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Her cheeks burned red in the porch light as she opened the door. “Need something?”
“No. Just… uh… enjoy your cat.” He reached to pet Mitzy, but she nipped at his outstretched fingers. He jerked his hand back.
Lucy held her hand on the doorknob. “I will.”
“Good night, then.” He stepped backward and cleared his throat.
The door closed only inches from his nose, and the lock clicked into place.
He trudged into his own apartment, climbed into bed, and tunneled his face into a pillow. When he closed his eyes, visions of Lucy in that ridiculous shirt swam in the darkness. He was hyperaware of her presence just next door.
Yeah, he definitely knew she existed. Certain areas of his body reminded him constantly. But on paper, Lucy Campbell didn’t show up anywhere. William dug up stories better than most of his colleagues, and he still couldn’t find anything on her.
He needed to convince his body what his head already knew. The insane desire he experienced around Lucy was a simple case of lust.
He grumbled to himself, rolled over, and willed sleep to find him.
CHAPTER SIX
Ten minutes late for her first assignment meeting. Great.
“Thanks,” Lucy said to Parker when he held the door to the conference room for her.
The pit of self-doubt she carried with her weighed heavier as she entered the small, crowded space. The conference room had a long rectangular table with mismatched black leather chairs haphazardly placed around it, one door, and no windows. Confidence. She needed a bucket load.
Unfortunately, demanding she be confident never seemed to work.
Staff talked over each other, bantering about their plans for the weekend. Some sat at the table, a few were perched on the table, and a couple leaned against the wall. William had claimed one of the leather chairs. He tossed a worn baseball into the air, caught it, and threw it again. He intercepted her gaze and flashed his dimples. He was literally everywhere. Their shared porch, the coin-operated laundry room at the apartment building, the newsroom, and the coffee shop…everywhere.
Hello, Dimples. Tingles that had no place at work tickled along each lusty nerve in her body.
Bridgett, the afternoon producer, laughed at something he said.
Everyone quieted when Parker spoke. “Lucy is taking over as assignment editor. She’ll still produce, but she’ll also head up the weekly assignment meetings for the immediate future. Listen to her. Do what she says.” He lifted his chin to Lucy. “Good luck.”
Without anything further, he left.
How hard could it be to run an assignment meeting? As a reporter in California, she’d sat through countless meetings just like this one.
She snatched a white board marker and fiddled with the cap. “Shows need content. Let’s get through this quickly”— Lucy bit at her bottom lip and waved a hand toward the room— “and you can go back to work. I realize I haven’t been here long.” Lucy scrawled the words Story Ideas across the white board. “But let’s be honest. Things are messy in the newsroom. We can do better.”
A general rumble of dissent rolled through the room.
Lucy ignored it. “We’ve had multiple reporters show up for the same story three times in the past week. The Rivers Edge newspaper has scooped us on four interviews. We need better coordination. If we work as a team, we can report some real news.”
The room went silent.
Lucy met the daggers directed at her, head on. “Just because we get a press release on the pet rescue’s lack of donations doesn’t mean we need to turn the story into a three-part series urging our viewers to open their checkbooks.”
“What you’re saying is you advocate the extermination of kittens?” Anderson mumbled.
Lucy opened her mouth to respond.
“Knock it off, Anderson.” Bridgett glared his way. Lucy gave her a smile of solidarity.
“I happen to know Lucy adores cats,” William said like it was an inside joke between the two of them.
Why did Lucy like that so much, dammit?
