Page 29 of No More Bad Boys
“Wow. That’s… but how…”
“I told the GM a few months ago I’d like to start cutting back, try a sort of semi-retirement thing. But there really wasn’t anyone who could replace me who’d be willing to work part-time. Recently, I told him about you, about how much you’ve been doing around here, how capable you are. Today he said he’d approve it if I wanted to offer you a salary and see if you’d be interested in a little job-sharing arrangement with me. I could take more time off, and you could work your part-time hours around your classes. What do you say?”
I blink several times, hardly able to believe what I’ve just heard. “I’d say you’ve got yourself a part-time engineer.”
He laughs and offers me a meaty hand, pumping mine up and down in congratulations.
“Great. Great. I thought you’d be pleased. Well, all righty then. I’m half-starved, and Demarc’s Barbeque is calling my name with a bullhorn. We’ll talk about your salary when I get back. I think you’ll be happy with it.”
He winks at me and gives my shoulder a pat. Then he turns to Blake. “I see you’ve found your way down to engineering. We’ve got reporters who’ve been at the station ten years and don’t know where it is. Wonder howyoumanaged to find it so fast?”
Frank punctuates his facetious question with a hearty laugh and leaves the room, taking with him my last excuse for turning Blake down.
Blake stands facing me, and I’m hyper-aware of the brand new elephant in the room, who is apparently using a whole helluva lot of oxygen, because the space feels tiny and airless suddenly.
“So… looks like you’ll be here a bit longer than two weeks, after all.”
I take an unsteady breath. “Yes. Looks like it.”
“And according to the criteria you laid out earlier, it makes a whole lot moresensenow for you to go out with me. And now that I will no longer be left at the mercy of that new crop of man-eating interns… I’m going to have to find another waynotto have any fun.”
“Yes. Looks like it,” I say again, too unnerved to be original.
“So… what do you say?” He repeats Frank’s question.
“I’d say… you’ve got yourself a date?”
Lord help me.
EIGHT
Flutters
“He won’t tell me where we’re going, so how am I supposed to know what to wear?”
I’m standing in my closet, looking back over my shoulder at Kenley, who’s observing me with a look of outright amazement.
“Where is my sister and what have you done with her?” she says, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion.
“What are you talking about?Help me. He’ll be here in forty minutes and I have no idea what to put on.”
“This may be the first time in the twenty years I’ve known you that you’veeverworried about what you were going to wear. I havegotto meet this guy.”
“No.” The word is out of my mouth before I can stop it, and it shocks me—both the strength of my denial and the reason behind it.
I don’t want him to meet Kenley.
As soon as she expressed eagerness to meet Blake, a vision of Tyler’s love-sick confession popped into my brain.
It shames me. Kenley would never want to take a guy away from me, even if she wasn’t in love with Larson.
But he might wanther.God, I thought I was way past this.
I ratchet my tone down a few notches, shrugging. “I mean—I don’t know if this is even going to amount to anything, so you shouldn’t waste your time meeting him.”
Kenley gives me a quizzical look. “Meeting one of your friends is never a waste of time. But Larson does need me there in a half hour, so it won’t be tonight. What’s the matter? Ashamed of your big sister?”
“No, not at all.”
