THE CRITIC (7 page)

She felt the muscles in her stomach tightening.  There was no one else around but she could still feel the blush covering her entire body.  She wanted erotic.  She wanted to believe there was a difference in that and porn.

No, she
needed
to believe there was a difference in the two.  She no longer wanted what she’d had in the past.  She wanted the things she read about, had written about.  At least she wanted some of them.  So for that reason alone she had to believe there was a difference.

She knew for sure she wanted to feel shivers running through her body.  And she definitely wanted to take her time kissing Jared, tasting him just to see what he tasted like.

Her previous boyfriends, while attractive, had been soft.   They weren’t the kind of men who produced shivers.  In fact Fred’s lips were mushy. Even his body was. She was sure he’d only had to shave once a week.

She thought of the slight stubble she’d noticed on Jared’s face last night. He probably needed to shave twice a day. His face was hard, his body was hard, yet his lips were soft
without being mushy.

No wonder her hero lacked sensuality.  She had only known soft men, so gentle in bed that she sometimes wondered if they’d even completed the act.

She had written entire scenes in her head during the act and was always surprised that they had finished without her even knowing they’d begun.

It was high time for the sake of research that her knowledge of men broadened.  She needed a three dimensional man, not some cardboard character with no zip in the sex appeal department.  Toreas needed Jared.

C
hapter Six

Toreas was practically giddy with excitement.  She was about to embark on the biggest adventure in her entire life.  She was going to shed her good girl image, once and only once, for research.

With trembling fingers she dialed the number to the television station before she could talk herself out of it.

“May I speak to Mr. Stone please?” 

“He’s not in.  May I ask whose calling?”

Toreas recognized the voice of the owner of the station.  She sighed loudly and stretched her fingers, trying to rid herself of the desire to employ a few more of Kelle’s techniques.

Now she had two things on her list: seducing Jared Stone and becoming Kelle’s number one pupil.
Here I go again
drifting
off
into space
, she thought as she heard the gravely voice on the phone asking her once again who she was.

“This is Toreas Rose.  Would you give Mr. Stone my new number and ask him to call please?”  She heard a noise, then the sound of fumbling but no answer.

“Sure, Ms. Rose, I’ll give him the message.”

That was definitely a click she heard. 
Oh God,
Toreas thought and slapped her hand against her forehead.  He was taping her.  She muttered a hurried goodbye and replaced the phone.

Yes, she was definitely going to learn the roundhouse kick, the reverse punch, the uppercut, and the snap kick.  She would work with Kelle every available minute. She thought of her two older brothers who used to pick on her.  She was going to learn to kick butt.

***

“Jared.” Derrick rushed at him. “You won’t believe what happened, who called for you.”

Jared stared at Derrick’s face. He was happy. No, more than that, he was ecstatic. It probably had something to do with grabbing the front page this morning.

Well, he’d let him have it.  Hadn’t he decided just an hour ago that nothing was going to happen with Toreas Rose? “Who called?”

“That Rose woman.  She left her number and she wants you to call her back.”

Jared stood in shock. “You mean she left her home number? But she went to all the trouble of having it changed.”

“Yes,” Derrick answered him, his mouth open in astonishment. “Why don’t you use my phone here and call her back?”

Jared eyed Derrick with suspicion.  “Just give me the number.  I’ll make the call from my own office.”

As he took the slip of paper from his boss’s outstretched hand, something about the whole episode seemed too easy. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that he was being watched not only by Derrick but by Josh and Stella as well.

Something was up and he had a good idea what it was.  Jared closed his office door and pulled his cellular phone from his pocket, checking at the same time for any suspicious devices attached to his office phone.

Toreas answered on the first ring, something he had not expected.

“Ms. Rose, this is Jared Stone.  I understand you called.”

“Yes.  I saw the paper this morning. I think it’s time we called a halt to this.  Since the popular consensus is that I started this, then I suppose I should make the first move to end it.”

She waited for Jared to answer her.  She wished she could tell what he was thinking.  “I’m sorry for my previous behavior on your show.”

Again she paused and waited. Still nothing.  “It shouldn’t have mattered how much of a jerk you were being, or how uninformed, or how insensitive, or how rude-”

“Excuse me, but is this the apology?”  Jared could feel his lips pulling into a smile as he wondered what the woman on the other end was doing.

Was she playing with her hair? Biting her nails? Or was she thinking about hitting him again?  

“You’re right.”  Toreas closed her eyes, determined to take the leap.  “Maybe we should meet. Perhaps we could find a way to end this.”  There, she’d said it. The words were out.

He heard her but he didn’t know if he believed it. “Are you saying that after last night and the paper this morning you’re willing to meet with me?  Ms. Rose, you wouldn’t be planning on another attack would you?”

“Touché, Mr. Stone. Last night and the paper this morning are my reasons for calling you. I really wanted to apologize, something I should have done properly before. But you owe me one also, Mr. Stone.”

“You mean for the kiss?” Jared asked. He was suspicious of Toreas’s motive. She was too agreeable. He imagined she was blushing on the other end of the line. The woman got embarrassed on the phone talking about a kiss.  What could he possibly want with her?

“Listen, Ms. Rose, tell me what kind of a punch that was you hit me with?”

“It’s called a flat-fisted punch.”

“Where did you learn it?”

“From Kelle.”

Jared could feel her smiling and he rather liked the image.  “Is Kelle also a writer?”

“She’s so much more than that,” Toreas bragged.  She’s a scientist and a 9th degree black belt.  She’s a karate master.”

“A scientist who writes romance?”  Jared was not being solicitous. He was truly under the impression that only bored housewives wrote those things and even more bored women read them.

That’s why he’d been so surprised to learn of Gina’s passion for the books. How could she possible need to read about romance when he was providing her with all that she could handle?

He braced himself for the impact of pain to his chest.  Jared waited, but the pain never came. Instead of the pain he felt himself smiling as he listened to Toreas explaining that in her group alone they had doctors, lawyers, teachers, librarians, computer programmers, artists, nurses and yes, mothers and wives.

She was going into a spiel about the number of romance readers and how they fell into the same occupational fields as the writers, when he interrupted her.

“Why didn’t you speak up like that when you were on the show?”

“We were trying, you didn’t give us a chance.”

“I’m not talking about your friends Elysa or Liz or the others. I’m talking about you. You sat there the entire time and didn’t say a word.  Then you hit me.”

His voice carried a note of surprise even now.  “You have a bad temper, don’t you?”

“No. And usually I’m adult enough to control my emotions.  I’m not offering this as an excuse but I grew up with two older brothers and they would tease me unmercifully.”

“Did you hit your brothers?” 

“No, I never did.”

“Then why me?  Why start with me?”  Jared knew he was making her uncomfortable but he wanted to keep talking to her, to hear that little catch in her voice, to imagine her blushing as she tried to answer him.

“I didn’t choose to start with you.  Like I said, it just happened. Kelle taught us that punch the night before.”

Jared laughed then. “Was that your preparation for coming on the show?  Most people just gather notes.”

He imagined her licking her lips.  He knew she was blushing.  It carried through in her voice. He smiled to himself, thinking how easily they talked-that is, until a whirring sound in the background caught the attention of both of them and changed things.  

“Mr. Stone, are you recording this conversation?”

“No. What would give you an idea like that?”

“Your show is after ratings and I, unfortunately, seem to have provided you with the perfect ratings booster.”

Jared stopped smiling, not admitting that he’d had the  thought earlier that Derrick and Josh were up to something. And he’d heard the sound also.  Still, he didn’t appreciate being accused of something so underhanded.

“Ms. Rose, I called you on my cell phone. Not that I ever had any intentions of recording you.”

The entire mood had changed.  He could sense it and he wanted to continue with the light-hearted banter, but it was too late.

“Where would you like to meet?” he asked instead. “You could come to the station. We could talk in my office.”

“No, thank you.”

Toreas could feel the words freezing in her throat.  She was going to lose her opportunity. How was she ever going to get the chance to seduce Jared if she kept being nasty?

The more she thought of it, she didn’t know if she would be able to go through with it. This simple conversation was beginning to make her feel as if she were being grilled.

Realizing that, she changed the tone and insulted him once more. This time unintentionally. But she’d remembered the earlier click from the station when she was positive she was being recorded and the hurtful words just tumbled out.

“Are you listening to me?”

Jared’s voice jerked her back from her thoughts. She was trying to remember her plan.  Her great seduction. Quick, what would a heroine say?  Meet me at the bar?

“The pie place next door to your office would be better for me,” Toreas said.

She wanted to die.  Frumpy little writer in her frumpy little clothes suggesting meeting at a pie place. 
Great mood for
a seduction
, she thought in dismay.  She heard Jared answering her, the playful tone gone from his voice.

“Good. Lets say
3 P.M., Ms Rose. I have appointments until then.”

“That’s fine…” She paused. “No cameras, Mr. Stone.”  She couldn’t resist taking one last shot.

Toreas had barely hung up from talking to Jared when she began pushing buttons again.  She had to call Liz.  She was excited and she wanted to tell someone her plans.

“Liz, I’m going to do it.”

“Well, hello to you too.  Now what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to take your advice. I’m going after Jared Stone. Well, at least once.  For research.”

Toreas heard noise on the other end of the phone and called out to Liz.  It sounded as though her friend might have fallen.

“Are you crazy?” Liz screamed. “That must be it. You’ve completely lost your mind. First, I was only kidding with you.  And besides, you told me you hated the man.”

“Like you said, my feelings have nothing to do with this.  I do hate him. I just want to use him for research.”

“What kind of research?”

“What kind do you think?”

“Oh my God. You can’t be thinking of doing what I’m thinking. Tell me you’re not that dumb.”

“What are you talking about? This was your idea, remember?”

Toreas could tell Liz was becoming agitated but so was she.  At last she’d decided to end this ridiculous feud but look at the thanks she was getting.

“I thought you would be happy that I’m getting him to stop attacking us.”

“Don’t you dare put this on me,” Liz snapped. “If you go to bed with the man it’ll be because you want to, not for the good of romance writers.”

Toreas was hurt and a little ashamed that her good idea was being met with such harsh disapproval. She decided to try again.

“Liz, you said you guys are writing about Jared and you told me to go after him.”

“What I told you was that you were not in my fantasy with Jared. I said either write about it or go after him if you had a thing for him. I did not tell you to use the man for research. Besides, why do you want to listen to me now?  If I give you an honest critique on your writing you get all bent out of shape.”

Toreas couldn’t prevent the loud sigh from escaping. Okay, so this conversation was not going the way she’d imagined. She had thought more along the lines of Liz saying, “Go for it, girl,” but she wasn’t.  What she was doing was scolding her and Toreas was puzzled.

Maybe Liz was worried about her.  All right, she’d think of something to say to ease her mind.

“Liz, don’t worry.”

“Are you attracted to Jared?”

“No.”

“Then don’t go sleeping with the man for research. That’s dumb.”

  “I’m only doing this to bring some pizzazz to my hero.”

“What happens if you get pregnant? You’ll blame it on me like you blamed hitting him on Kelle.”

Toreas sat on her sofa stunned. She heard Liz laughing and wondered what part of the conversation she’d missed.

“I can just hear you now. ‘Liz made me do it.’ And then you’d probably want to sue me for child support.”

Toreas waited for her friend to compose herself.  “I need some help.”

“With what?”

There was suspicion in Liz’s voice. She couldn’t blame her, not really.  None of the things that had happened to her in the past weeks made one bit of sense.

Yeah, her life was beginning to feel like a romance novel, and a bad one at that.  Who would believe that real life could be so strange?

If she wrote about the past weeks it would read like a—  Oh my God, like a sappy romance. She wanted grit.  Now here she was about to indulge in the wildest fantasy she could ever imagine, something that could only happen in real life. No self-respecting author would dare attempt to fool a reader into believing something so trite.

“Liz, tell me what to wear.”