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Just like Dan had been right about their being meant to just be friends, Rob was right to remind her they were from different worlds. Her body tingled under his gaze and her heart galloped all the same.
Unable to take more of her escalating desire, she took a deep breath and stepped around him.
“See you later, Rob,” she whispered on her way out of the studio.
# # #
Rob watched as Jane closed the studio door. He sank into his comfy, worn leather chair that followed him from one production to the next.
Had she really called her sister? From his eavesdropping, he guessed she had, but couldn’t be sure she hadn’t snuck in a call to her old boyfriend.
He reached for the file drawer and tugged. Locked. Just as he’d thought. She’d picked his lock, borrowed his cell phone, made a call, and attempted to cover it up.
Damn. Had she leaked information about the show to the press? Any news rag would pay top dollar to find out which bachelor she planned to choose.
He dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the drawer, the proper way, picked up the phone and pressed the button to pull up recent calls. He stared at the number. Her sister’s?
Only one way to find out. He punched send.
“Jilly? I wasn’t expecting you to call back this quick,” a female voice gushed over the line.
“I must have the wrong number.” Jilly? Oh, he remembered reading in her bio information that her friends and family called her Jill. She’d been telling the truth about who she’d called. Why did that make him feel better?
“Wait. My caller ID shows this as the number from where my sister just called me. Who is this?”
“Just a wrong number.”
“Is my sister okay?” She sounded a bit panicked at his response. “She hung up a bit abruptly, but I thought that was only because I was…” Her voice trailed off. “Who is this?”
Why lie? “Rob Lancaster.”
“The host with the most? Oh my gosh. You are such a total babe. Jilly is so lucky. If only I’d…” she stopped and Rob wondered what she’d been going to say.
“She’s okay?” the woman asked, sounding more subdued.
“She’s fine. I must have hit the redial button by mistake after she borrowed my phone and called you. Sorry to bother you.” What was her name? He couldn’t remember Jane having ever said although he got the impression Jane’s world evolved around taking care of the woman on the phone.
“No bother. Call anytime.” Sexual interest was blatant in her voice until he heard a man speak in the background. “Uh, sorry, I’ve got to go. Tell Jilly I love her and I’m fine. No worries.”
Rob stared at the disconnected phone in his hand. He’d swear he heard the man call Jane’s sister Jessie. Must have heard wrong and the guy had been asking about her, to make sure she was okay.
Or was he Jane’s ex-boyfriend? More likely, the guy was her sister’s fiancé Jane had mentioned when he’d asked her why she was here.
Rob rocked his chair back and wondered what he should do about catching her breaking into his drawer, placing an unofficial, prohibited phone call, and for making him jealous as hell when he’d stepped into the studio and heard her on the phone.
At least the call hadn’t been to the press.
His first thought after the media had been that she’d called her ex. His second had been an urge to strangle her for putting him in the position of covering for her or revealing what she’d done to JP.
He couldn’t see deceiving his friend.
Surprisingly, he found the idea of ratting on Jane as distasteful as the rest of this sordid reality show.
# # #
“The results are in.” JP burst into the studio where Rob watched live feed of Jill and the bachelors duking it out in a paintball fight.
“And?”
