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The Tessarae Inn |
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Regrets In Jade Tones
Chapter 4 Todd looked at the markup of the front page then crossed out the headline. A photo of Kevin Buchanan, looking every bit like the cocky rich boy smuck he was, stared up at him. The headline needed to be more eye catching and on target though. He studied it for a moment then wrote in bold red letters: FLAGRANT PHILANDERER SNIFFS POST. Good. That was a better headline for an article questioning Kevin Buchanan’s fitness to run for dogcatcher much less mayor. “You have such a way with words.” Todd glanced up and looked straight into Blair’s green eyes. “Hey, Babe,” he said causally trying to hide the fact that anytime she was within twenty feet of him lately he felt the pattern of his breathing change. “I didn’t hear you come in.” “I guess not. You were too busy searching for a nail to drive into Kevin Buchanan’s heart—again.” “We all have our talents.” “Yes, we do and writing newspaper headlines is only one of yours.” She walked around the desk and sat on his lap. He tried not to look at her too closely. He felt such a surge of heat that he was having trouble breathing. She leaned over and kissed him. He gave up trying to pretend that he could act normally when she was around. He tightened his arms around her and kissed her deeply. He wondered if the door was locked. Someone cough and then cleared his throat. “Excuse, me.” Todd didn’t move. He wasn’t ready to break the connection with Blair but she pulled away gently. He kept his eyes on her and only when she turned toward whoever had spoken did he shift his gaze as well. It was Briggs. Blair stood up and straightened her short skirt. “Hey, Briggs. You have to overlook me but I haven’t seen my husband in seven hours and ten minutes and that’s pretty much my limit.” Briggs chuckled, smiled and rubbed his hands together the way he did whenever Blair was in the room. “What is it, Briggs?” “The markup. We are right at the deadline for the special evening addition.” Todd reached over to get the board and handed it to Briggs. “Note the change.” “Noted. Always good to see you, Mrs. Manning.” “Thank you, Briggs. Good to see you, too.” Damn. Did Blair have to glow like that? Give her a little attention and she shone like a beacon in the middle of anyone’s stormy sea. And every since she started developing JStarr she seemed to be glowing all the damn time for everyone within a ten mile radius. He wasn’t sure he liked it. “Deadline, Briggs.” “Yes, Mr. Manning. Take care, Mrs. Manning.” “You too.” He watched Briggs stroll out of the office. Was that a lift in the old coot’s step? Blair swung around toward him but she didn’t walk back around the desk. Damn it. “Your daughter is driving Mrs. Cole crazy. We have to do something.” Blair sat on the edge of the desk and crossed her legs. He forced himself to look away and shuffle a few things around on his desk. “I thought you went over to the school this morning to take care of that. You know how I hate schools.” “I did.” “I’m sure it’s mostly that little troublemaker Jason Reynolds’ fault anyway.” Blair pressed her lips together, arched her right eyebrow and cocked her head to the right slightly. Oh, oh. He had seen that expression a thousand times. Battle line were being etched in the sand but he didn’t want to fight at least not when he could have her sitting on his lap again. “Okay, Blair, what’s the solution?” “I’ve invited RJ, Toni Reynolds and Jason over for dinner. We are all going to share a meal then talk to the children about their behavior.” “RJ? Get serious. The man tried to kill me, more than once.” “You tried to kill him first and multiple times as well. I don’t think you want me to remind you about why you did that.” He damn sure didn’t want to talk about Téa if that’s what she meant. Of course, it had never really been about Téa but there was no need of bringing all that crap up again. “I’ll agree if you cook.” “What?” Blair jumped down, turned toward him and leaned forward with both of her hands on the desk. “Todd, you know I don’t have time to worry about cooking. I don’t cook. It’s not my thing.” Exactly. “If you want to play Leave It To Beaver then you have to accept your role in all of this. Mrs. Cleaver always cooked and had dinner on the table everyday by 5:30, while dressed in a big puffy dress, high heels and pearls.” “Are you serious?” “As a heart attack and twice as deadly.” “We are really striking a bargain here?” “A deal is on the table. And count your blessings that I’m not asking for the puffy dress and the heels.” “Well, I want it on record that this need to see me in the kitchen is just a sick control fantasy.” “Whatever. Do we have a deal?” Blair’s eyes flashed and he could see her foot tapping to a furious rhythm in her head. This was good. Worst-case scenario was that he would have to spend a couple of hours with Jason and the fact of the matter was that he liked that kid. He could ignore RJ. AND he would get to see Blair try to do a Martha Stewart imitation, which was bound to be good for a laugh or two. Best-case scenario, Blair would decide the price of his cooperation was way too high and back down. “Okay, deal,” said Blair finally. “But you will pay for this one.” He tried to hide his smile but he failed miserably. “Check the attitude. This whole thing is about setting a good example for Starr.” Blair laughed then looked at her watch. “Oops, I’ve got to hustle. I’m meeting Rick St. Jean at JStarr in fifteen minutes. I’ll see you at home in a couple of hours or so.” She picked up her briefcase and straightened her skirt while she rushed toward the door that Briggs had so thoughtfully closed “When am I going to meet this guy? I thought you had a lunch meeting with him?” Blair stopped just as she reached the door and turned to face him. “Postponed. Come with me now. You’ll like him. He’s got some great ideas. Nothing much to look at but a real energetic person.” Nothing much to look at, his ass. What did he care what the guy looked like. A man was a man. And this man was near Blair. Todd stood up and walked toward her. When he reached her, he pushed her gently against the door and put his hands on the door on either side of her. “Just make sure he doesn’t have any ideas about you.” He pressed his body against hers and kissed her deeply. He felt a charge rush through his body. He pulled away and reached to lock the door but she stopped him. “I can’t. I’ve got to go. But I’ll make up for this later.” He stared at her for a minute through half-closed eyes. Finally, he pulled back slightly and said, “Yes, you will. You will make it up to me, big time.” She grinned then slipped under his arms. She opened the door then blew him a kiss. In what felt like a second she was gone but traces of her essence still remained. For a moment, he felt a wave of anxiety. He wanted to call her back and keep her safe next to him. He walked back to his desk and picked up the phone to tell Edith, his new secretary, he was going to be out of the office. He could make it over to JStarr in ten minutes. He stopped himself and put the phone back into the receiver base. Blair needed to fly solo on this project. He understood that. He didn’t like it, but he understood. And, he couldn’t afford to let her believe that he was not behind her one hundred percent because the truth of the matter was that damn company made him nervous. She loved the TV station he bought for her but she chose to put the best people she could find in management and to take a hands-off approach. He knew that she was a little wary that because he gave it to her he could find a way to take it back. She was probably right and, unfortunately for him, she knew it. So from the beginning Blair treated the TV station as a family asset, but JStarr was different. It was her baby. She developed the business plan from A to Z. She found her own money sources and refused to let him help her financially. She sought out his opinion but it was clear that she had the last word. Then a few weeks ago she bought that damn red, burgundy, maroon or whatever hell color car it was with a supped up engine that she drove like she was riding some wild stallion. She was soaring and damn sexy as hell and he was afraid that he wasn’t the only one who noticed. He flopped into his desk chair and whirled from side to side for a few moments. Slowly his head cleared. They were happy and that was nothing short of a miracle given all that had stood between them. Still he couldn’t shake a sense of dread. He could feel the subtle vibrations of a coming disturbance in his universe—and it was getting closer and moving fast.
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