“Don't fuck this up.”

Jaggar froze when she heard Ryan behind her. Breathe, breathe. Show no fear. This was her big day. She wasn’t letting him screw this up for her.

She turned slowly to face him. “I’m a professional. I know how to do my job.”

“By fucking your way to the top.”

She forced a cool smile. “I know you wish that were true. How are your balls anyway? Still attached? I know I must have done some serious damage to you that night.”

He leaned closer and she could smell the sweat on him. The scent had her fighting back bile. “You’re a bitch.”

She forced herself to hold perfectly still and not back away. She wasn’t going to show him any fear. “I’ve heard that before.”

He continued to sneer but backed away. Jaggar didn’t allow her body to relax until he was around the corner. Hell. Sooner or later she’d need a more permanent solution for dealing with him. But right now she had a show to do. She forced a smile as she went out on stage and took her spot next to Griffin.

"You ready to do this?" Griffin’s voice was low and velvety. His words whispered over her skin like a caress. He spoke just low enough that only Jaggar would hear him.

Her response was a soft whisper. "I think so. You?"

His grin was a quick flash. "Always."

Of course he was always ready. He was news royalty. Griffin Styles. Son of the Great Griffin Styles, Sr.. He was born to do this. She, however, was an impostor. Yes, she might have been Bianca Collins’ daughter, but her own mother told her how she was never meant to be a star. Never meant to capture hearts. There was a hint of truth to that, wasn’t there? She felt like she'd stumbled into this job and no one had realized yet that she was faking it.

Griffin glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching them before taking her hand and squeezing it. "Relax, we'll be great. We've got a solid story. We've already filmed everything. The only live part of today is our intro, our segue and our outro."

"I know. You're right. Still doesn’t help with the nerves though."

Just like that, his gaze turned molten and his voice dropped even lower. "I have something that might help with that."

Jaggar laughed even as she flushed. "Griffin," she whispered. "Be serious."

"I am being serious. I haven’t touched you in three days. I'm pretty sure my cock is about to go on strike if you don’t start touching him soon. He's tired of me."

He had a point. But they were under a microscope. "Just how often are you touching him?"

"Every sixth or seventh time I think about you, which is about at least once every few minutes. So ... often."

She giggled. He was kidding, but still. For the last two weeks they'd been focused on the show and only had time for stolen moments and quick rounds on the floor in their office. Once at her place, once in his car.

Fine, sneaking around was hot. Okay, so scorching was more accurate, but she wondered about the longevity. Was this something real? He made it sound like it was but then they hadn't had any time alone together in a long time.

Like Andrea said, she probably worried too much. She should just relax. Enjoy him. Enjoy this.

Oh, how about maybe you focus on the job you have to do too.

Yeah, they were about to go on live television in thirty minutes. Daydreaming about getting some time alone with him and worrying about the state of their relationship was not where her focus should be. She needed to be focused. This was her chance to prove to the world that she could do this. That she could be in the spotlight.

You don’t have what it takes kid. Your manager told me herself. You’re good on camera, but you don’t have the it factor.

She shook her head to dislodge her mother's words. She had made it this far by being hard working and kicking ass. She didn't need the it factor. She glanced at herself again and lamented the makeup job. The artist was skillful all right. She made her look just like her mother. But there was no helping that.

It was now or never. "Let's kick ass, Griffin."

For all her concern and worry about being in the spotlight, the moment she sat next to Griffin at their enormous oak table, him in his tailored suit with a tie just the right shade to bring out his piercing green eyes, and her in peach with soft pink lipstick to bring out the highlights in her hair, she felt at home, comfortable.

They were miked and he grinned at her. "Looks like we're ready to go."

She was nervous, but it was a good nervous. She always loved the anticipation. She loved the knowledge that she could do this. She could tell a story. "Looks that way. A far cry from where we were a month ago."

Their mics weren’t on yet, but she was still careful about what she said. If Ryan found out about them, that they were ... what? That they were screwing like high school kids who'd just discovered their body parts? He'd high five Griffin then fire her for potentially distracting his star. "We couldn’t stand each other."

His lips tipped into a wry smile. "I liked you just fine."

"Sure you did," she laughed.

"Well, I didn't know then that we'd make such a great team."

And they were a team. The two of them against the world. And together, they were a killer combination. The Randall story had real teeth, and thanks to Griffin, she was doing more than fluff.

The techs waved them down and they each tested the mics they had pinned to them. Okay, it was now or never.

The camera light switched on and the theme music to their intro faded out.

Griffin looked at camera one. "Good evening everyone, I'm Griffin Styles."

She gave him a broad smile. "And I’m Jaggar Jakes, and tonight we’ll sit down with one of the most beloved families in American politics. Milton Randall and his wife sit down with us and their children and talk about whether or not he'll run for Congress."

Griffin nodded as if she'd said the most interesting thing in the world before adding a bit about their segue piece. And back and forth they continued like that until their first commercial break.

Under the table, Griffin squeezed her hand before standing to stretch. Now they had to just film their intro into the story and they'd pretty much be done until the end of the show. Ryan and Barbara approached with words of encouragement for the two of them. Okay, so Ryan wasn't speaking to her at all, but that was fine, she didn’t need to be friends with him. He just needed to respect her. Good luck with that.

Barbara complemented the both of them. "You guys, it's going great so far. Your chemistry works on screen. And Jaggar. Wow. In that make up you look like a young Bianca Collins."

That was the last comparison she wanted right now. "Thank you. We better get back to it." There was no way she was talking about her mother right now; they still had a show to finish. Production let them know it was places to mark and Ryan and her boss backed off.

"You ready, Griffin?"

He studied her closely. "You okay"

"Sure am." She didn't mind the shadow of her mother. Especially not at a time like now. She could worry about her later. #

Griffin waited for Jaggar outside the studio. Much of the crew used the area to smoke, so he went mostly unnoticed. The show had gone off well. Better than it would have if Jaggar had listened to Ryan. She’d pushed to be her own agent and she'd made it one hell of a scoop.

No other outlet had that kind of insight into Randall and his family. And she'd been the one to get that scoop. He was proud and in awe and mostly he just wanted to spend some solid time with her. They'd been sneaking around and slipping in the time when they could, but he wanted to stop that. He wanted to be in the open, hold her hand.

He was going soft. But he didn’t like the feeling of sneaking around. It went against his core person. Everything was out in the open with him for the most part ... except this.

The door opened and he looked up with an expectant grin. But instead of Jaggar, it was Ryan. "Oh hey, man."

His boss laughed. "Why is it you don’t look that happy to see me?"

"I'm happy. It's just been a long day. A lot of adrenaline and stuff."

Ryan nodded. "Okay. Look, that story was incredible. Word from upstairs is they are really excited about it and they want to talk to you about some other opportunities too."

"No shit?"

"Zero shits here. They couldn’t believe we scooped Primetime and Dateline and hell, even the New York Times and the Post. I told them that you were the guy to bring them the kind of gritty stories they wanted."

Griffin’s gut clenched. "Except, in this particular case, it was Jaggar that got that story."

Ryan frowned. "You expect me to believe tits and ass was able to get a story like that? You think she slept with Randall to get him to give up the goods?"

"Shut the fuck up, Ryan." Griffin stared at the guy who'd been his friend for so long.

"You expect me to believe that she dug up the story? I know you hate to lose, but aren't you taking the vendetta a bit far? It's one thing to want to fuck her and see how far you can get, it's another entirely to be pussy whipped by some ass that you’re never going to have."

Griffin's gut clenched. And he unfurled his fist. "Dude, that's enough. This isn't a vendetta. She's a person and a fucking smart one at that. And I like her."

"You join the feminist movement when I wasn't looking? Or are you just so blinded by the flash of her tits in that dress?"

"Do you realize you sound like an asshole? Or maybe you can’t hear yourself?"

Ryan shrugged. "I've always been like this. You used to think I was funny."

Griffin shook his head. "Just lay off of Jaggar. You say the higher ups want to talk to me. That’s great. I’m just telling you she was responsible."

"What happened to the guy who was going to meet his father’s record at all costs?"

"He's still here. But maybe I'm a little less all about myself now that I see how hard she works."

Ryan shook his head. "When you find my friend, Griff, you let him know I'm looking for him. This guy, I don't recognize."