THE CRITIC (6 page)

He looked at the woman, short in stature but mighty in spirit and a surge of desire filled him, something he had not felt in months. And for a romance writer of all people.

A loud commotion outside the door pulled Jared’s eyes from Toreas Rose.  He recognized the voices and a worry line pulled at his brow. Darn it. He was enjoying the women.

Without waiting for permission, Derrick burst through the door, followed by Josh, the cameraman, and Stella, the wannabe reporter.

Jared’s eyes swung around the room. The women were eyeing him with suspicion. Becca was giving him a wounded look, relaying her feelings of betrayal.

He had promised to give the group a fair shot.  He was there as a guest speaker, not to ambush the women.

For a few seconds Jared stood helpless, not knowing what to do.  He watched as though he were on the outside looking in as Stella’s hawk-like gaze searched for and found Toreas.

Within seconds Stella had a microphone shoved in her face and was questioning her.

“Ms. Rose, do you really consider the note you sent to Mr. Stone to be appropriate after the violent, unprovoked assault on him?”

Jared could tell Stella was salivating with self- importance. She was behaving more like a lawyer than a reporter, firing question after question, not really waiting for an answer.

“Ms. Rose, you said the fault for your hitting Mr. Stone was his. Did you mean that?”

Toreas glared at the reporter then turned to Jared. She smiled slightly. “Is this what you meant by keeping this between us, Mr. Stone? Is that how you keep your promises?” She shook her head, allowing the disgust she felt at Jared to show on her face. Now it was time to handle the witch who was shoving the mike in her face.

“The note you’re referring to was mailed by accident. I also included another or didn’t Mr. Stone think to give that one to you?  Now get that camera and your mike out of my face now,  or I will…”

Jared was doing his best to relay to Toreas and the rest of the chapter that he’d had no part in the ambush but it was too late.  He watched as Toreas shoved the mike and Stella away from her.

He wanted to warn her that she was giving them more ammunition but knew she wouldn’t listen. If he wasn’t the enemy before, he knew he darn well was now.

“Now that I think about it, I think the note you’re referring to that I wrote to Mr. Stone was less than what he deserved.” Toreas swiveled her body around to face him.

  Her look caused him to cringe.  He had sensed a change in her before.  She had begun to thaw.  Now he knew she wouldn’t let her guard down again.

“Mr. Stone, I’m going to ask you and your crew to leave.  This is not what we agreed to. When you asked to come, you said you only wanted to give us information we might be able to use.  You’ve totally disrupted our meeting.”

Both Toreas and Jared turned toward Becca. Stella was  poking her camera in the faces of nearby women and asking questions. They all answered “no comment,” looking stunned by what was happening.

“Ms. Kamp, I didn’t know about this.”  Jared felt Toreas’s eyes on him, freezing his blood in his veins. He was no longer welcome.

When he looked at Toreas, he had the strongest desire to touch her, to look into her brown eyes and have her believe him.  Instead, he looked away from her as he hustled the crew out of the now too quiet room.

“Thanks a lot, Derrick.  Why did you come here?” Jared growled once they were alone in the hall.

“It was too good an opportunity to let pass.  We got some great stuff.”

“What stuff?  The women didn’t answer you and Ms. Rose didn’t back down.”

“We didn’t want her to. We want the feud to continue.”

“This is slimy, you know that, man. I’m not in this anymore.”

“We’re not asking you to be. I’m doing all the work.  We’re getting great coverage from this. We’re going to sell this tape to the networks. We’re going to send a copy to the papers, along with Ms. Rose’s note.”

Jared stopped dead in his tracks. “I have her note.”

“Yeah, but we made a copy.”

Jared stared at Derrick. He was actually smiling at his ingenuity in stealing Toreas’s note. Jared couldn’t believe it.  “Don’t put her note in the papers.  I promised her.”

“Promised her what?  You didn’t know about this, right?”

Jared stared at Derrick. “I promised her the note would be between us.”

“You work for me. The mail is mine.”

“My name’s on it.”

“Then sue me.  Look, Jared, you owe me. Remember?”

“I remember, but it’s not a debt I plan on paying forever.”  He glared at his supposed friend, angrier than he’d ever been at Gina.

“Don’t use that note. You can continue the war, just don’t use the note, or I’m going to buy every paper that it’s in and shove the article down your throat.”

Jared stood his ground, watching as his boss swallowed several times before answering.

“Okay. You’re getting soft, Jared. We won’t use the note. I have a better angle. I’ll use that shot of her shoving Stella.  That’ll work better anyway.”

“Derrick, she had a right to shove that mike out of her face. Besides, she didn’t really shove Stella. Stella was just sort of in the way.” Jared laughed.

“Tell you what,” Derrick grinned. “We’ll air the tape and the people can decide.”

Jared started toward Derrick, then noticed Josh fiddling with the camera and stopped.  He shook his head and turned away.  All of this had been started why?  Because of Gina’s leaving him. A woman he didn’t even want anymore.

He was at a loss to explain why he didn’t want her anymore, except to think somehow Toreas Rose’s punch to the gut had knocked some sense into his brain.

In the past month Jared had derived more pleasure, perverse though it might be, from annoying Toreas Rose than he had the entire time he was dating Gina.

If he admitted the truth to himself, it was only after Gina left him cold that he thought he had been in love with her.

Now when Jared thought of Gina, which wasn’t often, he realized she was the reason the phrase “high maintenance” had been invented.

***

Toreas Rose sat back down and looked questioningly at Becca. “Why did you let him come?” she asked.

“Well, he said he wanted to put this whole thing behind us.  I met with him and he convinced me it would be good for the group. He made some good suggestions.”

Becca absentmindedly tucked a strand of her red hair behind her right ear.  Toreas knew all too well what had happened to their president. The man had charmed her. Until the rest of his crew burst in, all the women had sat enthralled, giggling like a bunch of high schoolers.

Even Toreas had felt the magnetic pull of Jared’s smile, of his eyes traveling over her body.  She remembered his hands on her face, his lips on her own and she no longer blamed Becca.

How could women who were forever writing about finding “Mr. Right” be blamed for making this Herculean god into the perfect hero?  He was. A perfect blend of good and evil.  A smile that could melt a woman and send her screaming for that something she had tucked away in her underwear drawer if she didn’t have a man in her life.

But this was real life, not fantasy.  It wasn’t a chapter in a book and Toreas had no idea how to handle it. It wasn’t that she was a virgin. That would have been ridiculous. She was almost thirty.

It was just that the two men she’d had long term relationships with had been nothing to brag about. They had never made her eyes roll back in her head. They had never made her melt with their smiles.

So Jared had been correct when he insinuated she needed real life experience.  She would never admit to anyone how uncomfortable writing love scenes made her.

It had taken her forever to get over letting a man touch her in her most private areas or how reluctantly she’d returned touches.

Yes, she’d admit it. She was a prude. The very idea of oral sex she found dirty and disgusting. The human mouth was not made for such things.

Toreas shuddered when she thought of the other things she had either read or written.  And no, she had never experienced any of it.

Maybe part of it could be blamed on the fact that she had been raised a strict southern Baptist and her father was a long time deacon of the church. Maybe the other part was her two brothers, Michael and Billy, who’d chased away every boy who’d even looked at her. It had taken Toreas’s moving to another state to lose her virginity.

It didn’t help that every time she made love she chastised herself in the middle of the act for fornicating. On more than one occasion she’d wondered if she was the reason sex was no big deal.  She couldn’t even use her massager without first turning out the lights. Even then, her fears that she was committing a sin didn’t allow her to fully enjoy that small pleasure.

She’d tried countless times without success to put God out of her bed, but he refused to leave.  She had almost married her last boyfriend, Fred, just to stop feeling guilty. They had made it as far as city hall.

They had been standing in front of the judge when an overwhelming feeling came over her to run and she did.  Her relationship with Fred had ended then and there.  

Toreas clenched her teeth and sighed, bringing her focus back to the present. She looked around the room. The group was silent, waiting for someone to speak.  She knew how they felt.  When Jared left the room his energy had gone also and the room filled with over thirty women now seemed empty.

Stop this foolishness,
she scolded herself. 
What would a man like Jared Stone ever see in a plain ‘rose’ like me?
Toreas felt the blush coming.  She didn’t want Jared Stone. She hated the man.  He was obnoxious, a liar.  She could just imagine the number of prayers she would be sending up if she was involved with him.

Get hold of yourself, girl. Look what he did to you, to the group
. He’d ambushed them. He’d invaded her private sanctuary. And he’d looked at her and she’d felt a thaw.

A wicked thought snuck across Toreas’s mind and she smiled.
Jared Stone would definitely push God out of my bed.

Chapter Five

The morning papers blared the news. 
“Romance Writer Toreas Rose at it again
.
” 
There was a picture of her shoving the wannabe reporter. Toreas groaned and headed for the kitchen to make herself a pot of coffee.  She desperately needed the caffeine.   

The previous evening had not been her fault.  Still, the women had shifted the blame to her.  Already she’d received several emails and calls asking what she had really written in that note.

She slapped her hand against her forehead and yelped with the force of the blow.  She hadn’t intended to hit herself so hard.  Why didn’t she do what she should have done in the first place?

If only she’d only kept her hands to herself.  She was a proper Baptist girl who couldn’t give herself permission to enjoy sex, something everyone said was a natural act, but she could punch a man and then not apologize.

She groaned again and this time not from the smack.  Her grandmother, proper Southern woman that she’d been, would roll over in her grave at the actions of her wayward granddaughter.

The phone rang before she had finished pouring the cup of coffee.  She glanced at the clock, then continued with putting cream and sugar in her cup.

She knew it was Liz.  And she knew she would continue calling until she answered.

“Hi Liz.” She answered the phone without even checking to see if the caller could be someone else.

“Okay, tell me what’s going on?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You and Jared Stone. I mean, what’s with the two of you?  I saw the way he was looking at you last night and I saw you blushing. What is it? Do you have a thing for the man?  Is that why you got us involved in this in the first place?”

“My God no.  I hate the man.”  How in the world had Liz been able to tell that she was blushing?  Was nothing sacred?

“So what that you hate him?” Liz continued. “That means nothing. I hated Mike when I first met him. It took me awhile to discover he’s my soul mate.”

“Forget it.  Jared Stone is not my
soul mate.”

“How do you know if you don’t give yourself a chance to find out?”

Toreas sighed and took a big gulp of her coffee.  She could have this conversation only with Liz. Anyone else and she would have turned stone cold, refusing to answer. But Liz was different. For one thing, she would never let it go.

“Liz, listen to me. First, I’m not interested in the man.  Second, if I were, he belittles what I do, what you do.  Think about it.  How could I ever want a relationship with him?”

Liz laughed.  “Did you see his butt?  And did you see…”

“Stop.”  Toreas refused to have this conversation.  “I wasn’t looking at his butt or any other part of his anatomy.”  She crossed her fingers for the lie she’d told.

She’d be darned if she’d admit to Liz that not only had she noticed Jared’s butt but she’d wanted to reach out and grab it when he plopped it in front of her face.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care,” Toreas laughed.  “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Now can’t we please talk about something else?  We’ve talked about nothing but Jared Stone for over a month.  I’m feeling so depressed I can’t even write.”

“Are you serious?  I haven’t been able to stop writing and neither has Elysa, Kelle or Lauren.  Wendy called me to say she’s finished a whole chapter already.”

“So what are you guys doing?  Finding a way to bring Jared and me together?”  Toreas closed her eyes.  Wouldn’t it be something if her friends could write into existence all her dreams?
She sighed again.  Since when had Jared Stone become a part of her dreams?

“I don’t know about the others,” Liz laughed loudly this time, “but as for myself, honey, you are nowhere in my plans with Jared. He’s my fantasy. If you want to be with him, I suggest you either write it or go for it.”

“Go for what?  Never mind.  Liz, you’re impossible.”  Toreas was blushing from her thoughts.  “I think I need to stop talking to you and get some work done.”  With that said, she muttered goodbye.

Toreas poured her second cup of coffee.  Liz had gotten too near the truth.  Okay, the man was gorgeous. He had the most beautiful eyes and the softest lips and the gentlest hands. She stopped, catching her breath and fanning herself with hands that wanted to be doing something else. The very idea was dumb, about as dumb as a lot of the stories she herself had read. No wonder Jared was trashing them.

Oh my God,
she thought with a start.
I want him and I want a bodice that he can rip off.

***

Jared awoke with something he hadn’t expected. He had dreamt of making love to a short golden brown woman with dark brown eyes that shot fire when she was angry. So what he had wasn’t a total surprise.  What he didn’t expect was to be turned on so completely by the woman.

She wasn’t his type at all. He liked his women tall to match his own stature.  At 6’7” short women always appeared too delicate.

If he could find a woman six feet tall he was in heaven.  And one that was mostly legs to wrap around him… Well now, he didn’t have the words for that.

He looked down at his condition, remembering his dream.  Toreas Rose’s size had not mattered. But the memory of her angry eyes glaring at him the night before brought him back to reality.  “Ahhh, Jared, get hold of yourself.”

He heard the thump of the paper hitting his door and turned in that direction. 
Why put off learning whatever Derrick had done?
  He opened the door, expecting to turn at least to the middle of the paper for the story. 

It was blaring out at him from the front page and he scanned it quickly.  When he had begun trashing the writers, it was purely out of vengeance, vengeance that he had now worked out of his system.  But the story had taken on a life of its own. Now it was all about ratings and profits. He felt like a traitor to the women.

Jared slammed his door, then kicked the plant stand and immediately swore, knowing there was not now the slightest possibility of making what he had dreamed a reality.

It was probably for the best.  He needed to stick with what he knew.  Him with a goody, goody two-shoes?  Someone he’d undoubtedly have to train?  No, that was not what he wanted.  He wanted a woman who knew how to give pleasure as well as receive it.

He looked down again at her name emblazoned in the paper.  Toreas Rose definitely wasn’t the woman for him.  He could tell in the easy way she blushed.  That had been a real surprise. 

He knew lots of women turned red in the face when they were angry but he couldn’t remember seeing one of them blush.  Then again, maybe he hadn’t noticed because none of them had intrigued him the way that Toreas had.  

He tried to remember the things he didn’t like about the woman. Her loose fitting clothing was a sure sign that she was more than likely uptight. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that intrigued him.  He would love to be the one to teach her to open up.  They were as different as night and day but for some strange reason he wanted the woman. Not forever. Just for a night. But all his well honed instincts told him she was not a one night stand. And he was not a man of commitment. Not anymore.

Maybe Derrick was right after all.  Maybe he should just keep the war going and get all the mileage he could out of it and then return to
California.

But for a moment last night Jared thought he had detected a hitch in her breath when he sat in front of her. She’d refused to meet his gaze, so he wasn’t at all sure if she was reacting romantically to their close proximity or was just disgusted by him.

There was only one thing Jared was sure of and that was that he wanted to see her again.  He didn’t understand why it mattered so to him, but he wanted to change her opinion of him.  He wanted her to believe that her name in the morning paper was not his idea.

He smiled.  At least the paper had spelled her name correctly and usually for most people in the entertainment business, that was enough.  But a private person wouldn’t want to be in the paper. How did he know Toreas Rose was a private person?

He padded on bare feet to make coffee, his mind fixated on a tiny woman in loose fitting clothes. How did he presume to know this woman so well when he’d only seen her two times, not counting his dreams?

Would a private person write romance? Would a private person call the station to complain, and then accept the offer to come on television?  Would a private person punch the host on his own show?  Would a private person let the war go on so long without attempting to resolve it?

Would Toreas Rose, the woman with the dark brown eyes that smoldered with an inner fire do all of those things?  Yes, but without a doubt he knew she was a private person.  As he began to salivate thinking of her, his early morning surprise returned. He was hard as a rock.

***

Toreas was trying her best to write but she kept thinking of Jared’s bottom sitting in front of her face and she kept getting flushed.

The hero in her book was now flat by comparison.  No matter how hard Toreas tried, she couldn’t breathe life into him.  Her words were stilted and dull.  She knew this, so she paused in her writing.

What if I do a little research
?  She wondered if learning was a sin.  Maybe she could call her father or the pastor and ask them if the pursuit of knowledge was a bad thing? But what would she answer when they asked about the nature of the knowledge? Maybe she should just put it out on the loop and go with the most favorable answers.

She suddenly needed a glass of water because she was wanting things she’d never wanted before, dirty things, and she couldn’t get them out of her head.

Maybe she should just follow Liz’s advice and pursue Jared.  She didn’t want him, she couldn’t, not really, not for anything more than research.

She read back over the last pages she had written. Yes, she needed someone like Jared to make the hero in her book come alive. “Once.  What would it hurt?”

She wouldn’t go into anything with any expectations. She wouldn’t fall in love with him or anything like that. That would be stupid. 

But she could go to bed with him once, just once, for research. She thought of all the advice she’d been given. It all said to write about what you know and to do meticulous research.

Well, she was admitting it. She didn’t know much. That’s why her characters were boring, that’s why she had yet to sell her first manuscript. She had to do this for the good of her career. She was going to make the first move toward Jared Stone.

She wouldn’t fool herself about the type of man he was.  She would remember all the times he’d humiliated writers and readers. That alone should be enough to protect her heart.

She wanted only one thing from Jared Stone. She wanted him to make her eyes roll back in her head, to make her feel that delicious shiver again and she wanted his touch all over her when he kissed her again. 

That’s three things
, she thought and smiled.  But all of that came with the main dish.

Toreas looked down at her baggy pants and oversized sweat shirt.  First, she might have to do something to get the man to notice her.  So far he’d only been pretending with those smoldering looks.

She’d never taken him seriously on any of it. How could she?  Look at her.  She needed a major overhaul if she intended to use him for research.

She felt several rapid heartbeats.  Her hands were shaking and for a fleeting nanosecond she felt faint.  What she was planning was ludicrous.  She didn’t know the first thing about seducing a man and certainly not a man like Jared.

Oh my God!  If Daddy could hear my thoughts, he wouldn’t be talking about kicking Jared’s butt.  He would be flying here to beat the living daylights out of me. He would be even more disappointed if he knew I’d bought a massager, and not for back rubs. And Granny…

Toreas was almost relieved that her beloved grandmother was no longer alive to witness the acts she was contemplating.  She was afraid, but it felt good.

She felt alive, more alive than she could ever remember feeling.  And if the deed was only a third as good as what she was imagining, she would be in heaven.

What if it was the same with Jared as it had been with her only two lovers?  What would she do then? 
That’s easy,
she
thought.
I’ll write him as a terrible lover and I’ll write my heroine as a wildcat.  That’s why it’s called fiction.

She
worried for a moment about how easily she was willing to throw away her values.  Was it really for research?  “Yes,” she answered herself, research and nothing more.  “In fact, I think I’ll make Jared the villain. And when my book is published I’ll send him a copy with a note telling him he inspired it. He has too big an ego not to read it.”  She smiled.  Now she could truly believe in her plan.

It would serve the man right to see himself in print in a bad light for a change.  She latched onto the newspaper she had carelessly tossed away.

Jared deserved to be taught a lesson. She walked to the mirror and gave herself the once-over.  Yeah, but did she have what it took to teach him that lesson? When it came down to it, would she even know what to do?  She sure as heck didn’t have any erotic tricks up her sleeve.  Erotic was for other people, sexy people. She craved being the sexy erotic woman who would make Jared Stone swoon with real desire.