Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1)

by Michelle Love

  And then there was her hair. Silky, blonde, and lilac-scented, her hair hung in a solid sheet down to the small of her back. She’d pulled it back into one long ponytail, clasped with a hummingbird-shaped silver barrette. I’d have called her adorable, but she had a savvy look about her too that didn’t quite suit such an innocent description.

  She had on this little vintage dress that hit her just below her knees. Her calves were tight and tanned. A real California girl, I could tell. Not a sun worshiper, like some were, but more of a dabbler. Her tan was light, leaving her skin with a creamy tone.

  A strand of pearls hung near her collarbone, making me think about how she’d taste if I kissed her there. And that was when I noticed her looking at me. “Can I help you, Duke?”

  “Huh?” I’d been caught. But I wasn’t a newbie at this. “As a matter of fact, you can help me, Lila. Where’d you get those pearls? I’d like to get my grandma some just like that.”

  That oughta take her down a peg or two!

  One perfectly shaped brow arched as she started to walk over to the table Brady had pointed out to us. “These were handed down to me from my grandmother. I don’t have any idea where she got them from.” She stopped at a desk that had some paper and pens on it. Picking up a pad and a pen, she handed them to me. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.” Her fingers grazed mine as I took the things from her. Another jolt of electricity shot through me. It had happened to me before when she’d touched my slightly crooked fingers.

  I’d been around the block a time or two—or way more than that, to be honest. Never in my life had a woman immediately affected me that way. Sure, sparks had flown with some of the women I’d dabbled with, but only after having some super-hot sex. Never had I felt this with someone I didn’t even know.

  I was grateful that the suit I wore hid the bulge in my slacks. From the moment this girl had stepped off the elevator, her dark blue heels clicking softly on the brown and tan marble floor of the reception area, my cock had taken notice of her. Stiffening only a bit at first, until she’d touched my fingers and brought it to full attention—now it seemed happy to stay that way. With the renewed spark she’d sent through me, my poor cock was straining to get out and get to her.

  But Lila wasn’t just any girl. No, she was my competition. The salary from the sportscaster job was okay. It would keep my bank accounts nice and steady by paying my bills, but it wouldn’t build my accounts up any. I needed the anchor job to achieve that.

  I needed that job. That one would keep me busy. The little sportscaster job was only going to take up a few hours of my day; I needed more to do than just that.

  Lila pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table. I went around to the other side of it and sat down. I didn’t want her looking over at what I was going to write—that, and the scent of her was very distracting. “What perfume is it that you have on, Lila?”

  She shook her head, sending wafts of the lilac sent my way. I had to try hard not to take a huge sniff—every part of me wanted to. “I’m not wearing any. It’s just shampoo, soap, and water you’re smelling.”

  Fuck me, she’s too perfect!

  “Oh.” I drummed my fingers on the table, trying not to think about how fucking desirable she was. “So, we’re supposed to introduce ourselves then.”

  “Yes.” She bit the end of her pen as she stared at the blank paper on the table in front of her.

  Forcing my eyes down to my own blank paper, I tried to shut her out completely. I’d never get anything written if I kept looking at her. That damn pen between her teeth was just too much!

  Then it hit me that she knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to distract me on purpose.

  Well, I wasn’t going to roll over and hand her the job. No way in hell!

  So, I put my laser focus on that pad of paper, picked up my pen, and started writing. And only fifteen minutes later, I had my perfectly-worded introduction that I’d use to make the city of New York fall in love with me all over again when I greeted them on the first morning my show aired.

  Yes, I was already calling it my show. Ballsy, I know.

  Welcome to WOLF’s morning news with your anchorman, Duke Cofield. I could already hear the announcer, a young female voice, saying those very words.

  Pen down, paper in hand, I got up, giving Lila a little smirk as she continued to write away. I saw many lines drawn through sentences on her paper, telling me she wasn’t finding it quite as easy as I had. “You’re done?” Her tone was quiet, worried, yet still sexy as shit.

  “Yeah, I’m done.” Walking away from the table, I went to get the crew rolling. “You guys ready?”

  “Sure,” a gawky young guy said as he and the other two young men got up from the table they’d been sitting at, playing a game of cards as they waited.

  “So, throw me your names. I don’t want to be calling you guys, ‘hey you’ all the time.” I pointed to myself. “I’m Duke Cofield. I’ll be doing the evening news as the sportscaster. And hopefully, I’ll also be the morning news anchor. So that means we’ll be working together a lot.”

  Scrawny camera guy walked to his camera. “Ty.”

  The chubby sound guy picked up the long stick with the furry mic on it. “Joe.”

  “And I am the assistant producer, Steve. Nice to be working with you, Duke.” He pointed at the small desk just behind me. “Do you want to sit at that desk to film this?”

  “Sure.” I took a seat in the office chair, gave my paper one more read through, then nodded. “Okay, we can roll now.”

  “Three, two,” Steve said, then held up one finger before turning it into a fist.

  I knew it was time to start. “Hello, New York.” Holding up my hand, I had to stop them.

  “Okay, cut,” Steve said. “What happened?”

  “I wanted to say ‘good morning,’ not ‘hello.’ So, let’s start over.” Shoving my hand through my hair, I tried to focus a hell of a lot better than I apparently had been. I didn’t want a one-minute recording to take all day.

  “Okay, three, two,” Steve said again before holding up one finger then the fist.

  “Good morning, New York. This is Duke Cofield, your new anchor at your new station, WOLF …” My eyes moved off to one side as Lila started walking our way.

  “Cut,” Steve said, ending yet another attempt at making the short video.

  Lila’s eyes went really big as she realized she’d been the cause of the short take this time. “Oh, I’m sorry, guys.” She stopped and took a seat right away. Which should’ve been okay. But I could see her out of my peripheral vision. Her shiny hair, her bright eyes staring at me.

  I knew she had to be hoping that I’d screw up this first, simple task. She had to be trying to intimidate me, and I knew it. But would I be petty enough to do anything about that?

  Hell, no!

  “Three, two,” Steve began again.

  “Hi, this is … Fuck!” My mind had just about gone blank. I looked right at Lila. “Do you think you could leave, Lila?”

  “Well, I could, Duke. But you should have at least a small audience, don’t you think?” She flashed this quirky little smile that made her look too cute, but I knew she was baiting me, so I didn’t think she looked that damn cute at all. “After all, you will be in front of millions of viewers every morning if you get this job. Nerves of steel are required. At least I think they are.”

  “Fine. Stay.” I read the words I’d written once more before giving Steve a nod.

  There he went again. “Three, two.”

  And I looked right into the camera with a determination that would surely see me through. “Good morning, New York. I’m Duke Cofield, your new anchor for your new network, WOLF. You might remember me as the linebacker for the New York Jets, your hometown football team …” The smell of lilacs filled my nostrils and I cut my eyes for only a second to find Lila running her fingers through her long blonde ponytail, releasing the pleasant scent on purpose. “Ok
ay, that’s enough. Out you go, Lila.”

  “What?” She looked genuinely confused. “But why?”

  “You know what you’re doing. And I’m not about to keep letting you mess me up with this little ploy.” I pointed at the door. “You can wait out there while I do this. No more playing around, trying to make me mess up.”

  “I wasn’t doing that at all, Duke.” She took her paper as she got up, heading for the door. “I don’t know what has you so bothered by my being around. Sorry.”

  The door closed behind her, and I looked to find all three guys of the crew looking at me. Ty asked, “Did she really distract you that much?”

  “Come on! You guys must’ve smelled that heavy lilac scent too, right?” I couldn’t understand why they all seemed so confused—it was obvious she’d been trying to distract us.

  “Heavy lilac scent, huh?” Steve asked with a grin. “No, I didn’t catch a whiff of it. You want to read over your script once more before we try this again?”

  “I’ve got it now. Just start me up again, Steve.”

  I knew they had to have smelled that intoxicating scent Lila gave off. I couldn’t be the only one she affected like that.

  Could I?

  Chapter Five

  Lila

  As I stood out in the hallway waiting for Duke to finish his video, I saw a couple of people coming my way. A man and a young woman. I greeted them with a warm smile. “Hi, I’m Lila Banks. I’ve just been given the weather spot on the nightly news.”

  The tall, muscular man with wavy, shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes extended his hand. “Ashton Lange, producer of all the news shows for WOLF.”

  “Cue card girl for all the news shows,” the woman with dark blonde hair and golden-brown eyes said. “Nina Kramer. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Cue card girl?” I asked. I held up the paper I’d written my speech on. “Any chance you’d be able to help me out and put this down on some cue cards to do a short video? I’m vying for the morning anchor position and could use some help.”

  “I’d love to. Follow me to my little office. It’s just down the hall here.” She led me away to get to work.

  Ashton called out, “Good luck, Lila.”

  “Thanks, Ashton.” I headed off with Nina to get the words put on the cards. That way I wouldn’t have to try to memorize them like Duke was doing. That wasn’t working out well for him at all. Might as well learn from his mistake.

  As we wrote on the cue cards, I wondered to myself what had gotten Duke all riled up, and why he’d sent me out of the room.

  Did he really think I’d stoop to trying to sabotage him somehow?

  I’d never had a real job before, but I considered myself the consummate professional. I’d never do a thing to hurt his chances of getting the job we were both up for.

  But the way he’d acted made me wonder if he was as professional as I was. Maybe he would stoop to sabotage. Maybe I had better watch him closely.

  “How long have you been working here, Nina?” I tried to make conversation.

  “A week.” She held up a card. “Is this writing large enough for you?”

  Taking a few steps back, I made sure I could read it well. “Yeah, that’s perfect.” I went back to where I’d been working on the cards too. “I’ve got to do at least one interview. I’d like to impress Mr. Wolfe and Mrs. Baker. Do you happen to know if either of them has spoken about any role models they have?”

  “There’s a picture of Ted Turner in Mr. Wolfe’s office.” Nina brushed her dark blonde hair back and pulled it into a ponytail, binding it with a rubber band she’d had on her wrist to get it out of her face. “I asked him about it during my interview.”

  I hadn’t even noticed the picture. “And what did he say about it?”

  “That Ted Turner was a man he wanted to be like. He liked that he’d started Turner Broadcasting and how he added color to old black and white movies. He already has some of the old movies being remade as we speak. They’re being filmed at a studio in Hollywood, and they’ll all be aired on our network. He’s also got sitcoms in production. He’s on the ball, as far as I can tell.”

  “Ted Turner, huh?” I was intrigued. My wheels were turning.

  If I really wanted to impress Mr. Wolfe, then an interview with Ted Turner would be a huge get. But how could I manage that?

  “My older sister went to school with his publicist.” Nina smiled at me. “You want me to make a call and see if she can get something set up for you?”

  “Would you?” I thought I’d found my first friend in New York.

  “Sure, I would. Right after we get this video done, I’ll make the call. For the record, I think you’d make the best anchor for the morning news. You’ve got this great look, fresh and sharp.” She sighed then shook her head. “Duke’s sexy as hell. I’m not saying he wouldn’t make a great anchor, but damn that’s a lot of sexy so early in the morning, don’t ya think?”

  I had to laugh and agree, “Yeah, way too much for that early.”

  Nina and I were getting along great. After finishing the cards, we headed back to the room I’d left Duke and the camera crew in. Duke was sitting there, chatting with the guys and Ashton, regaling them with tales of football that only dudes would laugh at.

  Nina pointed out a great place to do the video. “I think behind that desk over there would be the prime spot, don’t you?”

  She had a good eye, I had to admit that. “The blue backdrop of those curtains would pair well with my dress.” So, we headed over there, and the men finally seemed to notice us.

  “You want us to set up over there, Lila?” the cameraman asked.

  I nodded and watched as Duke sauntered my way. “Just so you know, Lila, the cameraman is Ty, the sound man is Joe, and the assistant producer is Steve. Our producer is …”

  “Ashton Lange,” I jumped in. “I met him outside the door you made me wait behind while you made your video. Did you finally get that done, Duke?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, we got it done.” Then he took a seat. Right in a spot where I’d have to see his handsome face while I made my video.

  “Will you be staying for my video, Duke?” I turned away from him to get into place behind the desk.

  “Would you mind if I stayed?” His voice was deep, sultry, and teasing.

  My knees went weak and my palms began to sweat. But I wasn’t about to let him think he was making me nervous just by watching me. I was a professional, after all. “No, stay if you want to. I’d love to have an audience, no matter how small. It’s great practice, you know. Oh, you don’t know because you made me leave.”

  “I had to,” he confessed. “That lilac scent you’re sporting got to me. I thought I was about to sneeze.” I turned around just in time to catch him winking at Ty, the camera guy.

  “I see.” I knew better than that. He’d already asked me about that, and he hadn’t looked as if he was about to sneeze at all.

  “I’ve got to be honest—I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with, Lila.” He leaned back in the office chair, getting all comfy as he eyed me.

  I wasn’t about to let him get under my skin. I realized that was exactly what he was doing. Or trying to do. I should’ve known he wasn’t against playing dirty. Anything to win the game, just like every other jock I’d ever met.

  Could I be that callous?

  Only time would tell.

  With Nina in place holding the cards, the cameraman ready, the sound guy holding the boom mic, and the assistant producer standing just in front of Ashton, who was overlooking the whole thing, I knew it was time to shine.

  Nina was quick to give her advice. “Lila, I think we should do a read through before actually recording anything.”

  Ashton complimented her, “Great thinking, Nina. Let’s do that.”

  Duke looked back at Ashton. “I could’ve used your advice on my video.”

  “I bet you could’ve,” Ashton joked, then mock-punched Duke in the arm.
“Should’ve asked.”

  “Didn’t think about it.” Duke looked back at me. “Looks like you’ve got the upper hand on this one, Lila. Better make it great.”

  “Thanks for not putting the pressure on me, Duke.” I tried to laugh it off, but he really did have me feeling as if I was under a magnifying glass.

  “No problem.” Duke’s smile was wide, as if he knew I’d screw it all up.

  Only he didn’t know I’d already been doing my own little fake newscasts for twelve years running. Sure, it was just in front of my family, but it was a hell of a lot more than he’d ever done. Being a football player didn’t mean you knew how to speak in front of people.

  Nina gave me a nod, and I proceeded to read the cards out loud, “Welcome to WOLF, your newest source for news and entertainment. I’m Lila Banks, and I’ll be your host each and every weekday morning to help you get your day started. I’m looking forward to visiting with you, reading your posts online, and learning what it is you want to know about or tell me about. I’m here for you, to help you find out what’s happening in your neighborhood, your schools, and your beautiful, very busy city. I know you and I will be great friends. If you pass me on the street, don’t you dare hesitate to say hello. I’ll be sure to say it right back to you if you do. You can tell everyone that you’ve got a new friend in the business, and that her name is Lila Banks. So, sit back and get ready to hear all about what’s happened while you’ve been sleeping. There’s so much to tell you about.”

  Nina smiled at me. “That was great!”

  Ashton clapped. “Loved it! Now let’s record that.”

  Ty and Joe looked at each other, then at Duke. “You might want to work on yours a bit, Duke,” Ty told him.