "You're awful."
"I'm not awful. I'm just trying to get at the truth."
"The truth? Oh, sure. I recognize your type."
"What are you going to do, compare me to Leonard? Stereotype us both by
saying he's kind and gentle and I'm a Neanderthal who thinks sex is a
game and my only goal is to score?"
"Exactly!"
"You're wrong. I enjoy women and I enjoy them in bed. I admit it. But
women rarely admit what they really want."
"Aaawwwk!" She was so appalled her head felt like it did an
Exorcist
spin.
"Women say they want Ashley," he continued with bold assurance, "when
they really want Rhett."
Her mouth fell open.
"They say they want sweet and sensitive, but they really want a strong
man who's confident enough
to protect them."
She could feel her lips flapping as she tried to find words to express
her disgust. "You . . . are . . . the
 . . . most arrogantly atrocious man I have ever had the
misfortune to meet."
The next
Catch
candidate
entered, an overmuscled bodybuilder who didn't appear to have a neck.
"Oh, look," she hissed quietly with a saccharine-sweet smile. "A man
whose knuckles scrape the ground. Your hero."
"I'm not talking about Tarzanâ"
She snorted.
"I'm talking about someone like"âhe considered, then continuedâ"John
Wayne. The sort of man
who doesn't take no for an answer and saves the town at the end of the
day."
"Male Behavior 101 learned on the Turner Classic Movie station. I'm
impressed."
He wiggled his brows.
This time she was the one to hurry the candidate along. "Next!"
A woman entered. The minute Trey smiled at the voluptuous blonde, Chloe
knew that this was going
to be the longest few weeks of her life.
"Tammi with an i" smiled and cooed at Trey, leaning over whenever she
had a chance to show off her Pamela Anderson breasts. Like that would
get her the job.
"I think she's a perfect choice," Trey said once Tammi left the room.
"Just the sort of woman who will keep viewers away from the remote."
"Could you be a little less predictable?" she countered. "Besides, this
is supposed to be a family show,
not Wet Dream TV."
He laughed out loud.
They interviewed three more women in a row. And Chloe had the idea to
ask the questions from the
Sexy!
quiz.
"If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would you be?"
Trey's lips spread in amusement, and then he asked her what her
response would be. She refused to answer, though not one of the women
said llama.
Chloe decided to leave out that question after a woman named Jazzy
Jamison, wearing heavy black eyeliner and long red nails, looked Trey
up and down and said, "I'd come back as a fierce, man-eating lion who
roared."
When she exited, even Trey agreed she was a little scary.
At least they could scratch another off the list.
It took them hours, but by five that evening, they had narrowed the 347
interviewees down to five men and twenty-five women.
By late afternoon the following day, it was time to make the final
decisions. "I really think Sherry Webb would be a good Rose," she said.
"Miss Brains?"
"Do you have to give them all names?"
"You're the one who started it by referring to 'Tammi with an i' as Ms.
Boobs."
She cringed. "It was wrong and mean, and I never should have said that."
"Too late."
"How about a deal? I'll let you choose Tammi if you let me choose
Sherry."
"We're going to make decisions based on bargaining?" he asked.
"You'd rather pull names out of a hat?"
"I was thinking we should consider attributes that would make them
appealing to a television audience."
"You're obsessed with channel changing."
"You should be, too, since you manage the station."
Now that was a little embarrassing, since he was absolutely right.
"I'm starved. We never had lunch," she said, her head throbbing from
the process.
"Then let's eat." He looked around as if he expected a waiter to
materialize, then appeared surprised
by the sparsely furnished lunchroom.
"You looked confused," she said.
"No, not at all. We'll go out."
"We don't have time. We can order something."
"You do that?"
"Don't you?"
"Actually, no, I never have."
"What planet did you say you're from?"
He blinked. "A regular planet. Let's order."
"What do you want?"
"What do you want?"
"Why are you avoiding the question?"
"I'm being the polite, kind, sensitive man you say you desire."
"Then pizza."
He made a face.
"You don't like pizza?!"
"I love pizza. Order any kind you like."
She went to the phone and called Pepe's Pizzeria. Trey was on his cell
phone, sounding all commanding, when she turned back. She left him in
private, thankful to get away from his unnerving presence.
Twenty minutes later their meal arrived. Trey had come to look for her,
and when she pulled money
out to pay, he stopped her.
"Let me get that."
Such a gentleman.
But suddenly the gentleman jerked to a halt as he stared at his wallet.
He didn't have any cash. He
started to pull out a credit card, then quickly pushed it back as if he
didn't want her to see it, and flipped his wallet shut. "I'll have to
owe you on the pizza." He didn't look happy about it.
She could tell he made a mental note, and she felt certain he was the
sort of man who always paid for
a woman's meal.
In the lunchroom, they had to tackle the final decisions regarding the
cast of
The Catch
. But the
task
was made bearable by the large, thin-crust pepperoni pizza.
Chloe picked up a piece and stopped just before biting when she noticed
Trey was looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
He shrugged, then dove in. He picked up a slice and took a bite. "This
is good." He sounded surprised.
"If I believed in aliens, I'd swear you were from some other world. Are
you sure you're from St. Louis?"
"Positive. Born and raised. Family still there."
"Are you from a big family?"
"Not big. Just my parents and brother who you met, and I have a sister.
I also have a grandmother who
is a whirlwind. In fact she's originally from El Paso. She met my
grandfather when he was stationed at Fort Bliss."
"Tanner. What kind of a name is that?"
He went very still, then he muttered a curse. She swore he was on the
verge of saying something, then seemed to think better of it.
"I don't have any idea what kind of name Tanner is."
"Why do you look like the type who'd know everything about your family
and where they came from?"
Because he was, Sterling wanted to tell her. He did know everything
about his heritage. The Prescott heritage.
It was all he could do not to tell her who he really was. But it was
too late now, and the truth was, not only did he want to prove to his
brother that he could do this, but Sterling felt a deeper need to prove
something to himself.
He also wanted to know more about this woman.
She intrigued him. And she certainly wasn't intimidated by him. A rare
combination in his world. As
rare as him having pizza at a folding table in El Paso, Texas.
Even when Prescott Media was foundering, his family had lived in the
same grand manner as it always had. It wasn't until his grandmother had
come out of her widow's grief that she had realized what was happening.
That's when she came to Sterling.
Shaking the thought away, he watched as Chloe tipped her head back, the
slice tilted up as she tried to guide a long string of cheese into her
mouth. She was enchanting, innocent, and completely unconcerned with
what he thought of her. No posturing or posing.
"Tell me about you," he said without thinking.
She nearly dropped the pizza. "What do you want to know?" she asked
after a long second.
"Anything."
"There's nothing interesting to tell."
"How old are you?"
"None of your business."
"Do you really prefer men like Leonard?"
"Leonard was nice."
"Leonard was a bore."
"Next question."
"Fine. Tell me about your family. Your mother, your father. Do they
live here in town?"
He would have sworn she grew flustered.
"No personal questions," she said.
"Why not?"
"Because it's none of your business."
"You've been asking all the same sorts of questions of these
candidates."
"Maybe, but they're interviewing to be a
Texas Rose
. I'm not."
"Fair enough. Then tell me what animal you'd be reincarnated as."
Red seared her cheeks.
"That embarrasses you?"
"A little."
"Then why did you ask the women?"
"If you must know, I took a quiz and I answered with llama. Don't
laugh."
"I won't. I'm impressed. The llama is a hardworking, trustworthy animal
that is underrated."
"Exactly!"
"The only downside is they spit."
She stared at him, amazed, and for the first time since she had walked
into the conference room, her defenses wavered.
"They do spit! Not many people know that."
"I think a llama is a perfectly respectable reincarnation choice."
She gasped. "I said the same thing!"
With an amazed and surprised smile, Chloe took another bite of pizza, a
stringy piece of cheese popping off to curl on her lip. Sterling
watched as she chewed, her lips moving, and he wanted to kiss her.
Instead he reached out and wiped the cheese away, restraining himself
from pulling her onto the table
and satisfying his urge. But the piece of cheese didn't go away.
He wiped again and it finally came off, only to stick on his finger. He
shook it, then shook again, then before he knew it Chloe was laughing.
Laughing at him. Sterling Prescott, notorious ladies' man. And
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