Open Invitation

by Tiffany White

  Desire curled through her as his whispered words crawled inside her mind, temptation incarnate. She wanted to cross her legs to still the aching sensation building there. Surely any moment she would slide right down the wall into a puddle at his feet.

  Like a drowning woman, she fought for air and tried to escape a certain fate. “Look, I’m sorry I sent you the fantasy letters—”

  “I’m not,” he said, cutting off her apology. “As a matter of fact,” he said, shooting her a crooked grin and a sexy wink, “I’ve got a hot-pink swimming suit cut to there with your name on it.”

  “You’ve…” She swallowed the lump that threatened to cut off the air to her lungs. “But I didn’t mean—”

  “Oh yes, you did.” He was having none of her denial. His hand unfastened the clip that held her hair in place, and slipped it into his jacket pocket. His fingers then slid through her glossy brown tresses. Catching them up in a twist at the back of her head, he held her captive. “You want to do all those sexy things you wrote me in those hot letters, or you wouldn’t have thought of them.”

  Her breathing was shallow and her eyes were wide, mirroring her sexual excitement. Her mouth was soft and swollen from the ravishment of his hungry kiss. The filmy silk of her blouse lifted and fell with her quick breaths.

  His eyes narrowed in speculation. “You don’t really dislike me at all, do you? All this icy aloofness is just a sham of yours, an act to cover the real you. An act you’ve been putting on to convince me, but you’re not even doing a very good job of convincing yourself, are you?”

  His eyes searched her face, lingering on her lips while her gold ankle bracelet twinkled in his memory like an erotic charm. Was she a witch? He was certainly under her spell. He’d never been so lost.

  Desire, naked and exposed, flared in his eyes. “I don’t know what your game is, but as of right now, I’m playing.” With that, he leaned closer, his breath fanning her face. “Admit it,” he demanded fervently, “you want me every bit as much as I want you, don’t you?”

  Amanda wilted under his intense scrutiny, her eyes fluttering closed. His thigh had somehow insinuated itself between hers, and he was pressing his point home very convincingly. She did want him.

  “Oh, here you are—” Toby said, coming around the corner and strangling off the last of his sentence when he suddenly realized the intimate scene he’d walked into. Turning bright red, he haltingly managed the message he’d been sent to deliver.

  “Uh, sorry. Uh…Noah wanted to, uh…see you when you’re…finished. Uh…I mean…that is…before you leave, Kyle.”

  Noah’s message delivered, Toby fled under Kyle’s dark, murderous stare.

  Time returned to normal from its snail’s pace, and the activity of the television station came into focus as they both remembered where they were and how public a place it was.

  After a moment, Kyle slowly untangled himself from Amanda and moved back. Taking a deep breath, he raised his eyebrows and reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve her hair clip. He considered it a moment, then returned it to his pocket.

  Her eyes questioned his action.

  His elegant shrug put in another appearance. The noise of the station faded briefly into the background again as he said, “I like you with your hair all—” he threaded his fingers through it wonderingly “—all free and wild.”

  His eyes lowered then to a sleepy bedroom half-mast as he considered her while she tried unsuccessfully to return her breathing to normal.

  Before he turned to go and find Noah, he left a message of his own. “This isn’t over. It hasn’t even started yet”

  AMANDA PICKED UP the bottle of perfume in her desk drawer and sniffed it’s fragrance. She ran her finger over the name on the bottle…. Her plan had backfired. Her secret fantasy letters were a secret to Kyle no longer, and she was the one who was obsessed. Had been from the beginning, if she was honest with herself. She hadn’t stood a chance against her wildly charismatic cohost. It had been naive of her to believe she had. She was just like all the other fans Kyle was used to swooning at his feet.

  Throughout the week he had made several attempts to continue where they’d left off when Toby had interrupted them after the taping of the theme show. She had avoided his advances, because she suspected Kyle didn’t take the women in his life seriously. Kyle not taking her seriously was something she knew she wouldn’t be able to bear.

  Setting the perfume back in the drawer, she walked over to the T.V. and turned on KCNX. Theater Talk would be on in a few minutes, and she wanted to watch the theme show they’d taped. If only she hadn’t used that phrase, Kyle wouldn’t have found out she’d been the one sending him the sexy fantasies. Fantasies he’d taken as an engraved invitation to a seduction. A seduction she had to admit she wanted…but she wanted so much more.

  The few men in her life back East had taken her seriously, they just hadn’t been responsive to her deep sexuality. She wondered if she was being unrealistic to want a man who could fulfill all her needs. Still, in an age when there seemed to be a shortage of available men, she refused to make her only requirement be that the man was breathing.

  KYLE SLOUCHED ON HIS SOFA in frustration. He couldn’t understand Amanda’s reluctance to give in to the simmering attraction between them. Didn’t she realize that what they had didn’t happen all that often? He threw a sofa pillow across the room. She was without a doubt the most infuriating woman he’d ever known.

  He reached for the remote control and turned on KCNX to watch the theme show they had taped earlier in the week.

  The beer in his hand never made it to his lips as he became engrossed in watching the byplay between himself and Amanda on the screen. It had been a good show, he judged as he watched the film clips come and go. Amanda had… He sat up a little straighter and watched intently as an idea began to take form in his mind.

  Yes…. Delight lit up his eyes, and his smile grew wider and ever more wicked as he contemplated his idea to penetrate Amanda’s defenses. He fully intended to quiet her misgivings about him, to show her he wasn’t the ruthless cad she insisted on seeing him as. Of course, what he was about to do was a bit underhanded, but there were times when desperate measures were called for, and this was one of them.

  There was no way he was going to let things go on as if nothing had happened between them.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  NOAH LOOKED UP from studying the station’s new budget spread out on his desk as Amanda took a place on the end of the sofa and Kyle strolled over to help himself to a mint.

  “What’s this you’re bloodying up?” Kyle asked, picking up a page of the budget Noah had been working on with a red pen.

  “The budget,” Noah answered, grabbing the paper away from Kyle’s hand.

  Kyle plopped the mint he’d unwrapped into his mouth and pushed it to one side. “I hope you’re robbing Peter to pay Kyle.”

  Noah snorted. “I’m robbing everybody to pay Kyle.”

  Kyle chuckled and looked over at Amanda. “And you’re robbing me to pay Amanda. But I don’t mind. I’m such a pussycat.” When neither of them leaped to negate his outrageous assessment, he pushed his luck. “Why, I think having a cohost is just peachy keen.”

  Amanda studied her fingernail while Noah studied Kyle.

  “Do you have a death wish?” Noah asked finally.

  Kyle feigned an innocent schoolboy look, and Noah got down to the business at hand. “As you both know, the theme show got promising reviews and ratings, and we’ll no doubt be doing more of them in the future. Amanda, I’ve already talked to Kyle about an idea I have to promote Theater Talk and build on the popularity the two of you seem to be generating.”

  A roguish grin creased Kyle’s face as he looked to Amanda. “He wants us to start dating…. You know, like movie stars do to promote their new movies.”

  “What!” Amanda stared at Kyle, dumbstruck.

  “Ah, see, I told you, Noah. Yo
u’d have to give her a raise to get her to agree to date me, and the old budget there doesn’t look too promising. You see, she doesn’t like me. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?” Kyle said with genuine puzzlement.

  “Not at this particular moment.” Noah sighed. Looking to Amanda, he explained, “That’s not my idea at all. Now, Kyle, will you please go sit down and listen?”

  “Sure,” Kyle agreed with a sloppy salute as he turned and strolled over to where Amanda sat on the sofa. Flashing her a devilish wink, he slouched down only centimeters away from her. Since she was already hugging the arm, she had to endure his nearness or make an obvious move away from him, and she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he disturbed her.

  Watching them, Noah pulled open his desk drawer. He replaced the mint in his mouth with an antacid tablet and began again.

  “The Academy Awards will be on next week, and I’ve got the approval from the powers that be for KCNX to sponsor a contest for the viewers of Theater Talk. The station is going to have ballots printed up and distributed to merchants around town. Viewers can then mark the ballots with their picks for the Oscar winners of the major awards. The viewer coming closest to naming all the winners will win a trip to Hollywood.”

  Toby interrupted, sticking his head in the doorway. “Kyle, the weather guy just came in and said someone’s towing your car away.”

  “Yeah, right,” Kyle said, knowing the weatherman’s penchant for practical jokes.

  Amanda seized the opportunity to get away from Kyle’s unnerving nearness. Going over to the window, she looked down. “Did you park your Mustang in front of the fire hydrant, where you always do?” she called over her shoulder.

  “Yeah, but it’s no sweat. I know the cops on the beat, and they never bother me about it.”

  “Then you must have forgotten to make your payment….”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, somebody’s hooking your car up to tow, and they’re not being real careful—oops! There goes the fender.”

  “What? Noah, I’ll be right back,” Kyle promised, sprinting from the room.

  Amanda turned from the window and strolled across the room to perch on the edge of Noah’s desk, a broad smile on her face as she helped herself to one of his mints.

  “That’s not very nice, you know, smiling over someone’s misfortune,” Noah said with mock chastisement, his own smile matching hers.

  “I know,” she said with a nod. “He’s going to be even more ticked when he gets all the way down there,” she added, plopping the mint into her mouth, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Oh nothing,” she answered innocently. “Nothing at all.”

  Noah leaned back in his chair. “His car’s not really being towed, is it?” he said, catching on.

  “Uh-uh.”

  “Amanda!”

  “What?” she asked, moving the mint around in her cheek with her tongue.

  “Nothing.” Noah chuckled. “I’m glad to see you’re giving him back some of his own.”

  “It’s only fair,” Amanda said.

  “True, but don’t forget, you’re the one who’s got to work with him when he gets back in a foul mood.”

  “He’s always in a foul mood when he doesn’t get his way,” Amanda answered, showing a studied lack of concern. “Speaking of work,” she said, getting up and walking over to the window again. “I’ve got an idea about the contest, if you’re open to suggestions.”

  “I’m always open to suggestions, you know that”

  “Well, you know that controversy I promised you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I was thinking…. What if Kyle and I did a show where we each made our own predictions as to the Oscar winners?” she ventured. “Sort of an adjunct to the contest”

  “Pair you off against each other, you mean?”

  “That’s right. There’s enough of an element of unpredictability to the Oscars to make them hard to call, and besides, Kyle and I aren’t any more likely to agree about them than we do about anything else.”

  Noah nodded as he thought about the possibilities.

  “You know, I like it. It’s a fun idea, and it would be a great lead-in show for Oscar night.”

  After glancing down at his watch to check the time, he looked back up at Amanda.

  “Tell you what. I’ve got a budget meeting in a few minutes. Why don’t you go on down and make peace with Kyle by telling him I’ve agreed to give you a special show on Oscar night.”

  From her spot by the window, Amanda saw Kyle head back to the building from his car. His determined pace didn’t bode well for her. He looked like a man intent on getting even.

  “Thanks, Noah, for the vote of confidence,” she said, heading out the door.

  “No thanks needed,” Noah replied, waving her off. “The two of you are doing a good job together.”

  Amanda stood in the deserted hallway, awaiting the elevator. Toby and the weatherman had disappeared like cowardly lions, leaving her to face Kyle alone. No problem, she reassured herself, armed with Noah’s news to defuse him.

  When the elevator finally arrived, its door slid open to reveal one unhappy passenger whose blue eyes lit up when they saw her. Kyle’s smile was more a lick of his chops.

  It was everything Amanda could do not to back away.

  “Going down?” he asked, holding the door, his eyes locking with hers seductively.

  She swallowed and nodded.

  “Good, I like how you apologize,” he said, pulling her into the elevator.

  Amanda closed her eyes as the door slid shut behind her. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but the look on Kyle’s face had told her she had reason to worry about being alone in the small enclosure with him. He had every intention of getting his own back.

  Her eyes flew open a few seconds later when the elevator came to an abrupt halt between floors.

  “What happened? Are we in trouble?” she asked, her eyes wide with concern.

  Kyle leaned against the wall, his hand cocked on his hip as his back shielded the control panel. “You are,” he drawled, scattering goose bumps up her arms.

  “Me? But it was the weatherman’s—”

  “Amanda…”

  “What?”

  “Come here.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why.”

  “I do?”

  “You do.”

  “Oh.”

  She took a few hesitant steps toward him, her face flushed. The Muzak was drifting a saxophone solo around them, pulling the tension even tighter.

  “Now apologize,” he said hoarsely, his forefinger trailing down the side of her neck.

  “I’m…I’m sorry,” she stammered.

  “Uh-uh. Show me,” he whispered.

  “Show you?”

  “Show me.”

  “How?”

  “You know how.”

  “I do?”

  “You do.”

  “Oh.”

  Amanda shook her head and came out of the sensual trance Kyle had spun between them. “Look, I’m not kissing you or…or anything. I said I’m sorry and that’s my apology.”

  “Amanda…”

  “What?”

  “Come here.”

  “Kyle…”

  “I’m not pushing any buttons until you push one—” he winked wickedly “—or maybe two of mine.”

  “Kyle!”

  “I’m waiting….” His hand slid behind her neck to coax her forward.

  “One kiss,” she offered, wanting the kiss as much as he did.

  “Two,” he bartered.

  “One,” she repeated, standing firm.

  “Stingy little thing, aren’t you?” he teased.

  “One,” she said again.

  His gaze was direct. “Okay, one…and a half.”

  “‘A ha
lf? What’s ‘a half?’” she asked as his lips descended.

  His hand caressed her breast through her silky blouse by way of explanation, scratching the lace of her bra over her nipple erotically. With a low groan, he pulled her against him.

  The floor fell out from under them.

  “Damn!” Kyle swore, turning to stop the button he’d activated by backing into the control panel.

  He was too late.

  The elevator swooshed to a stop at the entrance floor and the door slid open to waiting passengers.

  Kyle shot Amanda a wry look. “This is not my day.”

  She suppressed a giggle and scrambled from the elevator, blushing profusely, with Kyle close on her heels.

  “Miss Butterworth, wait up!” someone called from behind them as they were about to exit the building.

  When she turned, Amanda saw Toby rushing from another elevator. Catching up to them, he explained there was a call for her on line three.

  Amanda excused herself and went to take the call at the main floor reception.

  “Who was it?” Kyle asked as Toby turned to go.

  Toby turned back to Kyle and shrugged, “Some guy.”

  “Local call?” Kyle asked with studied casualness.

  “No, long distance, I think. That’s why Noah sent me down to catch her before she left.”

  Kyle nodded. “Think it’s her boyfriend?” he asked with a locker-room leer.

  “Miss Butterworth’s?” Toby said, his surprised tone of voice expressing his doubt.

  “What, Toby? You don’t think she had any boyfriends back East?”

  “I never really thought about it,” Toby answered.

  “Yeah, I suppose so. She’s real pretty and all, it’s just…”

  “She’s a little on the uptight side, right?” Kyle finished for him with a wink of camaraderie.

  Their conversation was aborted by Amanda’s return.