“And he’ll be gone for three days. And you”—he put his mouth against her ear to whisper—“will not leave my house for three days or three nights.” He inched back and looked at her. “Don’t make me beg.”
Instantly, Lola dropped to her backside and lifted both paws, cracking them up. “Yes, you can come, too, Lola.”
Did she even have three days and three nights? After today, raw footage would be sent up to New York, and she’d have to be there for editing. Today was Friday, so maybe she had until Monday. Maybe.
Her shoulders sank at the thought of leaving again, which would be even harder this time than last. She’d fallen for a dog…and this man.
“I’m not going to let Lola go, Jessie,” he said, misreading her reaction. “I promise she’ll stay at Waterford and be my dog.” He tipped her chin to make her face him. “I’ll need a lure to bring you back again and again.”
As if he weren’t enough of a lure.
“And I haven’t given up on finding her owner,” Garrett added.
“That’s not…I just…” She looked down at the dog. “I love her,” she said simply. “I don’t know how I can bear to let her go.”
“Well.” He slipped his arms around her and pulled her in. “I guess that makes two of us.”
Her heart folded at the words and the look in his eyes. Was he saying…
“It worked!”
They both spun at the sound of Daniel Kilcannon’s booming voice in the doorway. He grinned at them, a look of pure victory. “The video, I mean. We’re really doing this story. Aren’t you happy, Jessica? This is everything you wanted.”
Except, everything she wanted was the man still holding on to her.
“Of course I’m happy,” she said, as much to herself as the other men. “So, let’s do this right.”
A few minutes later, Jessie had to put all that confusion out of her brain and concentrate on a job she’d dreamed of but had never actually done that often. After college, she’d worked at a TV station, but rarely got any airtime. She’d made audition after audition, interviewed at small stations, and pursued a dream, but it had been out of reach. The world of TV reporting was cutthroat, and she always ended up bleeding.#p#分页标题#e#
Until now. But then her gaze drifted to Garrett, currently being situated in a wingback chair in front of the fireplace, looking handsome…and brutally uncomfortable.
“Garrett, can you test that mic one more time and move a few inches to the left?” the producer and director of the piece, a no-nonsense silver-haired professional named Katherine Wake, instructed.
He shifted from one side to the other, throwing a look at Jessie for help. Katherine beckoned her over. “I want you in the other chair, and we’ll do the three questions we have outlined. Garrett, your responses should be as close to the quotes in the story as possible, but if you veer off topic, that’s okay. Too far, and I’ll cut it.”
Another look of sheer misery. “I don’t remember what I said.”
“Just wing it,” Jessie assured him.
“We can shoot all the questions first, then all the answers,” Katherine said.
“’Cause that’s natural,” Garrett grumbled.
“Nothing about this is natural,” the woman volleyed back.
Jessie shared a long look with Garrett, seeing the agony in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what bothered him—worry he might say the wrong thing, maybe—but that look would come through to the camera. It would kill the vibe and negate her message about a man who was passionate about this work.
“Sound check,” the man with the camera, Russell, said.
“Garrett, state your name, birthday, marital status, and—”
“What?” he asked.
“Just some easy-to-remember facts,” Katherine said, her own frustration growing a little. “Your favorite color. Your first dog. Whatever. It’s a sound check. And, honestly, you need to relax. These aren’t going to be tough questions. Essentially, what this interview will do is underscore some of the work that Jessie’s already done.”
“Then I have a better idea,” Jessie said, stepping forward and getting both their attention. “Let’s go outside.”
Katherine balked. “The light will kill us.”
“But this will kill him and the interview,” Jessie insisted. “Walk with us. Have Russell follow with the camera. Let us have a conversation on the grounds, with dogs, along the path, in the kennels. Anywhere he’s at home.”