Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1)

by Michelle Love

  Chapter Sixteen

  Duke

  Turning on my side, I slowly started to open my eyes, the thought of waking up to a naked Lila in my bed already making my cock hard. Seemed that having sex all night long hadn’t been enough. I wanted more.

  But when I turned over, reaching for the woman who’d damn near worn me out last night, I found myself alone in my bed.

  I ran my hand over the empty space I’d expected to find Lila in. Lying on my back, I rubbed my temples and wondered why she’d left without saying a word to me.

  If she’d thought this was a one-time thing, she was sorely mistaken. I wanted to kick myself for not getting her cell number. Then I remembered that rehearsals had been set up, starting later that same day.

  As I got out of bed, I noticed something unusual. Nothing on my body ached, my muscles feeling loose and relaxed for once. My cock was a bit on the sore side from all the friction I’d put it through last night, but that was a small price to pay for the night I’d had. I quite liked the ache there—it reminded me of Lila.

  After a shower and shave, I dressed then headed out to grab a bite before going to the station. It was a dress rehearsal, so I had on one of my nicest suits, dark blue with a white shirt underneath. I noticed a few heads turning my way when I got out of the cab to go into the station.

  Heading inside, I saw the receptionist, Gretchen, ogling me. Apparently, she hadn’t paid much attention during the harassment class. Her eyes were glued to me, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it. “Hey, Duke.”

  “Hello, Gretchen.” I walked to the elevator. “Have a good day.”

  “You too.” She licked her red lips. “See you when you leave.”

  All I did was nod before stepping into the elevator. Once I got up to the studio, I found everyone from the evening news team there. The rehearsal went smoothly, considering it was the first time we’d done a real run-through.

  Ashton, the producer, asked us to sit in to watch the next group, the team who’d be doing the nightly news—the last news show of each day. Lila was on that program, and I couldn’t wait to see her again.

  Lila seemed to be in a hurry, walking right past those of us who sat around, waiting to see how they all did. She hadn’t even given me a sideways glance. I supposed she was trying to put distance between us, so no one would suspect we had any kind of a relationship. I thought she was going overboard, though. We could be friends—no one had said we couldn’t.

  They had a good rehearsal, Lila impressing me once again with the way she could be so professional while being so relatable. She pulled it all off with such ease, it was as if she’d been born to do the job.

  Once they were done, she headed off, but I followed her, catching up with her before she knew it. “Hey, you.”

  She stopped and turned to look at me. “Hi, Duke.”

  I nodded toward an empty area where we could talk in private. “Can you talk to me for a minute?”

  She nodded and followed me to a remote corner where we wouldn’t be overheard. I looked into her eyes, finding them a little droopy. “I know you’re wondering why I left without saying anything to you this morning.”

  “I am,” I said as I put my hands into my pockets. “I missed seeing you this morning.”

  She looked behind her to make sure no one was near. “I had to leave, Duke. I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

  “Too late.” I smiled at her. “You don’t have to act like you don’t even know me, Lila. I think that’s a little overboard, don’t you?”

  She smiled shyly. “I honestly don’t know how to act. I guess acting like I don’t even know you is pretty silly.”

  “Yeah, it is.” I caught Artimus coming toward us. “Here comes the boss.”

  “Oh, shit! Should I leave?” She looked as nervous as a mouse that’d just caught the attention of a cat.

  “No. Just act normal.” I tried to show her how to be casual, but she couldn’t seem to do it, her hands fidgeting nonstop. “A little more normal than that, baby.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Don’t call me that here.”

  I nodded. She was right on that point. Then Artimus stepped up next to her. “You two having a little powwow over here all by yourselves?”

  I came up with something on the fly, “We were just talking about how the rehearsals went. I thought they went well. What did you think, Artimus?”

  “I thought so too. Quite frankly, I expected them to be a bit unpolished since everyone is new to this. But you’ve all surprised me—a very pleasant surprise.” He put his hands into his pockets and swayed back and forth. “We’ve sent the interviews you two did to a few hundred of the people we sent surveys to.” Lila looked down, seeming uncomfortable. “Anything wrong, Lila?”

  The expression she wore made me a little uneasy. She definitely looked like she was hiding something, and it almost looked like she just might blurt it out then and there. And that would’ve been horrible for us both.

  “Something is wrong, sir.” Her face went from nervous to resolute and my stomach knotted with what I thought she was going to say.

  “What’s wrong?” Artimus asked.

  I thought I might just pass out, and had to clench my fists in my pockets a few times to help get my blood flowing properly.

  Lila shifted her weight as she said, “We’re rehearsing for all the newscasts but the morning one. I find that unfair.”

  Thank God!

  I let out the breath I’d been holding. Artimus looked like he hadn’t thought about that at all. “I suppose it is a little unfair, isn’t it?”

  Now seemed like a good time to bring up an idea I’d been playing around with but hadn’t really put out there yet. “Artimus, I’ve been thinking. You see, Lila and I think a lot alike. I think we’d make a good team. I know there’s not enough money in the budget to pay two anchors, but what if we split the salary right down the middle? If we did that, then could we co-anchor the morning newscast?”

  Lila looked at me with wide eyes. “You’d do that, Duke? You’d take half the pay?”

  With a shrug, I answered her. “If you would, then so would I. I think together we’d make that show better than either of us could alone.”

  Artimus tapped his chin as he thought about that for a moment. “You know, I haven’t considered that before. I was set on one anchor for each show. But morning shows are different, now, aren’t they?”

  “Most of them are.” Lila smiled at me. “And I’d be down to do that too, Artimus. If you went that way, we could start rehearsing for that show much sooner.”

  “I’ll have to talk to some people before I give you my answer.” He patted me on the back, smiling at me. “I want you to know I think this is very generous of you, Duke.”

  “Not really. I just think we’d get better ratings that way. Since I’ve gotten to know Lila, I’ve found out how similar we are, and I think we can make that work for us and this network.” The way Artimus nodded, his eyes glinting with respect for me, made me feel like I’d come up with something that could work.

  No more competition meant one less thing getting between Lila and me, and I was set on removing all the obstacles that were in our way. As for the problem with Artimus’s rule, well, I knew we’d need a bit more time before we even brought up that subject with him—if we could at all.

  “I’m going to get on that right away, guys. I’ll send you both a message when we’ve come to a decision. I’ll see you both later.” He walked away from us, leaving Lila and I smiling.

  “You sneaky man. You’ve had this idea for a while, haven’t you?” She began walking toward the elevator.

  “I’ve been batting it around for a little while. I wasn’t sure about the whole splitting the salary thing, but figured that’d be the only way to get him to consider it. I can make that work for me. Can you make it work for you?” I pressed the button to take us to the ground floor.

  “Are you kidding?” She laughed. “That one salary is three ti
mes what we’re making for our other positions. I’d be good with half, easily. But I have to admit that I never thought of splitting it. Artimus is right, you know, you are generous.”

  I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one was around before I said, “In more ways than one, right?”

  The blush that quickly covered her cheeks made my cock thump. I knew this wasn’t the right place for this, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “Yeah, you’re right about that.” The elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside. No one else got on, and I looked at her as we stood there, side by side.

  “I wouldn’t mind if this elevator got stuck right now.” I nudged her with my shoulder. “I’d been all set to wake up with you this morning and get back to making you scream my name.”

  “Now that I know that was your plan, I’m sorry I left.” She reached out, putting her hand on my chest. “But I thought you might not want to see me there when you woke up. I thought you might not want to keep messing around.”

  “I’m not messing around. Are you?” I had to ask her because I had no idea if what we were doing would lead anywhere or not. But I knew I wasn’t putting everything on the line just to mess around with her.

  “Isn’t that all we can do? We can’t walk around holding hands, going on dates, or any of that kind of stuff. So, that would make what we did messing around, right?” She moved her hand over my jacket, right where my tattoo was.

  “I don’t want to just be messing around with you. And I will figure out how we can be open with this. I’ve figured out how to make the competition go away. I can figure out a way to make our boss see that us dating each other won’t lead to any harassment.” The doors opened, and we walked out. I was glad to see that Gretchen had left, as it had gotten late. “We could go back to my place if you want to.”

  But then both of our cells beeped, and we found that Artimus had scheduled a dinner meeting in a couple of hours, making that idea a no-go.

  “Crap,” she muttered.

  “Well, there goes that, huh?” I looked around to find only a few people coming through the lobby.

  Another idea sprang up in my head. “You know, I think I’ll go back up to the fourth floor. No one will be in those offices at this hour. And there is that really nice private bathroom up there.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Are you telling me you’ve got to poop? Cause I think it’s a little too early to be hearing that kind of thing out of you.”

  I had to laugh at her. “No. And you don’t have to worry, I’m not usually the kind of guy who announces every bowel movement. I was thinking of having a little fun in that private bathroom. With you. So, what do you say to that?”

  She blinked a few times before she said, “I think you just made me wet with that idea, and I’d love to meet up with you. Say in ten minutes?”

  She was on board, and I was on fire for her already.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lila

  I couldn’t explain it even to myself, but the way Duke got to me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. One look from him could set me off. And a few choice words could create a puddle in my panties.

  Would you call it lust? Pure, sexual attraction? Or was it something more than that?

  Whatever it was, I liked it.

  After waiting ten minutes, I headed up to our rendezvous point with my heart pounding, pussy pulsing, and head spinning. This wasn’t like me at all.

  I’d never been one to go after bad boys. A few had tried their moves on me in the past, and I’d easily brushed them off. To be honest, I’d always had a type—quiet guys with a less than dominant personality. Or I’d thought that was my type.

  But Duke wasn’t like that at all. He was very dominant, but he also knew when to ease back that side of himself. And he had me doing things I wouldn’t have ever done. Like having sex at the workplace. A workplace that didn’t even want us to be involved with each other to begin with.

  This rule-breaking side of me had never seen the light of day. Now that it had, it yearned to be free. And I wasn’t about to stuff it away anytime soon—not when it was allowing me to have the best sex of my life.

  After a quick rap on the door, Duke was opening it and pulling me inside. “There you are.”

  His hot mouth crashed onto mine, taking my breath away. His hard body pinned mine to the door, his cock already pulsing against me.

  He’d already taken off his jacket and tie, and his shirt was halfway unbuttoned. I finished that job then ran my hands all over his muscly back before pulling his shirt off completely.

  His hands moved under my skirt, ridding me of my panties with one jerk, ripping them right off me. Seemed I’d be doing the dinner meeting sans underwear.

  I didn’t care about that at all. All I cared about was getting closer to Duke. He hiked my skirt up to my waist then dropped his pants to his ankles. Lifting me up, he brought me down on his hard cock in one swift movement. We both groaned with how good it felt to be connected again.

  Using the door to help hold me up, he slammed into me, hard and unrelenting. He moved his mouth from mine to kiss my neck, driving me wild. “Duke!”

  “Lila,” he murmured near my ear. “You feel so damn good.”

  “So do you,” I gasped as he thrust even harder. “Oh!”

  Every part of my body was overwhelmed by some sensation or another. He brought out so much in me that it boggled my mind. How had this never happened for me before?

  Clamping my earlobe between his teeth, he tugged it. “I could eat you up.”

  “It feels like you’re devouring me right now.” The man consumed me, took me to places I’d never been, brought me to unfamiliar territory.

  A wave moved through me, sending my body into a quivering state as I came all over his cock. I whimpered as my body flushed from head to toe.

  A delightful groan slipped out of him as he spilled into me with his own release. “God! What you do to me is unreal!”

  I had no idea what I was doing to him. All I knew was that what he did to me felt unreal too.

  Our bodies settled, slowly but surely, as we caught our breaths. He eased out of me, and I put my feet back on the floor. My head was lighter than it had been when I’d come in, my body glowing, and my heart still pounding.

  “Duke, I didn’t even know what sex was until you showed me. Thank you.” I pushed my skirt back down and tucked my shirt into it again.

  “You can’t give me all the credit, Lila. You’re fantastic.” He bent over to pull his pants back up.

  Looking in the mirror, I ran my hands through my hair. “I can’t believe you’re saying that. All I do is let you work your magic.”

  He chuckled. “Do you really think you don’t do anything?”

  “I don’t.” I turned around, and he took me into his arms, kissing my cheek.

  “Oh, but you do. You move your body in a way that takes me to heaven every damn time. Wanna have a sleepover tonight?” He kissed my lips softly.

  “Hmm. I’m not sure,” I teased him. I certainly did want to have a sleepover with him.

  His fingers grazed both of my arms as his lips did the same to my neck. “Please.”

  Something inside my tummy fluttered. “Well, since you said please, it would be rude of me to turn you down. But I’ve got to stop by my place before we go to the dinner meeting. It seems I’ve had a little mishap with my panties. Plus, I’d like to take a quick bath to freshen up.”

  “A bath sounds good. Do I get an invite to that?” He nibbled my neck again, making arousal spread through me once more.

  “How do you do this to me?” I moaned.

  “I don’t know, probably the same way you do this to me.” He pulled his mouth off me. His hands ran up and down my arms. “We should get going. I’ll let you go out first, but don’t leave without me. We’ll take a cab to your place and get cleaned up there before heading out to meet Artimus.”

  With a nod, I left him and headed down to the l
obby, hoping I wouldn’t run into anyone on the way. Freshly fucked, I didn’t know if I’d be able to lie if I saw anyone.

  I waited outside for Duke before hailing a cab, slipping into the backseat before he did. He stretched his arm out on the back of the seat then wrapped it around me.

  I rested my head on his shoulder. “This feels nice.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “To me too, baby.”

  “You’re a bad influence on me, Duke. I’ve never been a rebel before. You’ve got me breaking all kinds of rules, you bad boy.” I sighed heavily as I wondered where this would lead. I’d probably end up without a job and be forced to go back to live with my parents in New Mexico if we kept things up.

  “Bad boy? I’ve never considered myself to be one of those kinds of guys.” He played with a lock of my hair. “What makes you think that?”

  Pulling my head off his shoulder, I looked him in the eyes. “Really? You don’t think breaking a company rule during our first week on the job is rebellious? You don’t think screwing in a bathroom at said company is breaking the rules?”

  “When you put it that way, then I guess it does sound like I’m one of those guys. But I’ve only ever been this way with you. Then again, I’ve never been told I couldn’t be with whoever I wanted to be with, either.” He gently pushed me to lay my head back down on his shoulder.

  As I lay there, I thought about what he’d said. He’d never been told not to see someone before. Nor had I. Was it only this hot between us because we weren’t supposed to be doing it?

  I’d thought it was just him. But maybe there were so many sparks because it was forbidden, not because of any over-the-top chemistry.

  If that was the case, this could all just go away. Hell, either of us could get the urge to start something up with someone else at the station, looking for the same high we got with each other.

  Suddenly it all felt seedy and dirty. Nothing more than sex that was only thrilling because of the rule that forbade it. But even as I thought that, I felt his hand moving back and forth over my shoulder, rubbing it softly—sweetly, even.