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“Thanks.” She grabbed up her duffel and made her way through the darkened furniture displays toward the bathroom. Minus the piped-in music and crowds of shoppers, this part of the store was downright creepy. A display of lamps cast long shadows across the floor and an overstuffed chair loomed like a crouching beast. She hurried to the bathroom and hummed to herself while she washed her face and brushed her teeth, then raced back to the bed, grateful for Adam’s solid presence.
While he took his turn in the bathroom, she snuggled under the covers. The bedside lamps cast pools of golden light across the bed, making it a cozy island in the surrounding darkness. Whereas the silence had seemed unnatural in the rest of the store, their luxurious display seemed peaceful.
She settled back against the pillows and gazed into the darkness, letting the quiet wash over her. How odd to be here, in what was a somewhat impossible situation. And yet, how wonderful it all was too. At that moment, she wouldn’t have traded places with anyone.
Then she heard Adam’s footsteps approaching, the heels of his slippers slapping on the tile showroom floor. He stepped into the pool of light, looking larger than he had before, and smelling of herbal soap. Her stomach gave a nervous shimmy, but she forced a smile and patted the covers beside her. “Come on in. It’s very cozy.”
He avoided looking at her, but turned back the covers and climbed in, reaching over to switch off the lamp on his side. She turned off her lamp also, and lay back in the darkness, aware of the weight of him beside her, the bed creaking and covers shifting as he made himself comfortable.
“I hope you don’t snore,” she said, her tone teasing.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “No one’s ever complained before.”
“Oh. Have there been a lot of someones?” The darkness made her bold.
Silence stretched between them and she was afraid she’d gone too far. She turned toward him, barely making out his silhouette in the darkness. He cleared his throat. “Not that many. You?”
She shook her head, then realized he couldn’t see her. “Not many.” Six actually, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Oh. Um, just so you know, I, um…”
She held her breath, waiting for him to finish the sentence. He sounded so serious, as if he was about to confess something important—maybe his real feelings for her?
“Never mind. It’s not important. Good night.” He rolled over, his back to her.
She stared at him, tempted to grab one of the pillows and whomp him over the head with it. But a pillow wasn’t hard enough to knock any real sense into him. Besides, getting into a fight their first night wasn’t going to make the next two days any easier.
She sighed and turned her back to him. She shut her eyes tight and willed herself to breathe more slowly, faking sleep. She doubted she’d get any rest, but the exhaustion of the day got the better of her. Before she knew it, her body relaxed and she drifted off.
ADAM WAS DREAMING, one of those amazing erotic dreams from which he never wanted to wake. He was with a woman, of course, a warm, soft woman. His hands embraced her firm breasts and her bottom was cradled against his erection. She smelled like sweet flowers and her hair felt like silk against his face. He didn’t know who she was, but he didn’t particularly care. She was a dream woman, a product of his imagination.
The fact that he realized this told him he wasn’t too deeply into the dream. In fact, he could feel morning tugging at him, pulling him from sleep, but he resisted, holding on to the woman. He had to hand it to his subconscious—it had conjured up an amazing fantasy female this time. She made a little moaning sound and snuggled closer, sharpening his arousal. He caught his breath as her nipple hardened and pressed against his palm. He buried his face in her neck, his lips against her hot, smooth skin as he thrust against her. He wished she’d turn over. In a minute, he’d see if he could manage it, but the trouble with dreams was that it wasn’t always easy to move, especially when he was so close to waking.
He shifted his hand to her waist, across the curve of her hip, pressing down. Obligingly she rolled onto her back, flipping onto her side to face him. Her arms slipped around him and for the first time he registered that she was wearing clothes, the soft cotton of her pajamas brushing against him.
Eyes still shut tight, he frowned. Since when did his dream fantasies wear clothes? And pajamas at that. If anything, this woman ought to be wearing some silky negligee. Or better yet, nothing at all.
He tugged at the edge of the pajama top, determined to remedy this matter. Obviously his subconscious wanted to make fulfilling this fantasy more challenging.
She was kissing him now, tracing the line of his jaw with her tongue. He groaned, trying to hold back the wakefulness stealing over him. Just a little longer. At least until he got her undressed and he was inside her…
Noises disrupted his concentration—footsteps, the clang of metal, distant voices drawing nearer. He winced against a sudden flare of light against his closed eyelids and groaned. Not yet. Only a few minutes more…
The dream woman gave a small squeal and shoved away from him, even as he tried to hold her.
“Adam, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The words jerked him awake more effectively than a bucket of ice water. He opened his eyes, squinting against the glare of bright overhead lights, and stared into the frowning face of the station manager, Carl.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Carl asked again.
4
“NOTHING.” Adam rolled away from Erica and sat up. “We weren’t doing anything.” He slid his gaze to his bed partner. She was sitting up, too, the covers tucked up under her breasts.
The breasts that had been pressed again his chest seconds ago, so warm and soft…
He swallowed a groan and looked at Carl again. He couldn’t say the sight made him feel any better. His boss was frowning, his bottom lip jutted out.
“Are you sure it was nothing?” Carl directed the question at Erica. “You two looked pretty cozy just now.”
Erica smiled. Except for the heightened flush of her cheeks, she didn’t give away that anything out of the ordinary had happened. How was it someone who had just awakened could look so dazzling? “Don’t be silly, Carl. We’re both still fully clothed, aren’t we?”
He could think of a lot of not-so-innocent things they could do that wouldn’t require them to get undressed, but now wasn’t the time to mention them. And as long as they worked together, there wouldn’t be a time to mention them.
“See that you stay that way,” Carl grumped.
She turned toward Adam and looked at him through lowered lashes. “Adam’s been a perfect gentleman,” she said.
Right. A perfect gentleman with an incredible hard-on.
Carl looked unconvinced, but he didn’t protest. “I came by to give you some good news.”
“What’s that?” Adam asked. Were they going to end this silly stunt before it got out of hand? Not that it was exactly under control at the moment.
“Mattress Max likes what you’re doing so much that he’s pledged to donate ten thousand dollars to the Salvation Army for their shelter.”
“That’s fantastic.” Erica wrapped her arms around her knees and grinned. “That will almost double the money we’ve raised.”
“The money isn’t ours—or rather the Salvation Army’s—yet,” Carl said. “Max won’t pay it unless you stay here the full seventy-five hours. Until Monday at 9:00 a.m.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” She turned to Adam. “We can do it, can’t we?”
“Yeah, sure.” He tried to inject a little more cheerfulness into his voice. “We’re barely getting started here.”
Carl stepped back, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “All right, then. You can announce the offer on the air during your show. It should pump up the excitement a little. We don’t want things to start getting too dull.”
“I’m certainly not bored,” Erica said.
“Me, neither.” He was horny, frustrated, sleep-deprived and aggravated, but he wasn’t bored.
“I’d better go freshen up before the show starts.”
Both men watched as she climbed out of bed and picked up her duffel. “I’ll be right back,” she said.
When she was gone, Carl’s scowl returned. “Don’t forget this place is full of cameras,” he said.
“I know.”
“I don’t want any trouble.”
Adam resented the implication that he was a troublemaker. “You’re the one who came up with this crazy stunt.”
“And you’re the one being paid to do a good job.”
“Don’t worry.” He threw back the covers and sat up on the side of the bed. “I know how to do my job.”
“Good. You’re on in forty-five minutes.”
Forty-five minutes. Right. Forty-five minutes before he climbed back into this bed with Ms. Irresistible. Erica better hurry up and let him have his turn in the shower. He needed it—with the water turned on cold.
Carl left and Adam grabbed the clipboard and pretended to study the morning’s play list. But the song titles scarcely registered. Why had he groped Erica in his sleep? Sure, any breathing, straight man would be attracted to her, but he’d thought he had better self-control than that. After all, he’d been in tougher spots before.
All the years he’d spent avoiding trouble ought to come in handy now. Erica was just a challenge of a different kind.
ERICA COMBED through her freshly washed hair and stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. How was she ever going to go back out there and not let on to everyone how she was feeling?
She couldn’t keep back a grin. Laughing out loud, she hugged herself and did a victory dance around the small room. Yes! Adam might treat her like his little sister in public, but last night—or rather, this morning—had proved his true feelings were anything but brotherly.
If only Carl hadn’t come along and interrupted what could have been a really amazing moment. If they’d been alone and Adam had awakened to find her in his arms, would he have been so quick to pull away?
She opened her duffel and pulled out a KROK T-shirt and a pair of baggy blue boxers. Her smile faded as she studied the outfit she’d intended to throw Naughty Nick off the track. Not exactly come-hither couture.
She slumped onto the toilet and considered her options. If she wanted to build on the attraction Adam had revealed during sleep, she needed something that would catch him off guard again.
Everybody knew that men were visual creatures, turned on by what they saw. She needed to give Adam a real eyeful. Make herself irresistible.
She frowned at the clothing wadded in her hand. Boxers and a T-shirt weren’t going to cut it.
She looked around the bathroom, hoping for inspiration, but short of fashioning a toga out of the bath towel, she didn’t have any ideas.
Time to call for reinforcements. She dug in her bag for her cell phone and punched in a number.
“Hello?” The voice on the other end of the line was groggy.
“Tanisha, this is Erica. I need your help.”
“Isn’t it a little early in the morning to sound so desperate?” Tanisha yawned. “I wouldn’t have thought laying around in bed with the Handsome Hawk would be that difficult.”
“Oh, that’s not the problem. Not really.”
“So how is it? Did the two of you get to know each other better when the lights went out?”
She blushed. As far as she was concerned, she and Adam hadn’t gotten to know each other nearly well enough yet. “That’s what I need a little help with.”
“Thanks, but I’m not into threesomes.”
“Very funny. I’m serious here. I thought I was going to be doing this gig with Nick, not Adam. I didn’t exactly come prepared.”
“You want me to bring you a box of condoms or something?”
“Tanisha!” She almost dropped the phone.
“Well, what am I supposed to think when you say you’re not prepared?”
“I meant I don’t have the right clothes. All I brought to wear was flannel pajamas, boxer shorts and T-shirts.”
“Yeah, not exactly clothes that say seduction is on the menu. Fortunately today is your lucky day.”
“Oh?”
“You look like you wear the same size as me. And I happen to have a dresser full of killer lingerie. Guaranteed to have any man worshipping at your feet.”
Heat curled through her at the image of Adam on his knees before her. “Help me out and I’ll buy you the biggest box of Godiva chocolates you ever saw,” she said.
Tanisha laughed. “It’s a deal. I’ll see you after the morning show.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“I want all the details later.”
“You bet.” She hung up the phone and replaced it in her bag, then turned to the mirror once more. Right now she looked like a refugee from a teen slumber party, but in a few hours she’d be dressed for battle.
Adam didn’t stand a chance.
BY THE END of the morning show, Adam was feeling better about the situation with Erica. Yes, she was an attractive young woman. Yes, he liked her personality as well as her looks. But a man had to have priorities. If he screwed up this job at KROK, his career might never recover. So he and Erica couldn’t let lust get the better of them on this gig. Adam’s employment history was spotty enough, and it wouldn’t be fair for Erica, just starting out, to be saddled with that kind of bad mark on her record.
As their final song of the morning began playing, Erica removed her headphones and grinned at him. “How much money have we raised so far?”
He checked the note Mason had handed him earlier. “Looks like twenty-one-thousand dollars and counting. That’s including Max’s ten thousand.”
“That’s fantastic. I bet this is the biggest fund-raiser the Salvation Army has had all year. The audience must love us.”
Part of him felt old and jaded next to her enthusiasm. But she definitely made this gig less of a bore. “They love you. They can hear me anytime.”
“You’re so sweet to say that. I was terrified I’d screw this up, like I did the last time.”
He winced, remembering that fiasco. After mixing up the ads for competing car dealers, she’d compounded the error by swearing like a sailor on air. Within minutes the phone banks had lit up with complaints from listeners, both car dealers and the FCC. Carl’s face had turned purple, he’d been so enraged. He’d finally locked himself in his office and refused to talk to anyone, while Erica was sent home to contemplate her sins. Fortunately, by the next day, Carl had agreed to let her stay. “You were nervous,” Adam said. “Everybody makes mistakes, especially when they’re new. You just got yours all out of the way at once.”
She laughed, and absently twirled a lock of her hair around one finger, a gesture he found incredibly alluring. He looked away. “I think we’re supposed to tape some more promo spots this morning.”
“Sure. I just want to take a break first.” She was looking over the crowd, then spotted someone and waved.
Tanisha emerged from a clot of people by the door. “I brought you some goodies,” she said, holding aloft a pink shopping bag.
“Great.” Erica turned to Adam. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He watched the two women head toward the rest room. Now that the initial shock of being thrown together in bed was over, maybe the next two days wouldn’t be so bad. He and Erica could be friends. No reason they couldn’t keep things on that level.
