Kasee woke up the next morning and reached for Dion, but discovered she was in bed alone. He’d never reappeared after he’d left Pat’s the afternoon before, nor responded to her texts. She rolled over and placed her head on the pillow he’d slept on over the past week, wishing their relationship was more stable.

The day before, after he’d disappeared, she’d headed over to the radio station and sat with the editor while he cut down her interview with Pat, then had taken it to the producer there. He’d been happy with her work, though she’d spent an uncomfortable half hour with him and the editor as they went through her shortcomings. Still, it had been a real learning experience.

Unfortunately, the producer told her that he didn’t think she was quite ready to go live on the radio yet, but he gave her another freelance assignment for the next day. She told him she was thrilled, but really, she felt like a failure, and Dion hadn’t been there to talk her through it. Her mother, though she’d spent an hour on the phone with her, had been a poor substitute. Also, she needed Dion’s opinion on how long she should go on doing these practice interviews when she wasn’t getting paid. He’d set her up for this, after all. She needed to know what the norm was. At some point she either needed to give up or demand to be paid. After all, they might be getting free promotion on her reality TV show.

She forced herself to give up the comfort of Dion’s pillow and get out of bed. Resolutely, she stripped the sheets, telling herself she should do some housework.

Eventually, too restless to stay inside her now-spotless house, she drove over to Dion’s apartment building to see if he was there, glad cameras weren’t following her. But she was his girlfriend, not his stalker. He ought to be happy she was checking on him, given that he’d disappeared almost twenty-four hours ago.

When she rang his apartment he didn’t answer. Growling, she sat down on the steps and sent him a text. This time she heard back. Home in five.

After a minute, she decided she couldn’t wait on the steps for him, so she went to the coffee shop around the corner and bought an iced coffee and perused a newspaper someone had left on a table. Ten minutes after that, Dion texted her to ask where she was. She couldn’t help smiling as she stood up, leaving the paper behind, and returned to his apartment. Good, he’d noticed.

“What have you been up to?” he asked, framed in his doorway after he let her into the building.

“I spent hours at the radio station, then I went home.”

“Did it go well?”

“I’m sure you know exactly how well it went.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, then turned around. She walked in and closed the door.

“Too long,” he said, after a pause. “That wasn’t exactly a radio interview you conducted.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to be controlling in front of the cameras,” he said. “I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of Pat.”

“But you did embarrass me. How could you leave me at what was basically a job interview?” She wrapped her arms around herself so they wouldn’t shake.

“Normal people have to work, Kasee. I got my first good lead in almost a week, and chasing celebs is my job.”

Kasee tasted bitter coffee on the back of her tongue. She wanted water and for him not to sound so irritated with her. “Did you get the shots?”

 “I did, and I’m not sorry about that, because I made three thousand bucks off them, which I need.”

“I’m happy for you,” she said softly.

“Look. I didn't mean to be cruel. I just had to go.” He worried his lower lip with his teeth, then walked into his kitchen.

She wanted to hang her head. Why did it feel like their relationship was over all of a sudden? Just because he had to run to work while she was working? What did she expect? He wasn’t her personal assistant, he was her boyfriend. Maybe she’d let what little fame she had go to her head. She didn’t have to come first every second and he’d been doing her a favor. He was the giver so far, not her.

She heard water running, then he stepped back into sight with two glasses of water.

“How did you know that this was exactly what I needed?” she asked. “Thank you.”

“It’s pretty warm out there. You must have been outside waiting.”

“I walked up to the coffee shop.” She took a long drink of water. It tasted perfect. “I didn’t want to stay on your stairs.”

“Understandable.”

She swallowed, feeling the bitterness depart her mouth. "It's just that I'm really falling for you, and I want this to be real, not just TV real. And when you disappear I get really insecure.”

His chest rose and fell. “I’m a guy who disappears, but I’m never gone forever.”

“I'm sorry, I know this is not what you signed up for. I’m giving you all of this emotion and need instead of sexy and badass." She forced a smile.

“That’s okay. We have a lot to figure out.”

“I appreciate everything. I really do.” She touched his arm. “Can I show you how much?”

"Speaking of that, I can't get my mind off your sweet body and all the things I want to do to you," he admitted.

So, basically, she’d told him she was in love with him and he was only in love with her body? What did she expect? She wished he’d say he was falling for her too, but there was still time. “I’m sorry it’s been so long since we had sex. I’ve been really preoccupied.”

He grinned. “Do you have plans now?”

She set down her water glass and thrust out her chest. “I’m free until my next radio interview tomorrow.”

“So you got the job?” His eyes narrowed.

“Yeah, I hear the skepticism in your voice. No, I didn’t get the job, but they gave me a second chance.”

“That’s cool. Fair, even.” His gaze drifted to her chest.

She nodded. “I have yet to find out what I’m good at.”

He set down his glass and reached for her. She let herself move into the circle of his arms. “I know something you’re good at.”

“Yeah? You like going to bed with me?” She ran her fingers down the front of his dark T-shirt. He was damp, a little sweaty. She bet his skin would taste salty.

“I do.”

“Who were you running after this morning?”

“Some dancer who’s reportedly having an affair with an R&B diva. Found the dancer, but not with the diva. So the photos will only be worth something if the affair is confirmed.”

“Good luck with that. I hope your dancer and the diva end up happy.” She nuzzled his neck and touched his pulse with the tip of her tongue. Her nipples tightened into points as she rubbed against his chest. Yes, she still responded to his potent masculinity, but a part of her was devastated. She wanted more than sex with Dion. She wanted something real and meaningful.

“She’s married,” he said, and whispered the diva’s name into her ear.

“Yikes.” She shivered as he gently stroked the whorls of her ear with his tongue. Her pelvis tilted toward him instinctively. He had a lot to offer her, but she wanted everything. “I’m greedy, Dion.”

“How many orgasms do you want? I’m in.” He suckled on her earlobe. She’d managed to leave her house without earrings. She was falling apart, but thankfully, no cameras today to see she wasn’t put together.

“Not orgasms,” she whispered. “That isn’t what I meant.” But instead of telling him she wanted his heart, she simply said, “More naked, now.”

~

Early the next morning Dion drove Kasee to Hampden for her second for-radio interview with an artist who had a gallery opening on 36th Street. He pulled into parking behind the gallery, next to the Ladies of Baltimore van. As they exited the car, the van doors popped open and Lizzie jumped down with mike packs.

“Are you miking me, too?” Dion asked. He’d brought his camera, thinking he’d practice taking interior shots in the gallery.

Lizzie shrugged. “Her first interview didn’t go so well, so Brock thought you might give her tips or something. You got her the job, right?”

“I don’t have it yet,” Kasee said.

She looked very hipster today, in a severe black sundress and creepers. Even her hair was pulled back and restrained, but she’d heavily made up her eyes. He’d noticed the ladies loved their eye makeup.

“I don’t really have anything to say,” Dion protested as Lizzie hooked him up.

A camera man jumped out of the van too, then another assistant handed him his camera. A second operator followed the first. As soon as the cameras went on, Kasee wrapped her arms around his waist.

Dion hugged her back, wondering why she was all touchy-feely in front of the camera now but had been distant before. “You’re going to do great,” he told her. “You’ve had your practice round.”

“It’s for radio,” she said.

“That’s right. Think of it like a photograph. You just need the equivalent. A sound bite or two and then the factual information about the opening so that people know to come.”

She smiled. “See, you have exactly the right advice to give. I’m lucky to have you.” She kissed his cheek.

He kept a benevolent smile on his face as Lizzie opened the rear door of the gallery and everyone trooped in.

“Oh, thank God,” Kasee said out of the side of her mouth when they were ushered into a small room.

Dion surveyed the colorful scenes of underwater life. “No bondage images?”

“I don’t think I could take more of that,” she said with a laugh. “Poor Stephanie. She’s called all of the girls to personally apologize for the sexual content of her cousin’s work, and the gallery has moved all the statuary to a room that isn’t full of slave imagery so that it isn’t misunderstood.”

“That’s good. It was a mess,” he said. “But I know Stephanie meant well. She just wanted to support her cousin.”

“Yes. I think she even had a hand in raising some of her cousins. Incredible woman.”

“I guess you aren’t going to be rival queen bees after all?”

“Not this week.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “She approves of my taste in men too much.”

Knowing his role was to be the hot boyfriend, he took her lips in a searing kiss, imagining how it would look on camera, and turning her to get the best light. He imagined the line of her jaw, that sleek blond chignon, then remembered he was on camera too and concentrated on not getting hard.

When someone cleared their throat he peeled his mouth off of hers and leaned his head back against the wall. But unlike him, all hot and bothered, she seemed cool and crisp still, despite the way their tongues had just tangled.

“What's wrong?”

She shrugged. “I know we are just-for-television.”

“We aren't, don't you know that?”

“I know you like sex with me.” She grinned wickedly. “Beyond that I’m not so sure.”

He frowned and shook his head. “It's more than that. I introduced you to my family. I used my contacts to get you work. You're my girlfriend, Kasee, if you still want to be."

She stared at him and he realized he’d mentioned his family. A total no-no. Hopefully they’d cut that line out of the conversation if they aired the footage. He put his hand to his eyes. He was starting to think like a television character rather than a real person. No wonder Kasee doubted them. He wanted to say something, to wipe that TV seductress expression off her face, but it was already too late.

Three people walked into the room and made a beeline toward Kasee, interrupting him. “I’m Jerrold Way, the owner of the gallery,” a very focused man said in an unusually high-pitched voice.

Dion instinctively lifted his camera, wanting to take a shot of the stick-thin Way and the tubby, short woman next to him, contrasted with the ethereal, patchwork-dressed woman next to her. He pegged Patchwork as the artist and the tubby woman as the salesperson, but the opposite was true.

“This is Honor Place,” Way said.

“Very nice to meet you,” Kasee said, pumping the older woman’s hand. “I absolutely adore your work with color. I feel like I’m actually at an aquarium.”

Honor Place smiled. “Thank you. I’m so happy with the way the installation turned out.”

“You’re going to sell out,” Kasee said enthusiastically. “I can feel it.”

Dion had the sense that she’d completely forgotten his presence, but then she turned back to him. “Mrs. Place, do you mind if my boyfriend, Dion Hamilton the professional photographer, takes a few photos of us?”

“Of course not, dear.” They posed together for Dion, and he managed to take shots of the contrasting foursome as well. That was Baltimore, mixed together as it very often was not. A young, wealthy white woman, a young, gay white male, a middle-aged black woman, and the ethereal woman, who could have been any number of ethnicities.

Eventually, Lizzie steered Kasee and Mrs. Place into position on a couple of stools. Dion listened proudly as Kasee managed a concise five-minute conversation. The editor at the radio station should be able to cut that down perfectly.

“I think you just earned yourself a job!” Dion told Kasee when they were done.

“Really?” She smiled. “That’s so great to hear. Thank you for finding me the opportunity, Dion. I’m glad I didn’t let you down this time.”

He took her hand and drew her toward a vivid painting on the wall of whales gliding alongside a ferry. The white-capped waves and cloudy sky indicated a blistery day, yet the colors were saturated and evocative, rather than grayed out like you might expect. Honor Place had an unusual eye. “The important thing is whether or not you enjoyed this.”

“I like talking to people,” she said. “I just have to channel that into radio-worthy sound bites.”

“Look at you, sounding so smart,” he said. “I get that reality TV needs wild-behaving, mouthy characters. But it’s good to see in real life you can be really smart and sensible, too.”

“It’s hard to get to know the real person when the cameras are on.” She glanced at Lizzie, and the camera man hovering next to them. “Why don’t we take this moment off-camera?”

Lizzie shook her head vociferously.

Kasee glared at her and said, “Then at least let’s reconvene when I’m not at a radio interview location.”

Dion laughed. “How about I come by tonight? You have to get to the station to edit your piece now anyway.”

“Sounds like a date.”

With Lizzie gesturing wildly at them from behind the camera man, Kasee went to the balls of her toes and slid her fingers around his skull, cupping them through his hair at the back of his head. He closed his eyes and leaned in before her lips even touched his. That tiny moan she made just before her tongue touched his had his senses swimming and his body on overdrive. Cameras or not, he needed a cold shower after that kiss.

~

Kasee paced back and forth across the rug in front of her living room fireplace a few hours later. The sun hadn’t set but she felt chilled. She rubbed her arms, thought about going upstairs for a sweater. Two camera men leaned against the wall. Their cameras were on tripods for now since she wasn’t moving around. They’d already filmed her prepping an antipasto tray. Upstairs, too, they’d followed her into her bedroom, though she knew anything they showed of that would be PG-rated. Her lingerie was anything but, however. Red and sexy, it had shone through the first sundress she’d tried on. She’d ended up choosing a wild print dress with a navy blue background so that nothing would show through.

The doorbell rang. “Finally.” Her bare feet danced across the waxed boards into the entryway.

“You brought flowers!” she exclaimed.

“I even chose them myself,” he said, making it clear they weren’t a date-night prop like on their first date.

Behind him, Lizzie gave her two thumbs-up. Kasee ignored the assistant and ushered Dion in, closing the door behind him in the hopes that no one else from the show would interrupt them or try to steer the evening.

“How much longer is this going to go on?” Dion asked, following her into the kitchen.

“Five or six weeks.” A camera man shot them from the doorway as she clipped off the ends of the bouquet and placed it in a vase. “I want to take these roses upstairs and float the petals in the tub.”

“Why don’t we?”

“I tried it once, just me in a bath of roses, but the petals clogged up the jets. I had to get a repairman in here.” She made a face and Dion chuckled.

“Maybe just on the bed,” he suggested.

“Oooh, I like that.” She smiled at him. “I’ll just take this vase upstairs.”

He nodded and popped an olive into his mouth.

“Anything new and exciting happen this afternoon?”

“Rumor of a divorce about to happen in the baseball world. So Jorge and I need to keep an eye on that, maybe break the story ourselves.”

“That’s too bad.”

Dion shrugged. “That’s business. Any kind of marriage in the public eye has these problems.”

Kasee’s gaze flickered to the camera man who had followed them upstairs. “What do you think it’s going to be like for us when the cameras turn off?”

“Bliss,” Dion said. “Just us, thinking for ourselves.”

“I can’t even lock the doors right now,” Kasee said. “They are allowed to come in, except in my designated off-limits areas.”

Dion glanced at the camera man. “We can make it stop.”

“Oh, I know. All I have to do is something like this.” She lifted the hem of her dress, then in one swift movement, pulled it over her head and threw it on the bed.

Dion sucked in his breath as her lingerie was revealed. The piece she wore was cut in a belly-baring vee down the front, with lacing stretched across. The form fitting stretch lace ended at the top of her thighs and she didn’t wear anything underneath.

“Wow,” Dion breathed.

She glanced at the camera man. He turned his camera off and left the room, grinning. Dion closed the door behind him.

Dion grinned at her. “I wonder what you have in mind.”

“No, you don’t,” she said.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and she straddled him. “This might be the wrong time to tell you, but I’d like us to go from just dating to being an official couple.”

“That’s just what I want,” she said. “That’s what I was trying to tell you before.”

“Do you think a relationship forged on television can last?” he asked.

“Yes!”

“I look forward to finding out. But trust me, I know you’re worth it.”

She leaned into him and captured his mouth in a kiss. “I know you are, Dion. You’ve really helped me. I was so sad and desperate when we met, and now, the only desperation I feel is the kind that is about to have me peeling off your clothes.”

“Mmmm.”

She loved the sound he made as she nipped his earlobe, before her hands drifted down to find the hem of his shirt and pull it upward.

“I’m feeling an entirely new lease on life myself,” he murmured after he helped her lift his shirt over his head. “I think we’re going to be really good for each other.”

“What do you get from me?”

“A life.” He touched her face. “I’m looking at the world with my eyes, not just through a camera lens. You make everything so much more intense than it was before.”

“Yeah?”

He tucked his head into her shoulder and pulled her close. “You are special and important.”

“That’s everything.” She sighed happily. “That wild image people have of me isn’t the full story.”

“A picture is worth a thousand words, but being with you is the real magic.”