With that, he sat back and prepared himself to field the inevitable barrage of difficult questions. But to his surprise, Nelson Berg stepped into view as the execs began to pack up their notepads and laptops.
“Thanks, Mitch. You’ve been very helpful in laying out the case. Don’t terminate the connection, please. I want to have a word, since I’ve got you here.”
Mitch took some deep breaths while he watched five people file out of camera range and waited for the adrenaline to stop zooming through his system.
Off camera, Mitch heard a door close, and Nelson seated himself at the table, smack in the middle of the screen. The guy was impossible to read on the best of days-that face was usually set in a frown of disapproval. Mitch resisted the urge to ask-beg-for information.
Nelson sighed and steepled his fingers over his stomach. “You made a good pitch.”
“Thanks.”
“I couldn’t have done better myself. The video link was a good idea. Nice cost-saving measure. Shows you’re a team player. Unfortunately, it didn’t change their minds.”
What? How could it not?
“It’s insane to bring that show to New York and you know it.” Mitch felt hope draining out of him with every word. “Is there anything I can do that will convince them?”
“Afraid not. They were shaking their heads before they even left the studio.”
“I could run the numbers again. Do some more research.”
“It won’t do any good. It’s unanimous, Mitch. Stop beating your head against the wall.”
“This is going to kill them.”
“Who? The people there?”
“Yes. They won’t come. I can guarantee you’ll lose this deal if you make me walk down that hall and tell them this.”
“I can guarantee you’ll lose your job if you don’t.” The words, as usual, were brutal. Like being hammered over the head. But Nelson’s expression was less sour than usual. “I’m sorry, Mitch, but sometimes we have to take it on the chin. You were a big success at getting Eve to commit the show to CWB against the odds. You can do it again. I have faith in you.”
Eve had faith in him, too. Cold despair touched his heart as he thought of those long talks in the park, when he’d come to understand that a simple conversation about the workings of this business was nearly impossible for a woman like her. How happy he’d been to fill that need-and all her other needs, too. He thought of Eve, head thrown back on her pillow as she groaned in ecstasy under him just last night, opening up to him utterly, making herself vulnerable for the sake of the pleasure they made together.
How could he find her and tell her that all the plans they’d agreed to would be snatched out from under her? Would she ever trust the network again?
To hell with that. Would she ever trust him again?
“I can’t do it, Nelson.” The words came out of his mouth before he could bite them back.
“It’s a dirty job, but it’s your job.” He leaned forward, his gaze stony. “You and I don’t make these decisions, Mitch. We just make ’em happen.”
“Well, this one isn’t going to happen. Not with me.”
“Is that a threat?” Nelson sounded amazed. It wasn’t Nelson’s fault-he was simply the messenger. Mitch couldn’t remember the last time he’d stood up to what the network’s management wanted. Maybe he never had. Maybe that’s why he was so damned unhappy with his job. And why he didn’t have a life.
“Of course not,” he said. “I’m offering you my resignation.”
Nelson’s jaw-well, it didn’t drop, but its usual grim clamp got looser. “You’re overreacting. Pull it together, Hayes. We have work to do.”
“No, Nelson. What we have here is a lose-lose situation. You told me before that if I didn’t complete this acquisition, you’d be forced to give me my walking papers. If you send me out of here with these terms, I’ll lose the deal. So whether I resign now or you fire me tomorrow, I’m still out of a job.” It wouldn’t take long to compose a resignation letter and send it. “I prefer to leave on my own terms. I’ll have an official letter on your desk in half an hour, and I’ll take the two weeks’ vacation I have coming in lieu of notice.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Nelson warned. “You can’t leave this deal half-baked. Who’s going to go down there and finish it?”
Mitch looked into the camera, knowing his face must look as grave as Nelson’s did on the screen. “Someone who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Eve and her people, that’s who.”
18
EVE COULDN’T HAVE moved out of the studio doorway if the building had been burning down.
She watched as Mitch closed his laptop and put it in his briefcase. He nodded his thanks to the technician in the control booth, and the video screen went dark.
And then he turned toward the door and saw her.
Their gazes collided, and it seemed to Eve that a silent explosion happened right there in the middle of the room. How could she bear the pain in that gaze? And how could she put into words this maelstrom of emotion whirling inside her as she realized what he’d just done?
He’d thrown away his career for her.
The enormity of it staggered her. Humbled her. And showed her the depth of her own feelings for him. Instead of reaching out hesitantly, throwing out hints and signals the way she’d been doing, he’d gambled his whole future in one grand act for her sake. Could she really have underestimated him that much? How blind could she be?
“How long have you been standing there?”
Eve leaned on the door and the On Air light went out as the technician exited the back of the booth and moved on to his next task. They were alone-and the studio was soundproof.
“A few minutes. I slipped in when you were running the financials.”
“So you heard Nelson Berg.”
“And I heard you. Oh, Mitch, you don’t have to do this.” Her voice trembled, and she swallowed.
“What else could I have done? They had me between a rock and a hard place. Either way, I would lose-because I know damn well you aren’t going to New York. Or am I wrong?”
Why was he still standing there behind the desk? Why wasn’t he pulling her into his arms? “No, you aren’t wrong. In fact, you’re amazingly right.” Maybe he only had one grand gesture in him. Maybe it was up to her to take this the rest of the way. Eve gathered her courage and circled the desk.
“Right for the show, and right for me,” she said softly. “When I heard you say that, I-”
“Eve, ten minutes,” Cole said in her ear. “Guest’s in the green room waiting for you.”
Ten minutes that could change her life.
She reached out to lay a hand on Mitch’s sleeve, but he picked up his briefcase instead. “Mitch, don’t go. I want to talk to you, but I just got my ten-minute call.”
“I’m unemployed. I have all the time in the world.”
His voice was hollow. What did he expect from her? She had to say something, quick.
“I appreciate that you’d do such a thing for my sake. I know what it must have cost you. And I want you to know that it-it just makes me love you all the more.”
“What?”
“I mean it. But I’ve got to go. Please don’t leave. Meet me in my office after the show. Promise.”
What did that look in his eyes mean? Pain, wonder, confusion. Oh God, why did this have to happen seven minutes before showtime? Why did he look like that?
If it were up to her, she’d stay right here in this studio and show him exactly what she meant-preferably horizontally on the news desk. But the two hundred and fifty people in Studio One would probably stage a riot.
Briefcase nothwithstanding, she grabbed him by his lapels and planted a kiss on his mouth as full of promise as she could make it. “In my office,” she repeated, and ran.