AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pure, unadulterated joy radiated from Leah’s face as she spoke, and I couldn’t have controlled my responding smile if I tried. “Is it contagious?” I lowered my voice and popped my brows twice in rapid succession. “Something I should be made aware of as your sexual partner?”
The crimson I so loved to create flooded her cheeks. Excitement, happiness and embarrassment all had the same effect of giving her creamy complexion a rosy blush. I was equally proud to be the reason behind all three emotions.
She shot a quick glance to the doorway. “No…and be quiet.” She cleared her throat and needlessly smoothed down her white blouse. “I mean, I think I have the perfect solution to the whole program hosting issue.”
I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. “Already, Chief? Let’s hear it.”
Leah stood and rounded the desk to rest her rear end—that still bore remnants of my fingerprints on them—on the smooth surface. “What are the first things you think about when you think of the holidays?”
“I’m guessing you mean New Year’s specifically?” When she nodded, I continued. “I mean the first one is pretty obvious,doce uvas.”
She held up a hand and shook her head rapidly, blinking just as fast. I swallowed back the bark of laughter that threatened to escape at her confusion. “Obvious towhom? What evenisthat?”
“Twelve grapes. It’s an Old World custom my grandparents brought over from Spain and a tradition my parents continue to this day. At midnight, people eat twelve grapes for happiness, prosperity and good luck inAño Nuevo, the new year.”
She pointed her index finger at me. “Not at all what I was thinking, but we aresogoing to incorporate that into the special.” Leah clasped her hands together. “People look at the new year as a new beginning, a fresh start, a way to clear the slate of all their stupidity from the year before and start over. Now this is going to take a shit ton of work, since we have next-to-no time, but I say we send out five crews in various cities and they each interview random strangers. Let’s say they each do three five-minute sets.
“Then,” she said as she pushed off the desk and paced the length of our small shared space, her voice getting just a little higher the more excited she became, “we put them all together between the performers, and the two leaders of the Lanza empire introduce each story.”
“Wait! You can’t mean…” My words trailed off as hers set into my brain.
Leah nodded with a bright grin. “Yep, you and your dad. Not only are you Mr.GQ, but your father has been so well known as a shining inspiration, being the son of an immigrant who worked with his father building a widely respected newspaper that he then turned into an entire media empire. Who better to build trust with an audience and present other uplifting and encouraging stories of people who have overcome odds or made massive changes in their lives?”
She reached toward me for a moment, but then stopped as she threw another look at our closed office door. “Think about it, Brendan. Lanza Broadcasting’s first New Year’s Eve special will be unlike any of the other stations’ programming. It will solidify itself as not only a trustworthy channel to watch but one that gives all the warm fuzzies you can’t find elsewhere. Plus, we can have you and Mr. Lanza talk about the traditions his family brought over when they immigrated from Spain.”
I played her words over and over in my mind. I wasn’t opposed to getting in front of a camera, even if it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, and I couldn’t argue that the entire concept was brilliant—in all likelihood a far and away better choice than Bryce Ramone had ever been, but… “We need to send crews out now if we have any hope of pulling those segments together in time.” I closed the small bit of distance between us but made sure not to touch any part of her in case anyone was looking through the window to our room. “And you and you alone are in charge of getting the old man to agree.”
Leah ran her tongue along her lower lip. “Trust me. Your father is the least troubling Lanza man in my life right now.”
Chapter Eleven
Leah
One of the positives of working for a young enterprise like Lanza Broadcasting was that when I was hired, I wasn’t as removed from Emilio Lanza as I would have been in most companies. The man was heavily involved in every department and not as a lofty overlord, ready to drop the hammer on any peasant who got out of line, but as an involved and encouraging employer.
That didn’t do a single thing to calm the butterflies assaulting my abdomen as I stared in my closet, hating every piece of clothing, certain none of them would work for the dinner-meeting scheduled for that evening. Part of the stress was clearly from the weight of Mr. Lanza’s expectations for the special and the mantle bearing down on my shoulders to make it a success, despite the last-minute changes.
The other—and possibly bigger—concern was that this would be the first time I’d be around Mr. Lanza as his son’s…
Whatever the hell I was to Brendan. I frowned at the rainbows of material hanging in front of me as if they could give me an answer. Brendan had said more than once that he wanted a relationship, not just a hookup, but that didn’t mean he was ready to slap a label on it, and it sure as hell didn’t mean he would own up to it in front of his father.
My stomach seized as more questions trickled through my mind, so noisy and overwhelming that I nearly missed the alert on my phone signaling someone at my door. I tightened my robe and jogged down the stairs just as the person rang the bell. Another courier. I smiled and took the gift from him.
Excitement pulsed through my veins that I couldn’t remember feeling toward gifts since I was a child. I pulled the tissue paper from the decorated bag the present had arrived in and lifted the small square box from inside. I lifted the lid and laughed as I removed the comically large button that read, ‘Thirty Second Dance Party’.
I set it down on my coffee table, pushed it and was immediately greeted with an upbeat tune and pulsing light shooting from the disc in rhythm to the music. As intended, I began moving along with the sounds and a fraction of the stress that had been heavy on my mind lifted.
Just as abruptly as it had begun, everything quieted. I picked up the button and ran a finger across the top. Whoever was sending these random gifts was giving me something I’d been certain I’d lost when Aaron and I had broken up. An invisible vise tightened around my heart. Was it possible I was developing feelings for someone when I had no idea who they were?
And what the hell did that mean for Brendan and me?
My smart watch vibrated with an alarm, and I raced back upstairs. My existential love crisis would have to wait. I’d managed to waste enough time between debating on a clothing option and the arrival of the latest package from my Secret Santa that I now needed to grab an outfit and make it all work.
I pulled a light purple tweed skirt from my closet and grabbed tights and a black turtleneck from my drawer, hastily donning the outfit. Knee boots the same color as my top finished off the look, and I turned in the mirror, admitting only to myself that I was just as concerned about Brendan’s opinion of my clothes as I was about them making a good impression on his father.
My mind turned to the previous night, and I absently wondered what the coming hours would bring. My skin immediately tingled with anticipation at the very notion of Brendan coming home with me after dinner. Heat rushed through me, pooling at the apex of my thighs where the low-grade thrum of desire had resided all day with Brendan invading all my senses.
Another alert from my phone sounded, and when I pulled up the security app, as if I’d conjured the man from my very imagination, Brendan stood on my doorstep. I forced my steps to be patient and moderated as I turned off the light in my bedroom and walked downstairs. I gave my hair one good fluff before turning the knob.
