Please don’t let them all decide to resign at once, she begged the universe. I can’t handle it right now.
As though it would give her strength, she topped up her coffee and padded into the bathroom for a shower. When she came out, a light blinked on the answering machine.
“Hey, Eve, it’s Mitch.” Eve sucked in a breath at the sound of that voice, pitched at an intimate baritone, as if he were right beside her. “Just wanted to call and say how much I enjoyed last night, and to see how you were this morning. Give me a call on my cell. I’m still up for breakfast-or lunch-if you are.” He left his number and rang off.
At least he didn’t want to resign.
Just the opposite. He seemed to want to sign up for all kinds of things-including the positions of dealmaker and lover. Too bad the latter came as part of the former. Why couldn’t she have met him at the benefit the way she might meet any other man, as a stranger with no strings attached? But if she did what her body had been moaning for since last night, she’d never be sure whether he wanted her in bed with him-or with the network.
She refilled her coffee cup and leaned on the counter, gazing at the answering machine and the single digit on the display. Common sense told her to erase the message and pretend she’d been so busy all weekend she’d forgotten to listen to it-and forgotten her promise to see him today. By Monday, she’d have squelched this urge to play it again, just to hear that intimate timbre in his voice. By Monday, she’d have distanced herself from the need to rip her clothes off and bare herself to that hot gaze, the memory of which was even now making her nipples peak under the tank top she’d put on after her shower.
Jane would advise her to do something sensible, like eat a healthy breakfast and then weed the garden before it got too hot. She could do two things at once-restore some order to the tangle of vegetation back there, and not hear the phone if it rang again.
But Jane wasn’t here. She was busy seducing Perry. And how fair was that?
MITCH HAD BARELY hung up the phone after leaving his message for Eve, when it rang again. He must have just missed her.
“Hey,” he said in his most welcoming tone.
“Hey, yourself,” Nelson Berg responded. “Something tells me it wasn’t me you were expecting.”
Mitch’s vision of a tousled Eve lying on embroidered white sheets, her fingers caressing the phone as she spoke to him, vanished in a wrench of disappointment. “Uh, no. I mean, not that I’m not glad to hear from you.”
“Spare me the bull. So, how are you doing?”
Mitch knew Nelson well enough not to assume this was an inquiry after his health. Nelson never wasted precious time on pleasantries, especially when there was a deal in the works.
“I met with Eve Best in her office yesterday, late. I made her the offer and she turned it down.”
Nelson sighed. “Why would she do that? It was a fair offer.”
“She didn’t give a reason.”
“Huh? She had to have one.”
“She just said no. She had an appointment to go to and left.” He didn’t mention that he’d been the one to leave, as flustered and dazzled as a schoolboy.
“Well, shit, Hayes, you can’t let it go at that.”
“I know. I’ve already-”
“Find out what her reasons are and get her past them. They can’t be anything that six million bucks won’t cure.”
Mitch wasn’t so sure of that. “Money isn’t going to be the best argument here, I’m afraid.”
“What do you-” Nelson stopped. “Oh yeah. The lottery. So if it isn’t money it has to be something else. Find out what it is and work on it. When are you seeing her next?”
“I saw her last night, socially, and she agreed to see me this morning.”
“Did she, now?” Nelson sounded gratified, as if a balky student had finally done something right. “That’s good. I’m glad you’re following my instructions to the letter. So, tell me, does she have as much appeal in person as she does on camera?”
Does she ever. And then some.
“Yes. And she works it. The event last night was a fund-raiser, and she walked in there like a star. She’ll be a huge draw publicitywise.”
“All the better. We can use some big guns on the talk shows and the publicity circuit, drumming up support for the network. Not to mention high-level meetings with advertisers. Make sure she knows that’ll still be part of her job, not just sitting pretty in the studio.”
“Sure.”
“Call me right away when you get her commitment. I want this wrapped up by Wednesday at the latest. And then I’m going to let all the other networks know we scooped them.”
Mitch frowned. Wednesday? No way could he pull a deal of this size off in that short a time. Did Nelson have something else to prove-something that involved saving face and putting one over on the competition?
If so, why hadn’t he come down here to woo Eve Best himself? Why send Mitch? But these were questions he knew Nelson wouldn’t answer. The guy only knew how to bark orders and bully people into giving him what he wanted. He didn’t share his motivations or the confidences of the stuffed shirts on the executive team. Nelson was old-school, even though he was only ten years or so older than Mitch himself.
“Wednesday.” No human could make that deadline, but he’d ask forgiveness when he got there. And there was something else bugging him. “What did you mean a minute ago when you said I was following your instructions? When have I not?”
“I told you to romance the socks off her. Probably not a very difficult job, eh?”
Mitch frowned. The words held an unpleasant aftertaste. Or was he being too sensitive where Eve was concerned? “She’s being a good Southern hostess and showing me around.”
The details of last night would never cross his lips to anyone, much less his boss. And the simple fact that Nelson assumed any contact with Eve would be to further their success at the deal made Mitch feel…less, somehow. Tainted. This electric attraction between the two of them had nothing to do with what they did for a living. It was bigger than that. The problem was, he had to keep his feelings to himself, no matter what he wanted personally.
Not that he’d ever say a word about them to Nelson.
“Look, I have to go,” he said. “I left a message for her to call me a few minutes ago. She could be trying to get through.”
That finally got Nelson off the phone, and Mitch hung up with a sense of relief. No matter what he felt about Nelson, or Eve, for that matter, of course he had a job to do. Convincing Eve to sign was his top priority-one he needed to remember if he saw her again this morning. He had to do his best not to see her as a desirable, sensual woman who could bring his entire body to attention simply by walking past him.
No, he had to shut down his emotions and look at her as a business entity. A package that CWB wanted. His future at the network depended on his ability to bring that package home-by Wednesday.
And what a package she was-one he had nearly unwrapped last night. Could anything be sexier than Eve Best leaning in for a kiss, her bodice slipping down to reveal lush curves and her voice husky in his ear? As the memory washed through his mind, his body stiffened in response.
So much for shutting down.
The phone next to the bed rang, and the vision in his head snapped off as suddenly as if someone had changed the channel. With a groan, he picked it up. It was probably Nelson, with one last order to give him. “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Eve.”
The voice brought back the vision in full force. “Hey,” he said softly. “I was just thinking about you.”
“Sorry I missed your call. I was in the shower.”
A picture of wet skin, of water running in rivulets between her breasts and down her belly, leaped onto the big screen in his mind. In close-up.
“Mitch?”
He had to turn off the film, or he’d never be able to carry on a civilized conversation. “I’m here. Sorry. I thought there was a knock at the door.”