Page 30 of Dirty News
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 kissher.
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 beokay?”
“It doesn’t matter. We are working together, so it does.” Her eyes dropped to stare at thefloor.
“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 meetmine.
“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 youback.”
“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 fightdirty.
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 upperhand.
“Me too,” she agreed. “But what are we supposed to do aboutit?”
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 aboutthings.”
“I don’t know,” shewhispered.
“Don’t you trust yourself with me?” I reached out, grazing the back of her hand with myfingertips.
“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 thebookcase.
“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 onefinger.
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 oneanother.”
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 withme.
“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 arelationship.
“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 inmore.
“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 notattractive?”
“Tons of things, but I keep them hidden,” she said with light laughter in her sweetvoice.
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 tocompete.
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 withme.
“I guess I’ve got no choice, do I?” she asked as we left thebookstore.
“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 usfired.
But how long could I actually go without having her in myarms?
ChapterFifteen
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 allcosts.
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 betweenus.
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 wehad.
