Derelie knew these things about Jackson Haley because everyone knew them. Heck, the whole city knew them.
Over the top of the kind of rustling silence from a floor full of anxious reporters Jackson Haley said, “No cuts to the city pages,” and it wasn’t a question. He didn’t even look at Phil. His eyes were down on his cell.
Phil’s whole frontal lobe collapsed into a frown worthy of an earthquake warning. “We’ll continue to produce a quality news service the city can be proud of and I’ll do what’s necessary to ensure that happens.”
Haley laughed. The sound made Derelie flinch. It was the sound of ice cracking. “Are the PR people writing your lines, Phil? They could do with having more actual content, like the words yes or no.”
That caused a ripple of nervous humor and made Shona’s head whip around to look at Haley.
“I write my own lines, and I don’t need to go through you for permission to run this paper,” said Phil.
Now there was eye contact between the two men who stood some distance apart, which made for a lot of head turning. Derelie wished for popcorn, job security and fewer visits to the dentist, and she wasn’t getting any of those things anytime soon.
“That man has balls the size of Texas,” Shona muttered.
If Haley behaved like a man who knew what women were capable of outside of work, who used his good looks and glamour, his fame and professional power to do something as normal as fool around like other men did, Derelie might think Shona had firsthand, closely sourced, eyewitness knowledge of said Texas-sized balls.
But the collective powers of the paper’s editors, reporters, fact checkers, photographers and librarians had been unable to muster sufficient evidence that the human headline used his balls for anything as un-journalistic as sex, which had the makings of a tragedy as far as Derelie was concerned.
“Not for permission—for the stories that keep the presses and the dollars rolling in the first place,” said the man with the balls in question.
“This is not a debate,” said Phil with a savage tug on what little hair he had left.
“No, it’s our jobs, our livelihoods and the public good of the city,” said everyone’s sudden current favorite champion of the worker, using his rumored Texas-sized balls for the good of all.
“Christ, Haley, no one is losing their jobs.” Over the collective sigh of relief Phil said, “We’ll buy cheaper light bulbs and scratchier crapper paper, so when you’re all stumbling around blind with sore asses—” he pointed at Haley “—you can blame that asshole.”
Derelie knew working at the Courier would enlarge her worldview, but she’d had no idea today’s lesson was mostly going to center around sex and waste organs. She snuck a look at Haley. He was oblivious to the stir going on around him, leaning back on a wall with his eyes down on his cell phone screen, too cool for school.
Someone should have the dangerous job of investigating how Jackson Haley looked when he wasn’t suited up defending the city, his own face, or the newsroom. Not that she was volunteering, because fascination from afar was safer and the newsroom spin was that Jackson Haley was more into the men he liked to hit than anyone who wore a skirt and heels.
And wasn’t that a lifestyle story headline.
Don’t miss THE LOVE EXPERIMENT by Ainslie Paton.
Available now wherever Carina Press ebooks are sold.
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Copyright © 2017 by Ainslie Paton
About the Author
Ainslie Paton always wanted to write stories to make people smile, but the need to eat, accumulate books and have bedclothes to read under was ever-present. She sold out, and worked as a flack, a suit and a creative, ghosting for business leaders, rabble-rousers and politicians, and making words happen for companies, governments, causes, conditions, high-profile CEOs, low-profile celebs and the occasional misguided royal.
She still does that. She also writes for love, and so she can buy shoes and the good cat food.
More here: www.ainsliepaton.com.au, and on Twitter and Instagram, @AinsliePaton.
Also available from Ainslie Paton and Carina Press
Hoodwinked Hearts
The Love Experiment
From Ainslie Paton and Escape Publishing
Grease Monkey Jive
Getting Real
Detained
Floored
Hooked on a Feeling
Insecure
Incapable
Inconsolable
Also available from Ainslie Paton
White Balance
Unsuitable
Offensive Behavior
Damaged Goods
Sold Short
Shotgun Wedding
One Night Wife
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ISBN-13: 9781488081163
The Love Coupon
Copyright © 2018 by Ainslie Paton
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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