Angel After Dark (6 page)

“This is Dr. Angeline Hemming with you After Dark on KKIS FM 104.5. How can I help you tonight?”

Alex paused at the sound of the soft and soothing voice echoing around him. Definitely sexy and not what he’d allowed himself to expect considering the original image he’d created. The voice did fit his friend’s photo much better than the unresponsive librarian-type he’d conjured in his own mind. He smiled slightly and turned into the spray to rinse his hair until it was squeaky-clean.

She could still be seriously unattractive
, even with the smoking hot voice, he reminded himself. He’d had a friend in college who was a DJ at the college radio station and he’d hung out with him a couple of times. It’d been his experience that most radio talent was in radio, and not TV, for a reason. If he were honest, that voice
 
stirred something
 
deep down inside that made him want to hear it again, even if he was still arguing with himself. “Probably a hag
and
a nag,” he muttered under his breath.

He grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower and started to rub his hair dry.

“Dr. Hemming?”

“Yes. What’s your name?”

Again, that sultry voice prickled the skin at the back of his neck. Alex threw the towel aside and ran his hands through his hair, trying to remove the unfamiliar feeling, and deciding that it definitely needed to be cut within the next week.
Mental note: ask Mrs. Dane to make an appointment for the barber to come to the office—soon
.

“What’s your situation?”

“I’m Mary. I’ve been with the same guy for more than five years, and we still aren’t even engaged!” The other girl had a mousy little voice that Alex strained to hear as he moved around his room pulling on a pair of black silk boxers. He lay down on his bed and propped himself up on four pillows, resting the cold glass on his hard stomach. God, he was exhausted, mentally and physically.

His phone buzzed beside him, and he glanced at it briefly. Whitney again.
Christ!
He put it on silent mode and tossed it on the bed.

“Hmmm… well, have the two of you actually talked about it? Did he ever mention marriage, Mary?” Alex perked up at the response.

Bingo. The guy never fucking said it.

Maybe she was going to be logical and realize that women assumed too damn much.
Intriguing. A logical woman in a sea of emotional goo
. Suddenly, he found himself hoping that was really Angeline Hemming in those photos he’d left in the other room.

“Well, yes. I mean we talk about things like what we’ll name our kids, so that means…” Mary’s voice dropped off in uncertainty. “Doesn’t it?”

Dr. Hemming sighed. “Not exactly. Mary, that’s the problem. Most men are literal in what they say unless it’s in the heat of passion. If he hasn’t proposed, gotten you a ring, or come right out and said he wanted to marry you in a lucid moment, then no, I wouldn’t assume anything.” She sighed in exasperation. “However, it irritates me that he would discuss children. That’s ignorant. He had to know how you’d interpret that.”

“But—” the caller began and she was cut short.

“There really are no buts, Mary. Have you
asked
him?”

“Are you suggesting I give him an ultimatum?”

Alex swallowed the last of the scotch and set the glass aside as he listened. His lips thinned to a firm line and his eyes narrowed.
Here we go, he thought. Here is the meat of it. She’ll probably tell this woman to corner the poor bastard.

“No, Mary. That would never work long-term. He might marry you because he wouldn’t want to lose you, but later, if there were problems, he might blame you and accuse you of forcing the issue. He’ll say he felt trapped. That is not in your best interest, is it?”

There was silence from the caller so Angel continued.
Angel
. Alex ran the word over in his mind again as he realized she was turning into a real person; an elusive woman with full lips, high cheekbones, and the sexiest damn voice he’d ever heard. So oozing, it was like honey covering him in a warm, molten layer. If she was intelligent, savvy,
and
beautiful, it was definitely a lethal combination and not a one that came together readily.

“Mary, are you still with me?”

“Yes, Dr. Hemming. It’s just not what I was hoping you would say.”

“I’m afraid that’s the downside of this gig. I don’t get to say what you want to hear. I tell you the hard truth.”

“So, what should I do?”

“You need to figure out how to take care of yourself first. Your boyfriend does have choices, but only those you give him.” Alex sat up abruptly and pulled his knees up to rest his elbows on both knees.
Holy shit!

“What do you mean?” the girl asked hesitantly.

“You can choose to let him continue along this path of least resistance, or you can alter the course, Mary. Tell him that it’s clear that the two of you want different things, and that you’re going to go out and get what you want. He’ll ask you what that is if he hasn’t before, giving you the opportunity to tell him. Not because you’re nagging, but because he
asked
. He will have the ball in his court. He gives you what you need, or he risks losing you. Then, even though it boils down to basically the same thing as an ultimatum, you’ll be relating to him in ways he’ll respect and understand. The thing is, Mary, he’ll think that it’s
his
choice, so he’ll own the decision. Do you understand what I’m telling you?” Her voice was so assured, and she was completely right.
Completely right.

Alex was stunned. “Fucking hell,” he said softly into the dark.

Mary chuckled softly over the radio. “I think so. That’s amazing.
You’re
amazing.”

Alex's phone lit up on the bed next to him, but this time, it was a text from Darian. Alex smirked as he read it.

Is your dick hard NOW?

“Hmmph!”
That smug asshole
. Alex chuckled.

“Thank you. I hope this helped. Just stay calm when you talk to him. And, be prepared to follow through. If he won’t commit, walk.” Angel’s voice was sure and steady, but still velvety smooth. Alex ran a hand quickly through his damp hair. “If you don’t, he’ll never step up.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hemming. I will. I feel so much stronger after talking with you! I guess men can be like children. You have to stick to your guns or they never learn, right?” She giggled.

Dr. Hemming responded with a low chuckle that shot right through Alex’s body and into his cock. What was it about that voice?

“Mmmm. You said it, I didn’t. We have to take a short break, and then I’ll take another call. Stay with us. This is Angel After Dark on KKIS FM.” Alex could hear the smile behind her words, and he pictured those red lips on the poster in the other room. He texted a response to his friend.

Like steel. You are such a motherfucker!

Don’t want to say I told you so… but… I told you so.

Yeah, yeah. Give it a rest or I’ll come over there and beat your sorry ass.

LOL!

While the commercials played, Alex went into the other room, refilled his drink, and paused to look out at the city lights before walking over and picking up the picture. He fought with himself for a minute or two until he went back to the bedroom and grabbed his phone. Probably not the smartest decision he’d ever made, but he wanted to speak to this woman, now silently hoping that incredible voice was truly spilling out of that gorgeous mouth on the poster. His fingers lightly outlined the image. Would she be as responsive as she looked? As delicious as she sounded? His cock hardened at the thought, and he tugged at the front of his boxer briefs in protest, unbelieving that he’d be so affected without so much as a glance at her.

Someone called in with some sappy dedication, and while the song played, Alex wrote down the number that Angel had announced before the music began. He was nervous for some inexplicable reason that he couldn’t put his finger on, and it pissed him off, but not enough to change his mind. He never got nervous. Especially when it came to women, and never due to one that he hadn’t even laid eyes on. At this point, he didn’t know what he was doing or what he was trying to accomplish, he only knew that he wanted to learn more.

Darian is clearly into her, so it makes no sense that he’s taunting me like this.
He thought as he dialed the number. One thing Alex was sure of, if he was interested after speaking to her, he wouldn’t be letting Darian’s sensibilities interfere with getting what he wanted, friend or not. He should have kept his damned mouth shut.

“KKIS, you’re calling Angel After Dark. What is your comment?” A younger, less sultry voice asked the question and Alex hesitated.

“Are you Dr. Hemming?” he asked.

“No, sir. I’m Chris, her assistant. I screen the calls and decide which ones to put through to Angel. Will you tell me what you’re calling about, please?”

Angel.
There was that name again. He wondered what her voice would sound like saying his own.

“Sure. I want to give her some perspective on a caller from last week. I’m the other half of the situation, and I wondered if her response would be different if she had both sides of the story. She told my girlfriend to dump me.”

“Really? Yes, I’m sure she’ll want this call. You’ll need to turn down your radio or the feedback will hurt everyone’s ears. Please hold.”

“Line 2, Angel.” Christina’s voice flowed through the intercom on the other side of the glass and Angel glanced at her. She was fanning her face with her hand in mock drama. “This guy sounds hot.”

Angel huffed, thinking about the half a dozen DJs at this station who had amazing voices along with pot guts and thinning hair. At least it was a man.
This will be a nice change of pace.

“He said he was the other half of a call you had last week. Should be interesting.”

“What’s his name?”

“He wouldn’t say. He said his name wasn’t important.”

The commercial break ended and she leaned forward to click the appropriate icons needed on her computer screen.

*****

“Hello, this is Angeline. Do you have a confession?”

“You could say that…”

Angel’s back stiffened at the sound of the caller’s voice. Something in the silky tone told her to be on guard, and her eyes shot to the other side of the desk where Darian was seated. Something flashed across his face that she couldn’t read, and he tossed the cell phone he’d been using to text down on top of the desk. Angel bristled in her seat and picked up a pen, nervously tapping it on the legal pad in front of her.

“Yes, and what is your name?”

“Names don’t matter. I liked your response to the last caller. It was… unexpected.”

“Yes, well, I’m glad you were entertained. Christina tells me that you are party to a previous call?”

“Mmmm, yes,” he said smoothly, but not exactly giving anything away. Jesus, his voice
was
amazing and Christina was all grins on the other side of the glass, mouthing
I told you so
and wagging her eyebrows up and down for emphasis.

Angel’s own eyebrows shot up at the other girl, and a small smile graced her bowed mouth. Darian was frozen in place, one arm crossed over his chest supporting the other, which left that hand to support his jaw. He was all dressed up, and Angel was surprised he was even at the station this late. She knew what she was doing and didn’t need him to babysit during the show anymore.

“Well? Are you going to tell me?” Her tone held the slightest bit of annoyance, and the man on the other end laughed softly. He was enjoying making her work for it.

“She called and told you that I was, let me see… selfish and made her feel, I think the word was,
invisible
.”

Angel sat back in her chair and adjusted the microphone attached to her headset. No wonder Darian was acting like a scorpion crawled up his ass.

“Ah, yes. Whitney, right?”

“Good memory.”

“And I take it that you don’t agree with her assumption, right,
Alex
?”

There was silence for three seconds, and Angel smiled in satisfaction, realizing it meant he caught that she knew the name he didn’t want to share. Darian was watching intently and he shook his head slightly, but Angel wasn’t sure why and she wasn’t in a position to ask him.

“Good memory, but no. Our relationship wasn’t like that. Not even from the start. She mislead you, I’m afraid, Miss Hemming, so your advice to
dump my ass
was hardly warranted,” he said calmly. A little too calmly. Apparently, Whitney told the truth when she said he didn’t care about her.

“Mmmm, it’s
Doctor
Hemming, but you can call me Angel. I don’t remember telling her to dump your ah…
you,
at all. I told her to talk to you.”