* * *

Chapter One

Lila

New York, New York

WOLF, the newest television network that had everyone in the industry buzzing, had called me.

Me!

A woman named Mrs. Baker had called to ask me if I’d be interested in flying clear across the country from Los Angeles, California, to interview for one or more positions at a new network named WOLF. They only wanted new faces—new talent with promising futures ahead of them.

Being a recent graduate from UCLA with a degree in communications—with a 4.0 grade average, I might add—had put me on their radar. With financial help from dear old Mom and Dad, I’d trekked across the country—well, maybe not trekked, but it was a long trip, and I took it all alone.

WOLF put me up in a nice hotel—no, nice isn’t the right word. One would not call the Park Hyatt New York merely nice. Extravagant, luxurious, fantastic—all those words fit the fine accommodations much more accurately. I was overcome with awe as I strode into the lobby of the enormous hotel.

To be perfectly honest, I can’t recall much of anything after the moment I stepped off the plane at JFK. My head went light, and not from the two glasses of wine I’d had while in the air, either. It had much more to do with the fact that my dreams were finally becoming a reality—playing themselves out in real life.

It had been my dream ever since I was a kid to be the woman on the television telling the world the latest news. Bold, I know. I would engage my family—Mom, Dad, my twin sister, Lilly, and our older brother, Lonnie—with my charm and wit as I sat on a chair behind a TV tray in our modest living room. Fueled by my active imagination, I’d read them the news, written by my own hand. My kind of news.

Being only a kid, my news concerned all the things only a ten-year-old would care about—what the cafeteria served that day and how it had affected me and the other children in my class, or how doing algebra in later years of my education wouldn’t benefit students like me, artistic creatures with no mathematical goals. And of course, how being good all year long so Santa would bring children toys was a scam, since he only ever brought each of us in the Banks household one present. One toy for a year’s worth of being good didn’t make sense, mathematically. And I wasn’t even good at math and knew that much. You know, hard-hitting journalism.

After regaling my family for years with my newscasts, I headed out west, away from small-town New Mexico to seek the education I would need to fulfill my lifelong dream. UCLA welcomed me with open arms, and I flourished there, joining extracurriculars like the school newspaper while still excelling in my classes.

And now New York had called me into its bosom to drink from the nectar only it could give me: an anchor position at a brand spanking new network named WOLF. After getting the call, I decided my totem animal must be a wolf. Never one to delve much into the Native American beliefs of things like totem animals, I thought it just might be time to do so. I did have one-sixteenth Seminole running through my veins, thanks to an errant great-great-great-grandfather who had dabbled with a woman who later became my great-great-great illegitimate grandmother. Or, I became her illegitimate granddaughter; not real sure how all that works.

So, with the fearlessness and ferocity of a wolf, I got on an airplane, alone, trying not to be afraid, to come to New York City to find my dream. The dream of sitting behind a real anchor’s desk, with a real camera trained on me while I told everyone watching what was going on in the world.

I’d never wanted anything more. Well, there was that one pair of boots I’d found on sale that one time. Now that was a real want—no, need. I’d needed those boots, and being just ten bucks short was too damn cruel.

But I’d gotten over my heart-breaking loss of those fabulous boots, all while holding fast to my dream of broadcast stardom. That steadfast desire paid off and landed me where I was that fateful day—in a cab, heading through the busy, packed streets of downtown New York.

I’d lived on campus at UCLA for four years. I thought I knew what a crowd of people was. I’d just thought JFK airport was packed. The hotel seemed packed, too. But I’d had no idea what packed looked like until I saw the streets and sidewalks of downtown New York City.

When the cabbie pulled to the side of the road and looked back at me to bark, “$57.50,” I knew my day had come.

Pulling three crisp twenties out of my small purse, I found my hands shaking. “Here you go, sir. I hope the rest of your day is nice. Keep the change.” I got out of the backseat and took in a big sniff of stale air before taking that first step toward the beginning of my career.

My mouth felt dry. My hands, sweaty. My tummy, knotted. Two glass doors stopped me. A ‘WO’ on the left door, and a ‘LF’ on the right—WOLF.

There I was, at the doors that I prayed I’d soon get to walk through every workday. As I went inside, I noticed there was hardly a soul around. One lone young woman sat at a large reception desk.

Her dark brown eyes moved up from the cell in her hand. “Hi.”

“Hi.” My feet somehow managed to take me to her without much instruction from me. My head wasn’t in it at all. No, my head was firmly in the clouds. “Um, I’m, uh …” My stomach rumbled, making me look down at it.

“Hungry?” the woman asked with a grin. “Or nervous?”

“That one.” Her little joke brought me closer to earth. “Whew, is it hot in here, or is it just me?” I pulled the neck of my blouse to fan myself a bit.

“It’s not hot in here at all.” She pulled out a notepad, looked it over, then looked back at me. “Let me guess. Lila Banks, here for an interview with Mr. Wolfe?”

A nod moved my head. Then I looked around for a ladies’ room. “I need …”

She pointed in the direction she already knew I needed to go. “There’s a bathroom right over there. I’ll inform the boss that you’re here, and someone will be down to get you shortly. And try not to be so nervous. Mr. Wolfe and Mrs. Baker are very nice people. Both are very down-to-earth. You’d hardly be able to tell Mr. Wolfe is a filthy rich billionaire—it hasn’t seemed to go to his head at all. You’ll see.”

“K,” came my simple reply before I hurried off in the direction she pointed.

I found the small private bathroom to be just as elegant as the reception area. As I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t quite believe it. There I was, in a fancy building, about to interview for the job of a lifetime.

“Is this real?” My reflection nodded back at me, telling me it was indeed real.

A thorough handwashing had my sweaty palms under control. A few deep breaths took away the knots in my stomach. “This is what you’ve always wanted. Now, time to stiffen that upper lip and let these people know that you can do the job they’ve brought you here to interview for.”

Smoothing out the white blouse I’d tucked neatly into an A-line black skirt that hit me just below my knees—which were thankfully no longer knocking after my stern pep-talk—I headed out.

My shiny black heels clicked and clacked over the black and gray marble floor, taking me out to meet the person who’d lead me to Mr. Wolfe and Mrs. Baker. Time to get this show on the road.

“Miss Banks?” a short young man asked me as soon as I came out of the bathroom.

“Yes?”

“Come with me, please.” He headed to the bank of elevators, and I followed.

The doors closed on us, confining us together in the vast space. “Man, this elevator is huge.”

“We anticipate this place being very busy and full of people soon.” He pulled his round-frame glasses off to clean them with a hanky he’d pulled out of the pocket of his suit. “I’m Brady, the receptionist for Mr. Wolfe’s office.”

“Nice to meet you, Brady.” I offered my hand to shake his.

But he only shook his head. “Germaphobe.”

“I see.” Putting my hand back by my side, I wondered if I’d find many more people in the big city who would be afraid of catching something from me.

At the very top of the tall building, we got off on the twenty-second floor, the last floor. I’d thought the reception area on the first floor was elegant but it was nothing compared to this one. This one had a chandelier hanging from the very tall ceiling.

Brady stepped off first, leading the way, his arm flowing out to gesture at the grandeur. “This is the penthouse. Mr. Wolfe’s office is located here. His personal assistant, Mrs. Baker, has an office right across the hallway from his. There are two meeting rooms on both sides of the hall after them. We have eight more offices up here too. Those will go to the anchors on the news shows.”

“Do you mean that if I get one of the anchor positions, then I’ll have an office up here?” My eyes scanned every inch of the magnificent area, as far down the hall as I could see.

“You would.” He tapped lightly on a door that had a gold-plated nameplate with the name Artimus Wolfe engraved on it. “They’re waiting for you in here.” Brady opened the door then stepped inside. “I have Lila Banks here, Mr. Wolfe.”

An older woman with dark hair and eyes to match got up from her seat on the side of a large cherrywood desk. The man who sat behind it in a high-backed rich brown leather chair had his back to me.

“Miss Banks, it’s lovely to meet you,” she greeted me. “I’m Mrs. Baker.” She shook my hand before gesturing for me to take a seat in one of the large, matching dark brown leather chairs in the gigantic office.

Taking my seat, I said, “Thank you for asking me to come interview. This is a dream opportunity for me.”

The chair turned around, and a very handsome man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes smiled at me. “Artimus Wolfe. Damn glad to hear this is a dream of yours, Lila Banks.”

“A dream?” I shook my head. “The dream. The only dream.”

His dark brows rose as Mrs. Baker smiled. “I told you, Arti. She’s very driven.”

They had no idea how driven I truly was.

Chapter Two

Duke

When my agent, Larry Finkelstein’s, name lit up my cell, I was skeptical. Since hiring him a few months back, he’d only come up with shit offers. I needed more than he’d given me. But we had a contract for one year, so I answered the call, ready to shoot down his idea. “You’ve got Duke.”

His nasally tone filled my ear. “Duke. Hey, man, how’s it goin’ on this fine Monday morning?”

My shoulder ached, my knee throbbed, and I hadn’t had my coffee or the Aleve that wasn’t as all-day-strong as it promised—but at least it was half-a-day-strong, so I took a couple each day to combat the pain.

“It’s going, Larry. What ya got for me?” Rubbing my forehead, I got ready to hear some lame shit.

So far, he’d come up with a role as a singer in a Broadway play about washed up athletes who couldn’t find shit to do after retiring. That one hit a little too close to home for me.

Larry also had some goofy auto sales commercials he thought I’d be the bomb at. I’d refused. He’d asked me if I thought it was beneath me, and I’d told him, hell, yeah, it was! I didn’t want to just rely on my past—I wanted things that would challenge me.

“You said you took journalism in college, right?” I could hear him tapping a pencil on his little desk.

“Yeah.” Steam came off the cup of coffee I’d poured myself to help me handle a Monday morning call with Larry.

“With your background as a linebacker with the New York Jets, I think I can score you an interview with this network that’s hiring fresh faces right now. It’s called WOLF, and it’s owned by some rich guy named Artimus Wolfe. Have ya heard of this?”

“Now, how would I hear about this, Larry?” Shit, the man had noodles in his head where brains should be. “And an interview to do what, exactly?”

“They need anchors and other things for their newscasts, which are going to be done locally.” He coughed and sneezed in his usual way. His allergies always seemed to be kicking up. “Oh, these damn allergies are bothering me again.” The sound of him blowing his nose filled my ear.

So rude!

“Anchors, huh?” I liked the sound of that.

Duke Cofield, anchor for WOLF news. Yeah, that’ll work.

I’d been struggling since ending my football career. Drafted right out of college at LSU in my home state of Louisiana, the Jets had taken me and made me a star athlete. At twenty-two, I’d been making the big bucks, raking in dough as a linebacker for a major football club.

Everything was roses the first few years. Injuries weren’t a worry back then. When I turned twenty-five, I sustained my first injury. One rough tackle—a brutal blow to my left shoulder—that broke more things in it than I knew were there, had me on my way to my very first surgical procedure.

The next year saw my knee blowing out. One more surgery had me out for the remainder of that season. At twenty-eight, a rougher than necessary tackle not only broke three of my ribs, but punctured my right lung with one of those of those broken ribs. Another surgery to repair that meant more time not being able to play.

On a good note, the San Francisco 49er who made that tackle was cited for unnecessary roughness. My mother said that should’ve made me happy. Funny how it didn’t at all.

The Jets kept me on, letting me play the next season. And that year was a great one—no injuries at all. I felt like the old me was back and better than ever. And things kept going well, up until I turned thirty-one.

Some years my early September birthday would coincide with the first game of the season. And my thirty-first birthday was one of those seasons. My family filled the stands at the home game at MetLife Stadium. A big birthday party was already planned. Coach Bowles graciously offered his home for the big bash.

The first half was great. We were winning. The second half saw us losing our twenty-point lead. As can happen, my team became desperate and played a lot harder than we usually would in a first game.

Somehow, I ended up taking a tumble that left me with a pretty bad concussion. A broken left arm and two broken fingers on my right hand added to one shitshow of an injury. Bleeding on my brain required them going in to release the pressure, and that surgery gave me a blood clot somehow.

My mother begged me to stop playing. She fell on her knees and cried like a baby, asking me to please retire. My body hurt like hell anyways, and watching my mother cry was something I just couldn’t take. So, I did what she had asked, telling the coach that I’d like to retire. He took it well, even told me he understood completely.

The years of playing had my bank accounts looking pretty damn good. I could afford to relax for a while. But that proved to be boring. Once I healed, I wanted to do something. I was thirty-two, not eighty-two, after all.

Hiring an agent to get some type of television job or something like that sounded like the thing to do. And here Larry was, finally giving me something I could sink my teeth into.

I’d majored in journalism at LSU. I could be a newsman.

“Yeah, there are anchor positions and other ones too. I was thinking you might want to jump on any of the sportscaster positions too.” Larry sniffled. “So, should I set it up?”

“Yeah, I think you should. I think this is just what I’ve been looking for. You know what? I thought you were useless, Larry, but you’ve gone and done something pretty good. Good job.” With a sip of hot coffee, my day began to look brighter.

“I’ll text you the time and address as soon as I set it up, Duke. Good luck, man.” He hung up, and I put the phone down.

Making my way to the bathroom, I looked at my reflection. My beard had grown out, making me look a little on the straggly side. My hair needed to be cut too. “Time to make an appointment to get myself looking presentable.”

After a hot shower, another pot of coffee, and my morning Aleve, I headed out to see the barber who’d taken care of me since I’d moved to New York.

Jordan greeted me as I entered his little shop in Queens. “Yo, Duke. What’s the good news today, my friend?”

Taking a seat in the empty chair, the loud clap of the cape Jordan snapped at his side echoed in the little place. “I might have an interview to be an anchorman, Jordan.”

“Oh, yeah?” He put the cape around me as he looked at me in the mirror in front of us. “For which channel?”

“A new one.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I want something nice and short on the sides, but leave a little for the girls to run their hands through on top, all right?”

“Got ya.” He looked at my beard. “In my opinion, this needs to go. I’ve never seen an anchorman with a beard.”

Running my hand over my beard, which I’d had for years, I hated to see it go. But go it must. “Yeah, you’re right. Get rid of it entirely.”

With a nod, he went on. “What’s this new channel called?” Spritzing my hair with scented water, Jordan got right to work on that first.

“The network is called WOLF. I don’t know what channel it’s gonna be on though.”

“WOLF? Now that’s gonna sound badass, man.” Jordan laughed. “And next up, Duke Cofield, WOLF’s toughest anchorman ever.”

Laughing, I felt a bit of excitement growing inside me. It was the first time in forever I’d felt that, and I knew that meant something. It had to.

My days had been blah since my retirement, humdrum, even. My family asked me to come back to New Orleans all the time. But leaving New York felt like I’d be losing the game. And I hated to lose.

It felt like eons had passed since I had moved to the big city. This might not have always been my home, but now it felt like it was. I had my favorite deli just five blocks from my apartment. The hot dog stand on the corner made the best in New York, in my opinion. And the atmosphere was electric all the time.

Life just moved at a different pace in the city that never sleeps. I didn’t want to leave. I knew my life was meant to be spent here. So, I stayed, and kept looking for the next phase of my life to begin.

My cell dinged. I had a message. Pulling it out of my pocket I found the address and time for the interview had been sent to me by Larry. “Finkelstein did it! I’ve got an interview at four this afternoon.”

“Way to go!” Jordan nodded. “You’re gonna get it. I know you will. You’re a freakin’ former New York Jets linebacker, dude! You’ve gotta be more popular than anyone else who’s going up for this thing, right?”

All I could do was shrug. I had no idea who else would be going up for this. “All I can do is hope, right?”

And a few short hours later, I stood in front of the glass doors that I hoped I’d get to walk through every day. Seeing the word ‘WOLF’ on those doors gave me such a thrill. I wanted to be WOLF’s first anchorman—and what I wanted, I usually got.

My dress shoes clicked as I walked over the black and gray marble floor to the reception desk. A woman with dark hair pulled into a tight bun looked up at me. Her dark eyes lingered on my cleanly shaven face. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” I leaned my forearm on the top of the mahogany wood counter she stood behind. “I’m here for an interview. The anchor position, if I was correctly informed. Duke Cofield is the name.”

She licked her shiny red lips. “Yeah. Um, the boss is ready for you, I bet. Let me see real quick.” She looked away from me to pick up a phone. After a moment of mumbling, she hung up. “Brady’s coming to get you now. You were a football player, right?”

“Linebacker for the Jets. You a fan?” I ran my fingertip over the counter and her eyes followed my movements. I loved toying with the opposite sex. Making women all wiggly inside was my specialty.

“I am.” She pulled her lower lip between her white teeth.

The sound of the elevator dinging had me looking away to find a little man stepping out of it. “Mr. Cofield, can you come with me?”

“Yeah.” I walked away as I looked over my shoulder. “Bye now.”

“Bye, Mr. Cofield. Oh, my name’s Gretchen, by the way.” She waved her little hand at me.

I nodded and got into the elevator as the little guy inside sighed. “Oh, that’s not good.”

Choosing to ignore his comment, as I just didn’t really give a rat’s ass, I asked, “So, are you Brady?”

He nodded as I put my hand out to shake his. “Um, no. I’m not into shaking hands.”

Who the fuck’s not into shaking hands?

“Okay.” I put mine into the pockets of my slacks as we went all the way to the top floor. I’d worn my best suit. The dark blue Armani had always been lucky for me. When the doors opened, I found a nice reception area. Everything was done in dark colors. Very manly, which made me think the owner and I would get along just fine.

Brady didn’t say a word as he took me to the door with Artimus Wolfe’s name on it. He knocked before opening the door.

An older woman came to me, holding out her hand. Behind her, the man in the chair behind the desk got up too, taking long strides toward me. “Duke Cofield, so glad you could come,” she said as I shook her hand. “I’m Mrs. Baker.”

“Nice to meet you.” I let go of her hand and turned my attention to the man who I hoped would hire me. He took mine with a firm shake.

Two pumps, strong grip.

I liked the way the man shook my hand. It told me a lot about him.

“Artimus Wolfe, Duke. I hope you don’t mind if I call you that?” He turned to lead me back to his desk, but then walked right past it to the set of sofas on the other side of the room.

“No, you call me Duke. And may I call you by your first name as well?” I took a seat on the opposite sofa as he sat on the one across from me. Mrs. Baker was pouring a couple of glasses of amber liquid from a decanter.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ve got some twenty-year-old Scotch I thought you might like to try.”

Never one to turn down a drink, especially one so expensive, I thought the interview was getting off to a great start.

I had this job in the bag.

Chapter Three

Lila

When a message came in from Mrs. Baker, I prepared myself for the worst. Pulling the fluffy white hotel robe tighter around me, I took a deep breath before opening the message on my cell.

Hello Lila, we hope you’re enjoying your evening. We’d like you to come in for another interview tomorrow morning at 9. We’ve booked you another night at the hotel.

My feet took me dancing around the room as I laughed and cried, feeling like I must be fast asleep and dreaming this whole thing. But as I fell back on the soft bed, I continued to stare at the words on the screen, and it finally began to sink in.

This is really happening!

Sleep was nearly impossible, but I managed to get a few good hours in before I got up to get ready for the meeting. Another sixty-dollar cab ride and I was standing once again in front of the glass doors I had prayed I would see again.

I’d put on a dress this time. Reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn, I wanted to be sure to show how diverse my style could be. Dark blue flowers flowed over pearl white fabric. My heels matched the blue perfectly, and I even wore my grandmother’s string of pearls around my neck.

I felt like a real New Yorker as I strode to the reception desk. “Lila Banks, here to see Mr. Wolfe again.” This time no nerves plagued me. I’d been called back. They wanted me for sure this time around.

“Go on up. They’re waiting for you.” She smiled at me with a wide grin as I walked to the elevator. In hindsight, the grin she wore was a shit-eating one, not meant to make me feel at ease in the least.

Stepping off the elevator once I’d reached the top floor, I saw Mr. Wolfe, Mrs. Baker, Brady, and one more man in the reception area. Brady was busily making coffee as the other three talked about something.

They all looked at me as I headed their way. Mr. Wolfe was quick to make the introduction, “This is Lila Banks, Duke.”

The man he’d called Duke was tall. A man with broad shoulders. A man with a wide chest. A man with a devastating smile and perfectly straight, sparkling white teeth. His hairstyle—short on the sides, a bit longer on the top—accentuated his dark hair. Hair that contrasted well with his bright blue eyes.

In short, Duke exuded sexual prowess. And when he took my hand with a firm grip, I felt a spark—and then a lot more than a spark as heat flashed through me.

Oh, shit!

“Hi there, Lila. Duke Cofield, former New York Jet. And I hear you’re a recent grad from UCLA.” His voice was a mixture of satin and gravel that combined to tickle my ears, then sooth them with a soft tongue.

“Hi.” I couldn’t really come up with anything else at that moment. I’d never before been in the presence of so much man.

Mrs. Baker moved things along, “Come, let’s head to the meeting room. Brady, bring in the coffee and pastries, please.”

She ushered us along. If she hadn’t, my feet might well have stayed planted right where they were. Duke certainly had an effect on me.

I, however, didn’t seem to affect him much at all. He seemed like the kind of guy who’d had plenty of women in his time, no doubt. Why would I affect him?

When we entered the meeting room, I found a white dry-erase board with a chart on it. My name was next to a box that had the words, “Nightly News Weather” in it. Other names were in other areas. Duke’s attention was on his own name, which was written next to “Evening News Sports.”

My jaw dropped when I saw what was at the very top of the board. “Morning News Anchor” had both of our names in the place next to it. Both were followed by question marks.

“As you can see, we’d like to welcome you both to WOLF,” Mr. Wolfe said as he took a seat.

Duke looked at me for a moment with no expression at all on his handsome face, before he looked at our new boss. “And what do the question marks mean, Artimus?”

“Sit, you two,” Artimus urged us. After we’d taken seats across the table from where he and Mrs. Baker sat, he went on. “You see, we like you both for that position. We think what it will come down to is you showing us who would be better for that position. Then we can make a final decision.”

“Like a competition?” My nails bit into my palms as I waited for the answer.

“Sure, you can look at it like that.” Mrs. Baker put packets in front of us both. “We’ll need you to sign these papers. It’s your normal new hire paperwork.” She pulled out the first sheets in each packet. “On these, you’ll find your salary for the positions you’ve been hired for. Whoever gets the anchor spot will get another paper to sign for that job. Of course, that job comes with three times the pay as the positions we’re offering you right now. We’re financially transparent here at WOLF. No matter what gender you happen to be, each job pays the same for men and women. We’re hoping to set a precedent for other networks.”

Duke looked stunned. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he actually said, “You want me to compete? With her?”

“You don’t have to look at it like that if you don’t want to,” Artimus informed him. “You both have qualities that we like, but we just want to be sure we’re making the right choice before making anything final.”

Mrs. Baker took over. “I’d like you both to think about what being an anchor really means. It means doing great interviews. It means doing things in the community that show how much you care about our city and our people.”

Artimus added, “Being an anchor is more than just reading things off the prompters or cue cards. It’s about being the face of our new network. The morning show is what will start it all off when we go on-air. We have very high expectations for that position.”

“I feel confident that I can handle that responsibility, Artimus.” Duke looked at me with a weak smile. “Not to offend you in any way, but you’re not even from here. I don’t think people will connect with you as quickly as they will with me. No offense.”

“None taken.” My hands lay in my lap as I tried to put on my best face. “And I see what you’re saying, but I have to say that I am the fresh face they’re after. The new look of a new network. WOLF is about people who are new to this industry.”

“And I am.” Duke looked at Artimus. “I am new to this. My face isn’t a television staple. It’s been hidden behind a football helmet most of the time.”

“He’s right,” Artimus agreed. “He’s just as fresh a face as you are.”

Mrs. Baker seemed set on making us understand what the hell they were doing to us. “Look, you’re both perfect for that position. But we only want one. So, we need you both to use the rest of this week to make us some videos. Do some community work and interviews. Anything you can think of to show us who you are and what you can do for WOLF.”

“Can I ask how I’m supposed to make videos? I don’t have a camera here in New York.” I looked at Duke and found him nodding.

“Yeah, how are we to go about doing that?” He chewed his lower lip. That made him look nervous to me, which I rather liked seeing.

If he was nervous, then he thought I stood a chance. I could beat him. If I tried hard enough, I could do it.

So what if he was the manliest man I’d ever seen in real life? He could be beaten—his nerves told me so. Being devastatingly muscular and sexy didn’t automatically mean he’d be the best man for the job.

Artimus answered our question, “You can use our crews. All you have to do is call the producer, Ashton Lange.” He pulled two business cards out of his breast pocket and pushed them across the table to us. They were Ashton Lange’s business cards. “He’ll get the crew out to wherever you need them to be.”

I still had questions. “And if the person I find to interview doesn’t reside in New York?”

“WOLF has a private jet.” Artemis gave me a brilliant smile. “Call me, and I’ll set that up if need be.”

So we had it all at our fingertips. Both of us did. Everything we’d need to show them why each of us was the best.

The only problem was that I had no idea what I had that would be better than what Duke Cofield of the New York Jets could offer. Or former New York Jet. Whatever the hell he was, he was better known by New Yorkers than I was.

How will I make them love me?

“Start by doing a video here today,” Mrs. Baker told us as she gave us each a pen to start working on the mountain of paperwork in the packets. “The crew will be in the studio after lunch. They can film you telling the people of New York good morning for the first time, introducing yourself to them all. The same way you’ll have to do when we first go live.”

Introduce myself?

Already this was proving harder than I knew it would be. My only saving grace was that Duke seemed just as worried as I was.

“Okay, so I’ll make a video introducing myself to this town.” Duke drummed his thick fingers. Two of them were bent a bit.

I brushed them with my fingertips. “They look like you broke them.”

His blue eyes followed my fingers as I moved them off his hand. “Yeah, I did. I’ve broken more than just those fingers.”

That gave me an idea—maybe I’d interview him. But did I want to make my enemy look any better in the boss’s eyes than he already did?

Probably not.

I hadn’t ever been in a real competition before. I was more of a team player—a let’s all do this together kind of girl. But now it seemed I was going head-to-head with a man who had made a living out of competing. And not with girls either. No, he’d competed with strong men. Men who were brutal. Men who could break a girl like me in half.

Did I have it in me to fight as hard as I knew Duke Cofield would?

Chapter Four

Duke

Brady escorted Lila and me to the third floor. There, we found a skeleton camera crew. “These people here will film you guys after you’ve come up with what you want to say to the people of New York. I know it’s just a rehearsal, and you can punch up what you actually want to say when you have to do it for real, but make this count.” He pointed to a table with a few chairs around it. “Over there is where you can write down what you want to say. The scene should only last about a minute. Not too long, not too short. Any questions?”

I shook my head, and Lila did too. Seemed we both knew what we were doing. Not that I actually knew what I was doing, but I could fake it. The air of confidence one wore could be the only thing needed to throw the competition off. They thought you knew what the hell you were doing, so they developed an inferiority complex right off the bat. Or so I hoped, anyway.

The fact was, I knew Lila would be the perfect face to anchor the morning program. She was as fresh as a spring morning. Her dewy skin, tanned to creamy perfection, was the perfect backdrop for her sparkling sky-blue eyes. Thick, dark lashes, that actually looked natural and not fake at all, framed those gorgeous eyes. A thin nose sat in the middle of her lovely face, turning up slightly at the end. So cute, dainty, and begging to be kissed. High cheekbones, dusted with pale pink, gave her a look of sophistication, even though she was obviously young—early twenties, I guessed. The pink of her cheeks matched her lip color. And those pink-stained lips were pouty with just the right amount of plump.

And then there was her hair. Silky, blonde, and lilac-scented, her hair hung in a solid sheet down to the small of her back. She’d pulled it back into one long ponytail, clasped with a hummingbird-shaped silver barrette. I’d have called her adorable, but she had a savvy look about her too that didn’t quite suit such an innocent description.

She had on this little vintage dress that hit her just below her knees. Her calves were tight and tanned. A real California girl, I could tell. Not a sun worshiper, like some were, but more of a dabbler. Her tan was light, leaving her skin with a creamy tone.

A strand of pearls hung near her collarbone, making me think about how she’d taste if I kissed her there. And that was when I noticed her looking at me. “Can I help you, Duke?”

“Huh?” I’d been caught. But I wasn’t a newbie at this. “As a matter of fact, you can help me, Lila. Where’d you get those pearls? I’d like to get my grandma some just like that.”

That oughta take her down a peg or two!

One perfectly shaped brow arched as she started to walk over to the table Brady had pointed out to us. “These were handed down to me from my grandmother. I don’t have any idea where she got them from.” She stopped at a desk that had some paper and pens on it. Picking up a pad and a pen, she handed them to me. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Her fingers grazed mine as I took the things from her. Another jolt of electricity shot through me. It had happened to me before when she’d touched my slightly crooked fingers.

I’d been around the block a time or two—or way more than that, to be honest. Never in my life had a woman immediately affected me that way. Sure, sparks had flown with some of the women I’d dabbled with, but only after having some super-hot sex. Never had I felt this with someone I didn’t even know.

I was grateful that the suit I wore hid the bulge in my slacks. From the moment this girl had stepped off the elevator, her dark blue heels clicking softly on the brown and tan marble floor of the reception area, my cock had taken notice of her. Stiffening only a bit at first, until she’d touched my fingers and brought it to full attention—now it seemed happy to stay that way. With the renewed spark she’d sent through me, my poor cock was straining to get out and get to her.

But Lila wasn’t just any girl. No, she was my competition. The salary from the sportscaster job was okay. It would keep my bank accounts nice and steady by paying my bills, but it wouldn’t build my accounts up any. I needed the anchor job to achieve that.

I needed that job. That one would keep me busy. The little sportscaster job was only going to take up a few hours of my day; I needed more to do than just that.

Lila pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table. I went around to the other side of it and sat down. I didn’t want her looking over at what I was going to write—that, and the scent of her was very distracting. “What perfume is it that you have on, Lila?”

She shook her head, sending wafts of the lilac sent my way. I had to try hard not to take a huge sniff—every part of me wanted to. “I’m not wearing any. It’s just shampoo, soap, and water you’re smelling.”

Fuck me, she’s too perfect!

“Oh.” I drummed my fingers on the table, trying not to think about how fucking desirable she was. “So, we’re supposed to introduce ourselves then.”

“Yes.” She bit the end of her pen as she stared at the blank paper on the table in front of her.

Forcing my eyes down to my own blank paper, I tried to shut her out completely. I’d never get anything written if I kept looking at her. That damn pen between her teeth was just too much!

Then it hit me that she knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to distract me on purpose.

Well, I wasn’t going to roll over and hand her the job. No way in hell!

So, I put my laser focus on that pad of paper, picked up my pen, and started writing. And only fifteen minutes later, I had my perfectly-worded introduction that I’d use to make the city of New York fall in love with me all over again when I greeted them on the first morning my show aired.

Yes, I was already calling it my show. Ballsy, I know.

Welcome to WOLF’s morning news with your anchorman, Duke Cofield. I could already hear the announcer, a young female voice, saying those very words.

Pen down, paper in hand, I got up, giving Lila a little smirk as she continued to write away. I saw many lines drawn through sentences on her paper, telling me she wasn’t finding it quite as easy as I had. “You’re done?” Her tone was quiet, worried, yet still sexy as shit.

“Yeah, I’m done.” Walking away from the table, I went to get the crew rolling. “You guys ready?”

“Sure,” a gawky young guy said as he and the other two young men got up from the table they’d been sitting at, playing a game of cards as they waited.

“So, throw me your names. I don’t want to be calling you guys, ‘hey you’ all the time.” I pointed to myself. “I’m Duke Cofield. I’ll be doing the evening news as the sportscaster. And hopefully, I’ll also be the morning news anchor. So that means we’ll be working together a lot.”

Scrawny camera guy walked to his camera. “Ty.”

The chubby sound guy picked up the long stick with the furry mic on it. “Joe.”

“And I am the assistant producer, Steve. Nice to be working with you, Duke.” He pointed at the small desk just behind me. “Do you want to sit at that desk to film this?”

“Sure.” I took a seat in the office chair, gave my paper one more read through, then nodded. “Okay, we can roll now.”

“Three, two,” Steve said, then held up one finger before turning it into a fist.

I knew it was time to start. “Hello, New York.” Holding up my hand, I had to stop them.

“Okay, cut,” Steve said. “What happened?”

“I wanted to say ‘good morning,’ not ‘hello.’ So, let’s start over.” Shoving my hand through my hair, I tried to focus a hell of a lot better than I apparently had been. I didn’t want a one-minute recording to take all day.

“Okay, three, two,” Steve said again before holding up one finger then the fist.

“Good morning, New York. This is Duke Cofield, your new anchor at your new station, WOLF …” My eyes moved off to one side as Lila started walking our way.

“Cut,” Steve said, ending yet another attempt at making the short video.

Lila’s eyes went really big as she realized she’d been the cause of the short take this time. “Oh, I’m sorry, guys.” She stopped and took a seat right away. Which should’ve been okay. But I could see her out of my peripheral vision. Her shiny hair, her bright eyes staring at me.

I knew she had to be hoping that I’d screw up this first, simple task. She had to be trying to intimidate me, and I knew it. But would I be petty enough to do anything about that?

Hell, no!

“Three, two,” Steve began again.

“Hi, this is … Fuck!” My mind had just about gone blank. I looked right at Lila. “Do you think you could leave, Lila?”

“Well, I could, Duke. But you should have at least a small audience, don’t you think?” She flashed this quirky little smile that made her look too cute, but I knew she was baiting me, so I didn’t think she looked that damn cute at all. “After all, you will be in front of millions of viewers every morning if you get this job. Nerves of steel are required. At least I think they are.”

“Fine. Stay.” I read the words I’d written once more before giving Steve a nod.

There he went again. “Three, two.”

And I looked right into the camera with a determination that would surely see me through. “Good morning, New York. I’m Duke Cofield, your new anchor for your new network, WOLF. You might remember me as the linebacker for the New York Jets, your hometown football team …” The smell of lilacs filled my nostrils and I cut my eyes for only a second to find Lila running her fingers through her long blonde ponytail, releasing the pleasant scent on purpose. “Okay, that’s enough. Out you go, Lila.”

“What?” She looked genuinely confused. “But why?”

“You know what you’re doing. And I’m not about to keep letting you mess me up with this little ploy.” I pointed at the door. “You can wait out there while I do this. No more playing around, trying to make me mess up.”

“I wasn’t doing that at all, Duke.” She took her paper as she got up, heading for the door. “I don’t know what has you so bothered by my being around. Sorry.”

The door closed behind her, and I looked to find all three guys of the crew looking at me. Ty asked, “Did she really distract you that much?”

“Come on! You guys must’ve smelled that heavy lilac scent too, right?” I couldn’t understand why they all seemed so confused—it was obvious she’d been trying to distract us.

“Heavy lilac scent, huh?” Steve asked with a grin. “No, I didn’t catch a whiff of it. You want to read over your script once more before we try this again?”

“I’ve got it now. Just start me up again, Steve.”

I knew they had to have smelled that intoxicating scent Lila gave off. I couldn’t be the only one she affected like that.

Could I?

Chapter Five

Lila

As I stood out in the hallway waiting for Duke to finish his video, I saw a couple of people coming my way. A man and a young woman. I greeted them with a warm smile. “Hi, I’m Lila Banks. I’ve just been given the weather spot on the nightly news.”

The tall, muscular man with wavy, shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes extended his hand. “Ashton Lange, producer of all the news shows for WOLF.”

“Cue card girl for all the news shows,” the woman with dark blonde hair and golden-brown eyes said. “Nina Kramer. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Cue card girl?” I asked. I held up the paper I’d written my speech on. “Any chance you’d be able to help me out and put this down on some cue cards to do a short video? I’m vying for the morning anchor position and could use some help.”

“I’d love to. Follow me to my little office. It’s just down the hall here.” She led me away to get to work.

Ashton called out, “Good luck, Lila.”

“Thanks, Ashton.” I headed off with Nina to get the words put on the cards. That way I wouldn’t have to try to memorize them like Duke was doing. That wasn’t working out well for him at all. Might as well learn from his mistake.

As we wrote on the cue cards, I wondered to myself what had gotten Duke all riled up, and why he’d sent me out of the room.

Did he really think I’d stoop to trying to sabotage him somehow?

I’d never had a real job before, but I considered myself the consummate professional. I’d never do a thing to hurt his chances of getting the job we were both up for.

But the way he’d acted made me wonder if he was as professional as I was. Maybe he would stoop to sabotage. Maybe I had better watch him closely.

“How long have you been working here, Nina?” I tried to make conversation.

“A week.” She held up a card. “Is this writing large enough for you?”

Taking a few steps back, I made sure I could read it well. “Yeah, that’s perfect.” I went back to where I’d been working on the cards too. “I’ve got to do at least one interview. I’d like to impress Mr. Wolfe and Mrs. Baker. Do you happen to know if either of them has spoken about any role models they have?”

“There’s a picture of Ted Turner in Mr. Wolfe’s office.” Nina brushed her dark blonde hair back and pulled it into a ponytail, binding it with a rubber band she’d had on her wrist to get it out of her face. “I asked him about it during my interview.”

I hadn’t even noticed the picture. “And what did he say about it?”

“That Ted Turner was a man he wanted to be like. He liked that he’d started Turner Broadcasting and how he added color to old black and white movies. He already has some of the old movies being remade as we speak. They’re being filmed at a studio in Hollywood, and they’ll all be aired on our network. He’s also got sitcoms in production. He’s on the ball, as far as I can tell.”

“Ted Turner, huh?” I was intrigued. My wheels were turning.

If I really wanted to impress Mr. Wolfe, then an interview with Ted Turner would be a huge get. But how could I manage that?

“My older sister went to school with his publicist.” Nina smiled at me. “You want me to make a call and see if she can get something set up for you?”

“Would you?” I thought I’d found my first friend in New York.

“Sure, I would. Right after we get this video done, I’ll make the call. For the record, I think you’d make the best anchor for the morning news. You’ve got this great look, fresh and sharp.” She sighed then shook her head. “Duke’s sexy as hell. I’m not saying he wouldn’t make a great anchor, but damn that’s a lot of sexy so early in the morning, don’t ya think?”

I had to laugh and agree, “Yeah, way too much for that early.”

Nina and I were getting along great. After finishing the cards, we headed back to the room I’d left Duke and the camera crew in. Duke was sitting there, chatting with the guys and Ashton, regaling them with tales of football that only dudes would laugh at.

Nina pointed out a great place to do the video. “I think behind that desk over there would be the prime spot, don’t you?”

She had a good eye, I had to admit that. “The blue backdrop of those curtains would pair well with my dress.” So, we headed over there, and the men finally seemed to notice us.

“You want us to set up over there, Lila?” the cameraman asked.

I nodded and watched as Duke sauntered my way. “Just so you know, Lila, the cameraman is Ty, the sound man is Joe, and the assistant producer is Steve. Our producer is …”

“Ashton Lange,” I jumped in. “I met him outside the door you made me wait behind while you made your video. Did you finally get that done, Duke?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, we got it done.” Then he took a seat. Right in a spot where I’d have to see his handsome face while I made my video.

“Will you be staying for my video, Duke?” I turned away from him to get into place behind the desk.

“Would you mind if I stayed?” His voice was deep, sultry, and teasing.

My knees went weak and my palms began to sweat. But I wasn’t about to let him think he was making me nervous just by watching me. I was a professional, after all. “No, stay if you want to. I’d love to have an audience, no matter how small. It’s great practice, you know. Oh, you don’t know because you made me leave.”

“I had to,” he confessed. “That lilac scent you’re sporting got to me. I thought I was about to sneeze.” I turned around just in time to catch him winking at Ty, the camera guy.

“I see.” I knew better than that. He’d already asked me about that, and he hadn’t looked as if he was about to sneeze at all.

“I’ve got to be honest—I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with, Lila.” He leaned back in the office chair, getting all comfy as he eyed me.

I wasn’t about to let him get under my skin. I realized that was exactly what he was doing. Or trying to do. I should’ve known he wasn’t against playing dirty. Anything to win the game, just like every other jock I’d ever met.

Could I be that callous?

Only time would tell.

With Nina in place holding the cards, the cameraman ready, the sound guy holding the boom mic, and the assistant producer standing just in front of Ashton, who was overlooking the whole thing, I knew it was time to shine.

Nina was quick to give her advice. “Lila, I think we should do a read through before actually recording anything.”

Ashton complimented her, “Great thinking, Nina. Let’s do that.”

Duke looked back at Ashton. “I could’ve used your advice on my video.”

“I bet you could’ve,” Ashton joked, then mock-punched Duke in the arm. “Should’ve asked.”

“Didn’t think about it.” Duke looked back at me. “Looks like you’ve got the upper hand on this one, Lila. Better make it great.”

“Thanks for not putting the pressure on me, Duke.” I tried to laugh it off, but he really did have me feeling as if I was under a magnifying glass.

“No problem.” Duke’s smile was wide, as if he knew I’d screw it all up.

Only he didn’t know I’d already been doing my own little fake newscasts for twelve years running. Sure, it was just in front of my family, but it was a hell of a lot more than he’d ever done. Being a football player didn’t mean you knew how to speak in front of people.

Nina gave me a nod, and I proceeded to read the cards out loud, “Welcome to WOLF, your newest source for news and entertainment. I’m Lila Banks, and I’ll be your host each and every weekday morning to help you get your day started. I’m looking forward to visiting with you, reading your posts online, and learning what it is you want to know about or tell me about. I’m here for you, to help you find out what’s happening in your neighborhood, your schools, and your beautiful, very busy city. I know you and I will be great friends. If you pass me on the street, don’t you dare hesitate to say hello. I’ll be sure to say it right back to you if you do. You can tell everyone that you’ve got a new friend in the business, and that her name is Lila Banks. So, sit back and get ready to hear all about what’s happened while you’ve been sleeping. There’s so much to tell you about.”

Nina smiled at me. “That was great!”

Ashton clapped. “Loved it! Now let’s record that.”

Ty and Joe looked at each other, then at Duke. “You might want to work on yours a bit, Duke,” Ty told him.

Duke leveled a stare at me. “No, mine is good too.”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “But hers is great.”

To say I was on cloud nine would be an understatement. I knew I’d written something special, but to hear that they all thought so too was thrilling. Best of all, Duke’s expression told me he agreed with everyone too, and it scared him a bit.

After recording the video, Ashton took Nina and Steve with him to review both of our little introductions. I headed out to find a cup of coffee and to call my mother to let her in on the good news. I had gotten one job already, after all.

As soon as I got seated with a warm cup of mocha espresso in hand, I made the call I knew she’d been waiting for. “Lila!”

“Mom, I’ve got a job!”

She whooped and hollered. “Yes!”

“But I’m up for one more. A big one, Mom. If I get both of these jobs, then I won’t need to share an apartment with anyone—heck, I might even be able to buy a place of my own! If I don’t get this other job though, then I’ll definitely need to rent a room with someone here. Either way, I’m staying in New York, Mom.” I took a sip of the hot drink and waited to see what she’d have to say about my news.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said with the sound of tears in her voice. “My baby girl is going to make it big, just the way you’ve always wanted.”

Nina popped into the little café with a big smile on her face.

“Mom, I’ll call you later to tell you more. Bye, love you.”

She came right to me. “Ashton says you both did amazingly well.”

“Both of us?” I couldn’t really celebrate a tie, now, could I?

“Yes, both of you. But I’ve got more news. My sister and I talked, and you’ve got the interview with Ted Turner. Not right away; he’s got some things going on right now. But as soon as he’s free, you can go to him in New Mexico to do it.” Nina clapped her hands. “And we’ll get to go with you too!”

My heart was pounding. It was all happening. And just as I began to feel like I might just win this thing, Duke came in with Ashton and Artimus, the three laughing and acting all chummy.

I might be good, but Duke knew how to get in with the bigwigs. The competition wasn’t going to be getting one bit easier.

Chapter Six

Duke

Sitting in the same small café as Lila, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at her—too many times. She just kept drawing my attention, like a moth to a flame. The way she laughed, the tilt of her head, the way her lips pursed when she seemed to be thinking about something—all of it drew my attention.

And I hated it.

Artimus, Ashton, and I had decided to grab some coffees, and I’d had no idea she’d be there too. I might’ve passed on the coffee if I’d known.

It had to be the competition that had me feeling so out of sorts about the girl. I’d never competed with a woman before; I didn’t know how to act. And I sure as hell had had no idea it would affect me the way it was.

Her touch couldn’t really be sending sparks all through me. The way she smelled couldn’t really be that damn intoxicating. It had to be the competition. That’s all it could be.

I wasn’t some horny teenager who chased after every girl in a five-mile radius. No, I was the guy who sat back, checking out the bevy of beauties before finding one to my liking. Then I’d ease up to her, give her a little of my attention, and before she knew what had happened, she’d wake up in my bed. Her hair would be a sexy mess, her body naked, and she’d find herself extremely satisfied.

And maybe that’s just what Lila needed, too.

Why wasn’t I giving it to her the way I would with any other chick I found to my liking?

She got up, she and Nina leaving the café. They headed in opposite directions, Lila going one way, away from the station, and Nina heading in the other direction.

Lila was alone, and my chance had come. “I’ll see you guys later. I’ve got something to do.” Getting Lila in my bed and out of my head had just become my top priority— it was something I had to do if I wanted to be a real contender for this position.

“Oh, before you go.” Artimus grabbed my arm, stopping my hasty retreat. “I need you to be in a class tomorrow morning that I’ve signed everyone up for. Now that the staff has all been hired, you all have some classes to take.”

“Yeah? What kind of classes?” I tried not to let either of them see how I was straining to see Lila through the tiny windows of the café as she walked away.

“Well, tomorrow is a sexual harassment class.” His words definitely grabbed my attention, finally pulling my gaze away from Lila.

“Does Lila have to take that class too?”

“Everyone does,” Artimus informed me. “Even me.”

“Even you?” Now I was intrigued, and I took my seat again. “And why is that?”

He picked up his paper cup of coffee, blowing across the top, making the steam swirl. “I want this network to set a precedent within the industry. It’s like we told you about with the pay scale—that information is open to the public. Everyone gets equal pay for equal work, and we want to make sure that sense of equality stays intact in every aspect of this network. With the sexual harassment that’s been going on in this industry for far too long, we feel it’s our responsibility to create a different kind of atmosphere for our workers. One where they all feel safe. Men and women need to feel safe in their workplaces.”

“I agree.” I shoved my hands into my pockets as I thought about what this meant. “So, you want us all to be clear about what is considered harassment. That’s cool.”

He nodded. “And I also expect WOLF’s employees to engage in a high standard of professionalism. I don’t want any office romances.”

Wait? What?

“What do you mean by that?” Ashton asked, suddenly looking a bit worried for some reason.

“I mean, I don’t want any dating amongst my employees.” Artimus took a sip of his coffee.

“No dating,” I mumbled as I thought about what he really meant. “But casual hookups aren’t dating, right?”

Artimus shook his head. “None of that either, Duke. I want a zero-tolerance policy on physical interaction between my employees.”

“Zero?” Ashton asked as he shook his head. “Is that even possible?”

“We’re going to make it possible. We’re going to show the rest of the world that it can be done. Men and women can work together and give each other the respect we all deserve.” The smile he wore told me he thought of himself as some kind of a guru.

I’d gone to work for a crazy man. My boss was a looney-bird. It was one thing to have a zero-harassment policy—obviously everyone should feel comfortable and respected—but expecting everyone to repress all their feelings for the opposite gender?

It was starting to look like Finkelstein had done it again. He’d sent me on an interview for a shit job. Not that the job was shit, but working in a place where I couldn’t exercise my manhood would be impossible. Or next to impossible, at the very least.

Ashton looked just about as disappointed as I did. “Man, that’s too damn bad.”

Artimus was dead set though. “It’s not too bad. It’s great, really. This way there won’t be any awkward professional fallout from a relationship going south, as usually happens along with breaking up. It’s a godsend, really.”

His idea of a godsend and mine were very different. “Did you have a breakup like that, Artimus? Is that where this comes from?”

“Actually, no. I’ve never had a breakup like that because I’ve never dated anyone I’ve worked with.” He looked at me with a skeptical expression. “You’ve only been with this network for a few hours. Are you going to tell me you’ve already set your sights on one of your female coworkers?”

“Hell, no!” My voice went a little too high, and it earned me a frown from my new boss.

“Hmm.” Artimus looked at Ashton. “And you, Ashton? You’ve been working for a week. Have you found anyone you’ve set your sights on in that short amount of time?”

I watched Ashton carefully as he looked off to one side. “Not me. No, sir.”

The way Artimus had worded the questions would have made any man feel like a fool if he’d answered yes. Ashton and I had no choice but to say no. And with that new knowledge, I really had to get Lila off my mind.

She was just a woman. There were millions of them in the city of New York alone. I’d never had any trouble at all getting any girl I wanted, and I didn’t need to sleep with Lila to satisfy my urges. I wanted to, but I didn’t need to.

“So, we’ve got a sexual harassment class to go to tomorrow.” I resigned myself to the fact. I’d already signed a two-year contract with WOLF, so I wasn’t going anywhere. “Is that all we have to go to?”

“No, after that I’ve booked us a class to teach us about physical harassment and bullying.” Artimus tapped his fingers on the tabletop. “And then a class on compassion. That’s all. Three classes in three days.”

It sounded like he meant they’d last all day. “How long are these classes?”

“Eight hours each,” he said, as if it wasn’t that long at all.

It was longer than any class I’d ever had to sit through. And Ashton must’ve thought so too as he groaned, “Eight hours?”

“Only eight hours,” Artimus said, trying to make it sound less horrible than it really was.

“Okay, tomorrow I can plan on being bored for the entire day.” I got up once again, ready to go home and drink the remainder of this day away.

Artimus wasn’t about to let me take his news poorly. “Duke, I expect all of you to be good sports about this. My goal is to make a difference in this industry, and I will do that. I can be stubborn when I need to be. I warn you; I’ll be holding fast to the decisions I’ve made about this network.”

“I get it, Artimus.” I didn’t like it, but I did understand that the man had a vision. Whether I agreed with him or not, the network belonged to him, and he aimed to change the world—using us to show people that it could be done. “It’s just not going to be easy, that’s all.”

He smiled at me, amazingly enough. “Nothing great ever is. Don’t you two agree?”

“Sure,” Ashton said as he got up too. “I’m gonna go home and get a drink, maybe call up some of my old girlfriends to see how things are going with them. If I have a girl already, then I won’t be tempted to break any of your rules.”

“Great thinking, Ashton.” Artimus seemed to think Ashton was onto something.

That had me wondering something. “Arti, you got a girl?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s been a while since I’ve dated anyone. My last relationship ended badly. She left me for one of my business partners, little money grubber that she was. I should’ve been happy she left me, but it all felt unfinished. I wanted closure that she wouldn’t give me.”

Artimus wasn’t an old man. Maybe forty, if that. It made me wonder just how well he’d fare under his own rules about no messing around in the workplace. “So, you think you can keep yourself in check with all the pretty ladies who’ll be around, boss?”

“I’m taking the classes too, Duke. I don’t think I’ve got anymore willpower than anyone else.” He shook his head, looking serious. “This is very important to me. You see, I’ve got three younger sisters. Two are actresses. The stories they’ve told me made me sick to my stomach. Men who had power over them telling them they had to do certain things to get the parts they wanted. My youngest sister was only nineteen when a man we’ve all seen on the national news told her he needed someone to help him take his mind off his demanding job. He’d make it worth her while if she’d stop by his office around nine each night, before he had to go home to his wife.”

I had to interject, “I hope she told him no.”

Artimus nodded. “Oh, she did. And then he told her if she liked her job—at a company he wasn’t even associated with, I might add—then she’d do what he asked her.”

Still, I knew she had the right to say no. How could he get her fired? She didn’t even work directly for him, after all. “I still hope she said no.”

“She said no and she left his office. An office she’d only been called to because of what he wanted from her, she later found out.” Artimus looked down, his eyes dropping. “She found a text on her phone the next morning before heading to work. Her supervisor told her that her services would no longer be required.”

“But how did he manage that?” Confusion riddled Ashton’s voice.

“He knew people. People who would take him at his word, whatever word he used to have her fired. People who have power know how much they have, and they know how to use it to their advantage.” Artimus looked grim. “I just want to make a difference. And you should want that too.”

Well, there was no arguing with that, was there?

Chapter Seven

Lila

The next morning saw the entire staff of WOLF, including the owner and his assistant, gathering in a lecture hall on the NYU campus. Professor Higgins, an anthropologist, was there to talk to us about sexual harassment.

Before the lecture began, we were all briefed by Mrs. Baker as to how we’d be conducting ourselves while working for WOLF. She began by telling us that there would be a strict no-dating policy between WOLF staff members. And that meant not even the smallest of relationships, not even a one-night hook up. No romance, no flirting, no physical contact that wasn’t necessary.

I sat five rows behind Duke in the auditorium-style lecture hall. Nina sat next to me. We’d all been given pens and pads of paper to take notes. There wouldn’t be a test, but we were encouraged to write down things we didn’t know before.

Professor Higgins started the lecture. “Good morning, WOLF staff members. Mr. Wolfe has asked me to advise you all on sexual harassment, what it means, how it works, how it demeans a person or persons, and how to avoid it.”

To say I was bored just didn’t cut it. I knew what it was. And I knew how to curtail it. I’d been in college, a place where young men weren’t quite men yet. I’d met a lot of men that hadn’t quite gotten past their boyish phase, most not capable of not sexually harassing females. And I knew how to let them know, in no uncertain terms, when I was interested and when I wasn’t. And if I wasn’t, they’d better watch what they said to me, and God forbid any one of them actually touch me.

Dad and my older brother, Lonnie, had been sure to teach my sister and me how to defend ourselves if necessary. She and I had both gone off to colleges in other parts of the U.S., far from our home, and Dad wanted us to know how to take care of ourselves.

Our mother had made sure we knew how to cook, clean, and tend to ourselves if we found ourselves sick. Dad had made sure we knew how to be firm with the opposite sex, and how to stop unwanted advances if we weren’t respected.

A knee to the crotch, an elbow to the ribs, and a well-placed headbutt were all it would take, Dad had told my twin and me. And Lonnie had allowed us to practice on him, always the devoted big brother.

The professor droned on, “The EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, defines sexual harassment as verbal or physical sexual harassment, unwanted sexual advances, and requests for sexual favors. Now, Mr. Wolfe has informed me that no type of sexual advances will be allowed at his place of business—whether unwanted or consensual. This means that you all must refrain from things like flirting, openly looking a person over.” He stopped and smiled. “Ah, but you all are in an industry where some of you will have to be looked over, now aren’t you? Of course, if your hair, makeup, and wardrobe people look you over, that’s different. Unless they make you feel uncomfortable by leering at you with lust-filled expressions.”

One of the ladies up front raised her hand to ask a question, and the professor gave her a nod. “Sir, I’m in wardrobe. This is my first job doing this type of work. Can you clarify what things might make people feel uncomfortable, and how I can make sure I don’t cross any boundaries while I make sure my coworkers are ready to go on air?”

My eyes moved to her right, finding Duke. I didn’t envy the woman asking the question—I knew I would have a hard time looking that man over and not feeling excitement or lust for him. But my job wasn’t to look him over, to fix his clothes, hair, or cover the shiny places on his handsome face.

Nina and I had made comments about Duke being too sexy for morning television. Would that be considered harassment, even though no one had overheard us? Even though we hadn’t said anything directly to Duke?

I wasn’t paying much attention to the professor as he responded to the question. That wasn’t my department, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about that.

My eyes held fast to Duke’s wide shoulders. He’d forgone the suit and tie, looking casual in a black T-shirt and faded blue jeans. Most of the men had come in casual clothes, ready for a long day of sitting in class.

I’d only brought nice clothes with me when I’d packed. Lucky for me, the interview with Ted Turner would see me heading to New Mexico. Mom and Dad were packing my things and would bring them to me there. For now though, I had to make do with what I’d packed in the one bag I’d brought with me.

Duke stretched a bit, putting his hands behind his head, linking his thick fingers to give his head a place to rest. My heart raced for some reason. I chided myself for how my body reacted to everything the man did.

Why did he have to be so damn good looking? Why did he have to affect me so much? Why did we have to work at a place that forbade us from even flirting, never mind acting on any sort of attraction that might grow?

And why did he have to be the man standing between me and my ultimate dream job?

Even if we hadn’t had all those obstacles standing between us, I had no reason to think he’d be as interested in me as I apparently was in him. He was a man in his early thirties, and I was a young woman of only 22. I was sure I had to be too young for him anyway. So why was I even thinking that way?

The professor had stopped talking about how to look one over the right way, and was moving on to the next topic. “Now let’s talk about how sexual harassment works. First, it’s important to understand that all advances aren’t harassment. If that were the case, then our species would cease to exist. But your workplace wants there to be no advances whatsoever, so you all will have to avoid falling victim to your own desires.”

I had to wonder how I’d do that.

Mr. Wolfe raised his hand then stood up front to face us. “I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a bit of advice. Ashton came up with this idea to help counteract any type of attraction at the workplace, and I thought it was a good idea. Why not simply look for a relationship with someone outside of work? That way you won’t be tempted by anyone you work with.”

But the professor shut down our boss’s idea. “Mr. Wolfe, while that might seem like a perfectly good idea, not everyone is in the same phase of life, or is looking for the same things. It’s likely that not everyone in this room even desires being in a relationship right now. Even if that were the case, not everyone has the opportunity to do what you suggest.”

Mr. Wolfe looked a little defeated. “It was just an idea, is all.” He took his seat and began to write notes. Apparently, he hadn’t thought things all the way through.

“So, back we go to how harassment works,” Professor Higgins went on. “A casual hello is not harassing. But a hello that includes physical contact, other than a handshake, like even a small hug with a kiss on the cheek, can make some people uncomfortable. It’s best to avoid those kinds of things, especially in the workplace. These are not your close friends. These are people who simply have to show up at the same place you do, and that’s all.”

Nina raised her hand and asked, “So, are we also to avoid forming friendships with our fellow employees?”

She’d asked a question I hadn’t even thought of. The professor shook his head, telling us that wasn’t the case at all. “Friendships are fine. Even between the opposite sex.” He looked at Mr. Wolfe, as if telling him personally that friendships couldn’t be stopped. “It’s important to have comradery with people you work with.”

Mr. Wolfe nodded then jotted that down, which made me wonder just how much he’d thought about things before making such demanding rules—rules that would be hard to navigate and stick to.

Nina elbowed me, then whispered, “Seems we can be friends, Lila.”

“Seems so,” I whispered back. “You’re my first one in New York.”

“You’re my first one at work.” She wiggled her eyebrows as she grinned at me.

The first few hours passed quickly enough, but then the last few went by slowly. My ass ached from sitting on the hard seat for so long. I’d lost interest in listening to the ongoing lecture. Scenario after scenario was presented to illustrate how to act and how not to act.

Nina and I began to whisper back and forth, wondering about different things. She said, “There are so many different departments. We don’t all work together. What if we like someone we don’t even work with?”

“Like if they’re in a different department and you never work with them?” I asked, intrigued by the thought.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Like, for instance, you’ll work with the nightly news team, but you won’t really be interacting with the rest of the news teams. Unless you get that morning gig too. But even then, you’ll have only a handful of people you work with on each show. What if you and some guy from one of the other news shows hit it off? Why would that be wrong?”

I couldn’t stop my thoughts from going back to Duke—even though I doubted he’d ever want to date me. But if he and I worked on different shows, then we could if we wanted to. If Mr. Wolfe allowed that, that is. I was skeptical, since he’d said no dating within the entire WOLF staff.

The professor had shut him down where friendships were concerned, though. Maybe this would be the best place to ask this question, with the professor around to shut Mr. Wolfe down if needed.

“I’m going to ask about that, Nina.” I raised my hand and found Professor Higgins giving me a nod. “Sir, I’d like to ask about a hypothetical situation if I may.”

“Of course,” he told me as he nodded.

I found not only his attention on me, but everyone else in the class as well. I could feel Duke’s blue eyes on me—like I could feel his touch just through his gaze. My body heated automatically, and I had to ignore the way my pulse sped up.

“Okay, at WOLF we have different teams we’ll be working with. We don’t all work together. For instance, I’m on the nightly news team. What would be wrong with me seeing someone from, another team or department at WOLF that I would never work directly with, or even interact with? Say, for instance, someone in accounting?”

The professor seemed to be mulling that over before answering me. “In my opinion, I don’t think that would be a problem. But Mr. Wolfe has said he wants no relationships between any of his employees. I suppose if you find yourself attracted to someone in another department, you’d have to get your boss’s permission before you even made any advances.”

“Which I would deny.” Mr. Wolfe stood up to let us all know. “You see, I’ve told a couple of people about my reason for wanting to have such strict rules about this. Maybe you should all know. Maybe then you’ll understand what I’m trying to do here.”

Duke’s eyes were still on me. They twinkled as he looked at me. Then he mouthed, “Nice try.”

I didn’t know what to mouth back. My stomach went all fluttery inside, heat pooling between my legs, and my heart pounded so hard I was afraid everyone could hear it.

The man was on the other side of the large room, and had only mouthed a couple silly words to me, and here I was all but falling apart over him. Thank God I wouldn’t have to work with him.

What a distraction he’d be.

Chapter Eight

Duke

The lecture on bullying the next day was broken up into a morning and afternoon session, giving us an hour and a half break for lunch in between. I’d found myself thinking a lot about why Lila had asked her question during the class on sexual harassment.

Had she been thinking about me?

I had no real reason to think that—she and I were competing for the same job, after all—but I couldn’t shake the thought from my mind. The girl was savvy—I had to give her that. But Artimus wasn’t about to give in on any of his rules. In time, I had a feeling he’d have to adjust to how reality worked—it’d be impossible to maintain that much control over people’s personal lives and desires. But in the beginning, he’d try hard to keep his rules in place.

When I walked into the lecture hall that morning, I noticed Lila was already there. The seat next to hers was empty, too. Heading her way without her knowing, I surprised her when I sat in the chair next to her. “Morning, Lila.”

She’d been talking to Nina, who sat on the other side of her. Her head swung around, and her pretty sky-blue eyes went wide. “Duke!”

“Yep, that’s me.” Placing my pad of paper and pen on the table in front of me, I leaned back in my chair. “How’d you enjoy the eight hours of boring shit yesterday?”

She smiled a devastating smile that made my heart lurch just as much as my cock. Clad in only jeans and a T-shirt, I really had to watch my excitement level with her today. After the harassment class, I knew letting a hard-on show up was a definite no-no.

“Oh, I loved it,” she joked. “Didn’t you?”

“Boy, did I.” Sarcasm coated my words. “So now onto bullying. You ever get bullied when you were a kid, Lila?”

“Well, there was this one girl in the third grade who didn’t like me at all. I have no idea why …”

I had to interrupt. “Probably because she was jealous of you.”

She stopped and looked into my eyes. “That’s what my mother said at the time, too. I don’t see why she would’ve been jealous.”

“Because of your shiny blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. That’s enough to make an insecure little girl turn jealous and mean.” My hand moved of its own accord, reaching out to stroke her hair. Thankfully, my brain worked fast, and I ran it through my own instead.

Lila’s cheeks turned a darker shade of red. Her makeup was different from the previous days I’d seen her. Her blouse was black, her skirt white, and she wore makeup to match that color scheme. The blush on her cheeks was more red than pink, and her lipstick matched as always. The ruby red color made her lips look more kissable somehow.

“This may surprise you, Duke, but I wasn’t always as put together as I am now. I had a fair amount of freckles from being out in the New Mexico sunshine so much.” She ducked her head a bit as she seemed to be remembering her less attractive years. Her red-painted nails trailed a small path over her right eye. “My sister was swinging a yo-yo around one day, and I wasn’t paying any attention and walked right into the thing. I had this little scar. It’s faded away now, but it was still kind of gnarly back then. And Gina Witherspoon had to point that out all the time.” Her fingers rested above her eyebrow. “Especially in front of the boys in our class. She’d call me Scar-Face and Mutant, along with freckles and fat bottom lip.” Her fingers moved to trace her lower lip. “See, it’s bigger than the top one is.”

“I can see that.” I tried hard not to pull my own lower lip between my teeth as I watched her do the same thing. “Most people have a larger lower lip than top lip. Everything you’re saying just confirms to me that she was jealous of your good looks. I’m sure even in your awkward years you were still a cut above the rest.”

“I don’t know.” She looked away shyly, something that didn’t seem in character for her. But perhaps thinking about a bad time in her life, when a mean little girl had made fun of her and embarrassed her, had her feeling slightly inadequate.

So, she is human after all.

I’d kind of pegged her as a superhuman, with powers beyond my imagination. A woman who was capable of sweeping the rug out from under me and taking the job I wanted.

But there she was, looking all human and shit.

She’d flipped things around on me. “And were you ever bullied?”

I had to laugh. Me, bullied? No way in hell!

But I couldn’t say that and sound like an asshole in front of her. “No, I wasn’t bullied. Mostly because I didn’t take any shit. If a guy came at me sideways, I dealt with him right away.”

“Would you consider yourself a bully then?” Her eyes sparkled as she asked me the question. Almost tauntingly, it seemed.

“No.” I shook my head. “Just because you’re quick to stand up for yourself doesn’t make you a bully, does it?”

“I suppose not. I guess this class will soon let us know the answer to that.” She smiled and jotted the question down on her notepad. “I’ll be sure to ask. That way you can know for sure if you’re a bully or not.”

“I have a feeling you think I might just be one. And I have a feeling it has to do with me being a football player. One who pushed people around to win a game.” I was onto her. She was working on making me feel bad about myself. So, I pointed out how that in itself was also bullying. I made a note about that to ask the teacher myself.

She looked over at what I’d written and read it out loud, “If a person tries to make someone feel bad about themselves for things that were out of their control, does that make them a bully?” She looked at me. “Do you think I was trying to do that to you just now?”

“Weren’t you?” I shook my head as I said the words. “I can read you pretty good, Lila. Just so you know.”

“Well, you’re not doing a good job of that so far. I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad about anything. I was just asking you a question.” She shrugged. “Do you always get so defensive, or are you only this way with me, Duke?”

I was only this way with her. But I’d be damned if I gave her the satisfaction of knowing that. “Defensive? I’m not defensive, Lila. This is just me having a productive conversation is all. And by the way, if you use this same approach to asking questions during interviews that you’re using on me, you’ll probably provoke your subjects too. You should work on that.”

“Provoke?” She grinned like she’d just won an argument. “Hmm, if you felt provoked by me then you were reacting defensively. Funny how you can’t be honest with yourself. If you can’t be that way with yourself, how can you be honest with others? I find that interesting.”

“I bet you do.” I clenched my jaw.

“On another note, Nina told me that Ashton took our videos to the boss early this morning.” She looked at Nina. “Did they say anything about when they’d be making a decision?”

“Soon.” Nina’s head jerked as Ashton took the place beside her. “Hi!”

“Hey,” Ashton greeted her then looked at Lila and me. “Hi, there. Ready for another fun-filled day?”

“Sure,” came Lila’s unenthusiastic reply.

I decided to try to make the day more interesting. “Hey, let’s all write down a bunch of questions to keep things going. The lecture yesterday is what made it all so stale. Maybe we can keep this interactive and the time will pass faster than it did with the other class.”

Ashton was on board. “Great idea, Duke.”

We all got busy writing down questions. Lila sat back first. I caught her reading over my shoulder. Cocking my head to the side to look at her, I asked, “You trying to cheat?”

“Cheat?” She waved her hand as if waving the idea away. “You can’t cheat at this, Duke. Do you think everything is a competition?”

“Most things are. And you and I are definitely in one.” I stopped writing, having already come up with ten great questions.

“And if we weren’t?” she asked with a thoughtful expression. “Then could we be friends?”

All I could do was blink. She’d stumped me. “You want to be my friend?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really know you. Not when you’re not trying to beat me at something, at least. You seem to get along well with everyone else, so I guess it’s only me who rubs you the wrong way.” She looked down then back up, holding her head high, her jaw firm. “You can be honest with me, Duke. I won’t break. I’m not a child.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m not myself with you because you’re the competition.”

“The enemy,” she added.

I didn’t like to think in those terms. “Not the enemy. Just the competition. I don’t dislike you—I just want the same thing you do. We’re competing, not going to war to kill each other. And I really hope you can be a good sport if you don’t win.”

“And vice versa.” She winked at me. “And for the record, in the spirit of honesty, I’m not entirely my normal self with you either. This competition has me in uncharted territory, I’m afraid. Competing isn’t really my thing. I’m the kind of person who’s always looking out to help others. The kind that will stop running a race to help another runner who’s fallen. Fuck the race; he’s down and he needs help, you know?”

She is superhuman after all.

“I’ll try not to fall so you don’t have to throw in the towel, Lila. And for the record, I will be a good sport if you win. I’ve always been a good sport. The alternative wasn’t tolerated by any of my coaches. Win or lose, when the game is over you shake every opponent’s hand and thank them for a good game. I’ll do that too once this is decided.” I hoped that made her feel better about things.

“I can see why everyone likes you, Duke.” She gave me her big, sunny smile. “You are a nice guy underneath it all. But for now, you’re my opponent, and things just have to be the way they are, I guess. And please try not to fall, because I wouldn’t be able to help myself. I’d have to help you up.” The smile stayed on her face and melted my heart. The girl was too good to be true.

Or was that a ploy too?

She’d said she felt she was in uncharted territory in this competition, but this was uncharted territory for me too. I wasn’t used to bright-eyed smiles and promises of help from my opponents—I was used to being smacked in the face with competition, sometimes literally.

One thing was for sure—I had to watch myself with her.

The first half of class went by pretty fast, and we were dismissed for lunch. My cell dinged, and I saw that Mrs. Baker had left me a message. She wanted to let me know that a dinner meeting had been set for me, her, and Artimus that evening. As I looked at the message, I knew it probably meant I’d gotten the job.

Walking just behind Lila on the way out, I reached out and touched her arm. She stopped and looked at me. “Hey, I’ve just gotten a message from the boss. They want to meet with me for dinner tonight. I think we’ve both got a pretty good idea what it’s about, so I just wanted to say one more time that I hope there are no hard feelings if I get the job. I would like to be friends when this is over.”

“Cool, me too.” Her smile was wide—too wide to have heard such grim news. “I’ve got lunch with them both in half an hour. See ya.”

I was frozen in place as she left me standing there.

What the hell just happened?

Chapter Nine

Lila

I stopped off at the hotel to freshen up before heading to Greenwich Village to meet Artimus and Mrs. Baker at Il Mulino for our lunch meeting. Hopping out of the cab, I hurried to get inside. I was only one minute late, but that was one minute too long in my book.

“Artimus Wolfe’s table, please,” I told the maître d. As he led me through the restaurant, which was far fancier than any place I’d ever dined in, I had little time to admire the surroundings, but I tried to anyway. “Oh, my goodness, that’s Taylor Swift right there!”

He said nothing as he hurried me along. “Here you are, madam.”

“Thank you.” He stepped out of the way, and there was Duke Cofield, sitting in the chair next to the one the maître d had pulled out for me.

“Hi there.” Duke smiled as if he belonged there, which I knew he didn’t.

“Hi.” I took my seat and tried not to act surprised or pissed, which was a challenge.

“I came here for lunch. Saw these two and had to stop and say hello.” Duke nodded in the direction of our boss and his assistant.

I stared at his shit-eating grin a moment before turning my attention to Artimus and Mrs. Baker. “Sorry for holding you two up.”

Mrs. Baker looked at the watch she wore on her wrist. “By my count, you’re only about a minute late. Nothing to worry about.”

“Well, I’ll leave you three to your meeting. Nice seeing you all. I’ll save you a seat back at class, Lila. Just in case you’re running late again.” Duke got up, leaving us alone.

“Bye, Duke.” I tried not to roll my eyes but might’ve failed a little bit.

The waiter came to our table, filling my glass with white wine. “May I bring you something to start, madam?”

“Have you two already ordered?” I asked them.

They both nodded then Artimus said, “Please, go ahead and order.”

Opening the menu, I knew I should hurry. I only had about an hour until I had to get back to the class. “I’ll start with the caprese salad.” Mozzarella cheese, basil, and tomato seemed okay. All the dishes were in Italian, so I had to look at the ingredients to get the gist of what items were on the menu. Glancing at the prices, I knew this was a place I could never afford to go on my own. The freaking little cheese salad was almost thirty bucks!

And as I looked at the prices of the entrees, my eyes almost bugged out. A New York strip steak would’ve cost eighty dollars!

I settled on something that didn’t offend my frugal sensibilities too much, but still wasn’t cheap for what it was. “I’ll have the spaghetti carbonara too.” Thirty dollars for a plate of spaghetti seemed a bit over the top to me, but that was the only thing on the lower end of things that I could also pronounce.

“How are you finding the classes, Lila?” Artimus asked.

“Very interesting. I’m learning a lot.” It wasn’t really my style to lie, but I didn’t want him to think that I thought the classes were boring. He’d paid a lot of money for us all to attend them, and they were clearly important to him. Plus, I had listened to his explanation of why he wanted things the way he did. His poor sisters had endured a lot, and I thought it was admirable that he didn’t want any of his employees to have to go through that.

“Good.” He smiled and nodded. “I’ve overheard some whining about them.”

“I’ve heard some of that too. I know you weren’t in today’s class, but Duke, Ashton, Nina, and I spiced it up a bit. We all made up a lot of questions to ask the instructor, and that made things more interesting for all of us.”

“That was great thinking.” Mrs. Baker tapped the side of her head. “Way to use your heads.”

“Duke came up with it.” I picked up my wine.

Artimus smiled at me. “It’s great to see that you two can get along. I was a bit worried about the job coming between you two, and that was never my intention in letting you both know you were up for the position. I do want my people to get along well.”

“But not too well,” I added. Immediately, I wished I hadn’t said that.

He looked off to one side as he took a deep breath. “Yes, not too well. This isn’t easy for me, Lila. But making big changes never is.”

I knew what he wanted, what his goals were. But I also knew he was expecting too much. In my humanities class back in college, I’d learned a lot about human nature.

When you drew a line and told people they couldn’t cross it, most people would find a way to cross it. Artimus was making everything taboo. And taboo was intriguing to humans.

Some honored the rules, but most broke them. Or at least tested their true limits.

One of the studies we’d discussed in my class had been done at a prison. It examined the relationships within the prison, where everyone was told that there could be no relationships between an individual and anyone who was superior in rank to them. Had that stopped it from happening at all? No way.

When you added in the explicit restriction that no one was to have any sexual contact with the inmates, you also found guards and others who would break that rule too.

Artimus wanted to make a difference, and most of us admired that and would do our best to help him. But I had a feeling that things wouldn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped. Time would tell though, and no one could tell Artimus any different at that point. Anyone could see that.

Our salads came, and Mrs. Baker started in with what they wanted to talk to me about. “Lila, as anchors you’re expected to do a lot of interaction with the community. We expect our anchors to take some initiative and find things to do on their own. We want them to become pillars of the community and win over the viewers. Show them how to do their civic duties and be proud of serving this city.”

“Like going to see sick children in the hospitals?” I asked before taking a bite of the cheese. It was smooth and melted in my mouth. “Wow! So worth the price.”

“Glad you like it,” Artimus said with a happy expression. “Yes, going to hospitals is a good idea. But there are other things too, like volunteering. Serving food in a homeless shelter, picking up trash in Central Park, visiting a school. Whatever you can think of, do it.”

“And we’d like to have some footage of these things, so we can see how your interaction went,” Mrs. Baker added.

“I can do that. I’ve got lots of ideas.” I had a sip of wine, which perfectly accented the delicious cheese dish. “I could get used to this,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying—something about reveling in a tasty meal always made me lose my filter.

Artimus’s dark brows rose. “Are you a foodie, Lila?”

“I suppose I am.” I thought about it for a moment. “You know what I think would be a great idea for the morning show? We could invite chefs from some of the best and most popular restaurants in the city. They can come on and cook one of their favorite dishes for us—and I’ll assist them with it. If I get the position, I mean.”

Mrs. Baker nodded enthusiastically. “I love that idea. And make enough for our cast and crew to enjoy too. Oh, they’d love that, wouldn’t they?”

“I would too.” Artimus grinned at me. “You can bet you’d see Mrs. Baker and me on set on those days.”

I was so happy that they liked my spur of the moment idea. If I put my mind to it, I could map out a whole line up for them. I’d make that my next mission. But first I had to think about what I’d do in the community to impress my bosses.

I kept quiet about any plans that went through my mind. I didn’t want them to inadvertently bring up any of my ideas when they had their meeting with Duke later that evening. If he knew what my plans were, he’d try to one-up me.

We finished our meals, then I left the restaurant to head back to the NYU campus to finish the class on bullying. To my surprise, I found Duke coming up behind me as I hailed a cab. “Wanna share?”

“You’re still here?” I was somewhat surprised by the fact.

“I am. I did a little window shopping after lunch. Thought you and I could talk about the meeting on the way back to campus.” He opened the door of the cab that stopped for us.

I slid in, and he slid in right next to me. “You did, did you?”

“Yes. So what kinds of things did they say?” He looked a little worried. “Like, was one of them that you got the job?”

“Yes, Duke. I got the job.” My tone was beyond sarcastic as I rolled my eyes.

“Okay, so they didn’t give you the job yet. What was the meeting for then?” His thick fingers drummed on top of his leg. The man was nervous. Like, really nervous. He actually thought I could beat him.

That made me very happy. Ecstatic, to be more precise. “I think I’m going to keep it a secret. I don’t know if they want me to tell you or not. They didn’t say. So, I should keep it to myself. I don’t want to be thought of as a gossip.”

Now he was the one to roll his eyes. “Come on. You can tell me. I’ll even act surprised when they tell me, if you want.”

I could tell him. But if I did then he’d have the same amount of time I had to find activities to do in the community. And the more I thought about it, the more I figured our boss had given me a tiny bit more time than Duke because Duke was a New Yorker and I wasn’t. He knew about the community, and I didn’t.

It was a hair’s breadth more time, but it was more, so I decided against telling him anything. “I’d rather not, Duke.”

“Does it matter to you that I’d rather you would?” He used his sexy grin on me.

But to no avail. My mind was set. “I want this job. So, no, it doesn’t matter to me that you’d rather I tell you. Of course you want me to tell you. But you already have the upper hand.”

“I don’t see how.” He lost the sexy grin as he realized it wasn’t working on me.

“You will when they tell you about it. I assure you.” I patted him on the top of his shoulder. “And once you hear what it is, you’ll think I played my cards well. If you truly are a good sport, that is.”

“Which I am.” He patted the top of my leg. “Competing with you ain’t so bad after all. At least I get to watch you grow as a player.”

I had no ambition to be a player again after this. Never in my life had I wanted to best anyone. But I knew then that competition was inevitable if you wanted to get ahead in this world, and it was better to be adept at playing the game rather than losing out on what you wanted.

Chapter Ten

Duke

Our dinner meeting had been scheduled at Gramercy Tavern, in the dining room. I met Artimus and Mrs. Baker in the Tavern, where they were already waiting for me. “Hey, guys. I made it.” I was five minutes late. Traffic had been a bitch, and so had the cab driver who’d refused to step on it.

The dinner was casual as they told me what they wanted from me. Doing work in the community would be part of my working interview, as Mrs. Baker was now calling what Lila and I were doing.

And then I could see just why Lila had made me wait to hear what they wanted from us. She wanted a head start. And she’d need it, too. She had no idea where to start looking to get into the community, and I was already firmly a part of it.

Back when I was playing still, we’d been encouraged to reach out to the community of New York. I’d always taken the easy route and gone to see sick kids in the hospital. I knew guys who did other things. Picked up trash, fed poor people. But I loved going to see the kids. Their little faces would light up when I’d show up wearing my football jersey. I always got a kick out of it and knew I’d be able to make an excellent video.

So, after I left the meeting that night, I headed home, making a phone call along the way. I’d seen a picture of Ted Turner in Artimus’s office and had asked him about it. He’d told me how much he respected the man and how he had been inspired by Turner to create the new network.

After doing a bit of digging, I found out who his publicist was and made the call. That call only proved to be a disappointment, as I learned that Lila and I were on the same page in at least one thing. She’d beaten me to him, and she already had an interview scheduled for the very next day.

We’d only found out at the end of the bullying class that the class on compassion hadn’t been scheduled yet. That meant we finally had some free time, and that little minx had gone and thrown in the interview in that free time.

I had to give it to her, she was a quick thinker.

If I had my wish, I would’ve never had to compete with the likes of her. She would be hard to beat, but I’d give it everything I had to do just that.

I got to my apartment and wondered where Lila would be staying now that she’d gotten at least the one job. There were a few people in my building who were searching for roommates, I knew. Having Lila so close might be nice.

But then again, it might be much too tempting.

There was something about her that just did it for me. She made my body hum whenever she was around. I knew she was supposed to be off limits though.

Telling her about any availabilities in my building would not be a good idea. Unless she came up empty, I’d keep my mouth shut.

The day had been long, and I was ready to hit the sack. The warm water of the shower felt great on my now aching muscles. I’d missed my second Aleve, and I was feeling it.

Rubbing my hand over my shoulder, I closed my eyes, only to have a vision of the woman I’d been spending too much time thinking about pop up.

In my head, fantasy Lila moved my hand out of the way, taking over the gentle massage of the spot where I’d had my first surgery. “Is that better, Duke?” Her voice was soft, sweet, and sexy.

“Oh, yeah, baby.” I let the fantasy take me away.

Her beautiful body, free of any tan lines, moved close to mine, her soft, wet skin moving over mine. “I bet I can take all your pain away.” Her lips touched the shoulder she’d been rubbing, and her hands moved around to my back. Those red nails of hers grazed the surface lightly.

She straddled one of my legs, her knee coming up to press against my erection. “Easy, baby,” I cautioned her.

“Oh, I’ll be easy, baby. Don’t you worry.” She slid her body down mine until she was settled on her knees, her hands moving up and down my length. Her red lips pursed, kissing the tip of me.

I groaned in sweet agony. If only she’d take that long cock into her hot mouth.

Her sky-blue eyes looked up at me. “May I taste you?”

“Please,” I moaned.

My hands tangled in her long blonde hair as her mouth went over my cock. She sucked me like a pro. Up and down, licking, sucking, even nibbling in just the right way.

Her nails scratched lightly at the underside of my balls, tantalizingly slow. Faster and faster she went as I moved her head at the speed I needed. Back and forth, I watched her beautiful head bob against me.

My stomach went tight and my body tensed. I growled as I spilled my cum down her throat.

She drank it all up greedily, then wiped the back of her mouth as she looked up at me. “Yum!”

I came back to reality with my hand on my spent cock, my head resting on the tiled shower wall, my fantasy over. My body no longer ached.

If just jacking off to the idea of her could do that for me, what would fucking the shit of the actual girl do for me?

After catching my breath, I washed my hair and body before getting out of the shower. Heading straight for my bed, naked, I climbed in and tried not to think about Lila.

In class earlier, as I’d sat next to her, I had found she’d changed up her soap and shampoo. A nice honeysuckle scent blossomed around her. I hadn’t said a word about it to her.

The sexual harassment class had said you shouldn’t talk about the way a person smelled, good or bad. But she’d smelled so damn good. I had this bet going on with myself that Lila Banks would smell great with any scent. Hell, she could probably make even garbage smell amazing. Only that girl could pull it off.

I had only seen her in nice clothes, but I bet she’d look great in anything, too. But she’d look the absolute best lying naked in my bed.

Turning over on my side, I spoke out loud to myself. “Quit it! You can’t have her anyway.”

Why was I torturing myself?

Our jobs would keep us apart. And if I got the morning job, even though she had said she’d be a good sport about it, I couldn’t be sure how she’d react.

She wasn’t accustomed to playing these kinds of games. She had no idea how bad losing could feel. Especially losing at something that could change your whole life around. With the added income of the morning anchor position, she’d make three times the money she was making now—definitely enough to get her life started in a new city.

I knew I could make it without the anchor job. I had my money from playing ball. Though I hadn’t asked her about her financial status, I was pretty sure she was as broke as any other recent graduate.

She dressed nice and all, but her clothes weren’t that expensive. She wasn’t dripping with expensive jewelry either. She probably came from a middle-class family who had already helped her all they could just to get her to New York for the interview.

I could step out of the race, I supposed. But maybe not. Maybe Artimus wouldn’t let me. But even if I could, should I?

Would it be the right thing to do for Lila?

I was sure some men would give their right arm for her if need be, but would my stepping down and essentially handing over the job really benefit her?

The answer was no. Handouts had a tendency of biting a person in the ass in the long run. And she deserved to win the position on her own merits, not have me give it to her just because I wanted to take care of her in a way.

And why did I want to take care of her anyway?

It wasn’t like she needed me to.

But there it was, unable to be denied—I did want to do something for her. I wanted her in my arms. In my bed. The same way she’d made a place for herself in my head.

But no matter how I felt about her, I still had no idea what she thought of me. Sure, she had said she wanted us to be friends, so there was that.

Could I just be friends with her, though?

Did I even have a choice?

And what would happen if we did get together? Would we both lose our jobs?

That wouldn’t be good at all.

I knew how badly she wanted this position, and my desire for her might put her at risk of losing it. Not only did she want it, but I thought she’d be great at, too.

No, I couldn’t put her in that position. I’d lay off her. Put her in some other place in my head. Maybe a sisterly place.

Who was I kidding; I’d just jerked off to the girl!

There weren’t going to be any sisterly feelings coming from me about Lila.

I rolled over to my other side and noticed that nothing hurt on me. The after-effects of my shower thoughts of Lila, even though they had technically been manufactured, had me feeling great for the first time in forever. My cell rang, taking me out of my thoughts. It was my father.

“Hey, Dad.”

“You haven’t called me back. Your mom and I are on pins and needles over here. Did you get the job?”

“I got a job. It’s okay.” I rubbed my forehead.

“You got a job?” He obviously didn’t understand.

“Right now I’ve got a slot as a sportscaster on the evening news, but I’m up for the morning anchor position too.” The moonlight poured through a gap in my curtain. I got up to close it. Sometimes even bright moonlight would give me a headache, but I opened the thick black curtain instead.

“Up for it?” Dad asked, sounding confused. “How many others are up for it, son?”

“Only one more person. A young woman—a recent grad from UCLA.” The glowing light filled my eyes. It didn’t hurt my head at all. I imagined Lila looking at that same moon as she looked out the window of her hotel room.

“UCLA? You’ve got this in the bag, son. You’re practically a New Yorker. Compared to her you are, anyway.” He spoke with confidence, as if he didn’t have any doubts at all.

“She’s tough, Dad. A real spitfire. And the camera loves her. It won’t be as easy as it seems.” The stars took my attention. Taking a late-night rowboat ride with Lila, the moon and stars over our heads, would be just the thing. Then back to my place to make love all night before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

Fuck, I’m turning into a sap!

“New York has tons of pretty faces, Duke. Don’t let her win just because she’s pretty.”

“I’m not. I’m giving it my all just like I always have. I’m just saying that she’s not going to be easy to beat.” I pulled the curtain shut. I needed to get some sleep and stop thinking about Lila.

If I didn’t get a hold of myself, I’d end up doing something stupid. Like quitting the job just so I could have a shot with her.

Chapter Eleven

Lila

The jet traveled smoothly through the sky, taking the crew and me back to New York. A successful trip to New Mexico and one hell of a great interview with Ted Turner had me feeling great about my chances of securing the morning show. I was sure Artimus Wolfe would be pleased with what I’d turn in.

“I’ll do the edits on the video then turn the interview in to Artimus this afternoon, Lila,” Ashton told me.

“Great, thank you, Ashton.” I lay my head back on the headrest to get a little nap. We’d had to be up at three in the morning to take the company jet out to New Mexico. The interview had been at nine, and it had taken a couple of hours. My parents had met me at the airport, giving me the majority of my clothes to take back to New York.

Dad had given me a credit card and told me to use it to pay for a place to stay until I started getting paid. He and Mom had been supportive, and both had wished me luck on getting the anchor position before we all had had to part ways.

Seeing them had made me realize how much I’d missed them. Mom had told me I had to make time to come for a visit even if it was just for the weekend. I’d promised I would, but had no idea when things would calm down for me.

Even as I tried to rest, my mind kept churning. I thought about stopping by one of the hospitals to see if I could talk to someone about doing some kind of volunteer work. I wanted to give Artimus and Mrs. Baker everything I could. I wanted this job more than I’d ever wanted anything.

The idea of making a living doing something I absolutely loved had me clinging to the hope that I would be able to make enough money to take care of myself. The small job doing the weather wasn’t going to do much more than pay my bills. Of course, I wanted to do more than just pay the bills. And I was ready to work as hard as I had to for that to happen.

Somehow, I finally drifted off to sleep, and woke up when Nina jostled me. “We’re home, sleeping beauty. Time to wake up.”

Yawning, I stretched my arms then got up to get off the plane. The pilot had already gotten my bags out, and they’d been placed on a cart for me. I gave the older man a big smile. “Thank you, Jeffery. That was nice of you.”

“Not a problem, Lila. Good luck with everything. I hope things go your way.” He tipped his hat at me then took off in the other direction.

Nina and I walked into the airport together. She looked tired too. “I’m going home and taking a long nap,” she informed me.

“I’m going to drop by the hotel, get the rest of my things, and go check into a cheaper place. WOLF paid for the first two nights but my dad’s been footing the bill for the other nights I’ve had to spend in town. I think his credit card’s gotten enough of a workout.” I pushed the cart with my luggage through the sliding glass doors that led out to where tons of taxicabs were parked.

“I’ve got three roommates already, otherwise I’d invite you to move in with me.” Nina was proving to be a very good friend. “I can give my aunt a call to see if she’s got a room open, if you’d like. She runs a bed and breakfast in Manhattan.”

“Would you?” I asked. “That would be great!”

Hopping into a cab, we shared the ride as she made the call, finding me an affordable place to stay. It wasn’t my own apartment, but it was my own room and bathroom, complete with breakfast each morning. And her aunt gave me the employee discount, too.

The driver dropped Nina off first, as her apartment was on the way to the hotel. I hurried to pack my things then checked out of the fancy establishment. When I got to the bed and breakfast, Nina’s Aunt Lacey showed me to my room.

“Here we are, Lila. I hope you like it.” Lacey opened the door, and my eyes scanned the small room.

It wasn’t huge, but it was very nice. A pale blue bedspread covered the queen-size bed. Four fluffy pillows made it look comfy and inviting. One window, with curtains that matched the bedspread, lit the room up.

“This is so pretty.” I put my luggage down near the door to look around.

“You’ve got a large closet here.” She opened the door to a walk-in closet that had more than enough space to store my clothes.

I opened the other door, finding a small bathroom with a clawfoot bathtub. “I love it!”

“Thank you. I know it’s cozy, but there are three living areas on the main floor where you can stretch out a bit. All the bedrooms are on the second and third floors. On the fourth floor, there’s an exercise room for our guests. And breakfast is served in the dining area from five in the morning until ten in the afternoon.”

It was more like a real home than a hotel. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how nice it feels to know I’ve got a place to stay, and such a nice one at that.” I turned around, looking at the whole room once more. This would be my home for the next little while. And I couldn’t have been happier about that.

After unpacking my things, I headed out to Lenox Hill Hospital to see if I could get something set up for the next day. Walking past one of the hospital rooms, I heard a familiar voice coming from inside.

Peeking in, I found Duke sitting on the edge of a bed, a small girl with all kinds of tubes running into her lay on the bed, gazing up at him as he read her a children’s story. One cameraman and a sound man had their backs to me.

Duke had donned blue scrubs and a surgical mask, making him look like one hell of a sexy doctor. I stood there, frozen in place, as he changed his voice for each different character in the story.

The little girl seemed to be just as charmed by him as I was. As he read the last words of the story, he started lifting his head, and I hurried to duck away so he wouldn’t see me.

But it seemed he’d spotted me after all, as I heard him calling out behind me. “Hey, you. What’re you doing here?”

I stopped and turned around. “Just checking to see if I can do some volunteer work here. I see you had the same idea.”

He caught up with me, taking the surgical mask off and shoving it into one of his pockets. “Great minds think alike. Come on, the cafeteria here has some pretty good food. I’ll buy you lunch.”

I ran my hand over my empty stomach. I hadn’t eaten all day. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

After getting a couple of turkey sandwiches and some chips, we took a seat in a booth, sitting across from each other. “So, how’d the interview with Ted Turner go?”

His question surprised me. “Who told you about that?”

“His publicist.” He looked at me with humor in his eyes. “I called to set up an interview myself but was told he already had one lined up with someone else at the network—one Lila Banks. She asked if I’d like to set up a time after you, but I told her that wouldn’t be necessary. Seems you and I think alike more often than we don’t.”

“Seems so.” I took a bite of my sandwich and tried not to think about how great he looked in those scrubs.

“I wish we didn’t have this competition going on between us.” He shoved his hand through his dark hair. “I wish we could just be co-anchors.”

“Well, you know what they say, wish in one hand, crap in the other, and see which one fills up first.” I put the sandwich down to take a drink of water.

Duke chuckled. “Yeah, I know. But if I had my way, we’d both get that job. I think we’d make a great team.”

I thought so too. And in more ways than one. But I wasn’t going to get any of what I wanted with the man. “So, have you picked someone else to interview?”

“Yes, I’m going to see Barbara Walters in her Manhattan home later this afternoon.” He smiled, seeming pleased with himself.

“Now that’s a get! The thought crossed my mind to reach out to her team, but when I found out that Turner’s been a huge inspiration for Artimus, I went with him instead.” It seemed that we really did think alike. “By the way, I like how you interacted with that little girl back there. That was sweet. I didn’t know you did sweet, Duke.”

“I can do sweet when I want to.” His expression softened as he looked at me. “Lila, do you think about me?”

“All the time. You are my competition, after all.” I laughed a little, then ate a chip, feeling a little thrown off by the question.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot too, Lila.” He took a drink of his bottled water, looking at me as he did.

My body went hot. Something in his eyes told me he didn’t just mean in a professional capacity. The idea that he might be having very … unprofessional … thoughts about me made my heartbeat pick up a notch.

I had to remind myself that this particular man was off-limits to me. “I suppose you have to, in order to stay a step ahead of me in this thing.”

He’d finished his meal, and nodded as he got up to throw his trash away. “I’ve gotta get going. I have to change clothes before going to Manhattan.”

“Speaking of Manhattan, Nina very graciously made a call and helped me find a new home. At least for a while. I’ve got a room in the bed and breakfast that her aunt runs.” I took another bite of my sandwich as he tossed his trash into the nearby receptacle.

“Good, so you’ve got a place. That’s good to know. I did wonder if you’d be able to find something.” A smile filled his handsome face. “For the record, if you hadn’t found something, I was going to tell you about some openings for roommates in the building I live in. But it’s probably much better staying in a bed and breakfast. You won’t have to share a bathroom with anybody.”

“And free breakfast too,” I added. “I’m glad to know you thought about me, Duke. Thank you for that.”

“I’ll see you around,” he said with a nod, walking away.

I watched him as he left. My eyes were glued to his muscular body as he walked away from me. My mind wandered, imagining the two of us alone in the cafeteria; him sitting right next to me, our hands resting on each other’s legs.

In my alternate reality, Duke was telling me he had to go, and I was leaning in for a goodbye kiss. Our lips touched, and fire shot through me. The kiss went from soft and sweet to hard and lustful.

My hands moved over his back, pulling him closer to me. His hands tangled in my hair as our chests pressed against each other. My core pulsed as he ran one hand down to caress my sex. Only the material of my thin slacks separated his hand from my yearning flesh.

Suddenly I could hear heavy breathing. I opened my eyes, realizing it was me who was making that noise. A couple of older ladies sitting at the next table were staring at me with their mouths gaping.

Shit! Busted.

I had to get the hell out of there, and fast.

Chapter Twelve

Duke

A text the night before had informed me that we all had to attend a class on compassion at NYU the next morning. It was going to be the last class we had to go to, making me glad this would soon be over.

Heading into the lecture hall, once again I found Lila with an empty spot next to her. Nina hadn’t shown up yet, so Lila was alone as I took the seat next to her. “Hi there, stranger.”

Her face lit up when she looked at me. “Hi, Duke. I’m glad you came to sit with me. I wanted to ask you how the Barbara Walters interview went.”

“It was great, actually. She’s a very interesting person. I never imagined I’d ever sit down to have a chat with her, but I have to admit that her presence is something else entirely. She’s so genuine. I can see now how she was able to get so many people to trust her enough to let her interview them.” I put my pen and pad of paper on the table in front of me, noticing Lila’s fingernails were now painted a light, sparkly pink.

She tapped her nails on the table. “Man, I wish I could’ve been there too. I envy you so much, Duke.”

“Don’t envy me—you got to talk to Ted Turner! That’s a coup too, you know.” I chuckled as I sat back.

I knew Artimus would be watching our interviews that day. I had to wonder if they’d be enough for him to make his decision, or if he’d still need more from us. If I won, would Lila still be this nice to me?

The teacher began the class and what he said really got to me: Compassion was about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Really getting into their heads, understanding why they did the things they did and felt the way they did.

We had a thirty-minute lunch break where Lila and I caught up with Ashton and his crew. All of us sat at a picnic table near the lecture hall, munching on the things we’d brought to eat. Our conversation focused on what we’d learned in the class.

Ashton looked at Nina and asked, “As a woman, Nina, how do you feel about the fact that in many businesses men make more than women do for doing the same job?”

She laughed. “Pissed. And how would you feel if things were the other way around? If you and I had the same job and I got paid more than you?”

“Pissed.” He smiled at her. “Good thing we’ve landed jobs with a company that doesn’t do that, huh?”

Lila looked at me. “Being a former football player, Duke, how do you feel about women not being allowed to play pro football?”

“To be honest, I don’t think that field is something any female should even want to be in. It’s brutal out there. That said, I do believe that if a woman works just as hard as a man does to get to that place, then she deserves to be there.” Happy with my response, I threw a question to her. “And how would you feel about using a gender-neutral restroom?”

She frowned. “Okay, I’ve got to be honest too. I don’t like it.”

Nina chimed in. “No matter how unfair or fair things are, we’re all going to have opinions that conflict with others. But understanding other people is the key, I think.”

The thirty minutes was up far too soon, and we all headed back to the lecture hall. Waiting on the teacher, I found myself admitting something to Lila. “I just want you to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I don’t like what we’re having to do here, Lila. At times, I’ve thought about pulling myself out of the running for the job.”

Her eyes went wide. “Don’t you dare do that, Duke! I’m not crazy about the way we’re having to go about this either, but I don’t want this handed to me. You keep on doing your best and I will too. I don’t want to get that position just because you pulled out of the race.”

I had to admire her spirit. “Okay. I’ll keep on trying. But I did want you to know I have thought about doing that. You’re young, and you don’t have the nest egg I do.”

“It’s nice of you to think about that, but I’ll build my nest egg, so don’t you worry about me. If I have to make do with just the weather job, then I’ll write articles too or something, maybe do some other reporting for the station if Artimus will let me.” She seemed confident in her abilities and that only made the admiration I had for her grow.

Sitting next to her proved to be harder than I thought it would be. She’d gone and used some strawberry scented shampoo that kept wafting past my nose. And she was wearing a sheer pink blouse that showed off a lacey camisole underneath it. A white skirt hugged her round hips and showcased her perky ass. The clothes she wore weren’t meant to be sexy. They were standard office attire, but the woman made everything look sexy.

Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun that rested on the nape of her long, slender neck. A bun! How was I getting turned on by something to mundane?

But somehow, on her, it looked sexy.

When the class was over, we both got texts requesting that we head to Artimus’s office. “We can share a cab,” I suggested.

She nodded as I hailed one and we got into the backseat. “What do you think this is about?”

“I know they watched our interviews today. I suppose it’s about that.” I could see she was nervous. “I don’t think this is the day we find out who has the job though. No need to worry.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, I know. And worry hasn’t ever solved anything anyway.” Lila’s blue eyes landed on mine. “I feel like my emotions are being tossed around all over the place. One minute I feel calm and prepared, sorting out a backup plan, and the next I’m worrying over what I’ll do if I don’t get it.”

“You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t get worried about things like this.” I patted her leg to reassure her. “Things will work out. And I do hope we can remain friends in the end, no matter what happens.”

“Me too.” She blinked a few times as she looked out the window. “It’s been nice getting to know you. I’ve never really known a jock before. In college, all the guys who were into sports didn’t interest me in the least. You’re not nearly as bad as I thought you’d be.”

I had to laugh. “Um, thanks?”

She ducked her head, her cheeks turning red. “That didn’t come out right, did it?”

“Not really.” I leaned over to pull her face back up, taking her by the chin. “But you don’t have to be embarrassed. You aren’t quite what I had you pegged for either.”

“I bet you thought I’d be an immature little brat—a typical millennial.” She smiled at me, showing off those perfect pearly whites, and rolled her eyes a little.

With a shrug, I admitted, “You are much more mature and levelheaded than most people are at your age.”

“Thank you. I strive to be.” The way her eyes held mine captivated me. She wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met. So young, yet so in control and sure of herself.

I hadn’t let go of her chin, and the way my hand tingled made my heart beat harder. “If we didn’t have to deal with this no-dating policy, would you accept a date with me if I asked you out?”

She didn’t say a word or blink an eye, but she did nod.

My cock twitched, my heart hammered, and my mouth opened, “Technically, we haven’t started working yet. Would it be okay if I kissed you, Lila?”

Her chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath, and then nodded once more.

My eyes couldn’t believe what I saw. So I had to ask, “Can you say the word, Lila?”

“Yes,” she said, then licked her lips. “I want you to kiss me, Duke.”

Easing my fingers along her jaw, I ran my hand around to cup the back of her head, pulling her to me as I moved toward her. Our lips were barely touching, her breath sweet and warm on my mouth.

Her hands traveled up my arms, leaving trails of molten heat along them. I pressed my lips harder to hers. Hers parted, and her tongue darted out, barely touching my lower lip.

My mouth opened, inviting her in. I’d never felt anything like that in my life. My body was fully charged as I pushed her back against the seat, moving my body over hers, grinding against her.

One of her feet ran up the back of my leg as I dry humped her as best I could in the tiny confines of cab. The way she moaned made our mouths vibrate, making me want so much more.

I grasped one of her tits, squeezing it through the sheer fabric of her shirt. I couldn’t believe this was happening. It had to be a dream. I finally had her right where I wanted her, pinned beneath me.

She arched her back, pressing her body up against mine, needing more too. She and I were so much alike. There was no longer any reason to try to deny what we felt.

When her hand moved between us to grip my erection through my pants, I had to fight myself not to pull it out for her. I took her lower lip between my teeth, tugging it, loving how she whimpered my name at the little prick of pain.

I kissed my way up her neck, biting and sucking as I made my way to her ear. “Lila, you taste better than anything my mouth has ever been on.”

I needed to taste even more of her. I ran my hand down, pulling her skirt up to press my palm against her hot cunt. Only her silky panties were in my way. I pushed them to one side and ran my fingertip through her wet folds. She moaned and moved just slightly, making my finger go inside of her, “Yes!”

Pumping it into her, I yearned to feel my cock inside her instead. Not that I’d actually fuck her in the back of a cab. No, I wanted to take her sweet ass home with me.

Fuck the meeting with Artimus. I just wanted to get her into my bed.

But just as that thought entered my head, the cab pulled to the side and stopped. “Here we are.” His voice pulled us out of the world we’d fallen into.

“Fuck,” I groaned.

“I agree,” Lila said. Her lips pressed against my cheek. “We’ve got to go inside.”

Moving off her, I pulled her up. Her bun had become a bit disheveled, so I pulled it all the way out, running my hands through her silky hair to smooth it out. “Okay, that’s better. I’ll let you head in first. Stop off at the bathroom and freshen yourself up before you head up to his office.”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Can I be honest with you, Duke?”

“I hope you feel that you can be honest with me. What is it?” I ran my hand over her cheek, holding her beautiful face in my palm.

“That was the best kiss I’ve ever had.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

“Thank you too.” I got out of the cab, helping her out.

I waited outside, watching her walk into the building that would soon be our workplace—our very strict workplace—knowing I’d just opened up one big-ass can of worms.

Chapter Thirteen

Lila

Looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, I found a glow on my face. My cheeks were rosy red, my lips kiss-swollen, and my eyes shimmery with desire.

I hadn’t had a ton of sexual experience, and had only ever had one real boyfriend. The sex with him wasn’t great either, and no one’s kiss had ever done to me what Duke’s had.

From the moment our lips had touched, I’d felt higher than a kite. As if his mouth was pure morphine, he’d taken me on a ride I’d never known existed. My heart was still pounding, and it had already been several minutes since we’d parted.

I had to clean myself up too, as he’d made me so damn wet that my panties were damp. If his finger could do that much for me, what would his cock do?

Even though I knew we shouldn’t have kissed, I wanted more of that man. I wanted to feel him all over me, fucking me with that hard body of his. I wanted to feel his sweat as he glided over me, ramming his huge, hard cock into me with a mercilessness that only he would have.

I wanted to drink his cum, lick his balls, bite him on the ass. I wanted to do all that and even more. I wanted to give myself to him in every way possible. And I wanted to do that right now.

But we had business to attend to, and we also had that pesky little rule to contend with.

Rules!

Weren’t they just made to be broken?

I’d never considered myself a rebel in any way, but now I was ready to revolt.

To hell with your rules, Artimus Wolfe. I want Duke Cofield, and I want him now!

Could I go up to my new boss and make such a demand?

I knew the answer to that question.

Hell, no, I couldn’t do that!

But Duke might do something like that. He’d said he’d contemplated dropping out of the competition. Would he throw in the towel just so he could have sex with me?

Surely not.

But then again, he’d already mentioned his nest egg, how he’d be fine if he had to drop out. But I couldn’t let him do that.

Hurrying to get up to Artimus’s office, I wanted to make sure Duke didn’t cut his own throat just for a piece of ass. Not that I actually thought of myself as just a piece of ass, but I had to be realistic about things.

Why should Duke give up a promising career just because we wanted to have sex with each other?

When I stepped off the elevator in the reception area of the penthouse offices, I found there was no one in the room. But I could hear voices coming from Artimus’s office.

I headed toward the sounds but stopped when I heard Duke say, “I’ve got the upper hand, Artimus. New York knows me. I know I’ll bring in the viewers. I’ve already been talking to lots of people about the new network and how things are going to be very different from what they’re used to seeing. And I’ve gotten great feedback from everyone. On top of that, I’ve gotten a lot of people saying they’d love to see me each morning.”

My heart stopped as I froze in place. I knew we were still competing, but this felt like a stab in the back. Hadn’t Duke just said he’d thought about dropping out of this?

Was that a lie?

It sure sounded like he was in it to win it. Which I could respect. But something just felt strange about the whole thing. There he was, chatting it up with the boss and racking up brownie points.

Artimus spoke, telling Duke some news that neither of us had heard yet. “We’ve put out some surveys, Duke. Five hundred of them, to be exact. A little more than half have been returned, and out of that number, more than half want you as the morning anchor. Obviously, we’re waiting on the rest, and anything could happen, I should caution you.”

“Wow!” Duke responded.

And my body sagged with the knowledge. It was crazy how quickly my sails deflated. One minute I was on cloud nine, the next minute I was a puddle on the floor.

I hadn’t actually reduced myself to falling on the floor and throwing a fit like a toddler, but I was damn close to that.

I strained my ears, hoping Duke might say at least one thing about me to Artimus. One nice thing was all I’d need to hear from him to make me think he wasn’t a giant asshole.

Artimus must’ve been clapping Duke on the back, as I heard some smacking sounds. “And how about that interview you turned in? It was great!”

Please, say something nice about me, Duke!

“Glad you liked it. How was the one Lila did with Ted Turner?” he asked.

Okay, not a compliment, but at least he was thinking about me.

Artimus didn’t say anything right away, which made me a little nervous. “Well, let’s wait for Lila to join us before we discuss that.”

What the hell does that mean?

“Oh,” was all Duke said to that.

“And how are the two of you getting along?” Artimus asked. “I don’t want this job to cause a rift between the two of you. It’s not my intention to have you two hate each other.”

“Hate?” Duke asked. “No, we don’t hate each other. I think she’s mature enough to accept whatever happens.”

Okay, that’s nice.

“I’m sure she is,” Artimus added.

“But I have to ask you this, Artimus. Is she mature enough to capture and retain a New York audience?”

Okay, that stung.

He really was out to get the job. And that made me feel like kissing him had been a terrible mistake.

I turned to leave, getting back on the elevator and leaving the building without even seeing Artimus. I just couldn’t face him. I felt betrayed for some reason, even though my rational mind told me that Duke hadn’t actually betrayed me. He wanted the job too, and he’d had every right to say the things he’d said. But it didn’t stop me from feeling hurt.

All the way back to my new home, I tried to make myself understand why I felt so bad about things. I just couldn’t put my finger on it exactly.

I bought a bottle of wine from the shop on the corner near the bed and breakfast. Taking it up to my room, I poured myself a glass before lying on my bed.

Would I really be able to stay friendly with Duke if he got the job, which I was getting more and more sure he would?

And what about that kiss? Had it been a huge mistake? Had he just been trying to throw me off my game? Knowing how competitive he was, and having heard what he’d said to Artimus, I had to wonder if that might’ve just been part of his strategy.

And what if Artimus ever found out about that kiss somehow? Would he fire us both?

Was I already making immature mistakes?

Leaving the station without talking to Artimus had been a mistake. I knew that now. I made a call to his office to try to explain why I hadn’t shown up.

He answered my call after only one ring. “Lila, where the hell are you?”

He was mad. His voice was sharper than I’d ever heard it before. “I’m sorry, sir. I was in the building, about to head up to your office, when my stomach started hurting. I had to leave and come home. I wasn’t in any kind of shape to make the meeting.”

What I’d told him wasn’t exactly a lie. My stomach had hurt once I’d overheard them talking. And I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to talk to him—or Duke, for that matter.

“Duke told me you two shared a cab on the ride over. He didn’t mention a thing about you feeling sick,” Artimus told me. “We were worried about you. You should’ve called me much sooner, Lila.”

Another immature mistake on my part. They were really beginning to rack up. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, sir. Would you like to reschedule a meeting for tomorrow, maybe?”

“I’ll have to talk to Mrs. Baker about that. I don’t know what’s on the agenda tomorrow. It’s important that you try your best to make any meetings that are set up. Things will depend on your ability to make meetings, Lila. I thought you would understand that.”

I understood that just fine. But he didn’t understand why I’d had to take off. “I am very sorry, sir. I am. It won’t happen again. I can promise you that.”

And I could, too, because as I let it all sink in, I knew I’d let myself get into the wrong frame of mind. That damn kiss—or make-out session, to be more precise—had muddied up my brain. And I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

The one thing I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was that Duke wouldn’t push me for anything more. He couldn’t. The rules demanded that much.

If I said I didn’t want any more of that kind of thing to happen between us, then it wouldn’t happen. And I knew wanting more would get in the way of my ultimate goal. My goal wasn’t to become Duke’s girl. It was to anchor the morning news.

I had to keep my head on straight, or I’d end up losing what I was shooting for. And I had to put more heart into this, too, get myself out there in the New York scene so people would get to know me and want to see me each morning.

Duke did have that over me. But what he wasn’t thinking about was that New York just didn’t know me yet. I’d win them all over. I just had to be given the chance.

Artimus wrapped up the call. “I tell you what. Come in at eight in the morning and I’ll talk to you then. I know I don’t have anything going on at that time.”

“I’ll be there, sir. Thank you for understanding. See you in the morning then.”

“Goodbye, Lila.” He ended the call.

Before he hung up, I heard Duke ask, “Is she okay?”

The answer to that was no. I wasn’t okay. But I would be. I just had to get Duke off my mind.

The little fantasy I’d had about him, coupled with hanging out with him all day, had gotten to me, was all. He was gorgeous, built like a Roman god, and charming. Who wouldn’t have taken him up on the offer of a kiss?

I was only human. But I didn’t have to be around him anymore now that the classes were all done. We wouldn’t have any reason to end up at the same place at the same time anymore.

And I knew it was best just to let what had happened fade out of my mind. My lips still tingled when I let the thought of what we’d done flitter through my head.

Okay, so what if the kiss was out of this world? The career I wanted would be out of this world too. Right?

Duke was great and all, but I wasn’t about to let my job go. Duke Cofield wasn’t worth losing everything for.

But even as I told myself that, my insides twisted, my body aching to feel his all over it. Well, my body didn’t always get what it wanted, but I’d make sure my head did.

Chapter Fourteen

Duke

I had no idea if Lila had actually gotten sick or not. So the next morning I made sure to show up at the station around the same time as her meeting with Artimus.

Our cab ride together was still on my mind. It was all I could think about. Well, that and where we’d be going from there. The way she’d reacted had told me she wanted it too. But then she’d gone and gotten sick, and I had to wonder at the timing of it all.

Was she sick that she’d done those things with me, or was she actually sick? Either way, I wanted her to know I cared whether she was sick or not. Lila needed to know that I did care about her. I wasn’t just out to score a piece of tail.

As I stepped off the elevator in the reception area outside of Artimus’s office, I could hear the two of them talking. At first, I tried not to listen and took a seat in the waiting area. But then I heard her say, “I’m sure that Duke’s told you he’s got viewers in the bag, sir.”

“And he does, Lila. Don’t underestimate him,” Artimus told her.

I had to get up and move to the chair closest to the open door. My curiosity had taken me over.

Lila went on. “That may be true, but I’ve got something he doesn’t.”

“And that is?” he asked.

“Youth.”

Does she think I’m old at thirty-two?

“He’s not old, Lila.” Artimus went to bat for me.

Yeah, Lila, I’m not old!

“He’s from a different generation, Artimus. This whole station is geared toward the younger generation—and that’s me, not him” She was certainly going for the throat.

“I think what you’re getting at is that Duke won’t have a long shelf-life and you will. Is that right?” Artimus asked her.

“I’d give him a couple years, tops, before he loses touch with the viewers,” she said with a matter of fact tone.

And my heart felt a stab of pain.

Does she really think that?

I had more than a couple fucking years left in me. What the hell was she talking about?

With the pain came anger. I got up, leaving the area where I’d only hear her say more things that would make me mad at her. I didn’t want to be angry with Lila. I wanted us to get right back to where we’d been yesterday, but she seemed to be fighting like a pit bull to get the job.

Going to the bathroom on the main floor, I splashed some water on my face to help me get my anger under control. Looking in the mirror, I saw the man I’d always seen looking back at me. No wrinkles, no age spots, nothing to make anyone think I was some old man. So what the hell was Lila doing?

Was it just some tactic to win the job?

That had to be it.

She couldn’t have been faking how she felt about me just the day before. This had to be a ploy.

I was going to head back up there and get her to talk to me, but when I walked out of the bathroom, I saw her leaving the building. So I hurried to catch her before she managed to leave.

Just as I got outside, I saw her waving down a cab and shouted, “Lila, wait!”

She put her hand down and turned to look at me. Her hair was down; she’d curled it, and the blonde locks sparkled in the sunlight. Her lips were cherry red, matching the silk blouse she had on, which was tucked neatly into an A-line navy colored skirt. Red heels finished out her amazing look. I found it hard to breathe for a moment; she was that devastatingly beautiful.

“Duke, where’d you come from?” she asked, but stood right where she’d been.

I made it to her, my hand picking up a soft curl. “Your hair looks so pretty like this.”

She gently pushed my hand away. “Thank you, but you shouldn’t be playing with it, you know.”

“We should talk.” I balled my hand into a fist at my side, even though it desperately wanted to move through her soft curls and play a while.

Looking behind me at our building, she started walking away from it. “We shouldn’t talk right here, though. Let’s take a walk.”

I stepped in beside her, not knowing where we were heading. But she was right; we couldn’t exactly stand right there where Artimus or anyone else from the station might see us.

“So, were you really sick yesterday or what?” I asked her.

She glanced at me sideways. “Kind of.”

“Can I ask why that was?” I ran my hand over hers, taking it.

She stopped and looked at our clasped hands. “Please let go of my hand, Duke.”

I was quick to release her, but I couldn’t deny the sting I felt at her words. “Lila, do you regret what we did yesterday?”

“Very much so,” came her quick reply.

Now my heart was really hurting. She might as well have plunged a knife into it. “I’m sorry to hear that, Lila. I really am.”

“I have to be honest with you, Duke.” She began walking again, and I went along with her. “You and I are competing right now. What we did was a bad idea, especially with this job between us. Not to mention that we could both be fired if we got caught. I need the job Artimus has already given me, whether I get the anchor position too or not. I need the weather gig. And I’d venture to say that you need the sports job too.”

She was right. We both needed our jobs. Financially, I’d be fine without it, but I needed it for my sanity. And getting caught could’ve been grounds for firing us both. If Lila got fired, she’d have to leave New York. That would mean leaving me, anyway.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should be regretting it too,” I saw the pain in her pretty blue eyes as I said the words.

She chewed on her lower lip, looking conflicted, as if she were fighting something inside that rebelled against the way things had to be. “I think it’s for the best to regret it.”

“My main regret is that now that I’ve tasted you, it only makes me want you more.” I took her hand, pulling her into a small shop so we could get off the street.

The way she looked at me told me more than any words could’ve. She wanted me too. “Duke, I overheard you talking to Artimus yesterday, and that’s what made me sick.”

I had to laugh as I pulled her along with me through the aisles of an old bookstore. I kept at it until I found two towering bookcases that would hide us from prying eyes.

Pressing her against one of the bookcases, I pinned her in, running my hand through her hair as I breathed her into my lungs. She made me feel high with only her presence.

Her eyes were on my lips, and I knew she wanted me to kiss her again. I eased closer, little by little. “No one has to know, Lila.”

“Don’t, Duke.” Her wishes had been spoken. She wasn’t allowing me to kiss her.

As hard as it was to take her rejection, I knew she had valid reasons for stopping me. “If we weren’t working together, then would this be okay?”

“It doesn’t matter. We are working together, so it does.” Her eyes dropped to stare at the floor.

“You know, I overheard you this morning talking to Artimus too. I heard you tell him how you thought I was too old to last long as the anchor.” I watched as her eyes moved to meet mine.

“You heard that?” She looked a little sick when I nodded. “I know that might seem like a low blow, but what you said to him yesterday was a low blow too. I’ve told you before that I’ve never competed with anyone over anything. I’m just following your lead here, Duke. You cut me, I cut you back.”

“I really, really hate this.” I turned away from her. She did have a point. She was watching me, listening to me, and learning how to fight dirty.

To say I wasn’t proud of myself would’ve been an understatement. I was embarrassed by what I’d said to Artimus to try to gain the upper hand.

“Me too,” she agreed. “But what are we supposed to do about it?”

I had no idea. But I knew I had to come up with something. This was messing us up, and we hadn’t even gotten started yet. “Let’s get something to eat and talk about things.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Don’t you trust yourself with me?” I reached out, grazing the back of her hand with my fingertips.

“If I’m being honest, then no, I don’t trust myself with you. You have an effect on me that kind of takes my brain out of the equation.” She smiled shyly as she leaned back on the bookcase.

“You do that to me too. That hasn’t happened to me before. Has it happened to you before?” I moved my fingers up her arm, then ran a chunk of her hair around one finger.

She shook her head slowly as she looked into my eyes. “It’s a damn shame that Artemis has this rule. If things were different, I could imagine exploring this attraction we have for one another.”

So, there it was. We did share an attraction, and the only thing stopping us was work. I had to find a way to make that a non-issue. But if I quit, I was sure Lila wouldn’t be happy with me.

“Sneaking around won’t cut it for you, will it?” I had to ask, just in case she’d consider it. If we snuck around a little, then came forward with things if we got really serious with each other, I thought Artimus might have no choice but to let us have a relationship.

“I’m not a liar. It’s not impossible for me to lie, but it is hard. And it’s not something I generally like in others, so I try not to do it myself.” She looked away as if what she’d said wasn’t as angelic as I thought it was. Every new thing I learned about her just reeled me in more.

“You’re better than most people, you know. Just one more thing that makes you so damn special.” I took her hand, pulling it up to my lips and kissing it with a soft kiss. “Is there anything about you that’s not attractive?”

“Tons of things, but I keep them hidden,” she said with light laughter in her sweet voice.

Viewers would love her, and I knew that. But I wouldn’t pull out of the race for the job. I’d stay in it for her, so she could win it fair and square. But I would be a better role model for her, since she was looking to me to learn how to compete.

Her stomach growled, telling me she was hungry. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I’m buying, and you’re eating.” Holding her hand, I pulled her along with me.

“I guess I’ve got no choice, do I?” she asked as we left the bookstore.

“No, you don’t. I skipped breakfast, so I’m pretty much starving to death. And I hate to eat alone.” I let her hand go once we were back out on the street. No reason to tempt fate and get us caught in something that might get us fired.

But how long could I actually go without having her in my arms?

Chapter Fifteen

Lila

The pancakes we ordered at a nearby café hit the spot, and my noisy tummy finally shut up. I hadn’t planned on talking to Duke at all that morning. Heading into the office, my plan had actually been the exact opposite—I’d wanted to avoid him at all costs.

When he’d called out my name, my had heart leapt, taking over once more. My brain had taken a backseat, and I’d forgotten all my good intentions about setting my mind to forgetting about him and this thing between us.

But I couldn’t forget about Duke—that was clear to me now. It just wasn’t in the cards. His every little touch sent sparks all through me, and as we sat there at the little table, eating pancakes together, I knew I wouldn’t be able to ignore him or the spark we had.

“Can I ask you why you wanted this job in the first place?” I asked him, because I wanted to know more about this man my heart couldn’t seem to let go of.

Putting his syrupy fork down on the plate, he nodded. “I want this job because I don’t think many opportunities will come around for a guy like me. I’ve played ball all my life. I’ve never had any other job, other than football. I’ve got this agent who’s been trying to get me work for the last few months, and the jobs he’s come up with are sad, to say the least.”

“So, there’s just not that much out there for a man like you then, is what you’re saying?” The thought made me feel sad for him.

I had the world at my fingertips. With a supportive family to see me through, I could go anywhere and do anything. But Duke wasn’t like me. His opportunities were limited—or at least he thought so.

“A lot of jobs just wouldn’t be sustainable for me. You see, I live with pain every day from the surgeries I’ve had from when I was still playing.” Duke ran his hand over his shoulder. “This shoulder was my first surgery, and I had hoped it would be the last, but I wasn’t that lucky.”

Sympathy filled me for the poor guy. “So, you’ve got a lot of scars then?”

“I’ve got quite a few of them.” He looked at me with a smile on his handsome face. “A lot of people have it worse than I do. I know that. But the fact is, the chronic pain makes it difficult to do a lot of things.”

“You should let me interview you, Duke.” I couldn’t help revisiting that thought I’d had when we first met. He’d had an interesting career, and he had a fan base out there. “Not like a video interview, just a written one. I could sell it to a newspaper, or a magazine. It would spark interest in you again, and it would help me get my name out there too. What do you think?”

Placing a couple of twenty-dollar bills on the table, he got up, holding out his hand. “I like that idea a lot. How about you come home with me and we can do the interview there? I’ve got a laptop you can use to write the article.”

Taking his hand, I agreed. I knew it might be difficult to keep things from getting out of control, but something was leading me in that direction, and my brain wasn’t having a fit about going either.

From the moment I stepped into his apartment, I felt a shift in the energy around us. We were finally all alone, and no one would see or hear a thing we did. The tension in the room let me know that both of us were a little afraid of that.

I took a seat when he pointed at a nice dark leather sofa. “Have a seat.”

“I’d like to see your scars, if that’s okay.” I knew what I was asking would only stoke the fire that had been building inside me the entire ride over to his place.

“Let me change into something else then. I’ll be right back. The laptop is on the desk over there; feel free to fire it up.” He left the living room, and I got up to grab the computer.

When I opened it, I found his background screen was a picture of his football team. There he was in the back row, standing out even in a sea full of muscle-bound men. He was by far the best looking. And that was saying something, as there were a lot of good-looking men on that team.

I put the computer down when he came back in wearing only a white robe. “I thought this would work the best. Is this okay with you?”

“It’s fine with me.” It was more than fine. I wanted to really get to know Duke Cofield.

He pulled the robe down to expose his shoulder. A rigid scar marred the tanned skin there. “This is where I had the first surgery.”

“Can I touch it?” I asked as he took a seat.

He nodded, and I got up and went to him. Standing in front of him, I moved my hand over the rough surface. “That had to hurt.”

“It still does.” He moved the robe a bit, showing me a scar on his side. “This is where they went in to fix a punctured lung. My ribs were broken, and one stabbed me there.”

I looked into his eyes as I moved my hand to run over that scar. My hand began to shake as I thought about how close I was to him, and about how close he’d come to death. My body felt hot; I think I even started to sweat a little.

When his hand closed around mine, holding it against his skin, I fell helplessly for him. “Duke, can I kiss you?”

He nodded and I moved in closer. Our lips touched, his hands moving to my waist as he pulled me to sit on his lap, facing him. The robe was still covering him, but I could feel his cock swelling beneath me.

I had no idea how we’d manage to hide this thing we had between us, but I sure as hell couldn’t stop it from happening. Nor did I want to.

His hand slid up my thigh as our mouths began the search for the ecstasy that our bodies now demanded. The way his hand felt on my skin promised me things would be phenomenal as we went further.

My skirt was scrunched up to my waist within seconds. His lips left mine to run up my neck then I felt his breath warm in my ear as he asked, “If we go any further than this, I need to know if you’re on birth control or not, because I don’t have any condoms right now.”

Silently, I thanked God that I’d gotten on the pill right about the time I turned eighteen. “No worries, I’m covered.”

“Thank God.” His hot mouth moved back down my neck, all the way to the hollow just below my throat. “Would you like to move this to the bedroom then?”

“I would like that.”

His strong hands moved to my waist, and he lifted me up as he stood. Duke might live with pain, but he still had the strength of five men, in my opinion. “Wrap your legs around me and hang on.”

I did as he said, resting my head on his shoulder and nibbling on his neck as he took me to his bed. He sat me down on the edge of the large bed and then stood in front of me. My body nearly burst into flames when he took the robe off, leaving him naked in front of me.

I couldn’t help myself, I had to run my hands all over his chiseled pecs, down the ladder that separated each and every abdominal muscle he had, to his erect cock, which was standing proud and ready for me.

He had one tattoo on his wide chest, just over his left pec. The helmet from the New York Jets was inked there to remind him of his glory days as a professional football player. “Nice.”

He caught me looking at the tat and ran his hand over it. “You like that?”

I nodded as he leaned down toward me. He unbuttoned my blouse then pushed it off my shoulders. Unhooking my bra in the back, he pulled that off too. “Goddamn, those are perfect. I knew they would be.” He cupped my breasts then pushed me back against the mattress, crawling onto the bed with me. He kissed one nipple tenderly, his hand massaging the other breast. His teeth nipped at it and then tugged, teasing me for a few minutes before he sucked it into his mouth, making my stomach go tight.

A moan escaped me, unable to be held back. “Duke.”

His hands were on my waist again, and he took his mouth away from my tit to kiss his way down to where my skirt began. He found the zipper on the side and pulled it down, shimmying the skirt down my legs. Only my panties remained, and he looked up into my eyes as he pulled them off with his teeth.

My heart pounded as I watched him, and his blue eyes held mine as he tossed the panties away then kissed my inner thigh as he moved back up. His mouth moved to kiss my cunt with a hot, wet tongue that explored my heated folds. I moaned and fisted the blanket underneath me as his tongue went into me. He ate me with long, wet strokes until my legs were shaking. Only then did he move his tongue out of me to lick and suck on my swollen clit. That sent me over the edge, and I screamed with the intensity of the first climax he’d given me.

As my cunt pulsed, he moved up my body, then thrust his fat cock into me. “Yes!” he growled. “Come all over me, baby.”

I raked my nails up his back as he began to move, stroking my already aroused cunt, making the orgasm go deeper and longer than I knew was possible.

His body was strong and beautiful as he held his torso off me. I wanted to feel his weight on me. I pulled him down to kiss me, my boobs squishing beneath his chest.

I ran my feet up and down the backs of his legs as he pumped into me. In and out, he thrust over and over, and then changed it up abruptly. He leaned into me, his pelvic bone rubbing against my clit with every deep thrust. In no time at all, he had me coming for him again. “Duke!”

I could barely breathe, my body was so overwhelmed with blissful pleasure. I’d had no idea sex could be this good. I had to wonder if the guys I’d been with had been doing it wrong or something. No one had ever gotten this much out of me before. And Duke wasn’t even done yet.

“Yeah, baby.” He kissed my neck, then bit at my earlobe. “Ready to get a little rough?”

I hadn’t ever gotten rough before, but I had a feeling that I’d very much enjoy getting rough with him. Panting like an animal who’d been chased through the forest by a wolf, I answered, “Please.”

The laugh that came out of him then was deep, husky, and sexy as hell. He pulled out of me then flipped me over, pulling me back to get on my hands and knees. He pushed the top part of my body down to the bed. One loud slap had my ass pulsing, and he gave me another before shoving his cock into me again.

He thrust into me hard, slapping my ass over and over as his pumps continued. I couldn’t believe how much I loved it. My body was doing things I’d had no idea it was capable of. And when he commanded me through a clenched jaw to come for him, I exploded around his massive cock, screaming his name as I did.

He owned me then. I knew in that moment that I was ruined for any other man—and I knew it without a doubt.

Chapter Sixteen

Duke

Turning on my side, I slowly started to open my eyes, the thought of waking up to a naked Lila in my bed already making my cock hard. Seemed that having sex all night long hadn’t been enough. I wanted more.

But when I turned over, reaching for the woman who’d damn near worn me out last night, I found myself alone in my bed.

I ran my hand over the empty space I’d expected to find Lila in. Lying on my back, I rubbed my temples and wondered why she’d left without saying a word to me.

If she’d thought this was a one-time thing, she was sorely mistaken. I wanted to kick myself for not getting her cell number. Then I remembered that rehearsals had been set up, starting later that same day.

As I got out of bed, I noticed something unusual. Nothing on my body ached, my muscles feeling loose and relaxed for once. My cock was a bit on the sore side from all the friction I’d put it through last night, but that was a small price to pay for the night I’d had. I quite liked the ache there—it reminded me of Lila.

After a shower and shave, I dressed then headed out to grab a bite before going to the station. It was a dress rehearsal, so I had on one of my nicest suits, dark blue with a white shirt underneath. I noticed a few heads turning my way when I got out of the cab to go into the station.

Heading inside, I saw the receptionist, Gretchen, ogling me. Apparently, she hadn’t paid much attention during the harassment class. Her eyes were glued to me, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it. “Hey, Duke.”

“Hello, Gretchen.” I walked to the elevator. “Have a good day.”

“You too.” She licked her red lips. “See you when you leave.”

All I did was nod before stepping into the elevator. Once I got up to the studio, I found everyone from the evening news team there. The rehearsal went smoothly, considering it was the first time we’d done a real run-through.

Ashton, the producer, asked us to sit in to watch the next group, the team who’d be doing the nightly news—the last news show of each day. Lila was on that program, and I couldn’t wait to see her again.

Lila seemed to be in a hurry, walking right past those of us who sat around, waiting to see how they all did. She hadn’t even given me a sideways glance. I supposed she was trying to put distance between us, so no one would suspect we had any kind of a relationship. I thought she was going overboard, though. We could be friends—no one had said we couldn’t.

They had a good rehearsal, Lila impressing me once again with the way she could be so professional while being so relatable. She pulled it all off with such ease, it was as if she’d been born to do the job.

Once they were done, she headed off, but I followed her, catching up with her before she knew it. “Hey, you.”

She stopped and turned to look at me. “Hi, Duke.”

I nodded toward an empty area where we could talk in private. “Can you talk to me for a minute?”

She nodded and followed me to a remote corner where we wouldn’t be overheard. I looked into her eyes, finding them a little droopy. “I know you’re wondering why I left without saying anything to you this morning.”

“I am,” I said as I put my hands into my pockets. “I missed seeing you this morning.”

She looked behind her to make sure no one was near. “I had to leave, Duke. I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“Too late.” I smiled at her. “You don’t have to act like you don’t even know me, Lila. I think that’s a little overboard, don’t you?”

She smiled shyly. “I honestly don’t know how to act. I guess acting like I don’t even know you is pretty silly.”

“Yeah, it is.” I caught Artimus coming toward us. “Here comes the boss.”

“Oh, shit! Should I leave?” She looked as nervous as a mouse that’d just caught the attention of a cat.

“No. Just act normal.” I tried to show her how to be casual, but she couldn’t seem to do it, her hands fidgeting nonstop. “A little more normal than that, baby.”

Her eyes went wide. “Don’t call me that here.”

I nodded. She was right on that point. Then Artimus stepped up next to her. “You two having a little powwow over here all by yourselves?”

I came up with something on the fly, “We were just talking about how the rehearsals went. I thought they went well. What did you think, Artimus?”

“I thought so too. Quite frankly, I expected them to be a bit unpolished since everyone is new to this. But you’ve all surprised me—a very pleasant surprise.” He put his hands into his pockets and swayed back and forth. “We’ve sent the interviews you two did to a few hundred of the people we sent surveys to.” Lila looked down, seeming uncomfortable. “Anything wrong, Lila?”

The expression she wore made me a little uneasy. She definitely looked like she was hiding something, and it almost looked like she just might blurt it out then and there. And that would’ve been horrible for us both.

“Something is wrong, sir.” Her face went from nervous to resolute and my stomach knotted with what I thought she was going to say.

“What’s wrong?” Artimus asked.

I thought I might just pass out, and had to clench my fists in my pockets a few times to help get my blood flowing properly.

Lila shifted her weight as she said, “We’re rehearsing for all the newscasts but the morning one. I find that unfair.”

Thank God!

I let out the breath I’d been holding. Artimus looked like he hadn’t thought about that at all. “I suppose it is a little unfair, isn’t it?”

Now seemed like a good time to bring up an idea I’d been playing around with but hadn’t really put out there yet. “Artimus, I’ve been thinking. You see, Lila and I think a lot alike. I think we’d make a good team. I know there’s not enough money in the budget to pay two anchors, but what if we split the salary right down the middle? If we did that, then could we co-anchor the morning newscast?”

Lila looked at me with wide eyes. “You’d do that, Duke? You’d take half the pay?”

With a shrug, I answered her. “If you would, then so would I. I think together we’d make that show better than either of us could alone.”

Artimus tapped his chin as he thought about that for a moment. “You know, I haven’t considered that before. I was set on one anchor for each show. But morning shows are different, now, aren’t they?”

“Most of them are.” Lila smiled at me. “And I’d be down to do that too, Artimus. If you went that way, we could start rehearsing for that show much sooner.”

“I’ll have to talk to some people before I give you my answer.” He patted me on the back, smiling at me. “I want you to know I think this is very generous of you, Duke.”

“Not really. I just think we’d get better ratings that way. Since I’ve gotten to know Lila, I’ve found out how similar we are, and I think we can make that work for us and this network.” The way Artimus nodded, his eyes glinting with respect for me, made me feel like I’d come up with something that could work.

No more competition meant one less thing getting between Lila and me, and I was set on removing all the obstacles that were in our way. As for the problem with Artimus’s rule, well, I knew we’d need a bit more time before we even brought up that subject with him—if we could at all.

“I’m going to get on that right away, guys. I’ll send you both a message when we’ve come to a decision. I’ll see you both later.” He walked away from us, leaving Lila and I smiling.

“You sneaky man. You’ve had this idea for a while, haven’t you?” She began walking toward the elevator.

“I’ve been batting it around for a little while. I wasn’t sure about the whole splitting the salary thing, but figured that’d be the only way to get him to consider it. I can make that work for me. Can you make it work for you?” I pressed the button to take us to the ground floor.

“Are you kidding?” She laughed. “That one salary is three times what we’re making for our other positions. I’d be good with half, easily. But I have to admit that I never thought of splitting it. Artimus is right, you know, you are generous.”

I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was around before I said, “In more ways than one, right?”

The blush that quickly covered her cheeks made my cock thump. I knew this wasn’t the right place for this, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” The elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside. No one else got on, and I looked at her as we stood there, side by side.

“I wouldn’t mind if this elevator got stuck right now.” I nudged her with my shoulder. “I’d been all set to wake up with you this morning and get back to making you scream my name.”

“Now that I know that was your plan, I’m sorry I left.” She reached out, putting her hand on my chest. “But I thought you might not want to see me there when you woke up. I thought you might not want to keep messing around.”

“I’m not messing around. Are you?” I had to ask her because I had no idea if what we were doing would lead anywhere or not. But I knew I wasn’t putting everything on the line just to mess around with her.

“Isn’t that all we can do? We can’t walk around holding hands, going on dates, or any of that kind of stuff. So, that would make what we did messing around, right?” She moved her hand over my jacket, right where my tattoo was.