“I came here for lunch. Saw these two and had to stop and say hello.” Duke nodded in the direction of our boss and his assistant.
I stared at his shit-eating grin a moment before turning my attention to Artimus and Mrs. Baker. “Sorry for holding you two up.”
Mrs. Baker looked at the watch she wore on her wrist. “By my count, you’re only about a minute late. Nothing to worry about.”
“Well, I’ll leave you three to your meeting. Nice seeing you all. I’ll save you a seat back at class, Lila. Just in case you’re running late again.” Duke got up, leaving us alone.
“Bye, Duke.” I tried not to roll my eyes but might’ve failed a little bit.
The waiter came to our table, filling my glass with white wine. “May I bring you something to start, madam?”
“Have you two already ordered?” I asked them.
They both nodded then Artimus said, “Please, go ahead and order.”
Opening the menu, I knew I should hurry. I only had about an hour until I had to get back to the class. “I’ll start with the caprese salad.” Mozzarella cheese, basil, and tomato seemed okay. All the dishes were in Italian, so I had to look at the ingredients to get the gist of what items were on the menu. Glancing at the prices, I knew this was a place I could never afford to go on my own. The freaking little cheese salad was almost thirty bucks!
And as I looked at the prices of the entrees, my eyes almost bugged out. A New York strip steak would’ve cost eighty dollars!
I settled on something that didn’t offend my frugal sensibilities too much, but still wasn’t cheap for what it was. “I’ll have the spaghetti carbonara too.” Thirty dollars for a plate of spaghetti seemed a bit over the top to me, but that was the only thing on the lower end of things that I could also pronounce.
“How are you finding the classes, Lila?” Artimus asked.
“Very interesting. I’m learning a lot.” It wasn’t really my style to lie, but I didn’t want him to think that I thought the classes were boring. He’d paid a lot of money for us all to attend them, and they were clearly important to him. Plus, I had listened to his explanation of why he wanted things the way he did. His poor sisters had endured a lot, and I thought it was admirable that he didn’t want any of his employees to have to go through that.
“Good.” He smiled and nodded. “I’ve overheard some whining about them.”
“I’ve heard some of that too. I know you weren’t in today’s class, but Duke, Ashton, Nina, and I spiced it up a bit. We all made up a lot of questions to ask the instructor, and that made things more interesting for all of us.”
“That was great thinking.” Mrs. Baker tapped the side of her head. “Way to use your heads.”
“Duke came up with it.” I picked up my wine.
Artimus smiled at me. “It’s great to see that you two can get along. I was a bit worried about the job coming between you two, and that was never my intention in letting you both know you were up for the position. I do want my people to get along well.”
“But not too well,” I added. Immediately, I wished I hadn’t said that.
He looked off to one side as he took a deep breath. “Yes, not too well. This isn’t easy for me, Lila. But making big changes never is.”
I knew what he wanted, what his goals were. But I also knew he was expecting too much. In my humanities class back in college, I’d learned a lot about human nature.
When you drew a line and told people they couldn’t cross it, most people would find a way to cross it. Artimus was making everything taboo. And taboo was intriguing to humans.
Some honored the rules, but most broke them. Or at least tested their true limits.
One of the studies we’d discussed in my class had been done at a prison. It examined the relationships within the prison, where everyone was told that there could be no relationships between an individual and anyone who was superior in rank to them. Had that stopped it from happening at all? No way.
When you added in the explicit restriction that no one was to have any sexual contact with the inmates, you also found guards and others who would break that rule too.
Artimus wanted to make a difference, and most of us admired that and would do our best to help him. But I had a feeling that things wouldn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped. Time would tell though, and no one could tell Artimus any different at that point. Anyone could see that.
Our salads came, and Mrs. Baker started in with what they wanted to talk to me about. “Lila, as anchors you’re expected to do a lot of interaction with the community. We expect our anchors to take some initiative and find things to do on their own. We want them to become pillars of the community and win over the viewers. Show them how to do their civic duties and be proud of serving this city.”
“Like going to see sick children in the hospitals?” I asked before taking a bite of the cheese. It was smooth and melted in my mouth. “Wow! So worth the price.”
“Glad you like it,” Artimus said with a happy expression. “Yes, going to hospitals is a good idea. But there are other things too, like volunteering. Serving food in a homeless shelter, picking up trash in Central Park, visiting a school. Whatever you can think of, do it.”
“And we’d like to have some footage of these things, so we can see how your interaction went,” Mrs. Baker added.
“I can do that. I’ve got lots of ideas.” I had a sip of wine, which perfectly accented the delicious cheese dish. “I could get used to this,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying—something about reveling in a tasty meal always made me lose my filter.
Artimus’s dark brows rose. “Are you a foodie, Lila?”
“I suppose I am.” I thought about it for a moment. “You know what I think would be a great idea for the morning show? We could invite chefs from some of the best and most popular restaurants in the city. They can come on and cook one of their favorite dishes for us—and I’ll assist them with it. If I get the position, I mean.”
Mrs. Baker nodded enthusiastically. “I love that idea. And make enough for our cast and crew to enjoy too. Oh, they’d love that, wouldn’t they?”
“I would too.” Artimus grinned at me. “You can bet you’d see Mrs. Baker and me on set on those days.”
I was so happy that they liked my spur of the moment idea. If I put my mind to it, I could map out a whole line up for them. I’d make that my next mission. But first I had to think about what I’d do in the community to impress my bosses.
I kept quiet about any plans that went through my mind. I didn’t want them to inadvertently bring up any of my ideas when they had their meeting with Duke later that evening. If he knew what my plans were, he’d try to one-up me.
We finished our meals, then I left the restaurant to head back to the NYU campus to finish the class on bullying. To my surprise, I found Duke coming up behind me as I hailed a cab. “Wanna share?”
“You’re still here?” I was somewhat surprised by the fact.
“I am. I did a little window shopping after lunch. Thought you and I could talk about the meeting on the way back to campus.” He opened the door of the cab that stopped for us.
I slid in, and he slid in right next to me. “You did, did you?”
“Yes. So what kinds of things did they say?” He looked a little worried. “Like, was one of them that you got the job?”
“Yes, Duke. I got the job.” My tone was beyond sarcastic as I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, so they didn’t give you the job yet. What was the meeting for then?” His thick fingers drummed on top of his leg. The man was nervous. Like, really nervous. He actually thought I could beat him.
That made me very happy. Ecstatic, to be more precise. “I think I’m going to keep it a secret. I don’t know if they want me to tell you or not. They didn’t say. So, I should keep it to myself. I don’t want to be thought of as a gossip.”
Now he was the one to roll his eyes. “Come on. You can tell me. I’ll even act surprised when th
ey tell me, if you want.”
I could tell him. But if I did then he’d have the same amount of time I had to find activities to do in the community. And the more I thought about it, the more I figured our boss had given me a tiny bit more time than Duke because Duke was a New Yorker and I wasn’t. He knew about the community, and I didn’t.
It was a hair’s breadth more time, but it was more, so I decided against telling him anything. “I’d rather not, Duke.”
“Does it matter to you that I’d rather you would?” He used his sexy grin on me.
But to no avail. My mind was set. “I want this job. So, no, it doesn’t matter to me that you’d rather I tell you. Of course you want me to tell you. But you already have the upper hand.”
“I don’t see how.” He lost the sexy grin as he realized it wasn’t working on me.
“You will when they tell you about it. I assure you.” I patted him on the top of his shoulder. “And once you hear what it is, you’ll think I played my cards well. If you truly are a good sport, that is.”
“Which I am.” He patted the top of my leg. “Competing with you ain’t so bad after all. At least I get to watch you grow as a player.”
I had no ambition to be a player again after this. Never in my life had I wanted to best anyone. But I knew then that competition was inevitable if you wanted to get ahead in this world, and it was better to be adept at playing the game rather than losing out on what you wanted.
Chapter Ten
Duke
Our dinner meeting had been scheduled at Gramercy Tavern, in the dining room. I met Artimus and Mrs. Baker in the Tavern, where they were already waiting for me. “Hey, guys. I made it.” I was five minutes late. Traffic had been a bitch, and so had the cab driver who’d refused to step on it.
The dinner was casual as they told me what they wanted from me. Doing work in the community would be part of my working interview, as Mrs. Baker was now calling what Lila and I were doing.
And then I could see just why Lila had made me wait to hear what they wanted from us. She wanted a head start. And she’d need it, too. She had no idea where to start looking to get into the community, and I was already firmly a part of it.
Back when I was playing still, we’d been encouraged to reach out to the community of New York. I’d always taken the easy route and gone to see sick kids in the hospital. I knew guys who did other things. Picked up trash, fed poor people. But I loved going to see the kids. Their little faces would light up when I’d show up wearing my football jersey. I always got a kick out of it and knew I’d be able to make an excellent video.
So, after I left the meeting that night, I headed home, making a phone call along the way. I’d seen a picture of Ted Turner in Artimus’s office and had asked him about it. He’d told me how much he respected the man and how he had been inspired by Turner to create the new network.
After doing a bit of digging, I found out who his publicist was and made the call. That call only proved to be a disappointment, as I learned that Lila and I were on the same page in at least one thing. She’d beaten me to him, and she already had an interview scheduled for the very next day.
We’d only found out at the end of the bullying class that the class on compassion hadn’t been scheduled yet. That meant we finally had some free time, and that little minx had gone and thrown in the interview in that free time.
I had to give it to her, she was a quick thinker.
If I had my wish, I would’ve never had to compete with the likes of her. She would be hard to beat, but I’d give it everything I had to do just that.
I got to my apartment and wondered where Lila would be staying now that she’d gotten at least the one job. There were a few people in my building who were searching for roommates, I knew. Having Lila so close might be nice.
But then again, it might be much too tempting.
There was something about her that just did it for me. She made my body hum whenever she was around. I knew she was supposed to be off limits though.
Telling her about any availabilities in my building would not be a good idea. Unless she came up empty, I’d keep my mouth shut.
The day had been long, and I was ready to hit the sack. The warm water of the shower felt great on my now aching muscles. I’d missed my second Aleve, and I was feeling it.
Rubbing my hand over my shoulder, I closed my eyes, only to have a vision of the woman I’d been spending too much time thinking about pop up.
In my head, fantasy Lila moved my hand out of the way, taking over the gentle massage of the spot where I’d had my first surgery. “Is that better, Duke?” Her voice was soft, sweet, and sexy.
“Oh, yeah, baby.” I let the fantasy take me away.
Her beautiful body, free of any tan lines, moved close to mine, her soft, wet skin moving over mine. “I bet I can take all your pain away.” Her lips touched the shoulder she’d been rubbing, and her hands moved around to my back. Those red nails of hers grazed the surface lightly.
She straddled one of my legs, her knee coming up to press against my erection. “Easy, baby,” I cautioned her.
“Oh, I’ll be easy, baby. Don’t you worry.” She slid her body down mine until she was settled on her knees, her hands moving up and down my length. Her red lips pursed, kissing the tip of me.
I groaned in sweet agony. If only she’d take that long cock into her hot mouth.
Her sky-blue eyes looked up at me. “May I taste you?”
“Please,” I moaned.
My hands tangled in her long blonde hair as her mouth went over my cock. She sucked me like a pro. Up and down, licking, sucking, even nibbling in just the right way.
Her nails scratched lightly at the underside of my balls, tantalizingly slow. Faster and faster she went as I moved her head at the speed I needed. Back and forth, I watched her beautiful head bob against me.
My stomach went tight and my body tensed. I growled as I spilled my cum down her throat.
She drank it all up greedily, then wiped the back of her mouth as she looked up at me. “Yum!”
I came back to reality with my hand on my spent cock, my head resting on the tiled shower wall, my fantasy over. My body no longer ached.
If just jacking off to the idea of her could do that for me, what would fucking the shit of the actual girl do for me?
After catching my breath, I washed my hair and body before getting out of the shower. Heading straight for my bed, naked, I climbed in and tried not to think about Lila.
In class earlier, as I’d sat next to her, I had found she’d changed up her soap and shampoo. A nice honeysuckle scent blossomed around her. I hadn’t said a word about it to her.
The sexual harassment class had said you shouldn’t talk about the way a person smelled, good or bad. But she’d smelled so damn good. I had this bet going on with myself that Lila Banks would smell great with any scent. Hell, she could probably make even garbage smell amazing. Only that girl could pull it off.
I had only seen her in nice clothes, but I bet she’d look great in anything, too. But she’d look the absolute best lying naked in my bed.
Turning over on my side, I spoke out loud to myself. “Quit it! You can’t have her anyway.”
Why was I torturing myself?
Our jobs would keep us apart. And if I got the morning job, even though she had said she’d be a good sport about it, I couldn’t be sure how she’d react.
She wasn’t accustomed to playing these kinds of games. She had no idea how bad losing could feel. Especially losing at something that could change your whole life around. With the added income of the morning anchor position, she’d make three times the money she was making now—definitely enough to get her life started in a new city.
I knew I could make it without the anchor job. I had my money from playing ball. Though I hadn’t asked her about her financial status, I was pretty sure she was as broke as any other recent graduate.
She dressed nice and all, but her clothes w
eren’t that expensive. She wasn’t dripping with expensive jewelry either. She probably came from a middle-class family who had already helped her all they could just to get her to New York for the interview.
I could step out of the race, I supposed. But maybe not. Maybe Artimus wouldn’t let me. But even if I could, should I?
Would it be the right thing to do for Lila?
I was sure some men would give their right arm for her if need be, but would my stepping down and essentially handing over the job really benefit her?
The answer was no. Handouts had a tendency of biting a person in the ass in the long run. And she deserved to win the position on her own merits, not have me give it to her just because I wanted to take care of her in a way.
And why did I want to take care of her anyway?
It wasn’t like she needed me to.
But there it was, unable to be denied—I did want to do something for her. I wanted her in my arms. In my bed. The same way she’d made a place for herself in my head.
But no matter how I felt about her, I still had no idea what she thought of me. Sure, she had said she wanted us to be friends, so there was that.
Could I just be friends with her, though?
Did I even have a choice?
And what would happen if we did get together? Would we both lose our jobs?
That wouldn’t be good at all.
I knew how badly she wanted this position, and my desire for her might put her at risk of losing it. Not only did she want it, but I thought she’d be great at, too.
No, I couldn’t put her in that position. I’d lay off her. Put her in some other place in my head. Maybe a sisterly place.
Who was I kidding; I’d just jerked off to the girl!
There weren’t going to be any sisterly feelings coming from me about Lila.
I rolled over to my other side and noticed that nothing hurt on me. The after-effects of my shower thoughts of Lila, even though they had technically been manufactured, had me feeling great for the first time in forever. My cell rang, taking me out of my thoughts. It was my father.
Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1) Page 6