Sinfully Sexy (4 page)
Authors: Linda Francis Lee
Tags: #Romance, #Sex in the workplace, #Fiction
*Â *Â *
"I'd like two eggs, scrambled, bacon, hash browns, and a large orangejuice."
"What kind of toast?"
"White. No, make that wheat." Chloe hesitated, trying to decide one
last thing, then plunged ahead.
"And a side order of pancakes. Please."
"What?" she demanded when she noticed Kate and Julia smirking at her.
"You must have some serious emergency to need all of that," Kate
offered.
"I'm hungry."
"And you ordered to prove it," Julia quipped.
True, but since she had sworn off even so much as speaking to another
man again after the debacle last night, what did fat thighs matter
anyway?
This morning there wasn't a trace left of the woman from last night.
Sensible Chloe had returned with
her demure clothes and straight hair, the brush of freckles no longer
covered up by makeup. If only she could wipe away her indiscretion in
the hotel bathroom as easily. Well, she conceded, maybe not wipe away
everything. Her body still tingled when she remembered the way the
stranger had touched her. His hands on her body. But she remembered as
well the sheer embarrassed horror she had felt when the hotel's
maintenance man and several women crowded through the door. Women
definitely didn't like being kept from the ladies' room.
She shook her head.
The waitress took Chloe's plastic menu, secured it in the crook of her
arm, then smiled, pad in one hand, her miniature pencil posed to print
the next order.
Julia ordered toast and coffee, her gold charm bracelet jangling
against the Formica tabletop, her nearly waist-length black hair pulled
back into a stylishly sleek ponytail.
Of the three best friends, Julia was the true beauty. Kate was cute
with her froth of curls and hazel eyes. Chloe knew that she was plain
in a respectable, squeaky-clean way.
Kate glanced at her menu. "I'll have the heart-shaped pancakes, with
strawberry syrup."
"Off the kids' menu?" the waitress asked, surprised.
Julia laughed. "No, off the sappy She's in Love menu."
"So sue me," Kate shot back with a very-much-in-love smile as the
waitress left.
Julia laughed. "No need. You're allowed to be sappy in love."
"Encouraged to be, actually," Chloe added.
Kate sighed dreamily. "But enough about me. We have an emergency to
discuss. Chloe, spill."
Chloe drew a deep breath, wondering for half a heartbeat if this was
the sort of thing she shouldn't tell anyone, including her best
friends. But then she chided herself and launched into a detailed,
monotone, reporterlike explanation and thorough analysis of how she
felt after she failed the quiz. She recounted
the feeling that she couldn't spell
sex
appeal
much less have any.
"You're saying," Julia asked, trying to understand, "that after you
failed the
Sexy!
quiz, you
decided
you were going to be sexy?"
Chloe hung her head. "Yes."
"And that's the emergency?"
"Yes. No. Well, not exactly."
"This should be good."
Chloe hesitated. Could she really say the words out loud? "It's not
good. It's horrible. It's ... I ... I nearlyhad-sexwithastranger."
Kate blinked, her coffee cup clattering in the saucer when she nearly
dropped it.
Julia's mouth dropped open. "Did you say what I think you said?"
Chloe leaned forward, wrinkled her nose, and made a drawn out,
melodramatic sound of dismay. "Yes," she moaned.
"When?" Kate demanded.
"Last night."
"Last night? Where?" Julia was confused. "I thought you were going to
the Hilton for the Heart Association reception."
"I was."
"Was? So you didn't go?"
"Not exactly." She winced. "But I got close."
Julia sat back. "Good Lord, what are you talking about?"
Pressing her eyes closed, Chloe gathered her thoughts, then plunged
ahead with her story. She told her friends about the unfamiliar need to
be sexy. Explained about getting dressed, driving to the hotel, sitting
in the car. She mentioned the wind, running into the man, falling. Then
she added the last part about
how she ended up in the hotel bathroom. On a sink. With a stranger.
Julia went very still. "In a bathroom? Was it the same bathroom they
found some man in?"
"That would be my guess."
"Chloe!" Julia and Kate chimed together, leaning close with wildly
wicked gleams in their eyes.
"You were the woman in the bathroom with some man?" Kate gasped.
"It's a pretty nice bathroom," Chloe said with an apologetic shrug.
"Can you believe it?" Julia stated, impressed. "Our little Chloe has
done something that has all the
tongues in town wagging."
"Thank God they don't know it's her," Kate added.
"Always Miss Practicality," Julia announced.
"Someone has to be. And you know why this happened, don't you? She
finally rebelled."
Julia and Kate exchanged a glance, then said in unison, " 'Thank your
lucky stars you were born plain-looking, Chloe love. Your gift is being
smart and sensible. Don't ever let that desert you.' "
Kate shook her head and smiled with a deep, caring love for her friend
of more than two decades. "Sounds to me our little Chloe finally proved
her grandmother wrong."
Julia scoffed. "If the woman weren't already deadâ"
All three made the sign of the cross.
"âthen she should be shot."
"Stop, stop. Grandmother loved me. She kept me after my mother diedâ"
Julia and Kate sighed, then Julia continued the story they all knew so
well. "She raised you, supported you, loved you after your father
disappeared. Which reminds me, now that your father has found you again
all these years later, is he ever going to move out of your house?"
"Julia, my father is no trouble. I'm glad he's staying with me."
"Fine, fine, not a word against Regina Sinclair or Richard Maybry.
Besides, your grandmother also said that men 'lie, cheat, and leave.' I
happen to agree with her on that."
"Julia!" Chloe and Kate exclaimed.
Julia didn't pay them any mind. She smiled and leaned forward. "Tell us
every little detail about last
night. What's his name? What does he look like? Are you going to see
him again?"
Chloe winced again, then answered the questions in the order they were
presented. "I don't know. Dark hair, dark eyes. When I was dashing out
the door; I didn't say goodbye, much less ask for another date.
In fact, I left so fast that I forgot my purseâor rather your purse,
Julia. I'll get you a new one."
"I'm not worried about the purse." Julia smoothed her already smooth
hair with her delicate hand, her perfect nails glittering like bright
pink jewels. "I'm just trying to understand. Are you telling us you
nearly had sex with a stranger for no other reason than you wanted to
have sex?"
Chloe knew she couldn't lie, no matter how distasteful it was. "Yes. I
mean, it just hit me. I wanted to have sex. Though not with just any
man. With that man. Something about the way he looked at me, or maybe
it was the way his body protected mine from the wind. Or maybe because
he cleaned sand and
grit out of my arms and knees." She pulled back her long sleeves and
held up her arms as proof, exhibiting the angry scrapes.
Kate and Julia
ewwed
appropriately.
"It was like I let go and didn't have to think because I didn't know
his name and he didn't know mine
and I'd never see him again." Chloe hung her head. "There it is."
Julia banged her jeweled hand on the table. "Brava!"
Chloe's head came up. "What?"
"Good job. Though I hope you were on the verge of pulling out a condom
for the main event."
"I don't carry condoms!"
"Then you better start if this is going to become a habit. It's a big
mistake if you don't. Oh, and maybe you should borrow some of those
sexy sex products that Kate used on that segment of
Getting Real
the day she decided to
go crazy herself and be sexy." Julia tilted her head in thought. "There
must be something in the air."
Kate blushed, though she looked more than a little pleased with
herselfâor perhaps she was just pleased with the outcome of that
disastrous show. As well she should be. She ended up with the love of
her life.
"This is not going to become a habit!" Chloe blurted. "In fact it will
never, I repeat never, happen again. There will be no sex products, and
there certainly will be no big mistake!"
Julia's gaze danced wickedly. "Speaking of big . . . did you get far
enough along to find out if he was,
you know, big?"
Kate bit her lip to keep from laughing. Chloe blinked, her mouth
opening and closing, unable to find words to respond.
Julia and Kate glanced at each other, then laughed out loud. "She's
back," they stated in unison.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Julia patted her hand. "Just that our sweet Goody Two-shoes has
returned, every trace of wild woman gone."
"Exactly," Chloe stated. "Every trace is gone."
And it was true. Her well-ordered world had returned to its normal
orbit. She liked order. She liked lists. She liked knowing she had her
world under control. And she wasn't about to throw all that away for a
few minutes of fleeting sexual satisfaction with a man who had rugged
good looks and strong hands that had drifted over her skin as if he had
touched her many times before.
A shimmer of longing ran through her at the memory. Maybe if she saw
him just one more time . . . Absolutely not.
She nodded firmly, making her feel in more control already.
It was always that way when she was with the girls. It had been Kate
and Julia who had taken her under their wings after her mother died.
The state had sent her to live with her grandmother, a wonderful but
exacting woman who had loved her with a rigid discipline. After Regina
Sinclair died, she had left Chloe her house, a sense of self-worth, and
a strict code of ethics.
That was a year ago, her vivacious grandmother's sudden death leaving
her saddened and surprised to
be without her. But Chloe hadn't been alone for long when the father
she had never really known had
had a heart attack. The hospital had called her at her father's
request, and as soon as he was discharged, he had moved in with her.
As he had recovered his health during the past six months, they had
lurched along, trying to find
common ground. He was a charming man, wonderful and happy. But she
didn't know how to bridge
the polite distance that stood between them. She worried about him, and
while she didn't know him that well, she felt a deep yearning to have
him in her life.
"Well," Julia said, breaking the silence. "Chloe has confessed her
delicious sins, we have cheered her on, but now we have no choice but
to get to the office. Trey Tanner should be there anytime now."
They paid the bill, then hurried across the street to the low brick
building that housed KTEX TV. Oversized satellite dishes that had yet
to be replaced by smaller, newer ones beckoned in the parking lot like
concave moons. A billboard with Kate's likeness ran along the side of
the building.
Getting Real
with Kate
had become a success. Ratings had been good. They were
on their way back to regaining
their standing. Or so Chloe had thought. She wondered if there was
something Julia wasn't telling her.
"Julia, you didn't answer my e-mail regarding this Trey Tanner," Chloe
said. "He's only here to analyze the station, right? He's not like
someone from that horrible Prescott Media who takes obscene pleasure
in gobbling up stations that have hit rough spots?"
Security buzzed them into the building. Because the station was small,
they had to enter directly into the ware-houselike space that housed
the main set. Julia pressed her finger to her lips unnecessarily. Which
made Chloe's heart step up its beat.
What was going on?
By the time they had made it through another doorway and they could
talk again, Chloe felt a low bead
of panic start to build.
Julia turned to Chloe and Kate, her expression professional and
businesslike. "I need this to go well."
The seriousness of her tone instantly got their attention.
"Is something wrong, Jules?" Kate asked. "Is the station okay?"
Julia scoffed, but the lightness was forced. Chloe's panic grew.
"Of course everything is okay," Julia added with a strained smile. "I
just felt it necessary to bring in an outside opinion. And I've heard
great things about Trey Tanner."
"I've never heard of him," Kate said.
"Well"âJulia shifted her weightâ"not many people have. But he comes
highly recommended. I would appreciate it if both of you would sit in
on the meeting. With my father gone, you're the only two people
I trust. I'll meet you in the conference room."
Abruptly Julia turned and headed toward her office, her stiletto heels
clicking against the tile.
Kate and Chloe exchanged a glance.
"I thought things around here were getting better," Kate said.
"They are." Or were they? The Boudreaux family let her run the station,
but they had always kept the books themselves. "I guess we should go in
and meet this Trey Tanner."
"I'll meet you there," Kate said.
Chloe headed down the hall, stopping briefly in her own office to store
her purse and retrieve a pen and
a pad of paper. Then she made her way to the conference room. But when
she turned the handle and glanced through the top portion of the door
that was made of glass, her heart went still, her blood froze
in her veins, and she thought maybe, just maybe, she was going to pass
out on the floor. "Oh, my God," she whispered.
THREE
She couldn't breathe."Surely not," she said. "It can't be."
Two men stood in the conference room, talking, their backs to her. They
both had dark hair and large builds. But one of them made her think of
the man from the Hilton bathroom.
"Please, please, please no," she pleaded softly.
"Please no what?" Julia asked, coming up behind her.
Kate arrived next, glancing at her watch. "I like a man who believes in
being on time. Trey Tanner gets points from me. Who's with him?"
The two men turned around, and Chloe's knees nearly buckled. The
stranger she had nearly had sex
with stood there with a quiet ease.
"Yum," Julia stated. "They're cute if you like rugged, manly alpha
males."
Chloe looked on with her heart pounding and a strange traitorous tingle
fizzing through her body like champagne bubbles. He appeared every bit
as commanding as he had last night. Handsome in a way
that was all about self-assurance and power. And he was here!
Oh, my God, he's here!
Panic mixed with a heady rush of awareness. She wanted to throw her
arms around him, but at the
same time she wanted to melt away into the terra-cotta tile floor.
With a nearly silent groan, Chloe started to turn away, intent on
sending a message in with Lucy, the receptionist, that she was
suddenly, unavoidably, detained. But her groan wasn't silent enough.
Julia cocked her head and grabbed her arm. "Showtime," she whispered.
Great, great, great.
Okay, she told herself, don't panic. She could do this. Besides, today
her hair was straight, her bangs were down, the freckles across the
bridge of her nose were blazing with not a speck of makeup in sight.
What were the chances that he'd even recognize her?
With a sound that was a cross between a growl and a whimper, Chloe
rummaged around in her jacket pocket for her oversized glasses, pushed
them on to be on the safe side, tucked her chin close, and entered the
room behind Julia and Kate. She clutched her notepad protectively to
her chest and felt her hair swing against her cheeks like curtains in a
way that she hoped hid her face.
Julia walked to the head of the table. "I'm Julia Boudreaux, and this
is Kate Bloom Chapman from our hugely successful
Getting Real with Kate
. And this is
Chloe Sinclair, our station manager."
The other man, not the one from last night, reached out and shook
Julia's hand. "I'm Ben," he said simply.
Julia tugged away with a start, her lips parting as if his touch had
surprised her. She blinked, then blinked again, and shook her head. But
then the odd moment passed and Julia was back to her normal self.
Chloe's best friend looked the man up and down, then said, "I figured
you weren't Trey Tanner. From my e-mails with him, I didn't think that
he would show up wearing jeans to an important meeting."
Ben raised a brow and actually laughed, completely unperturbed by
Julia's surprisingly biting remark.
Chloe sat down quickly, and she would have sworn she felt the other
man's eyes on her. She realized with a sinking heart that he was
probably remembering her that very second. Just as she remembered him.
Trey Tanner. What were the chances that the man Julia had hired to help
them would turn out to
be the man from the bathroom?
Chloe mumbled her greetings.
"Is something wrong with your voice?"
This from Kate, whom Chloe saw out of the corner of her downcast eyes
looking at her oddly.
"I think I'm getting a cold." Chloe sniffed for effect.
Kate cocked her head. "In the last five minutes?"
Chloe stared at the pad and pretended to write.
Julia turned to the other man. "You must be Trey Tanner."
He was still staring at Chloe, and his brow furrowed in confusion.
Chloe braced herself for what he
would say next.
"It's you!"
"I never thought I'd see you again!"
"I was crushed when you ran out on me
like that!"
"You are the most stunningly
beautiful woman I have ever met and I can't live another second
without you."
"I'm sorry, but there seems to be a mistake," he stated, that same
deep, rumbling voice washing over
her senses. "I am from Prescott Media, but I'mâ"
Chloe's head jerked up. "What?" she blurted.
Every eye in the room turned to her. She tossed her pen down on the
pad. "Did I hear you correctly? You're from Prescott Media?"
He hardly looked at her. In fact, it hit her then that he hadn't been
staring at her. And he wasn't all that happy about having been
interrupted. Not only had he not been on the verge of exclaiming his
admiration and love, but as it turned out, he hadn't even recognized
her!
Chloe realized with a rush of relief that she was safe.
He didn't recognize her!
Followed quickly by a disgruntled,
He
didn't recognize her!
Her brows slammed together. She couldn't believe it. Was she so
pathetically ugly without makeup that
he didn't even notice a resemblance?
A part of her brain realized that she was being irrational. She should
be rejoicing at her luck. But that other part, the one that had
obviously sent her to the party dressed up in the first place, was
insulted.
She lifted her chin a notch. Surely he just hadn't seen her well
enough. How could he not recognize her? She might look a bit different
this morning, but they had shared a passion that she was sure was the
sort that people wrote about in songs, in books, in movies. A passion
that meant he should recognize her soul.
Okay, so she'd been reading too much lately. But really, he should at
least think she looked familiar.
"I'm sorry for the interruption," Julia said, glaring at Chloe. "I know
that your time is valuable."
Chloe barely listened as Julia rushed on with ridiculous platitudes and
gushing appreciation for him
coming all the way to El Paso to meet with them.
Raising her chin another notch, Chloe pushed the paper and pen away
from her with a noisy swish. But still Trey Tanner didn't notice her.
She even pushed back her hair, drummed her fingers on the table,
then in a fit of completely and utterly immature foolishness, she
whipped off her glasses. All that was missing was a
Ta da!
To no avail.
In fact the only person in the room who seemed aware of her at all was
Kate, who kept glancing at her
as if at any minute she might sprout a second head. Which might not be
a bad idea since then maybe
one of them would ring a bell in this Trey Tanner.
Trey Tanner. From Prescott Media!
Her frustration turned to anger. How could Julia have done this?
"As I was saying," he stated firmly, cutting Julia off.
Chloe snorted. "You were saying that you're from Prescott Media, home
of that corporate cutthroat
and modern day robber baron Sterling Prescott."
That got his attention. It got the other man's attention as well. Ben
actually chuckled.
Julia whirled around to face him. "Who exactly are you? Ben, you said.
Just Ben. Like Cher, I suppose."
Ben whistled appreciatively, not in the least cowed by Julia. He simply
smiled and made a big production of saying, "Yep, it's Ben. I'm
Trey's
younger brother, Ben Tanner.
Yes, Ben Tanner, here to be inspired by his big brother's greatness.
Though, Trey"âhe turned to the other manâ "next time you talk to your
bossâSterling, isn't it?âyou might want to mention that he has one bad
reputation here in El Paso."
Chloe watched as Trey looked like he would strangle the younger man.
Then she turned to Julia. "How could you?" she asked plaintively. "How
could you have invited Prescott Media into our station? It's
like inviting a fox into the henhouse."
"Chloe, please," Julia implored. She laughed uncomfortably. "I'm sure
that you're wrong about Prescott Media."
"Wrong? Haven't you read the articles? Trey Tanner works for a hard,
cold butcher of a man who is as notorious for snatching up stations for
a fraction of their worth as he is for being reclusive. Can you imagine
how awful and hated Sterling Prescott must be that he can't even show
his face?!"
Ben seemed to choke on his amusement.
Trey got defensive. "The last I heard, it was legal to make a profit in
the United States."
"Great, justify lowball offers and hostile takeovers with the American
flag. Though why am I not surprised that you'd defend your boss. What's
the saying?
An underling doesn't
fall far from the tree.
"
The man's jaw worked.
Chloe turned to Julia. "Kick him out now while you still can. I bet you
money he is here with a lowball offer in that fancy briefcase of his.
He'll leave you with nothing. And forget the fact that the rest of us
won't have a job." The reality made her heart go still. But she
couldn't think about that now. "Can you deny that is what you're here
to do?" she demanded of the man.
He looked murderous, his hands flattened on the fine wood tabletop,
throwing frustrated glares at Ben each time he chuckled gleefully.
"I assure you that you are mistaken about Prescott Media," Trey Tanner
stated. "But take Prescott out
of the equation for the moment."
He leaned forward, every inch of him rippling with that commanding
power as he launched into a discussion about media trends, local versus
national programming, ad rates, and the decline in advertising revenue
in all media. Yada, yada. Chloe barely heard over the anger,
frustration, and yes, fear that she felt.
She, Chloe Sinclair, who was notorious for her copious note taking and
list making, only stared at her
pad of paper. But she couldn't help the situation if she didn't
concentrate.
For the next fifteen minutes, she forgot last night. She became
absorbed in the information he spilled
out with the ease of an expert.
Mr. Expert.
Yeah, right
, she
thought ungraciously, not to mention unfairly.
Everyone stopped and stared at her.
She cringed. "Did I say that out loud?"
Julia looked at her with an astounded glare. "Yes, Chloe. You did."
"Sorry."
"Yes, she's terribly sorry," Julia gushed uncharacteristically.
"No need to apologize." He turned to Chloe. "Ms. Sinclair, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"If you have something to share," he said, a warrior's calm settling
through him, "I'd like to hear it. I'm always open to alternate
interpretations of what is going on in the media today."
He sat back and studied her with a bone deep detachment. He really
didn't recognize her.
"Well, it's just that you are talking about KTEX as if we are in
terrible shape."
He didn't respond.
"But we aren't."
He still didn't say anything, which made her feel the need to defend
her stance even though he hadn't contradicted her. She had seen other
people fall into this trap, start talking and talking as if they
couldn't stop themselves.
"KTEX has turned a corner after the success of
Getting Real with Kate
. And with a
few more well-thought-out programs, we can turn around completely. I
resent you speaking of the station as if it's already in the grave."
"Fair enough."
He reached down into his briefcase, pulled out a file, opened it, then
extended a set of papers.
Chloe glanced over them and sniffed again. He had spelled out clearly
what she already knew but hadn't wanted to face. The reality of
television was that they were dependent on advertising revenue. Not
only were ad dollars down across the board for all venues, but
television had been hit especially hard. For an independent station
like KTEX, it was even more disheartening.
But Chloe wasn't about to concede defeat. Instead she felt the need to
push hard to discredit him. "This might be true, but we have already
begun our turnaround. We increased our revenue by eighty-three percent
during
Getting Real
."
"True. But that was only during the single episode where you showcased
a mini-golf tournament," he clarified. "That's finite programming.
Nothing that solves your larger issues."
"Meaning?" Kate said, worry in her voice.
The man looked directly at Kate. "Meaning that El Paso is cut off from
most other cities. You don't have much in the way of bleed factor. El
Paso is a good 250 to 300 miles away from any other city of significant
size. Tucson, 316 miles to the west. Albuquerque, 267 miles to the
north. And going east, Dallas-Fort Worth is twice that distance, with
more cactus than people between here and there."
"Cacti," Chloe said glumly.
He looked at her hard. "I stand corrected."
But on the bigger picture, she knew he was right. Texas wasn't like
many states that were built with
towns running together, making it hard to tell where one ended and
another began. In Texas, the minute you left the El Paso city limits,
you didn't see much more than those cacti and the occasional small
town, like some sort of holdback from the days of the wild wild west.
Unless they bought another station in another city of significant size,
KTEX's audience was here, and that was pretty much it.
"But a population of nearly eight hundred thousand is nothing to sneeze
at," she countered.
"No question. But given the geography, it's finite."
"Las Cruces isn't so far away. And we have Juarez right across the
border."
"Las Cruces is a small market. As to Juarez, do you plan to start
broadcasting and advertising in Spanish?"
She hated that he was right.
He looked at some of his notes. "Based on the information I have here,
you have to turn things around quickly, or you'll be too far in the red
to realistically pull out."
"Many companies operate in the red at one time or another," Chloe added
defensively. "We will pull
out of this. We have time. Don't we, Julia?"
All eyes turned to Julia, but she didn't respond.
Lucy knocked on the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the conference
room has been reserved for
eleven o'clock, and they're here."
Kate turned to Julia. "Reservations for the conference room?"
Julia stood up from her place at the head of the table, the men
following suit. She smiled tightly. "I think we are done here for now.
Mr. Tanner, Lucy will show you to my office. I'll meet you there
momentarily."
With that she was gone.
In apparent shock, Kate stood, then extended her hand. "It was nice to
meet you." Then she disappeared as well.
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