Temperatures Rising

by Brenda Jackson

  Terrence couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Well, every sport has its own idiosyncrasies. Thanks for calling in with your comment.”

  He disconnected the call, and instead of taking another, he said, “Now it’s time for a weather update with Prentice Sherman.” He pushed a button to bring Prentice, who was in another sound room, on the air. He then turned off the mike.

  He leaned back in his chair while keeping an eye on the computer monitor that would tell him when to reconnect. He wondered what Sherri was doing. He knew that with Warrick away she had her hands full. Any thoughts about getting her to let him into her space would have to be placed on the back burner for a while. Hurricane Ana was the main thing on everyone’s mind right now.

  Chapter 10

  S herri studied the flashing computer screen on her desk while tightening her grip on the phone in her hand. “I understand, Prentice. Your first priority is to Lucinda and to get her to the hospital. Be careful and call me when you find out something.”

  She hung up the phone and took deep breaths. Prentice had called to say Lucinda had started spotting and the doctor had suggested he take her to the hospital since the baby wasn’t due for another month. That meant WLCK wouldn’t have a weatherman.

  She slumped down in her chair. On top of everything else, two other employees, including Mark, had phoned to say they couldn’t come. As far as she knew, the only person at the station, other than herself, was Soul Man, the DJ who was currently spinning the Old School Hour. He had been doing a good job of providing weather updates, but he’d been there for twelve hours already, and she couldn’t ask him to stay any longer. Besides, her employees needed to go home and take care of personal business. They had lives outside the radio station. That meant she would be doing the solo act for a while. She had no other choice since she refused to go on total autopilot. She’d let music run on autopilot, but she’d stay to give updates on the weather.

  She sighed again when she heard the phone ring, wondering if things were about to get worse. “Hello.”

  “Sherri, it’s Kim. I just took a quick break to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I’m as well as can be expected.” She told Kim about the call-ins.

  “Maybe you ought to follow their lead and go home,” Kim said seriously.

  Sherri shook her head. “I can’t do that. As long as the station stays on the air, I will be here. I packed an overnight bag before I left this morning and brought in extra clothes, so I intend to stay put. Besides, with all the generators in place I’ll probably do better here.”

  “What about your personal belongings?”

  “Since I’m on the second floor my apartment should be fine. It’s a new complex and, according to my landlord, built to withstand a lot more wind than we’re expecting.”

  She looked at the clock on her wall. “Look, Kim, I need to go. Soul Man is getting off at four today, and I need to take over. I don’t want him to think I’ll keep him here unnecessarily.”

  “Okay, you take care.”

  “You do the same, Kim.”

  Sherri stood. For the second straight day she had worn jeans in to work, a decision she hadn’t been pleased with at the time. But the owner of her local dry cleaner—where most of her business suits were still hanging—had feared Ana’s predicted fury and closed the shop and caught the first plane leaving the Keys. Sherri had been surprised since most of the other business owners in the area were adamant about waiting it out and didn’t plan to close shop until it became absolutely necessary.

  She had searched her closet and had been forced to do some quick shopping at the mall down the street after discovering she didn’t own a pair of jeans. Now she had come to the conclusion they weren’t so bad and were rather comfortable. Hard habits just weren’t easy to break.

  She crossed the room, stepped out into the corridor and immediately collided with the hard bulk of someone’s body. She knew in an instant, the moment a hand went to her waist to steady her, whose body it was. Terrence.

  “You okay?”

  The concern she heard in the deep, husky voice almost made her weep, in light of the load she had on her shoulders. Instead, she straightened those shoulders and met his eyes, trying to ignore just how good he looked…as usual.

  “Yes, I’m okay. What are you doing here? Didn’t you get the message not to come in?” Programming had changed due to the storm and Sports Talk was canceled today.

  He leaned against the wall. “Yes, I got the message.”

  She frowned. “Then why are you here?”

  He smiled. “I’m here, Sherri, because you’re here. I got a call from Prentice and he told me about Lucinda. I knew that would leave you in a tough spot since, according to Prentice, you’re not putting the station on total autopilot. So I came in to help.”

  “In this weather? You came in here?” she asked incredulously.

  “Yes.”

  That didn’t make any sense, which pushed her to ask, “What about your club? It’s on the ocean. Don’t you have to board it up or something? You have an entire back wall that’s nothing but glass.”

  “There was no need,” he said easily. “I had hurricane shutters installed a few years ago. Besides, I have people in place to take care of whatever needs to be done.”

  He looked her up and down and then said, “I like your outfit, by the way. I meant to tell you the other day how good you look in jeans.”

  She swallowed against the thickness in her throat as well as the fluttering in her stomach. “Thanks.”

  “So what can I do to help? I’ve pitched in for Prentice before, so I’m available if you need me to do weather updates.”

  She sighed deeply. Although she didn’t want to admit it, considering her lack of manpower, he was a godsend. “You can do that, but that means you’ll also have to be the DJ since Hercules called to say he can’t come in and Soul Man has been here for twelve hours already, so there’s no way I can ask him to stay any longer.”

  He nodded. “Where’s Mark?”

  She shook her head. “Not coming in, either.”

  “So it was just going to be you here alone handling things?”

  At her nod he let out a curse. “Why didn’t you just place the station on autopilot and let music play for the next twenty-four to seventy-two hours or longer? With all the modern technology, this station can be programmed to basically run itself, so what are you trying to prove by placing yourself in danger?” he asked in an angry tone.

  She glared up at him. “I’m not trying to prove anything. There are people out there, still left in their homes, displaced in hotels, who are tuned in to us and are depending on hearing what we have to tell them about the weather. They need periodic updates that can only come from a live body.”

  When she saw from his expression that her words hadn’t gotten through to him because he knew she was still holding something back, she glanced down at the floor for a moment before looking back up to meet his gaze. “Okay, maybe I do feel I have something to prove, Terrence. I’m running things in Warrick’s absence, and I need to come through on this. I have to prove to him and to myself that I can do it.”

  Why she had shared that with him she wasn’t sure. Maybe the stress was getting to her. But she was determined to prevail.

  He didn’t say anything for a minute. He just stood there and stared at her. Then he smiled and squeezed her shoulder lightly before placing his arm around her. “Okay, then, let’s go relieve Soul Man.”

  Soul Man was out of there in a flash once they took over. Because Terrence was familiar with the setup, he took over as DJ and Sherri went to work to make sure they were connected to the Hurricane Center for periodic feedback. Once in the glass-enclosed booth, she also checked the equipment to handle incoming calls, making sure it was working properly and at full capacity.

  Because they’d moved to work fast, she hadn’t given herself time to ponder the fact that she and Terrence were the only two at the station, confined ag
ainst the approaching storm. So far, there were only high winds and debris flying around, but from the look of the dark clouds, rain was coming. It was imperative that everyone understood the severity of the hurricane and took precautions. She hoped Terrence used his time and influence on the air to stress that to everyone.

  He glanced over at her and smiled before putting on his headset. The autopilot was in place to play continuous music with Terrence breaking in every so often to give updates on the weather.

  She just wished she wasn’t getting that funny feeling in her stomach every time he smiled at her and showed that dimple. The last thing she needed to remember was the night and morning they had made love. She hadn’t known just how thorough his mouth had been until she had gotten undressed later that day and found passion marks practically everywhere, especially in the area between her thighs.

  Terrence’s voice on the airwaves interrupted her thoughts.

  “Hey, folks, this is Holy Terror sitting in for the Mighty Hercules. I’ll be the voice of calm on your radio and will keep you updated on that voracious hurricane out there, and yes, Ana is acting like a scorned woman, kicking everything in her path, and is presently kicking Cuba’s you-know-what.”

  Sherri placed her hand over her face and cringed. Although he hadn’t used profanity, no one had to imagine just what he meant. She glanced over at him, caught his eye and shook her head, letting him know he needed to tone it down. He merely chuckled and continued talking to the audience.

  “I’m here with the station’s beautiful program director, Sherri Griffin, and she will be assisting me in making sure you get the hurricane facts on a periodic basis. I know many of you thought that you could stay put, but now that’s not an option. So get your butts in gear and evacuate. For those who refuse to leave, you need to take every precaution.”

  Sherri’s eyes widened, not believing that Terrence had said “get your butts in gear.”

  She placed her hand on her forehead. She felt a headache coming on.

  Terrence glanced over at Sherri in the glass booth. He didn’t intend for her to stay there for long, since there was no need for her to distance herself from him with the station basically operating on its own. For now he would give her the space she evidently wanted, but with just the two of them at the station, he was overflowing with ideas about how they could spend their free time. He no longer had to wonder how it would be to make love to her because he knew and had a burning desire to do so again. His body was getting hard just thinking about it.

  Deciding for the time being to switch his thoughts elsewhere, he checked his watch and wondered how Stephen was doing. He had talked to him earlier. An article had appeared in the papers proclaiming Stephen a hero after rescuing some careless tourists from their car that had plunged down a ravine. He’d gotten hurt and sustained a few cuts and bruises, but after a night spent in the hospital, he seemed to be doing fine. And Terrence also needed to give Lucas a call to see if Emma had made it in, although Terrence had a feeling she hadn’t, as usual. He and Stephen had had several talks with Lucas regarding why his fiancée never showed up when she was supposed to. As far as he was concerned, Lucas was putting more into this long-distance relationship than his fiancée.

  Music was continuously playing, a mixture of everything: old school, hip-hop, rap and R & B. Currently Tamia was blowing out a number entitled “So Into You.” He smiled, deciding he was going to make that his theme song in pursuit of Sherri and wondered if she was listening to the lyrics. Probably not, since she was messing around with the transmitter board, not even paying him any attention.

  It was time she became his captive audience.

  “Sherri, could you come here for a minute, please?”

  Sherri inhaled deeply upon hearing the deep, husky voice coming through her headset. She refused to shift her gaze away from the computer monitor. She had known the moment Terrence’s eyes had lit on her. She had felt it in the way her body had responded and hadn’t wanted to give in to temptation and look back. But now she couldn’t help herself and tilted her head to look in his direction.

  The moment their eyes connected, she’d known it was a mistake.

  Need. An overwhelming craving began stirring in her middle and was working its way down her body. Once it reached the area between her legs, she had to tighten her thighs together to find relief. Not that she got any. Terrence had the ability to make her burn…for nobody other than for him.

  She slowly released her breath when his voice came in again through her headset. His eyes still locked with hers. “Come here, Sherri.”

  She swallowed and somehow found her voice. “Why?”

  “I need you to do me a favor.”

  She broke eye contact with him to look back at the computer monitor, trying to resist the pull the sound of his deep, sexy voice had on her. What kind of favor did he need her to do? It had to be about business and not pleasure, right? She didn’t want to ask for fear of giving him any ideas.

  She figured if she didn’t go see what he wanted, he would only ask again, so removing her headset and pushing back her chair, she stood and walked out of the safe haven of the glass booth. His eyes were on her every step she took. She tried looking away but couldn’t.

  When she came within a few feet of where he was sitting, she couldn’t help noticing how his gaze roamed her up and down before zeroing back on her eyes with targetlike precision. And like a bull’s-eye getting pierced by an arrow, she felt the direct hit in every part of her body, especially between her thighs.

  “What kind of favor?” she asked, watching him continue to study her.

  “Stay in here. Keep me company,” he said, shifting his gaze to her mouth and pulling out the chair beside his. At that moment she couldn’t help but remember the last kiss they had shared, the heat it had generated, the moans she had made.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, struggling to put more punch behind her words. “Besides, I have work to do.” She knew the latter sounded like the lie it was.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” he interrupted her thoughts by saying. “And as far as you having work to do, how about coming up with another excuse?”

  Her lips firmed into a line. “I don’t have to make excuses for not wanting to spend time with you, Terrence.”

  He nodded. “No, you don’t. But I would think, considering everything, that you could spare a few moments of your time. You and I are the only two people here.”

  Sherri wished he hadn’t reminded her. She looked around and noticed just how quiet things were. Except for the sound of Ashford and Simpson, all was peaceful. She looked at the monitor as she sat down. “It’s time for a weather update, and you have a call coming in.”

  He followed her gaze and looked at the monitor. “All right.” He put on his headset and turned on his mike.

  “Hey, folks, this is the Holy Terror with a weather update. Those of you hoping Ana would turn west and spare us a devastating blow may not get your wish. Don’t defy the evacuation order that’s been put in effect any longer. According to the authorities, anyone refusing to leave—” he looked directly at Sherri “—is on their own.”

  He looked back at the monitor. “Now for an evacuation tip. Don’t forget to get those important papers and special photographs in order and secure them in plastic. Hey, you guys, I wouldn’t leave behind those divorce papers if I were you, and please don’t forget those hidden pics of old girlfriends. Oh, yeah, you might want to go ahead and destroy that picture of your mother-in-law that you’ve been using for target practice.”

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sherri get out of her chair and come into his line of vision, furiously waving her hands. “Folks, we’re going to have a commercial break and then I’ll be back to take some calls. I see the board has lit up,” he said into the mike. “Hold on. I definitely want to hear what you have to say.”

  As soon as he turned off the mike and removed his headset, she lit into him. “You can’t
say stuff like that!”

  He lifted a brow. “And why can’t I?”

  “Because this is a serious matter,” she snapped.

  He checked the monitor to see how many minutes he had before pushing his chair back and standing. A hint of a smile touched his lips although he was trying to keep his temper in check. His woman was determined to drive him to drink.

  His woman.

  He liked the sound of that. He came to a stop in front of her and instead of stepping back she tilted her head back and glared up at him. “I think,” he said slowly, “that I know when and how to take a hurricane seriously. I’ve been through a lot more of them than you have. And furthermore, those people out there are stressed, some are nervous, a lot of them are afraid. They need the humor. They appreciate it. So loosen up. You’re wound up too tight.”

  “If I lose my job you will—”

  “Jeez, you won’t lose your job. Come here, you need me to help you relax.” And before she could protest, he pulled her into his arms and captured the gasp that flowed from her mouth.

  The moment their lips touched, she moaned. But so did he. It was like before. Like each and every time they kissed. She pulled something out of him. Something tangible. Deep. Passionate. He wondered at what point she would figure out that her mouth, lips and tongue belonged to him. So did every other part of her. Just like every part of him belonged to her.

  He pulled his mouth away because he knew his time was up and he needed to go back to the monitor and take a few calls. “I want more,” he murmured against her moist lips.

  “You won’t be getting it,” she countered with a frown.

  He lifted his head and smiled. The challenge was on.

  Returning to the seat she had vacated earlier, Sherri watched how, with a smooth transition, Terrence went back on the air.

  “Thanks for returning, folks. This is the Holy Terror filling in for the Mighty Hercules at WLCK, and I’m ready to take a call. Caller, what’s on your mind?”