Jennifer Crusie Bundle (86 page)

He kept telling himself that, but he didn't believe it. And it was getting harder and harder to stay away from her.

Charlie walked into the booth on Friday night, two days after he'd blown Sam's cover, grouchy because he was in a booth and Allie was ten feet away on the other side of a glass wall wearing a pink sweater that made him crazy.

Once inside the booth, though, he stopped in his tracks. “What is that god-awful smell?”

“Well.” Harry leaned back in his chair. “It seems Mark got a dog.”

“What?”

“A dog,” Harry said. “At the pound. A Doberman-mix puppy. A man's dog. Called him King.”

Charlie sat down on the edge of the console. “I don't believe this.”

“And he brought King into the booth with him this morning so he could broadcast with him. Like we do with Samson. And after three hours, King scratched at the door to be let out.”

Charlie snorted. “King obviously has a lot of stamina. I'd have been clawing at the door a lot sooner if I was trapped in a booth with Mark.”

“But Mark ignored him, so King…uh, pooped.”

Charlie grinned. “And then?”

“Mark yelled at him and scared him.” Harry fought back a grin. “So King pooped again.”

Charlie's grin widened. “Mark is an idiot.”

“So then Mark waved the script at him, and King—”

“Pooped again.” Charlie started to laugh.

“Then Marcia came in and threw a fit because of all the poop in the booth and because Mark was mistreating a puppy. She gave him ten minutes to get the booth clean, and she took the dog away from him.”

Charlie looked alarmed. “Not back to the pound?”

Harry shook his head. “Nah. She said she needed a watchdog. She took the dog outside and calmed it down, and then brought it back inside with her until her show was done.”

“Good for Marcia. Although I can't picture her with a dog named King.”

“Dorothy,” Harry said. “The dog's name is now Dorothy. Mark missed a few details, as usual.”

“You're kidding.” Charlie closed his eyes. “What a dweeb. So then he cleaned up the booth—”

Harry snorted. “Fat chance. He made Lisa do it.”

“Oh, great.” Charlie shook his head. “Wait'll I tell Allie. She's not going to believe this.”

“And then Lisa sprayed the place with that stinking pine disinfectant…”

Charlie nodded. “Which explains why this place smells like—”

“—somebody pooped a pine tree,” Harry finished.

“Sounds like a good time to do a remote,” Charlie said.

“I've been spending a lot of time out of here,” Harry said. “Thank God I don't have a date tonight. This would not be an easy smell to explain.”

“Pooped Pine, the cologne of Kings,” Charlie said and they both started to laugh.

Allie came into the booth, and they stopped. “What's so funny?” she asked them. “And what is that horrible smell?”

Harry and Charlie looked at each other for a moment and then they both broke up again.

T
HE ONLY PROBLEM
was that since the booth reeked, Charlie had to spend most of his time out of it. With Allie. He was supposed to be talking about the ads for the rest of the show, but Allie was wearing a silky pink sweater, and her curves were right there in front of him. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear because of the rushing in his ears.

He had to touch her. Touching was not sex. Touching was just touching. “What we need here is a definition of sex,” Charlie said. “The bet said no sex. It didn't say no kissing.” He took a deep breath. “I want to touch you.”

Allie flushed pink and Charlie felt dizzy. Usually when she blushed like that, it was because he was moving his hands on her. He thought of the nights he'd had with her the week before and thrown away, not memorizing every second of what it was like to touch her. How he hadn't concentrated on the feel of his tongue against her skin, the slide of her body against his as she arched against him, the heat and the wet and the—

“Oh, God,” he said. “I really need to touch you.”

A
llie sat across from him and tried to control her breathing.
I really need to touch you.
He was making her insane over this stupid bet. If he wanted her, all he had to do was say, “You win.”

Of course, all she had to do was say, “You win,” and she could have him back. She could slide her hands down his back, bite into the muscle on his shoulder, lick her way into his mouth, arch her aching body into his hardness, and dear God, find some surcease for this endless need that was driving her crazy. She bit her lip to keep from saying it out loud.

And if she did that, he'd touch her like only Charlie could touch her, his hands on her breasts, hot and teasing, his mouth, moving lower…

She drew a breath, suddenly light-headed from not breathing before, suddenly wanting his mouth more than anything in the world. Her breasts felt hot and tight and made her crave his touch even more, and she moved her hands to press against them, trying to ease the itch and the throbbing there.

And Charlie said, “Don't do that, please don't do that,” and she said, “You do it. I can't stand it anymore.”

He got up slowly and came to her, and she stood and put her head on his shoulder. He finally touched her, smoothly his palms lightly over her breasts at first, then pressing against her, and then finally lowering his head to bite her gently through her sweater, and that's when she dug her fingers into his shoulders and cried out.

He kissed her then, licking into her mouth, and the relief was like drowning. She arched against him, feeling how hard he was against her stomach, and his hands pressed her breasts in exquisite relief while every cell in her body throbbed for him. She laced her fingers in his hair and pulled his mouth harder against hers, trying to drink him in, biting his lip, and his leg went between hers as he bent her back against the production table, moving against her, while she wrapped herself around him as tightly as she could.

He was heavy on top of her, wonderfully heavy, and she stretched up to him, trying to meld with him, using his weight to satiate her need to have him inside her. His lips were on her throat as his hands pulled her sweater down off her shoulders, and his tongue licked deep into her cleavage. She scraped her nails down his back and throbbed against him. He pulled her bra off her breast, and his mouth found her, hot and wet, and he sucked hard, and she cried out and tightened against him, blind with need. He shoved her skirt up and moved his hand between her legs, pressing against the nylon there, his fingers sliding under the elastic.

“Wait,” she breathed. “You, too.”

And he said, “No, this is just for you.”

She moved away from his hand. “No.” She pulled his head up to look into his eyes, and they both shook with passion. “No. Not unless it's for both of us. It has to be both of us.”

“It is,” he told her. “I love watching you come.” His eyes were hot, and she wanted to drink them in with the rest of him and make them part of her, but she wanted him with her, too. They were in this together. They were in everything together.

“No.” Allie drew a long, shuddering breath. “No. I want you so much I'm dying from it. But that's just sex. No. Both of us or nothing.”

Charlie closed his eyes, and she slid out from under him, memorizing the feel of him as she did.

Charlie leaned on the table, gripping the edge, his biceps taut from tension. “We could end this damn bet by mutual consent. We could both give in.”

Allie leaned back against the table, getting her breath under control while she tried to figure out why that was such a bad idea. It should have been a good idea. “Is that what you want?”

“It should be what I want.” Charlie stood up and tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling instead of her. “I don't know why I'm so sold on this damn bet. It's making me insane.”

“It's making us different,” Allie said, and she knew that was why she'd pulled away. In the beginning, she and Charlie had been about sex. Now they were about something else. She knew it was love, but he was still getting there. So she'd give him time. “We're different now. It's just one more week.”

Charlie met her eyes for an instant, and then turned and walked back to the booth.

Allie felt light-headed. Probably from not breathing, she decided and consciously filled her lungs with air. She was dying from not having him, but she didn't want him yet. She wanted him more than anything.

But not yet. Not until they both knew it was more than sex.

T
HREE WEEKS
into the bet, Allie was trying to look on the bright side and failing. It should have been easy to look on the bright side. Charlie All Night was a huge hit. The paper ran stories about Charlie and the city building, Charlie and the FoodStop indictment, Charlie and Sam. Pictures of Charlie and Sam were particularly popular, and people had donated so much dog formula and food and puppy toys to the station that they were supplying the local animal-rescue groups daily. Even the sabotage was helping; when the ad tapes disappeared from the booth one night, Charlie had been forced to fake it. His ad-libs about how great McCarthy's cashew chicken was at two o'clock in the morning, how much Sam loved the formula he'd gotten from Paula's Pet Emporium, and how Harry swore by Gleason's Auto Parts, had started a trend. Now all the advertisers wanted Charlie ad-libbing ads. He was a radio natural.

And she was going crazy. For the first time in her adult life, her first thoughts on waking weren't about the radio station. They were about Charlie. She'd gotten what she wanted: they talked all the time now. About radio, about food, about politics, about books, about sports…they talked until she was ready to scream, “Shut up and kiss me!” And even if she did, he'd probably think it was a request and play Mary Chapin Carpenter. She was delighted her career was back in high gear, but she wanted Charlie back more.

She finally hit bottom one night after staring hopelessly at Charlie through the booth window for the entire show. She was a mess and she needed comfort, so she went home and knocked on Joe's door.

“Come in,” he said, half-asleep, and she went in and sat on the side of his bed while he tried to focus on her.

“I know it's the middle of the night,” she said. “I'm sorry.”

“No problem.” He yawned and moved over and she crawled in bed next to him, sinking down on his shoulder when he put his arm around her. “So what's up?”

“You were right,” she said into his shoulder.

“I'm always right.” He patted her. “Let me guess. This is about Charlie.”

Allie nodded. “I'm in love with him. I really screwed up this time.”

“Well, not necessarily.” Joe shifted in the bed to make more room for her. “This could be a good thing. At least you've given up thinking a career is a life. And everybody should fall in love at least once in her life, so that's good, too.”

“I was in love with Mark,” Allie said miserably. “I served my time.”

Joe scowled at her. “You were not in love with Mark. Mark was your career and you thought it would be efficient to have a relationship with him, too. That was your tidy streak talking.” He stared off into space for a moment. “Now, Charlie is the worst possible match for you, so this must be love. Good for you, kid.”

“Very funny.” Allie wanted to stick out her chin and move away to show she wasn't kidding, but Joe's arm was too much of a comfort to lose. “What am I going to do?”

Joe shrugged. “Love him. What else can you do?”

Allie blinked, trying not to cry. “He's going to leave in November. Do you know how much that's going to hurt?”

“Do you have a choice? And anyway, it's not November yet. You've got some time. Things could change. As usual, you're focusing on the problem and not looking at the big picture.”

“What big picture?” Allie slumped deeper into the bed. “There is no big picture. I love him and he's leaving in a week.”

“You could leave with him, you know,” Joe said, and Allie looked at him sharply. “Well, I'd miss you, but you'd write and come back to visit. It might not be a bad life, following Charlie around the country. You'd have a good time.”

“And no career,” Allie said stubbornly.

“It would be a choice,” Joe said. “But at least it's a choice. And I think you're forgetting Charlie here, too.”

Allie groaned. “Fat chance. He's all I think about anymore. I'm becoming
obsessed
with Charlie.”

“Well, he's not exactly ignoring you.” Allie blinked at him, and Joe went on. “I know he moved out, but that was the only sane thing he could do. He never takes his eyes off you when he's with you. He always knows exactly where you are. And…” Joe paused, and Allie waited hopefully for some killer point that would convince her falling in love with Charlie wasn't the dumbest thing she'd ever done in her life. “He's jealous as hell of Mark.”

Allie slumped again. “Big deal. I want him to love me.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Well, Al, I'm pretty sure he does.”

Allie sat up, “Then why doesn't he
say
so. Why doesn't he say, ‘Allie, I love you and I'm not leaving you in November.' I'm not looking for a marriage proposal here. I'm just trying to get my option extended for another year.”

Joe moved his arm away. “You know, if I didn't like you and Charlie so much, I'd enjoy watching the two of you be dumb about this. Allie, he's not going to tell you he loves you until he figures it out for himself.”

Allie threw her hands up in exasperation. “Well, when's that going to be?”

“Hard telling,” Joe said. “I like Charlie a lot, but he's not deep, and he really hates commitment. It may take him a while.”

Allie flopped back onto the pillows. “Well, great. With my luck, he'll figure it out next spring when he's in Dubuque or Broken Arrow or someplace else I'm not.”

“Then you make the first move. Tell him you love him. Tell him he loves you.” Joe punched his pillow and slid back down into the bed. “Produce yourself a love affair.”

“He would run like a rabbit.” Allie sighed. “I'm sorry. You've got to get up and work in the morning. I shouldn't have bothered you.” She started to climb out of bed.

“Don't be wimpy,” Joe said from his pillow. “Of course you should have bothered me. You'll be okay. Charlie will get around to figuring out what he wants as soon as he finishes doing whatever it is he came to do.”

Allie turned back to him. “What do you mean?”

Joe's voice was sleepy. “Well, he came here for something. What was it?”

Allie blinked at him. “To fill in for Waldo as a favor for Bill.”

Joe yawned. “Then why is he asking so many questions?”

“Because…” Allie let her voice trail off. He
was
asking a lot of questions. She'd assumed it was for the show, but he didn't care about the show. Or did he? Maybe he was getting interested in radio. He was making sure nobody was sabotaging the show again. And he had her researching great topics for the show, like this drug legalization thing they were doing next week.

“Maybe he's starting to care about the show,” she told Joe with hope in her voice.

Joe snored, and she gave up and went to bed, still miserably in love but vaguely comforted.

After all, November was still a week away.

“M
ARK TRIED
to do a talk show with Lisa today,” Harry told Charlie. “You've really got to start getting up earlier. You're missing some good stuff.”

Charlie sat on the console. “Such as?”

“He decided they were going to discuss working relationships.”

“Well, it's an okay topic,” Charlie said.

“Yeah.” Harry leaned back. “But Mark spent the whole time talking about Allie. Never let Lisa get a word in edgewise. She finally burst into tears and left the booth.”

“We need to kick him,” Charlie said. “I don't care how dumb he is, that was mean.”

“Nah,” Harry said. “He still doesn't know why she's upset. And she's staying with him. They deserve each other.” He tilted the chair back to look up at Charlie. “I think he's planning on making his move on Allie again.”

Charlie ignored the spurt of alarm he felt and shrugged. “She can take care of herself.”

Harry shook his head. “Yeah, but you're not around to stick up for your interests much. You don't even see her outside of work.”

“Come on,” Charlie protested. “I see her five or six hours a day.”

“At work,” Harry said. “It sort of looks like, if you're not sleeping with her, why spend time with her?”

“Hey,” Charlie said. “That's not—”

“That's what it looks like. And Mark has noticed. Probably mentioned it to Allie by now, too.”

Allie came into the booth. “Here's the stuff you wanted,” she told Charlie, handing him a stack of notes. “I got the—”