Causing a Commotion (12 page)
Read Causing a Commotion Online
Authors: Janice Lynn
Tags: #Humor & Entertainment, #Humor, #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy
“Unless one of them frayed the wire to begin with.”
J.P. rolled his eyes. “You’d do well to keep your assumptions to yourself. The press gets any crazy notions, I’ll be looking for you.”
Colin cursed under his breath.
“Don’t go messing up a good thing. Today’s show was good. Damn good. I saw the look on your face while Jessie was reading that stuff. You know I’m right.
Causing A Commotion
is good.”
Colin’s head jerked around. “Forget
Causing A Commotion
. This is about keeping Jessie safe and continuing with the show when her safety is in question is wrong. My every gut instinct says so. Things have been happening on set, and we’ve ignored them, writing them off as gremlins and mishaps.”
Giving up on getting any calm from the unlit cigar, J.P. twirled the Cuban between his fingertips, but didn’t speak. What could he say? Colin tossed out crazy accusations. Yet not so crazy that he could completely ignore them. However admitting anything would be a big mistake. The boy would run with any glimmer of problem to try to destroy the show. They both knew it.
“I saw that cord. That wasn’t a mishap.” Colin stormed out of the office, leaving J.P. to ponder his parting remark.
If not for the maintenance men’s assurances that the frayed cord was an accident, he might believe Colin, take his concerns more seriously, but Colin wanted Jessie gone.
Question was how far was he willing to go to get her off the show?
* * *
Keeping her eye on the thick L.A. traffic, Jessie fumbled in her purse until she found her ringing cell phone. “Hello.”
“We need to talk.”
Colin.
Insane joy filled her. Curiosity, too. Had her poetry reading gotten to him? She hadn’t been able to keep from imagining his voice saying the words to her while she read the piece. Especially as Colin had watched her with such hot eyes. She had been reading to him, despite however many viewers tuned in, and he’d been turned on.
J.P. praised her efforts, but she still believed Colin should have been the one to read the excerpt. Of course, her desire to hear him say such words biased her.
“Who is this?” she asked, just to be coy.
“You know who it is.”
She smiled, not admitting a thing.
“We need to discuss what happened today,” he said.
“You mean when my entire body tingled and not because you touched me? Or my debut as an erotic poetry reader?”
“This isn’t a joke, Jessie.” No, Colin didn’t sound teasing at all. He sounded frustrated, ticked off. “Meet me.”
Should she? Her heart raced at the thought of seeing Colin away from the studio. Since the night of the Wolf gala the only time she saw him was work. Despite her brevity about being a new age woman and not needing a man, she longed for time with Colin. Time away from the office.
Because she was lonely? Or because it was Colin?
“Because you want a private poetry reading?”
“Jessie.”
She sighed loudly.
“There’s a restaurant,” he named the place and address. “Meet me in fifteen minutes.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No, I’m not meeting you.” She settled back into her car seat, appreciating the moving traffic.
“Why not?”
“Because I already have plans.”
“Plans?”
“I do have a life outside of the few hours I spend in your company.”
He groaned. “This is important. For once can’t you just do what I ask without arguing? I’m worried about you.”
She couldn’t take him seriously. To do so would throw her world off balance. Would raise hopes that didn’t need raising. Not if she didn’t want to get hurt.
“Think I’m going to die from orgasm withdrawal?” she flippantly asked.
“What?” His loud question echoed in her ear.
“Oh nothing. Private joke.”
“Another joke.” He sounded disgusted with her flippancy. “You aren’t taking this seriously.”
No, she was doing her best not to. Reading poetry to Colin had provided a wonderful distraction, but to think that she could have died scared her. Made the panic monster claw at her throat too strong. She dealt with that panic how she could. Humor.
“I was almost given the electric chair and hadn’t even committed any heinous crimes. It sucks, but it happened. Just be grateful it was me instead of you.”
“It should have been me.”
That got her attention. “Why would you say that?”
“Those open wires were intended for me. Not you.”
A whole new panic rose within her. Colin thought someone intentionally had tried to hurt him? Why did that scare her even more than the thought of someone trying to hurt her?
“It was an accident.”
“Meet me.”
“Oh, all right.” She gave in, partially from curiosity and partially because she wanted to see Colin outside of work. “But you’re going to have to come to me.”
“I wouldn’t expect it any other way.”
Jessie gave him the specifics, hung up the phone, and wondered what the call was truly about.
Colin sounded upset. Which didn’t make sense.
She’d been the one to get shocked and he had to be joking about thinking it had been intentional. Or intended for him.
Why would anyone do that?
Goosebumps ran down her spine.
Knowing J.P. and Maxwell had the studio thoroughly checked made her feel better.
However, knowing Colin would be showing up at her apartment left her jittery, almost like she’d been hit by another jolt of high-wattage electricity.
She glanced at the passenger seat of her car where a freshly autographed copy of The Blooming Rose lay.
Private poetry reading indeed.
* * *
Beverly Gilley pushed the spoonful of applesauce into her mother’s unresponsive mouth. “Come on, Momma. Swallow.”
The older version of herself stared back, not saying anything one way or another.
Pretending her mother’s blank eyes filled with recognition,
Beverly scooped up another spoonful from the baby food jar and put it in her mouth.
The first glob still rested on her tongue, unswallowed.
“Momma, you need to eat. Please swallow. It’s good for you.”
The feeding tube provided the necessary nutrition, but the doctors advised to keep her mother taking in as much as possible by mouth. Something about the psychological value of actually eating.
There was nothing Beverly wouldn’t do to help her mother.
The thought watered her eyes, but then she sucked in a deep breath and spooned another bite of applesauce. This too would pass. Sooner than she wanted.
“Here you go, Momma. Just one more.”
Her mother’s mouth opened, the former glob partially gone.
Moisture burned at Beverly’s eyes and the inside of her nose. “That’s right, Momma. Swallow your applesauce. It’s good for you.”
“Is she eating much today?”
Beverly shook her head at Sandy, the nurse she employed to sit with her mother while she was at work. Normally, she wasn’t able to sneak away to help with her lunch feeding, but today she’d been able to drive home. The studio had been cleared as soon as the show finished recording so maintenance could check everything. J.P. had told her to take a long lunch then meet him in his office at two.
Not knowing how many more days she’d have with her mother, she cherished each moment, snuck away each chance she got.
Some days her mother enjoyed their time. Others, like today, Beverly wasn’t even sure if her mother knew she was here. Alzheimer’s was a horrid disease. Especially these end stages when her mother’s health and mental faculties declined so rapidly.
“Not much.” She sat the baby food jar down on a night stand that rested next to the hospital bed that occupied her mother’s bedroom. A hospital bed that hadn’t been cheap and hadn’t been covered on her mother’s insurance. Just as Sandy’s salary wasn’t covered.
Only if she succumbed to the pressure and admitted her mother to the nursing home would her care be insurance paid for. Something Beverly was not willing to do.
She’d promised not to do.
Promises had to be kept no matter what the cost.
The cost for keeping her mother at home came high. Sometimes she thought too high.
Chapter Eight
Colin had been a fool to come to Jessie’s apartment.
She’d been a fool to invite him. Didn’t she know how affected he’d been by this afternoon? Too affected for him to be sitting alone in her living room with her. She’d gone to find them something to drink.
He didn’t want a drink.
He wanted her.
That wasn’t why he was here.
Leaning back against the well-worn sofa that sort of matched the other hodge-podge pieces in the room, he closed his eyes. So, why was he here? There wasn’t anything he had to say that couldn’t have waited until the next day.
No, he’d had to see her so he could assure himself she was really okay.
She could have died
.
His ribcage squeezed, constricting his lungs and making breathing difficult. Making his heart pound against the inside of his ribs. He sucked in a deep breath, fighting an unaccustomed wave of dizziness.
He should not be here.
He stood to leave. Now. While she was in the kitchen.
“All I have is canned sodas. Sorry, I’m not much on shopping.” She laughed with self-deprecation. “For food that is.”
Colin opened his eyes and met her gaze. Jessie stopped mid-stride, froze where she stood and stared at him. What did she see? Whatever, she glanced away, looking uncomfortable, unsure. Totally unlike Jessie.
Had she read his thoughts and judged him for the coward he was? Or worse, seen him for the traitorous man he was?
“Here.” She placed the soda on the scratched-up coffee table, right next to her copy of The Blooming Rose. Mr. Smith made a huge production out of presenting it to her. He’d given Colin a copy as well, but with a rushed “Thank you.” Just seeing the tiny paperback booklet ensconced Colin with heated memories of Jessie reading the excerpt. He’d felt as if she read every word directly to him. When their eyes had met, he believed she had.
Of course every other sap in the room probably felt the same way. Jessie had that effect on men, making them feel as if they were mighty warriors and the sole recipient of her affections.
“It’s diet. Hope that’s okay. I perpetually diet. Especially now that I’m living with Tamara. Dude, the woman cooks like a fiend.” Jessie waved her hand. “Since we’re low on goodies, she’s probably buying out the local grocer as we speak.”
Colin watched her prattle on, thinking her more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen, more vivacious and exciting. He watched her plop down a few feet from him on the sofa, pull her legs beneath her and turn to observe him.
“What?” she demanded when he continued to stare.
What indeed? Colin couldn’t think. Still couldn’t breath because of the tight band around his chest. Which might explain his crazy next move. Lack of oxygen inhibited one’s ability to think clearly. Or to think at all.
Knowing he’d regret his actions, but unable to stop himself, whether from the thought she could have died or from the way she’d boiled his blood with her poetry reading, he closed the gap between them on the sofa and pulled her to him.
“Colin?” Her eyes were wide, but she wasn’t afraid. Her bright green gaze didn’t show the slightest fear, only excitement. Encouragement. Desire.
“Shut up,” he whispered, not wanting her to analyze his actions. Not wanting to analyze them himself. He did what he’d wanted to do for months, since that first day in the taxi. Every day since. Every night since.
He took Jessie’s mouth in a sweeping kiss. He brushed his lips across hers, not soft or slow or tentative, but with the demand of a man who’d grown impatient with doing the right thing. With a demand that she return his fervor.
Without the slightest hesitation, she did. Threading her fingers in his hair, she held his head beneath her palms, pulling him closer still as she wiggled into his lap.
“Colin,” she breathed against his mouth.
From the back recesses of his mind a warning sounded, reminding Jessie was nothing but trouble and only a fool would kiss her.
Only a fool would stop kissing her when she tasted so sweet.
She arched into him. Her lush breasts smashed into his chest. Stopping would not be happening.
Colin groaned. The groan of a man in heaven and hell all at once. Holding her, touching her, kissing her could only be described as divine, yet he burned with a heat straight from down under.
Jessie set him on fire.
