WLUV Box Set: Ignited, Consumed, Burned (16 page)

But Dara
pointed her out, motioning to her with another one of those ethereal gestures,
“Now today we have a special guest instructor, Miss Shelby. Miss Shelby went to
the prestigious University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance.
Something some of you could aspire to do, if you continue to listen to me.”

The
students nodded respectfully, and Mac saw some of them gaze at Shelby with
admiration.

“Thank
you, Miss Dara,” Shelby said.

“Now since
Miss Shelby is small, I’m going to have her partner with Adrienne. The rest of
you all would be advised to grow a little taller than Miss Shelby.”

An older student
emerged from the row of students to the center and stood next to Shelby. He was
probably seventeen years old, Mac guessed. He had the look of a high school
man-child; his body was grown but his face still very young. Adrienne was a
star running back at the local high school, Dara informed him, whose coach had
begun to see the wisdom of ballet for his athletes. Adrienne approached Shelby
and she put her hands on his shoulder and arm.

“Observe,
class, the way that the male dancer needs to frame the female’s body when they
partner. These are the first counts of the piece we’re working on for next
month.”

Mac
watched through the lens, Shelby was no longer in the background, but
beautifully centered in front of the class.

Though her
partner was a teenager, he dwarfed Shelby, his muscled frame providing
stability for her while she twirled, kicked, and gestured. Mac didn’t know the
names of the steps Shelby demonstrated, but he could appreciate her obvious
expertise.

She
extended her arms, tilted her head, and arched her back with lithe movements.
Mac was mesmerized, just like the children in the class, as Shelby transformed
into a delicate but strong princess character right before their eyes.

At one
moment Adrienne faltered, not sure what do next, and Shelby smiled and spoke a
few words of encouragement. They tried again with success.

When it
was all over, Shelby talked with a few of the students, answering their
questions and asking some of her own. One young lady looked at her and began to
tear up, explaining, “If it wasn’t for this place I would have nowhere to go
and no one to be with after school. My mom isn’t usually home. I can’t wait
until my sister is old enough ‘cause I’m going to bring her too. I just love it
here, and I love Miss Dara so much.”

Mac knew
he had all the elements of a really wonderful story and so, as the class wore
down and Shelby hugged many of the students good-bye, he began to pack his
gear. Shelby shared a private conversation with Miss Dara and came over to him
when she was done. Another class, this time younger children, began to file in.

“So I
realize it wasn’t hard news, but we can do some good with this story.” Shelby
was looking at him with an earnestness he’d not yet seen from her.

“How’s
that?”

“You know,
maybe with funding?” Her seriousness was quickly replaced with her trademark
optimism, “You never know where the next donation is going to come from.”

“True.”

“Can you
get this thing off me now, please?” Shelby spun around and pointed to the mic
pack.

Mac was
happy to. He felt he owed her something after watching her artistry and
patience with the class.   

“You did a
great job with this. You were right. I thought this story was beneath me, I’m
ashamed to say. This place is terrific and you were beautiful with them.”

For the
first time since they’d met, Shelby didn’t have a retort. Instead, she did
something entirely unexpected.

“Thank
you,” A smile spread across her face, and then she put her hands on his arm,
hopped up on her pointe shoes and kissed him on the jaw. Their eyes locked for
a moment and Mac could see a blush sweep all the way down to her exquisite
breasts. It was a good thing there were a bunch of little kids in the room
because it helped him resist the urge to sweep her up and show her what a kiss
really was. Instead, he scowled at her and issued an order.

“Remember,
lamb, no walking to the car without your partner.”

Shelby
waved him off and turned on her arched pointe shoe towards the dressing room
while he packed up. But Mac could see her reflection in the multiple mirrors as
she pressed a hand to her lips. And she could see him watching her. 

Take
that!
Yes, Shelby
knew that she’d pressed her advantage. She knew he was watching her like a hawk
in her ballet story. She’d always been self-conscious when it came to her
curves in a ballet studio but today she was grateful for them. She finally had
a little inkling that she did affect Mac. God knows he’d been affecting her
since the second she’d seen him in Macy’s office.

Her
boldness had made her a bit giddy. Changing out of her ballet clothes, Shelby
replayed the feel of Mac’s jaw under her lips. She smiled, knowing that she’d
stunned the crap out of him. That’s what a man gets for not making the first
move.

Sure, they
were co-workers. Shelby didn’t really care. She was feeling more hot and
bothered by the second when she was around Mac, and she was impatient because
she was getting nothing in return. Okay, she forced the issue, so what?

The “so
what,” however, was that she’d now have to drive back to the station with him,
work with him again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that…all of a
sudden maybe kissing him wasn’t such a good idea. Her face flushed hotly. She
kissed first and asked questions later.
Not too smart
,
she
thought. Still, it made her happy, and ridiculously curious, about what more
than a kiss would feel like with Mac…

Shelby
didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed that he didn’t say anything
about her kiss as they drove back to the station. But maybe she was ridiculous.
It meant something to
her
because she had a serious crush on Mac. He was
older, had seen a lot, and probably had done a lot. One peck on the cheek from
a silly girl from Michigan most likely didn’t rate very high on his Richter
scale. A little war raged in her head as to what it all meant.

Thankfully,
work got in the way. The story came first, of course. When they’d returned to
WLUV, Macy beckoned her into her office.

“Shelby, I
saw some of Mac’s raw stuff. That ballet story is looking beautiful. I’ll hand
it over to the promotions department to make sure it gets the attention it
deserves. Let’s see what we can do about some 15-second commercials and
Facebook previews.”

“Thank you
so much!” Shelby wanted to jump out of her chair, imagining the commercials for
the ballet story plugging the news hour.

Macy’s
decision to promote one of the young reporter’s stories was a real coup.
Usually, the anchor’s marquee pieces or one of Gordon’s investigations got the
promotional time. But it went even further than advertising. “So here’s the
thing,” Macy continued, “WLUV isn’t doing much in the way of community outreach
and we need to start. Your story is the perfect springboard for our sponsorship
of the Grand Inner City Gala.”

“Miss Dara
mentioned something about that. She said they had lined up one of the mayoral
candidates to come.” Shelby loved anything that had to do with Miss Dara and
the Grand Inner City Ballet. Beyond that, she knew that having the station
sponsor Dara’s big fundraiser was a really big deal.

“Yep, I
absolutely support her plans and pushed for the station’s sponsorship of the
gala. Wes and I have a table, so you can sit with us—though I think Miss Dara
has some plans for you.” Macy paused and smiled, “Fawn will be there, too, and
probably a few sales people with their spouses. Feel free to bring a date.”  

“Oh, I
won’t bring a date, nothing going there.” Shelby blurted.

“No? Well,
I’m sure your dance card will be filled either way. If you need a gown on loan,
let me know. I can arrange a trade with a local boutique for that.” Macy looked
at the monitors and grabbed her remote control to start eagle-eye watching the
newscasts. Shelby knew that the conversation was effectively over.

“Where in
the hell is the double box? Why aren’t we seeing Fawn on one side and Gordon on
the other?” Macy asked her questions into the air, never really expecting an
answer. Wes Thompson entered the office and exchanged a knowing look with
Shelby. He shrugged. They both understood that once the newscasts started, Macy
was in a different world.

Shelby
headed back to the edit bay where Mac was working on the story. The whole thing
needed to be roughed together by the end of the day since Shelby would be back
in the mix for hard news right away.

They
looked at video, taking note of the best shots and the best moments of the
interviews. The kids were beautiful. Mac had captured their skill, artistry,
and Miss Dara’s lesson perfectly. Then it came to the part where Shelby was
dancing with Adrienne.

Shelby
buried her face in her hands. Ugh! She was no prima ballerina. Too little and
too big at the same time—and those boobs! Her neck wasn’t extended enough.
Every critique she’d ever gotten from every ballet director played out in her
head as she watched herself on the screen. This could not hit the air.

“Let’s not
use this part.” Shelby shook her head in disgust.

“What, you
dancing with Adrienne? Of course it’s going in.” Mac’s voice was low, almost a
whisper. But he was insisting on shots for the piece like he insisted on where
she walked, how she held a mic.

 “But,
ugh, I see my mistakes. Why I was kidding myself that I could dance en pointe
after two years— and on camera? Yuck.”

“Kidding
yourself? Look.” Mac replayed the video he’d edited together. Every angle was
favorable to her while also being respectful. There were no gratuitous boob
shots, or whatever else men looked at.

Still,
Shelby had lost confidence. “What about that part? I’m like a troll, not a
ballet dancer!”

Mac simply
ignored her and they edited the dance sequence together. Shelby wasn’t in it
too much, but just enough. Her trust in Mac grew as she saw the attention he’d
paid to the lighting and the angles. It looked more like a PBS piece than one
for local news. She let go of the fear of looking ridiculous and let Mac lead
the way on the cuts he used. He would protect her in this story, she realized,
just like he tried to protect her out in the field, and he’d make sure she
wouldn’t come off flighty or amateurish.

As the
night wore on and Mac rewound, added shots, and searched for others, Shelby put
her head down on the edit bay console. She was damn tired, and since she’d
written the piece and chosen the interview questions they’d use, her part was
essentially over. The pictures were Mac’s department. It became clear that he
wasn’t particularly keen on suggestions for shots. This was his domain.

She dozed
off with her head on the desk though she didn’t know for how long.

What she
did know was that she’d awoken to a hand on her face, by her ear, gently
pushing her hair back. She didn’t have to think about it, she just knew it was
Mac’s hand. As first she was in a drowsy fog, and she pushed her lips into his
palm. She nuzzled into his warm fingers and he pushed them through to her hair
then back to her soft face, his knuckles stroking her cheek.

A moan
escaped her lips even though she didn’t mean it to, and a warm feeling spread
from her chest down to her toes. Her heart seemed to lift upwards inside of
her. Every moment they’d been together, she’d hoped that he felt something for
her, that he shared the connection she believed was there.

But her
thinking brain receded as Mac’s other hand came around her middle and lifted
her onto his lap, her back pressed against the desk. There was no hesitation,
no words, and Mac’s lips were on hers. Hot but tender, the kiss was tentative,
questioning. A taste, perhaps, to see if it felt like they’d both imagined…

It did. It
was even better.

Shelby
didn’t think she was that great at kissing. She hadn’t done enough of it to
know. But her lips fit with Mac like they were molded together. It was as if
her lips had been searching for his for a long time and now that they’d found
them they responded with a life of their own. They knew exactly where to go and
what to do.

Her warmth
was turning into a fire. It was like no kind of kiss she’d ever experienced in
her life. Mac’s tongue probed her mouth and she gave way to him, his stubble
burned her chin in the most delicious way. His hands were large and covered the
expanse from her back almost to the top of her hips. She slid forward to have
more connection with him. She wanted to touch as much of his body with hers as
she possibly could. God, this was everything she’d been imagining. She felt a
little victorious, and excited by the anticipation of what would come later…

But just
as quickly as it started, it stopped. Mac pulled away from her, putting both
hands on her shoulders, as if to keep her at arm’s length, literally. They were
both breathing heavily. Shelby wanted nothing more than Mac to keep going, to
ravage her with his lips. She opened her eyes and searched his face, waiting
for more. She got less.

Mac had
come to his senses. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He pushed his
chair backward, stood up, and set her on her feet. It was jarring.

“It’s
okay...” Shelby wanted to give Mac permission to do it again.

“Having me
take advantage of you is not okay.”

Take
advantage? He wasn’t her boss, they were coworkers! Why was he acting like she
was a child and not a consenting adult? “But I’m not—”

Before she
could say anything more, he’d put his finger to her face to shush her and
stalked out of the edit bay.

The
adventure with Mac was over before it began. Shelby blinked back tears,
wondering how she’d messed up. She was sure he’d wanted her, but something she
did stopped that dead in its tracks. She was embarrassed and frustrated, with
absolutely no idea how to fix it.

Maybe she
was a bad kisser after all.