Bro-mance 101 (10 page)

Zhané
immediately
picked up on her mood
.  “
Uh oh.  What’s going on?”

“You’re keeping me
on my toes with these
impromptu
visitors,” Marji answered.

“You’ve met Katina before.”

“
Yes, o
f course
, I
was referring to the client waiting in your office.  He says he has an appointment,
but I don’t see it on your calendar.”

Zhané
t
hought back to
Ramon
’s visit a few
week
s ago. 
“
Oh God, don’t tell me
Ramon
Aiello
is
back?
”

“
No
, he’s not
.
”
 

“
Thank goodness. 
Then who is it?”

“
M
r
.
Devlin Hart.
”

Zhané
’s
stomach did a
series of
aerial flips
that
Gabby Douglas would be proud of. 

Devlin
i
s here!

She held the edge of Marji’s desk for fear her knees would buckle. 
It had been over three weeks since she’d last seen him.  All she
’d
had to sustain her was the deep baritone of his voice
as she
listen
ed to his
show each night, scared
that
the effect of his velvet vocals wou
ld be like
L
ove
P
otion
N
umber
N
ine,
luring her to the
radio
station for another
wicked
taste.

She couldn’t explain the odd attraction she felt for him.   It was more than just the sex.  Take out the back scratching, earth-shattering, screams of ecstasy, and what was left?  Devlin Hart in ra
w form.  His cocky, take-charge
attitude turned her on.  She liked his mannerisms.  She liked his swagger.  She liked his smell.  His voice.  His intelligence.  His everything. 
Even now, just the mention of his name made her body
pulsate
with desire for him.

“
I thought the
hunk
last week was hot,
”
Marji continued, “bu
t he was l
ukewarm by this
guy’
s standards.
”  Marji had a
playful gleam in her eyes.  If she only knew the fire she was pl
aying
with.
This
girl
,
barely grown out of her college backpack
, c
ouldn’t handle Devlin Hart.

And you can?

God knows
I
’m having
fun trying.

Zhané
shook
off her lustful thoughts.
“
Thanks,
Marji
.  I’ll see to
Mr. Hart.”

As
Zhané
walked toward her office
,
Katina
followed,
t
ugged
on
the sleeve of her suit coat
,
and whisper
ed, “
You gotta get rid of this guy on
ce and for all.”

Zhané
nodded, still not sure
how
she would
react to
Devlin when she saw him.

Katina set a plan in motion.  “
On my signal, I’ll give the excuse and you
give him the boot.  I’ll say you
’re running late for a meeting.”

“
Okay,
”
Zhané
murmured.
She would do just
as Katina
suggested. 
The KLUV family co
uldn’t keep barging in here, trespassing on her work environment
and mentally knocking her off balance
.  Her first task would be to set
Devlin
straight–right after she calmed her galloping heartbeat and stilled her wobbly legs. 

Incredibly
S
exy
wasn’t a phrase that adequately
describe
d
him.  It seemed he’d grown even more handsome since she’d seen him
over
three weeks ago. 
The moment
Zhané
stepped into the room,
she felt the electric current of
Devlin’s
energy surrounding her.  It was
like looking into the sun
–p
owerful
,
but
leaving her feeling
warm all over
.

D
e
vlin
stood when she
approached
.  She’d never be able to look at the chair
he reclined
in again without thinking of him sitting there. 

“
Hello beautiful,
” his voice washed over her like tranquil waves on a tropical island.
 

“
Hello Dev.
”
  She wan
ted to kick herself for using the
short
ened
version of his name.
S
he was supposed to be all business.

“Ahem,”
Zhané
heard
Katina
clear her throat. 

Zhané
made the introductions.  “
Katina
, meet Devlin Hart.
Devlin, this is my best friend,
Katina
.”

Devlin stepped forward,
the muscles beneath his
black
shirt rippling as he moved. 
“Pleased to meet you,” he croo
ned.  “You two could be sisters,” he told Katina.  “
You’re both so enchanting
I don’t know who to keep my eyes on.”

Zhané
stared in disbelief as Katina
’s lips twisted from a
sour
pretzel
to a
wide, sweet orange slice
.
“How
charming
,” Katina
gushed at his compliment, practically melting into a pool of
sautéed butter.

Devlin turned his attention back to
Zhané
. 
“I’m sorry to barge in on you
.
”
H
e flashed a smile that could
be used by nations to disarm terrorists
.  “I
just need a few moments of your time.”

Katina
backpedalled from the room
. 
“I’ll be back,”
she said. 
“I’ve got a few things to do before our meeting.”

Zhané
watched her best friend leave
and shut the door behind her
. 
Tina didn’t have a damn thing to do. 
She
was
supposed to be here, protecting
Zhané
from certain ravishment.

Alone,
Zhané
and Devlin stood less than
five
feet apart staring at each other.  She focused on the tiny details
of his appearance.
  Black Henley with the sleeves rolled up over the baby fine hairs on his muscular forearms. 
Thumbs tucked into the front pockets of
his
relaxed fit jeans. 
Leather sneakers that showed off what had to be a size
-
t
welve foot
–if the size of his “package” was any indication. 
Damn, this man could make a pair of Birkenstocks look good!

“You look amazing,” Devlin
offered,
snatching
the very words she’d been thinking about him.  His eyes swept
over her
tailored
skirt suit.  In the office, she always wore a
“
power
”
outfit
and pumps.  No sundresses and sweaters for her.

“Thank you.”  She
casually clasped her hands in front of her.  “And may I
say the same for you?”

“You may.”  He smiled again
,
and she couldn’t help but imagine that mouth nibbling and licking her in all the places that were throbbing right now.  “
I was pleasantly surprised to hear your voice
on the line the other day,” he told her
. 
“
I thought you
’d
called in on a lark.  Then, I found out
Ramon
orchestrated it.”

Now it was
Zhané
’s turn to smile. 
“I will admit I
enjoyed myself
.” 
She was intrigued when
Ramon
first
presented her with the idea
of calling into the show to
trade barbs
with Devlin
. 
The way
Ramon
put the spin on his brainchild, h
e should
be in marketing and
promotions
. 
He’d
convinced her that
it
would be a w
ay
for her
to
have her voice heard
. 
She recalled his words:
‘C
ons
ider it a type of therapy.  It’s
what you always wanted to do and you know it. 
Besides, you can get back at Devlin.’
After that, it wasn’t hard to follow his logic.  Even if
Ramon
hadn’t given her the topic in advance, she wouldn’t have needed any preparation to tangle with Devlin.
Their verbal sparring came naturally. 

“
The ratings were th
r
o
ugh the roof,” Devlin told her.  “
Ramon
’s been talking about you non-stop. 
He called you a
‘spicy
chick
.’
 
In fact, h
e
wants you to come
to the studio
to
do the show with me
on a regular basis
.
”

“Oh no.”  She shook her head.  “Once was enough.”
 
Talking
o
ver the phone was one thing, but sitting in close proximity to
Devlin
, fighting her unbrid
led
attraction to him was quite another matter.  Whenever they argued, the threat of explosive sexual tension crouched like a wild tiger, ready to spri
ng forth
at any moment
. 
How could she feign professionalism when
what
she
really
wanted to do was jump
Devlin’s
bones?

“How about o
nce a week?
 
Devlin asked.  “
Ramon
even
has a new slogan:
 
Bro-mance
101 with a twist of
spice.
”
 

She folded her arms over her chest.  “I’m guessing I’m the spice.”

“Now, you’ve got it.”

“
I thought
you
were meddlesome
until I met
Ramon
.”

Devlin c
huckled. 
“
Woman
, when it comes to meddlin
’ I ain’t got nothin’ on
Ramon
.”

Zhané
laughed
.
 
The man was gorgeous and he had a
hidden
sense of humor.

Lord, why are you making this so hard?
 

“
Y
ou have a beautiful smile
,”
he
said.  “
You should use it more often
–especially on me
.”