Intrigued as always about where her discussion was heading, Ian shrugged out of his suit coat, then sat down and settled into his soft leather executive chair. He loosened the knot of his tie to give himself extra breathing room, and let himself unwind and relax after the trying evening he'd had.
"I've often wondered, what should a guy expect at the end of a first date? A kiss? Sex? And what defines what will happen once the evening is over?" She let her questions linger seductively, giving her listeners time to formulate an answer of their own. "Guys, I'd love to get your take on this question. And women, how do you feel about putting out at the end of a date? What do you expect? The phone lines are open, so give me a call and tell me what you think."
Erica's monologue segued into a reel of commercials. Taking advantage of the break, Ian opened the folder on his desk to peruse the paperwork, but his attempt to concentrate on the legal jargon in front of him proved futile. Instead, his mind swirled with other tempting thoughts … the most prominent of which was what it would be like to spend the evening with Erica. On a date. Talking in person. Laughing with her and seeing her brown eyes sparkle with pleasure. Touching her and experiencing the flash of mutual desire between them without any barriers.
And where would all that sizzling chemistry lead? To a sweet kiss? A deeper embrace? Or a hot tumble in bed?
Ian had his own ideas of what he'd want out of a first date with Erica, and wondered if she'd be pleased or disappointed with the slow, provocative approach filtering through his mind.
"This is Heat Waves on WTLK, and we're back on the air with Rodney," Erica said, interrupting Ian's private musings with her low, throaty voice. "What do you expect at the end of a date?"
"I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of guy," he replied confidently. "A kiss is great, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that sex at the end of a date is better. If she's giving out all the right sexual signals and being touchy-feely, then I'm definitely going to go for it."
"That's understandable," Erica agreed. "Would sex on the first date change the way you think about her?"
"If she's hot to trot from the beginning of the evening, then yeah, it might make me wonder if she puts out for all the guys she dates," Rodney admitted. "It might sound like a cliché, but I might label her as being easy."
"And would that stop you from asking her out again?"
"Not if I was looking for a good time without strings."
Erica laughed, the husky sound warming Ian deep inside. "Your point has been duly noted, Rodney, though I think your ideals might be a bit dated. Women like sex just as much as men and shouldn't be penalized for that. Thanks for your opinion." She paused, connecting another caller. "Hello, Bruce. How do you feel about this issue?"
"Depends on the woman and the circumstance. I don't go into the date with sex in mind, but no healthy red-blooded guy is going to refuse getting it on with a hot babe if it's clear that's where the date is heading."
Ian exhaled a breath, thinking about his own evening and where it could have led – right into Jill Grayson's bed. He had a healthy libido, that much was evident in the way Erica aroused him with her breathy voice, and how she tempted and tantalized him when they were on the air together. Not to mention the mornings he woke up hard and aching from erotic dreams of making love to her.
He liked sex and enjoyed being with a woman, yet he'd just refused Jill's very open invitation for a night of uncomplicated sex. He recognized that something within him had changed. After too many years of casual relationships that didn't demand anything emotional from him, he was beginning to crave more. And it had all started with Erica … but where would it end?
The answer to that question remained frustratingly elusive. He didn't make a habit of obsessing over women, and he sure didn't want Erica to think of him as an overzealous fan, but there was something between them and he was certain she knew it and felt it, too.
He had no idea what would come of his time with Erica. While he looked forward to their evenings together and their sexy banter, more and more he found himself wanting to take that leap to another level. A face-to-face meeting that would either dispel all the sensual fantasies filling his head, or lend credence to the heat and aware ness rippling between them.
Maybe it was time he took that chance.
Putting aside the contract he needed to review, he let that appealing thought take hold and flourish as he continued to listen to her show.
"Well, we've heard from the men out there and what they expect at the end of a first date. The general consensus seems to be that there are naughty girls that guys sleep with, and good girls that you date and end the evening with a chaste kiss. We have Rachel on the line with us tonight. How do you feel about women being stereotyped?"
"It's chauvinistic," Rachel replied bluntly, clearly annoyed. "From what I'm hearing from your callers so far, a woman can't have sex with a guy on a first date without getting a bad rap and being classified as easy, but a man can sleep around and be considered a stud."
"Unfortunately, despite how far women have come in today's society, it sounds like that old double standard is still alive and well in America," Erica sighed and connected the next caller. "What do you expect at the end of a first date, Adam?"
"I might be in the minority," he began cautiously, "but the more I like a girl, the more I want to play it cool and give the relationship time to build. It's all about respect."
"That's great to hear, Adam," Erica said, complimenting the man's values. "Your viewpoint gives a lot of women hope that there are more guys like you out there who are willing to wait for just the right moment to take the relationship into the bedroom."
Ian latched onto Erica's comment, catching the underlying note of wistfulness in her voice. Her longing was slight, but undeniably there, and it made him smile. She came across as sexually uninhibited on the air, but there was something about her he couldn't quite put his finger on that led him to believe she was a woman who liked to be courted and slowly, gradually seduced. So many fascinating contradictions he wanted to explore and unravel.
"The time is ten-forty-five," she said, wrapping up the first segment of her show. "We'll be back with more Heat Waves after these messages."
A musical score blended into an advertisement for a local dry cleaners. Turning down the radio behind him, Ian hit a button on the speakerphone on his desk, then punched in the station's number. He received a busy signal on the first two tries, and made it through on the third.
"WTLK talk radio," a familiar, upbeat feminine voice greeted Ian, her lilting tone drifting through the speaker on his phone. "Do you have a comment for tonight's show?"
"Don't I always, Carly?" he drawled, having long ago dispensed with formalities with her.
"You're one hell of a punctual guy, Ian. We could set our clock to your call."
Leaning back in his chair, he propped his shoes up on the corner of his desk. "I hope being prompt isn't a bad thing."
"Depends on what we're referring to," she said slyly. "Hang on for a few seconds and I'll put you on the air with Erica."
She put him on hold, and as he waited for Erica's return to the airwaves, he glanced out the plate-glass windows in his office that overlooked the Board of Trade building and Sears Tower. The office building his mentor had bequeathed to him was a prime piece of real estate, the corner office he'd taken over a few years ago as CEO an executive's dream – spacious, luxurious, with the best panoramic view on the entire floor.
David Winslow had given him so much, when there had been so many days when Ian felt as though he didn't deserve any of the older man's generosity and loyalty David had trusted him with his daughter first and foremost, even before he'd handed over the reins of the in vestment firm to Ian, and he'd let the older man down in a way that had forever changed all of their lives. Yet despite the tragic event that had cut Audrey's life short and had consumed Ian with guilt for so many years, the Winslow family still embraced him as one of their own, and Ian would always be
grateful for their unconditional warmth and support.
"Hello, Ian," Erica greeted. Her sweet voice echoed through his speakerphone, pulling him from his darker thoughts. "Welcome to the show. Inquiring minds out there are dying to know, what do you expect at the end of a first date? A kiss? Sex? Or something in between?
He clasped his hands behind his head, formulating his answer with her specifically in mind. "I like to take things slow, especially if it's with a woman I really like. Don't get me wrong, sex can be great, even on a first date, but once you cross that boundary it shifts the focus of everything to a physical relationship." And he would know, considering he'd spent the past eight years doing just that.
"And that's a bad thing?" she questioned, making it sound as though jumping right to sex was her personal preference, which he didn't believe for a second.
"No," he replied, mulling over the rest of his answer.
"Gratuitous sex is easy and all about satiating physical needs, which is all good and fine if that's what you're after. But if your first date ends up in bed, before you really get to know the other person, it's hard to backtrack to romance and seduction, which can be the best and most exciting part of dating."
"Definite food for thought," she murmured, her breathing a bit deeper than before. "So, how would you end the evening if you were on a date with a woman you really liked?"
Again, visions of her danced in his head, with her brilliant, golden-brown eyes and soft, parted lips. Lips he wanted to taste. A mouth he ached to devour. "I'd probably end the night with a kiss."
"So, you're a traditional kind of guy, then?"
Her tone was light and teasing, yet he suddenly felt very serious. Inspired by honesty and a deep-rooted longing he'd locked away when Audrey had died, he told the truth. "Yeah, I guess I am one of those traditional kind of guys." He'd grown up without security and stability, and as an adult found himself holding tight to integrity and the kind of values that had gained him respect with colleagues and friends. He'd like to think women, Erica specifically, found those traits appealing, as well.
He went on. "I like romance and the excitement of flirting, and I like to get to know a woman mentally before making that physical leap."
He wanted to get to know her better. Her likes and dislikes. And what really turned her on. It had been way too long since a woman had been anything more than an evening or two of company, and he saw tonight's discussion as an opportunity to take his interest in Erica one level higher … but only if she was ready and willing to take that step, too.
He'd never know if he didn't take that chance.
And he would, soon. Very soon.
He returned his attention to seducing her mind. "Holding back can really heat things up between a couple. And besides, kisses are the best kind of foreplay to making love. Especially since kisses aren't limited to a woman's mouth."
A few extra heartbeats passed before she spoke. "What if there's an explosive chemistry between you and your date on your first night out together and you want each other really bad?" she countered, raising the situational stakes. "Would you make an exception and go for it?"
He smiled and absently rubbed his thumb along his jaw and chin. "If I'm considering another date with her, then probably not. All the more reason to let things simmer and build. There's a whole lot to he said for anticipation, you know."
"Hmm. So, you'd still end the night with a kiss, even if the woman you were with made it clear she'd have sex with you?" Her question was infused with incredulity, more for her listeners' benefit and stirring up controversy than any real disbelief on her part, he guessed.
"There are varying degrees of kisses, Erica, and some can be just as good as having sex," he said, his voice lowering to a husky pitch. "A chaste kiss on the cheek works if the date was just okay and there's no chance of a second one. But if that chemistry is there—" like it is between us "—and the woman is willing—" like I imagine you would be "—I'd most definitely indulge in a hotter, deeper kiss. The kind that is intense and passionate and gets all your juices flowing. The kind that will make you restless with wanting and keeps you coming back for more.
"Where do you fall in the scheme of tonight's topic, Erica?" Ian asked curiously, turning the tables on her before she had a chance to respond to his comment or redirect the conversation. "Are you naughty or nice on a first date?"
"How about somewhere in between," she murmured silkily.
He chuckled, her evasive answer not surprising him in the least. "So you're a nice girl with bad-girl tendencies?"
"Yeah." He detected a grin in her voice, and something much more personal. "Then again, it all depends on the guy and that chemistry we've been talking about."
She was flirting with him. Just as he'd done with her moments earlier. Both of them fanning the flames of their attraction in a very public forum, and now he burned for her.
"Like our chemistry?" he dared, taking a huge risk in elevating their debate to a bold and intimate plateau. "How do you think an evening between you and me together would end? With a kiss or sex?"
He heard a swift intake of breath, which gave him a small measure of satisfaction. He had shocked the unshockable Ms. McCree.
"I … well…" She paused, obviously giving herself time to gather her composure. "That's hard to say. We might hit it off well on the air, but there's no telling what the chemistry would be like between us on a real-live date."
He sat forward in his chair, recognizing her hedging for the diversion it was. And he was feeling spontaneous and wicked enough to issue her a challenge she wouldn't be able to refuse very easily in front of her faithful listeners.
"You've got a valid point," he acknowledged. "So why don't you and I go out on a real date and find out how it would end?"
Instead of the sassy reply he'd expected, she put him on hold and made a not-so-smooth transition into a commercial for antacids.
~ 3 ~
"OH. MY. GOD!” Erica sat in her seat, stunned by what had just happened. Her entire body felt flushed and overheated, and tonight it had nothing to do with the building's faulty air conditioner and everything to do with the man who'd just issued her an on-the-air challenge. She glanced into the booth next to hers where her friend stood with a goofy grin on her face.
"I can't believe Ian did that," Erica said, tugging off her headset as she vocalized her upset. "On the air, no less!" They'd been flirting, engaging in their nightly ritual of scintillating banter and heating up the airwaves, and then bam! "He asked me out on a date in front of thousands of listeners!"
Carly shrugged unsympathetically. "What can I say other than it's about damn time!"
Erica gaped at her in disbelief. "How can you be such a traitor and side with him? What Ian did is like … like…" She grasped for the right words and blurted them out in a rush of breath, "Emotional blackmail!"
Carly frowned, her expression turning perplexed. "How do you figure that?"
She waved an impatient hand in the air, the gesture doing nothing to ease her frustration, only serving to stir the stifling, stuffy air around her. "He put me on the spot, knowing that if I said no and rejected his overture it would bring on a whole lot of sympathy for him with my listeners." Her lips stretched into a grim line. "This wasn't supposed to happen." Ever.
"It was a natural progression, Erica," Carly said, her tone much too logical for Erica, who was feeling anything but reasonable after being thrown for such an unexpected loop. "Honestly, I'm surprised it took him this long to ask you out."
"I liked things the way they were, thank you very much." No pressure, no expectations. Just harmless fun and playful flirtations. Ha! "What the hell am I going to do now?"
"Well…" Carly's eyes glowed devilishly. "You can always say yes."
"Are you nuts?" Jumping up from her chair, Erica paced her small cubicle, keeping an eye on the two minutes she had left before she had to be back on the air. With Ian. Addressing the issue he'd dropped on her and her listeners.
Now he wanted to become flesh-and-blood real. She shivered at the thought.
"You know him, Erica," Carly said, trying to convince her. "Better than you want to admit. The two of you have been on the air together nearly every night for a month." She laughed with a small degree of amusement. "Heck, the two of you communicate better than most husbands and wives. You're open, and candid. And you have to agree that all your sexy talk is great foreplay."
Erica rolled her eyes. "It's entertainment, Carly!"
"So is accepting a date with Ian. Your listeners would eat that up."
They stared at each other through the glass partition, neither one willing to back down.
Carly sighed. "What could it hurt to say yes and go out with him? You've been on blind dates before, and this basically would be the same thing."
"All my blind dates have been disastrous," she reminded her friend pointedly.
"You might get lucky with Ian." She waggled her brows in a very suggestive way. "In more ways than one."
Inhaling a calming breath, Erica dragged her fingers through her loose hair, pulling the strands away from her face. How could she explain to Carly that she didn't want to shatter the fantasy she and Ian had created on the air? That a part of her didn't believe that reality could come close to matching the torrid, perfect fantasies she had about him? That meeting in person could destroy the sensual magic between them? That she harbored insecurities that went way beyond that initial face-to-face meeting with Jan?
"The phone lines are going crazy, and you've got about another thirty seconds before you need to get back on the air." Carly's voice gentled. "It's all about ratings, Erica, and you know that can't hurt any of us right now."
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