Sophie's Playboy (10 page)

Sophie's Playboy

by Natalie Damschroder

explain why you have this hangup about dating someone you work with. Why you don't want the delectable Mr. Cornwall."

Sophie toyed with her curry and nibbled a slice of naan.

She owed Melina an explanation after she'd rescued her. But she didn't know if she could articulate it.

Well, the hangup was easy to explain. She'd start there.

"When I had been working at MMT for about four months, one of the owners asked me out. Chuck and I hit it off, but only in a platonic way. We kind of filled the gap for each other when neither of us had a significant other." She crooked her lips in a wistful smile. They had been good friends back then, supporting each other in the face of a terrifying future.

"Unfortunately, when I got promoted to customer service manager, there were some jealous people who spread the word that I only got it because I was sleeping with the boss."

"Were you?"

"No! Ick." Chuck had never interested her that way. And in truth, she'd been too intellectual for him. "We just enjoyed each other's company. Chuck and Dave were best friends, but there was so much tension in the early days of the company that they needed time apart when they weren't working. I was fairly new to the city and didn't have a lot of friends."

She wiped her hands on her napkin and pushed her half-empty plate away from the edge of the table. It was immediately swept away by a bus boy who returned a second later with a glass of ice water, then retreated again.

"Anyway, it took a long time before everyone stopped resenting me and calling me the company slut. My friendship with Chuck suffered, too. So I made it a rule never to date 88

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someone from work. I'd succeed on my own merits, not because of or despite a relationship with a man."

Melina nodded and swallowed her last bite. The bus boy repeated his magician act. "I understand why you feel that way. But things are not the same at WNRK. Parker is not your boss. You can do what you want."

A momentary flash of Sophie on a date with Stevie—the guy who
was
her boss—made her laugh. But Parker's insistent image intruded and her humor faded. There were so very many layers of complication with dating Parker.

"He's not my boss, no. But people could still say that dating him, sleeping with him, is the only reason the show is successful."

"Therefore the perception of your success being contingent upon sleeping with a man."

"Exactly."

"Baloney."

Sophie stared at her. Melina shrugged. "That is an excuse.

You are not the kind of person to really care what other people think. There is more to your fear."

Of course there was. Sophie hadn't really cared six years ago, either. She knew the truth, Chuck and Dave knew the truth, and nothing else mattered. But the loss of Chuck's friendship had hurt.

The loss of Parker could be devastating.

Sophie didn't want to dive into that analysis. It was smart not to get involved with someone at work, and that was enough of a reason to give. Luckily, Melina didn't press her.

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Instead, she glanced at her watch and pulled a prescription pill bottle from her bag.

"Are you sick?" Sophie asked. Melina just shook her head.

Assuming the woman would explain if she wanted to, Sophie didn't ask anything else. Heck, it could be birth control pills.

Definitely none of her business.

They paid their bill and wandered onto the street. Boston at night was really no different from any other city, but Sophie felt content walking under the streetlights, hearing the nearby swish of traffic and knowing she belonged here.

Restlessness be damned. She was happy, and she'd stay that way.

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CHAPTER 6

"Joe, I need to call you back," Parker told his vice president. "I'm on the air in five minutes, and I haven't even talked to Sophie about the theme."

Joe grunted his disapproval. Never a very cheerful man, he was downright surly about Rant and Rave. He considered Parker a fool to be wasting his time playing on the radio instead of tending to
real
business. Parker couldn't find the words to explain why he had to do this. It would sound pretty immature to say he was trying to get into bed with a woman.

However true that had been at the beginning, it didn't come close to touching reality now.

Still, Parker was having difficulty keeping his mind on his usual business. He always had a dozen ventures going at a time, and had never had a problem keeping track. Now, he had to refer to notes any time he talked to an associate or employee—of which he had few, thankfully. His briefcase bulged and he rarely got back to the office to empty it.

"Biff, I don't care what your reasons are for doing this damned program. Just make sure you're here for the meetings tomorrow at ten and at noon."

Parker rubbed at the throbbing in the center of his forehead. He and Sophie were supposed to rehearse their spots before the following day's recording. But missing these meetings could lose him hundreds of thousands of dollars. "All right. I'll work it out. I gotta go."

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He flipped his phone closed and shoved it into his pocket just as he sat down in beat with Rant and Rave's opening music. He avoided Sophie's lifted eyebrow and got into the flow of the show.

At the first break he snagged Sophie on her way out the door to replenish her water.

"Can we meet at my office tomorrow instead of here?"

Sophie looked down at him and raised her left eyebrow again. He was getting a bit tired of her patronization. "You have an office?"

Parker leaned back in the squeaky chair and stretched. "Of course I have an office. Where did you think I did business, at The Club?"

"Well, yeah."

He shook his head. No wonder she thought of him as a playboy. "It takes hard work to succeed in business, Soph.

Believe it or not, I do work hard."

She surveyed him a moment, then glanced around the studio and at his jumble of notes and references on the counter in front of him. "I know you do, Parker."

Melina gave them the one-minute tap on the window and Sophie dashed out to get her drink. Parker watched her, surprised at how quickly her words eroded his tension. He was still contemplating her admission the next day in his ten o'clock meeting. He'd made some progress. She was seeing him in a different light. Maybe he had a chance.

He was going to be alone with her this afternoon. She was coming at twelve-thirty so they could rehearse and discuss the ads, then they'd have to rush over to the station to record 92

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the three spots. The time frame would demand concentration, and Parker was afraid he would be able to think about nothing but kissing Sophie.

Despite his distraction the first meeting went well. They usually did when someone wanted money he was willing to invest. The second one would be a bit less smooth. Parker Enterprises had sunk a quarter of a million dollars in a distribution center whose owners had developed a sound business and marketing plan but didn't seem to have the focus to stick to it. They were losing money in a gush and Parker was going to have to put the screws to them.

Of course, they dared to ask him for more money. The meeting was unexpectedly short, as was Parker's temper when he left the conference room and literally ran into Sophie outside his office.

He grabbed her shoulders to keep from knocking her over, and felt his jaw slacken when he noticed what she was wearing. The delicate shell pink tailored suit was snugger than most of her clothes yet completely proper. She even wore pearls at her throat and in her ears, and he wondered if she'd dressed up for him.

"Very conservative, Soph," he finally said. "Haven't seen that look on you in a while."

She followed him into his office and went straight to the sofa while he shut the door and went to pour coffee.

"It seemed to call for it. Coming here, I mean. I haven't been away from the corporate world
that
long. I feel better in this setting dressed professionally than dressed comfortably."

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Parker handed her a mug and noticed that no blouse was visible in the V of her jacket. A shadow of cleavage beckoned and he positioned himself on the couch so that he could appreciate it. He was glad Sophie couldn't read his mind.

They pulled out the scripts for the ads and read silently for a minute.

"The first one's pretty straightforward," Parker noted.

"We're talking about our upcoming anniversary and how we should celebrate."

Sophie flipped a couple of pages. "Yeah, this isn't as bad as I expected. I thought we'd be jumping into bed, but this only implies we've been together a year and the narrator does all the hotel description."

"So, how do you want to play it? Playful or serious? Are we at odds or in tune?" He relaxed against the back of the sofa and tried to get into his character.

"Are you clueless, or crafty?" Sophie teased. She grinned at him over her shoulder and for an instant Parker couldn't breathe. She looked so elegant with her hair back in a twist and the glowing pearls framing her face. Her uninhibited smile contrasted and turned up Parker's need to kiss her from a four to an instant ten.

He was going to do it. He had to do it. If he didn't kiss her right now, he was going to explode and possibly do something stupid.

He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving hers.

Sophie swallowed hard and clenched one hand around the papers she held. The atmosphere of the room had definitely changed. One minute they were professional but friendly. The 94

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next minute Sophie felt like she was being hunted in a steamy, dark jungle. But she didn't feel like prey.

She wanted the kiss she saw coming. She wanted it with everything she'd ever been. Before the first taste she knew how much
more
Parker's kiss would be than any other man's kiss. And it wouldn't be just a kiss. At this moment, she had no barriers in place and Parker would be in complete control.

His lips were closer. She hadn't moved, she was sure, so he was moving in for the kill. She licked her lips before she could stop herself and Parker's eyes darkened. She could smell him, the scent driving her desire higher than it had been even after an hour of foreplay with any other man.

His mouth had almost, almost touched hers when she leaped to her feet in panic.

"Where's the bathroom?"

Parker slumped back against the sofa again. "Down the hall. First door on the right." He yanked at his tie and Sophie fled before she could see his complete reaction. She didn't want to know his reaction. She couldn't bear to see pain.

Frustration she expected, even annoyance. But instinctively she knew her rejection would cause him pain. She knew that because she felt it.

She wet a paper towel and pressed it over her eyes. How on earth was she going to get through this? She desperately wanted to jump the man's bones and if she did, her show was doomed.

She leaned on the sink and slid the wet paper towel over the nape of her neck. So what if Parker added dimension and heat to Rant and Rave? Sophie was the heart of it. Without 95

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her, they had nothing. Parker couldn't do the show alone, and she couldn't imagine why he'd want to.

But now that they'd had a taste of "them," she doubted the station would let her do the show alone. She hadn't had time to establish a true "Sophie-only" following. And she wanted the show to succeed. Not just for success's sake, but because she was having so much
fun
, and providing a service for people, and maybe even helping to lower violent incidents because her listeners had an outlet.

More importantly, she was doing something that was
hers
.

She'd been a success before, but MultiMicroTech was Dave and Chuck's success, not hers. She shared Rant and Rave with Melina and Parker, but it was her baby. She'd created it and provided the initial injection of energy to lift it off the ground. Nothing had ever been more satisfying.

So far
, said a subversive little voice she labeled "Desire for Parker." Sophie had little doubt Parker would be satisfying.

But she knew a relationship would change the show's dynamics and she didn't know if that would be a good thing.

Plus, she was scared spitless.

"Okay, enough analysis," she told herself, not wanting to consider why she was scared. "Go back and pretend nothing happened."

She did. Apparently, Parker had decided to do the same thing. They'd run through the first spot twice before she'd conquered her annoyance. They ran through three quick rehearsals of each spot, agreed on the tone they wanted to set, and headed for the station. With any luck—please, let 96

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there be luck!—the production manager would agree with their decisions and taping would go very quickly.

Parker followed Sophie to the station in his Porsche—of course—and met her as she stepped out of her little convertible.

"Nice," he admired, running one of his long-fingered, graceful hands—
stop it, Sophie
—over the fender. "Sixty-eight?"

"Sixty-six. It needed a lot of restoration. I finally got the body work done last fall, then had to store her over the winter." God, she wished Parker would stop caressing her car!

"I might have to sell her."

He looked up at her in shock. "Sell her? Never!"

Sophie shrugged. "She's expensive to keep up and I can't drive her in the winter. I'm not a man. I'm not more devoted to my car than I am to survival."