Causing a Commotion (11 page)
Read Causing a Commotion Online
Authors: Janice Lynn
Tags: #Humor & Entertainment, #Humor, #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy
For now, she’d simply moved her clothes, sweet-talked a couple of brawny Wolf employees to move her bedroom furniture and set it up in the new place. In exchange, Tamara cooked them a down-home meal of chicken and dumplings, green beans, fried potatoes, and peach cobbler. The men thought they were in heaven.
Jessie swore she’d do an extra thirty minutes of cardio in the mornings. Otherwise, her rocking new wardrobe wouldn’t fit for long. Now that she wasn’t spending over an hour on the road commuting each way, she’d have time for more exercise. Maybe she could join a local spa. Or use the Wolf employee facility.
Early the next day, Jessie auditioned for the lead in a romantic comedy. She didn’t have high hopes as she’d gotten the old, “We’ll call you.” But she vowed to herself that she was going to start auditioning on a regular basis. She’d find her dream, grab hold, and not let go.
Later at Wolf, J.P. fell into step with her. “You’re looking mighty chipper.”
“I am.”
“Any particular reason?”
“I auditioned for a part.”
He frowned. “You know how I feel about that.”
Jessie stopped, looked at him. “Yes, but from the beginning you’ve known that’s my dream. To star in films. I’ve just been a bit lax on going after that dream the past couple of months.”
“Colin have anything to do with this sudden need to audition again?”
“He’s my co-host. Nothing more.”
“That’s good to hear. Wouldn’t want anything to interfere with the show.”
“Of course not. The show must go on.”
“Wish you’d reconsider these auditions. What are you going to do when you get picked for a part? You’re too talented for it not to eventually happen.”
“Well, it’s not happened yet.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Positive.” They arrived at the studio. Jessie glanced at Colin’s seat. Empty.
For once she’d beaten him to the studio. Which was a bit odd. She couldn’t recall ever having done so in the past.
J.P. chatted with her while she sat down and fiddled with her microphone. “Testing.”
The sound check man, she never could recall what his technical name was, shook his head. “I’m not getting anything.”
She wiggled the piece. She’d never had to do this. Colin always had it taken care of by the time she arrived. Where was he? “Anything?”
“Nothing.”
She bent to look at where several wires were plugged into the floor. Maybe one of them worked itself loose.
She pushed one, then another into the unit, making sure of a snug fit. A jolt of electricity knocked her back. Way back.
Her life flashed before her in blindingly bright colors.
“Oh!” She jumped, wondering if her hair stood on ends or if smoke shot from her ears. Possibly both.
“Jessie? Are you okay?” Colin must have entered the studio while she’d been checking the plugs because he ran to her side, placed his hand on her wrist above her pulse.
Other than the racing of her heart, she felt fine.
Colin’s touch resonated through her like a striking repeat of the zapping current.
“Jessie?” J.P. shook her shoulders.
“Fine.” How had she gotten electrocuted with all the techies running around this place?
“What happened?” Colin demanded, his voice almost unrecognizable. Perhaps her ears were fried.
“My mic wasn’t working so I checked the connections.”
“And?”
“I got shocked.” Why did he sound mad? She’d been shocked, not him.
“You touched metal?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then how did you get shocked?” His face was stern, red. Angry.
“Excuse me, Mr. Electrician, but I don’t know. I wiggled those connections and zap! It got me.” She eyed him curiously. “Where were you, anyway?”
“I ran late.”
“Apparently.” Shrugging free of his hold, she put her hands on her hips. “You picked a mighty fine time to run late and leave the checks to me, dude.”
J.P. glanced back and forth between them. “Do I need to call for an ambulance?”
“Only if Colin doesn’t quit jumping down my throat.” Jessie glared. “Hello, you’d think a girl could get a little sympathy for having just gotten barbecued.”
Colin shook his head, silently eyeing Jessie. He’d almost had a heart attack when he saw her jerk back. Instinctively he’d known what must have happened. He didn’t remember crossing the room. Didn’t remember anything except laying his hand on her to be sure she breathed. That her heart beat strong within her chest.
“Good.” J.P. turned to two techies and instructed them to check out the electrical wiring and to make sure this never happened again.
Colin watched their every move while they did a complete check on the electrical board. His own heart thudded with a tenacity that suggested he’d been the one electrocuted. He might buy an argument that he had. When he’d placed his fingertips over Jessie’s pulse. Something powerful sure moved through him. Something hot and dangerous.
“Frayed wire,” one of them said, pointing to a rough spot on one of the cords.
Needing to clear his mind of his irrational thoughts of Jessie, Colin stooped to inspect the wire. “It’s been tampered with.”
The man shrugged. “It’s more likely that something snagged the cord.”
“I’ve never noticed a rough spot in the past.”
The man gave him a so what look.
“When was the last time this was checked?”
The other guy frowned. “Routine maintenance is monthly, but it could have been overlooked.”
“What would have rubbed against this, or snagged it, to strip the coating off the wires?” Colin knew the answer. Nothing.
Both men looked perplexed. “Beats us.”
Jessie grabbed his arm, drawing his attention. “Let it go. It was an accident. It’s not like they frayed the wire.”
Her eyes met his and Colin looked away, unwilling for her to read his thoughts.
Someone had frayed the wire. He was sure of it.
* * *
“Mr. Smith, I just have to tell you how moved I was when I read your writing,” Jessie cooed to the beaming, skinny man who made Colin think of Ichabod Crane, right down to the thin ponytail tied with a ribbon. “Tell us about the writing contest you won.”
The high-cheeked man blushed under Jessie’s attention, but managed to throw the words together to tell about the erotic literary contest he’d won. The piece Colin had fought to keep off his show.
Only this wasn’t his show any more.
Not in any shape form or fashion.
And as much as he wanted his old, safe show back, not like what happened today. What idiot frayed those wires? The thought they’d been intentionally stripped sent his blood pressure through the roof.
Marian had come to him to get rid of Jessie, had she grown impatient and hired someone to do the job in a more permanent way?
“Colin?”
He blinked at Jessie, cursing his stupidity for getting lost in his own thoughts rather than pay attention to their guest. How was she remaining so calm? She’d almost been killed. He’d have expected her to play the accident for all it was worth, work it to her advantage. “Yes?”
“Yes, you’ll read an excerpt from Mr. Smith’s The Blooming Rose? Oh, goody.” Her eyes lit, and she rubbed her hands together.
Him? Read that pornography on television? “I think you’d do Mr. Smith’s prose more justice than I.”
“Oh, please do.” Ichabod took Jessie’s hand. “I’d love to hear The Blooming Rose spilling like a drop of dew from your petal-like lips.”
He just bet the guy would
. Colin rolled his eyes. The purple-prosed pervert.
Jessie giggled. “Okay, so maybe I would do a better job at reading erotic poetry than Colin, but come on, admit it, ladies,” Jessie winked at the camera conspiratorially, “yummy Colin reading erotic poetry was worth trying for, now wasn’t it?”
Yummy Colin? The electricity had fried her brain. Why anyone would want to hear him read erotic poetry he couldn’t fathom.
“Like the softest rose petal,” Jessie began to read from the paperback she held, “her skin lured me with its softness, urging me to stroke my fingertip over the silky smoothness, urging me to bring her bud to full bloom.”
She looked up, met Colin’s gaze, then read more. He decided right then and there that he’d been wrong about Ichabod and his talents. Or perhaps it was the way Jessie’s sultry voice caressed each word the man had written and made it feel as if she were a part of the story, as if she were the blooming rose.
Tension filled the studio. A tension Colin could almost wrap his fist around. A tension that twisted itself in his gut and reminded he was a man and Jessie was a woman. A woman like no other.
The tension seduced each and every person in the audience. It was as if they, along with the crew, held their breath, waiting for Jessie’s next word, waiting for her to blossom.
Hell, someone should give Ichabod a Pulitzer or something.
“Wow, Mr. Smith,” Jessie gushed. “That’s beautiful.”
The man’s cheeks glowed a bright red. “Thank you.”
“Tell me, the woman who inspired this, you love her that much?”
Ichabod nodded, shifting in his seat.
“What does she say about this wonderful dedication?”
“Oh, she doesn’t know,” Ichabod assured, looking quite disturbed.
“No?” Jessie’s eyes widened. “You haven’t told her that she inspired this?” Jessie turned to the audience. “Can you imagine a passion so strong it inspired this beautiful work and yet she doesn’t know how you feel?”
Ichabod squirmed in his chair and Colin felt sorry for the poor guy. Enough so that he came to Ichabod’s rescue, by asking a question about the writer’s future works.
Ichabod sighed relief and answered Colin’s question.
The moment the show ended, Jessie turned on him. “Why did you interrupt? Mr. Smith needs encouraged to tell this woman how he feels.”
“That isn’t your place to decide.”
“True, but an attraction that strong shouldn’t be hidden away.”
“There could be other factors, reasons that make it better for his affections to be kept hidden.”
“Like what?”
Colin shrugged. “What if the woman is married? Has children?”
“I never thought of that,” Jessie admitted. “Still, it’s a shame if they could be together that he hasn’t told her how he feels.”
“As I said, that isn’t for you or me to decide.”
“I still say he just needs a little encouragement.”
“The guy was ready to crawl under his chair when you put him on the spot like that. Let it go.”
Jessie sighed. “I should have known you’d say something like that.”
Colin put his hands on his hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You figure it out.”
* * *
J.P. sank into his chair and watched Colin pace back and forth across the tiny office.
“Those wires were tampered with,” Colin said. “You know it as well as I do.”
“We don’t know anything. I’ve talked to the maintenance guy. He says any number of things could have stripped the cord.” J.P. bit into his cigar.
“We should stop the show. Or at least have Jessie sit out until we know what really happened today.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Hell yes, but this has nothing to do with my not wanting her to be a part of
Causing A Commotion
and everything to do with safety.”
“I’ve ordered for the entire studio to be given a complete safety check. Everything’s fine.”
“How can you say that after all the mishaps we’ve had over the past few months? Hell, things were going wrong before the show evolved into this massacre of a talk show. But missing schedules and damaged cameras don’t fall in the same league as intentionally frayed electrical wiring.”
“You’re making some wild assumptions, boy.”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re wrong.”
Colin threw his hands into the air. “You know I’m right. Jessie could have been hurt. We’re lucky she wasn’t.”
J.P. chomped on the end of a cigar, trying to suck some calm from the tasty Cuban. “If I thought for one minute that Jessie was in any kind of danger, I’d stop the show until the problem was solved. It was an accident.”
“What if it happens again? Only Jessie isn’t so lucky?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said the entire studio is being gone over. Maxwell had a cow when he heard Jessie almost got fried. Them boys ain’t going to miss a thing.”
