“No, Tack, truly I don’t. I know what you’ve said, but that doesn’t mean that’s how you feel. Your job is to be good with words, and to convince people that you mean what you say, even when whatever you’re saying doesn’t mean much at all.”
“I’m far more than my job, sweetheart.” I was near enough to prop a hand on the counter and lean over her menacingly. I wasn’t surprised when her chin rose a stubborn inch higher and she kept her narrowed eyes right on mine.
“How would I know? Everywhere you go, you’re Tack Morgan, Radio Icon. You pull on your celebrity and your arrogance like a superhero suit. But it’s really a barricade, Tack, designed to keep everyone out.”
That one stung. Knowing my strengths does not make me arrogant. I felt my jaw tick and wondered if all that grinding was doing permanent damage to my teeth. Jesus. “Then it does exactly what it’s supposed to do! You have no idea what it’s like to be a private person living a very public Las Vegas life–You just got here, and you’re leaving again before notoriety can come calling and clobber you over the head.”
“But I’m not the public, Tack!”
“No, you’re the woman I fell in love with!” I roared into her face.
And, apparently, also right into her open microphone.
At the edge of my vision, the backlit Live emblem glowed green and bright on her side of the counter. She’d never turned it off when she went to commercial…
Fuuuuuuck.
I straightened up, not sure if I’d sworn out loud, and while saying fuck on-air would be guaranteed to get me fired, I was more concerned with what I’d just confessed to the entire metro area. Jen just stared at me wide-eyed with her jaw hovering somewhere in the vicinity of her knees.
Before either of us could process my unexpected declaration, the entire universe completely exploded.
Every last phone line flashed with incoming callers as a mob of Cirrus personnel hooted and howled their way down our hallway.
Then it hit me–I’d just broadcast to anyone with ears that I was in love with Jensen MacKenzie.
And the most important pair of ears belonged to the bewitching skater-pixie herself.
I rushed to close the door. That’s when I found out about the hole I’d put in the wall with the doorknob.
Because the knob was still stuck in it.
Yanking hard and raining plaster onto the floor, I wrestled the door free in time to slam it in Carmen’s face. How in the hell had she made it down from Reception so fast?
Punching the lock button, I turned to face Jen dead-on. She’d managed to close her mouth, but still looked stunned. I’m pretty sure my face looked the same.
So.
I’d gone and blurted out exactly how I felt–before I’d even realized it myself.
You’d think I’d feel lighter. More relaxed. Happy, even.
So why did it feel like that stupid four-letter word had just built an impenetrable wall in the middle of the control room?
Maybe because the object of my affections looked at me like I’d just confessed to parading around in women’s underwear.
Or maybe it had to do with the mob clamoring outside the door, crowding to get a peek through the skinny window.
I dragged a hand through my hair and watched Jensen, waiting. The next move had to be hers.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth.
Good enough for me.
I was across the room in two strides, too fast for her to stop me. My hands grasped her shoulders and my lips crashed down on hers.
Fireworks and stars exploded behind my eyes, and Jen’s soft moan barely cut through the roaring in my ears. I felt her arms snake around my ribcage and I responded by sliding one hand down her back to crush her into my chest. The other inched over to cradle her jaw, my thumb tracing slow circles over the silky skin of her cheek.
Her tongue invaded my mouth and her hands trailed down my spine; I groaned and practically pulled her from the chair, oblivious to our surroundings, desperate to feel as much of her against me as possible.
I wanted this woman with every last shred of my soul; how the hell did that happen?
A distant voice of sanity shouted from a backroom in my mind, rendering me marginally cognizant of where we were. I pulled back slightly, nipping at her lips and trying (with only minimal success) to cool down. Sweeping a chain of kisses over the line of her jaw, I found myself murmuring Don’t go between each brush of my mouth against her skin. Then it was just her name, both an invocation and a prayer, roughly echoing through my lips.
It was the muffled cheering that brought me back to Earth. Well, that and the pounding on the door.
I shifted away from her with great effort and looked down at her face. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing the same glazed stare I was certain was in mine. Her lips, dusky red and pouting, were parted and a sigh whispered up to my ears.