Authors: Cassandra Carr
At the next commercial break, Jamie took the sheet of paper to Drew. He quickly scanned it, nodded, and thanked her before turning his
attention back to the television, where the local sports station was showing highlights of the games around the league. She returned to the booth
and pushed the button to come back from break.
Drew introduced the next segment, and since she'd already cued up cal ers, she al owed herself to enjoy his somewhat rough, gravel y voice,
idly wondering if she might find herself wrestling him to the ground someday just to get him to turn the power of that voice on her. It wouldn't be a
prudent choice, but she'd be wil ing to stake a year's pay it would be worth it.
She knew a lot of women who were suckers for a guy with a nice voice, and apparently she was no exception. His was world-class. She
propped her chin on her hand and sighed. The man's voice should be il egal. It wrapped around her like a silken thread—around and around and
around, catching her irrevocably in its web. It would certainly be fairer to the female population of the Greater New York City area if he came with a
warning stamped on his head:
Danger—Threat to Willpower.
Never had she experienced such a potent reaction to a man like she did to Drew, and it both excited and unnerved her. Mostly, though, it scared
the hel out of her. Sleeping with the talent would be career suicide. Worse than that, though, it would prove to her family and friends that she'd
learned nothing from the bad choices she'd made about men in her past. It was pretty obvious a man like Drew wasn't looking for someone he
could sit home and cuddle with while a couple of kids played around him. She'd badly misjudged more than one man's character just because she
wanted to believe they were on the same page as her regarding a future together. Jamie sighed. When would she learn?
Unfortunately, listening to Drew banter with cal ers made Jamie ache in the worst way, desire spreading through her pussy until she felt her
panties going damp. If she had to endure four hours of his raspy, deep timbre five nights a week, she wasn't sure she'd survive. Her vibrator definitely wouldn't.
Drew's voice drifted through her sexual haze. “Jamie?”
Oh jeez, how long has he been calling my name
? “Yes?”
Drew took off his headphones, sending her an odd look. “Are you ready to take the cal ers for the contest?”
Contest? She quickly consulted the show sheet, and there, plain as day, she saw they were giving away a pair of tickets to tomorrow night's
hockey game. How had she missed that? “Uh, yeah, sure. No problem.”
Way to impress him with how on the ball you are, dumb-ass.
“I just teased it going into the break. You
did
toss us to break, right?”
“Yes, we're on break.” Her cheeks heated in embarrassment.
“You're sure you're al right? Not feeling overwhelmed?”
“Truly, I'm fine,” Jamie answered. “You run your show differently than I'm used to, so I'm just a little behind.”
“Okay.” He seemed content to leave it at that, and she loudly exhaled. Getting through this first night was proving to be torturous.
“Thirty seconds until live,” she reminded him, and he turned away, slipping his headphones back over his ears. Jamie leaned back a little in her
chair and felt her nipples rasp against her bra. Great, that was al she needed—to be constantly aroused at work.
The show continued with Jamie queuing up cal s and commercial breaks, until final y the clock struck eleven. She'd survived the first show.
Drew cal ed his old friend Jon in the car on the way home. “You'l never guess what I found underneath the producer's desk when I got in today.”
“Should I even try?”
“There's no way you wil , so I'l just tel you: a leggy brunette.”
Jon whistled. “Is that a job perk? ‘Cause I've been thinking about getting into broadcasting...”
Drew chuckled but was not amused. “I'm not sure I would cal it a perk.”
“How is having a gorgeous brunette around, especial y under your desk, a bad thing?”
“Because she's my new producer.”
“Oh,” Jon replied. “Oh. Wel . Fuck.”
“You said it, bud. Bad news,” Drew agreed. Expel ing a loud breath, he continued. “Let's change the subject, since Jamie is already driving me
crazy. So anyway, we were talking about fishing in a few weeks. I've got the time off. You stil in?”
“Hel yeah, man. What could be better than fish, beer, and women?”
The imagery wasn't exactly appealing to Drew, and he shook his head. “Whatever floats your boat.”
Jon groaned. “You were never any good at tel ing jokes, my friend. Stick to the radio.”
“Yeah, yeah. I'l cal you once we get closer to the date, and we can make arrangements.”
“Sounds good. Later.” Jon paused. “And hey...”
Drew sighed. He had a feeling he knew what was coming, and Jon didn't disappoint.
“If you don't want the leggy brunette, can I have a crack at her?”
“No fucking way. Not a chance,” he bit off. He hung up to the echo of Jon's laughter.
Jamie was dreading it but knew it had to be done. Her sister would be expecting a ful account of Jamie's first day at the station, and if she didn't
cal soon, her sister would. For some reason, Alison had taken it upon herself to act as a second mother to Jamie, no matter how many times
Jamie had told her she was an adult and didn't need mothering. But as her older sister, Alison figured she knew better than Jamie. At this point, it
was easier to just go along with her than continue to argue. It was nearly noon on the day after her first shift, and Jamie knew her sister would be
chomping at the bit for details.
She grabbed a glass of water and settled onto the sofa in her smal Brooklyn studio apartment. She'd had the entire second floor of a huge old
Victorian home in Buffalo, but this had been al she'd been able to afford when she'd gotten the position at WREK. The cost of living in New York
was roughly four times what it was upstate, and her wal et was definitely feeling the pinch.
Though only four years older than Jamie's twenty-seven years, her sister Alison treated her like a child, especial y when it came to stuff like jobs
and men. True, Jamie had made some mistakes, especial y where her love life was concerned, but hadn't everyone? She briefly rested her head
on the back cushion of the couch before straightening up and grabbing the phone. Procrastinating wasn't going to make this any easier. Alison
always made her feel unsure of her decisions, and Jamie hated feeling insecure. She doubted Alison even realized she was doing it—it was just
her way. Jamie's friends had told her she should distance herself from Alison, but Jamie loved her sister and appreciated everything Alison had
done to help her in high school and col ege when she'd been painful y shy. Her sister had taken Jamie under her wing, introducing her to her friends,
lending her clothes, and showing her how to apply makeup.
Alison picked up, sounding out of breath. “Hel o?”
“What were you doing, running a marathon?”
“No, Ms. I Don't Have To Get Up Until Noon. I wasn't running a marathon. I'm trying to feed Gavin some lunch before he goes down for his nap.
That's why you didn't cal me earlier, right? You were stil asleep?” Alison sounded harried, and Jamie wondered if she should cal back later. Too
late now...
Jamie sighed. “I worked until almost eleven-thirty, and then by the time I took three different trains home, it was nearly one a.m.”
“That doesn't mean you have to sleep until noon.”
“I
didn't
sleep until noon,” Jamie said through clenched teeth. “I went to bed at two a.m., got up at ten, took a shower, did a few things around the
house, and now I'm cal ing you. But this is obviously a bad time...”
She heard Alison take a deep breath. “It's not a bad time. I'm sorry. It's just that Gavin's cutting teeth again, and he hardly slept, which means I
hardly slept. So tel me about your first day. I was going to cal you as soon as he went down for his afternoon nap.”
“Wel ,” Jamie began, raking her hand through her hair. “It was interesting. The equipment is different from what I'm used to, and it broke first
thing, before I even met the host.”
“It broke? Isn't this station supposed to be a big outfit?”
“Yeah, but that doesn't mean things don't malfunction. Besides, it was one of those stupid, unavoidable things—it would've happened no matter
how new or expensive the equipment was. But the worst part of it was that I was underneath the desk, reaching way around the back of the computer, when the host walked in. I didn't even hear him until I was backing my way out. He scared the hel out of me.”
“Wait, who's the host? Some famous guy, right? I know you told me...” Her sister sounded distracted, and shortly thereafter Jamie heard a crash,
and then Alison saying, “Gavin—don't throw that. You can be done eating, but you don't throw food on the floor!” Another crash sounded, and Jamie
couldn't help but smile as she heard Alison swear under her breath. Her nephew was a pistol. Even at two years old, he had a mind of his own and
then some.
She spoke loudly into the phone. “Do you want me to cal back?”
“No, just give me a second.”
While Jamie waited, she glanced out the window. She had to admit that even though her entire apartment would fit into her living room back in
Buffalo, the view here was great. In the distance, she could see the Empire State Building and a bunch of other skyscrapers. And, of course, there
was the ubiquitous Brooklyn Bridge.
Alison picked up the phone again. “Okay, so you were tel ing me about the host.”
“His name is Drew Milan—he's a retired hockey player.”
“I've got my laptop on the kitchen table—hold on while I look him up.” Jamie heard the staccato
tap-tap-tap
of nails on the keyboard before
Alison let out a low whistle. “This is not good.”
“What?” Jamie's brows pul ed together.
“This guy is trouble.”
Jamie scoffed. “Why do you say that?”
Alison paused, and Jamie could tel she was gearing up for one of her “I'm going to have to steer my stupid sister out of harm's way yet again”
speeches. “You don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to men. Look what happened last time with Rick. You found out your
boyfriend was actual y a husband. Someone
else's
husband. You see a cute face and hear a sob story, and your brain goes al haywire. You're
entirely too susceptible to a hot body and a smooth personality.”
Alison took a breath but continued before Jamie could cut in to defend herself. “Now I know I've been there to pick up the pieces in the past
when these guys have shattered your heart, but you're getting older and should be learning to make better choices. You
need
to make smarter
decisions, and it's obvious this man is not a smart decision.”
“I never said I was going to get involved with him. In a way, he's my boss.”
Alison snorted. “I doubt that would stop you. You think you can save everybody, but come on, Jamie—this guy was a professional athlete! Who
knows what kind of perverted lifestyle he leads? You've heard the stories—strippers, hookers—I can't even imagine what else.”
Jamie forced herself to speak slowly and not raise her voice. She knew she gave her sister too much power over her and that it was entirely too
easy to rile her up when Alison started in on her, but Jamie also knew what she was saying had a lot of truth behind it. Jamie
had
been total y
snowed by Rick. “Alison, listen to me. I never said I was planning to get involved with him. But even if I did, like you said, I'm getting older, and what I
do is my business.”
Alison laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “It's your business until you come crying to me. Look, I just want what's best for you, you know
that. Go out and meet some nice guy who works on Wal Street. Bankers are wel educated, make good money...”
Are boring as hell
, Jamie silently added. To placate her sister, she replied, “As soon as I get some free time, I promise I'l try to meet some
people.”
“Why don't you cal Chandra? She's in the city too, you know. I'm sure she would be wil ing to introduce you to some of her friends.”
Jamie thought of their second cousin, Chandra. She was a year older than Jamie, had gone to an Ivy League school, and now was a corporate
lawyer for some big-time criminal law firm. She was also about as warm as a lake in northern Canada in early February and so uptight, the hair she
wore in a bun at the top of her head actual y
did
seem to pul her entire face taut. Her friends were sure to be a barrel of monkeys.
Pass.
“Maybe,” Jamie hedged, chewing on her fingernail. “Anyway, after the equipment failure, everything went fine. He's a good host and seems to
be a nice guy. I'm sure it won't be hard working for him—he doesn't seem overly demanding or critical, like that jerk I used to work with in Buffalo.”
She glanced at the clock. “Listen, Alison, I need to go. I've got to run some errands before I go into work. I just wanted to give you a quick cal with
an update. I'l cal again in a few days, or you can e-mail me, if you want.”
“Just remember what I said and don't get involved with this guy—he'l be nothing but headaches for you. And cal Chandra!”
“I wil ,” Jamie lied and hung up. She hated that she felt it necessary to deceive her sister, but it was the easiest way to handle her. Jamie was
aware she'd made mistakes—hel , she'd been engaged twice and had broken off both when she'd realized neither one had any intention of putting