Chapter 9

Jesse

Jesse sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She rewound her recording again, jotting down notes from the interview she had conducted with Roberts. She wanted to record every nuance of his response in her article to give it the authentic feel that it deserved.

It was hard, though, to focus on writing an excellent article when her mind kept wandering back to the interview, and the intense memory of being in the same space as one of the most rich and famous men in the world. It certainly didn’t make it any easier that he was incredibly attractive. His face was clean-shaven, and his dark auburn hair had the slightest wave. Of course, she had seen this all on screen before, but seeing it in real life gave it a whole other dimension of absolute attractiveness.

Neither could the screen truly capture the depth of his green eyes or the power in his voice. It was one thing when you knew he was reading lines off a script, but when he was delivering his own, authentic responses, it was even more potent. He carried himself with absolute authority, not just the cockiness that most movie stars had about them. It was as if he was truly the ruler of his own fate. Jesse supposed that in reality, he actually was. She didn’t think he had to answer to anyone at all in his life.

Jesse, however, did, and she was horribly stressed by this whole article. She knew that if she let Elaine down with this piece, she would likely never get another chance to do something so important again, even if she did manage to keep her job. She tried desperately to focus her mind and keep from being distracted by the memory of Roberts. Still, she found it incredibly hard when a subtle hint of his scent lingered on her dress …

Jesse was suddenly wrenched out of her thoughts when the landline on her desk began to ring. Her first response was confusion. Usually, if people needed to contact her, they would send an email, or call her cell phone. It was very seldom that this phone actually rang. Jesse settled herself down. It was probably just someone who needed a call to be transferred.

Jesse picked up the phone and answered with the usual company line.

“This is The Edge; I’m Jesse Clarke. How can I help you?” she spoke into the phone with manufactured cheeriness.

“Hello, Miss Clarke,” Jesse heard a smooth, familiar voice respond from the other end of the phone, and she felt her stomach clench. “This is Hal Roberts. We had an interview earlier today.”

Jesse felt a rush of confusion and anxiety. What could he possibly be calling about?

“Yes,” she finally managed to respond. “And thank you once again for sparing your time. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“There might be,” Roberts said, and Jesse listened intently. “You see, it strikes me that I wasn’t very … amenable during our interview today.”

Jesse’s mind whirled at the statement. She had no idea what to say but knew she had to at least say something.

“Well, we here are just grateful that you granted us an interview in the first place,” Jesse said honestly, glad that she was able to come up with such a diplomatic response.

“Well, grateful or not,” Roberts continued, “I feel that I spoke to you disrespectfully, and I would like to make it up to you by taking you out to lunch, so we can have a more in-depth conversation in a less formal setting about the movie and all of my involvements in it. You can, then, of course, feel free to include any of that conversation in your article.”

Jesse couldn’t believe her ears. Hal Roberts had just asked her out to lunch. Granted, for an article, but he had certainly asked her to lunch.

“I assure you that isn’t necessary,” Jesse said, unwilling to believe that his offer was legitimate.

“Well, in that case, it would be my pleasure to take you out,” he said smoothly. “Please, I insist.”

Jesse was quiet for a long time. The idea of having an interview with him was nerve-wracking enough. Having lunch with him would be downright horrifying. She seriously entertained the idea of simply turning him down. She certainly had enough material to write the article already.

Another part of her, though, acknowledged the fact that he had skirted around all of her more personal questions, and that as it stood, her article would be very lacking in the depth she had originally sought out. Maybe, if she went to this lunch with him, she could get the answers she had actually wanted in the first place.

A part of Jesse, though, was suspicious that this was all just a ruse. It did seem very wild to her that such a famous man would be so intent on supplementing answers for a small-time journalist. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.

“Do you really mean this?” Jesse asked over the phone, her tone hard and unyielding. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t afford to waste my time if we’re going to basically have the same thing happen as before.”

“I am absolutely serious,” Roberts said from across the line. “I assure you that I will do my utmost to answer any questions that you might ask of me in a sincere and in-depth manner. And I will not speak to you as disrespectfully as I did this morning.”

Jesse was quiet for a moment as she processed his words. The nervous part of her rebelled against the very idea. The professional part of her insisted that this needed to happen to fully write the best article possible. And yet another part of her was equal parts nervous and excited to see him again. That part, she hurried to stifle before it got her into deeper trouble than she was already in.

Jesse wondered vaguely if she should tell Elaine about this development, but she decided against it, not at all eager to involve her boss any more than was absolutely necessary. She was also more than a little afraid that Elaine would disapprove of this meeting on the whole and try to keep her from going. And Jesse had to admit that in the deepest parts of her, she truly wanted to go.

“Okay,” Jesse said over the phone. “I’ll go.”

“Great,” Roberts drawled from his end. “I’ll set up a reservation somewhere quiet and private. Make sure you’re dressed at least as well as you were in our interview today, or you will feel very much out of place.”

Jesse blushed at being instructed on what to wear, and she felt a vague tingle in the pit of her stomach.

“Got it,” she said into the phone.

“Excellent,” Roberts said. “I can pick you up from your office at one if that’s agreeable.”

Jesse hurriedly checked her schedule to make sure she had no important meetings or events. She was half relieved and half exasperated to find that she was completely free. She had freed up quite a lot of her time to really focus on writing this article and never realized that she would be going quite so in-depth.

“That should be fine,” Jesse finally answered, her voice tight with the anxiety she was beginning to experience.

“Wonderful,” Roberts said. “I’ll have Adam, my head of security, drive me over. He’ll accompany us to the restaurant, just so we don’t take any chances. Hopefully, though, nobody will notice me, and we will be able to have a nice quiet lunch, and I can answer more of your questions. Agreed?”

Jesse’s thoughts were running wild, but it seemed that it was now too late for her to simply turn tail and retreat at this point.

“Agreed,” she said into the phone, feeling her heart pound heavily in her chest.

“Great,” he said, his voice relaxed and easy. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I am truly looking forward to it.”

“Okay,” Jesse managed. “Have a wonderful afternoon, Mr. Roberts.”

“It’s Hal,” he said, his voice firm, and Jesse felt her hear flutter at his insistence.

“Hal,” she repeated, and she couldn’t help the slight breathy tone in her voice.

“Have a wonderful afternoon, Jesse,” he fairly purred into the phone, satisfaction clearly evident in his voice. “See you tomorrow.”

With that, the line went dead, and Jesse numbly put the phone back on the receiver, feeling her mind whirl.

Jesse’s eyes were locked on the phone, and she sat for a moment in silence, trying to process the conversation that she had just finished. Overwhelmed with what had just happened to her, Jesse hastily rose from her desk and headed straight for Mark’s office, intent on telling him every detail of her bewildering day.