Playing Games by Dianne Drake

Author:Dianne Drake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

“NO, I STILL DON’T KNOW what to do about it.” Sipping root beer with Astrid in the break room an hour before the show was supposed to start, Roxy was still numb from William Parker’s decree earlier that afternoon, and not quite worked up to the emotional level she’d need to see this house fight through. “I went out there, fed the gulls…it started out so good, then it ended up like…”

“Bird crap,” Doyle supplied, strolling in, carrying a pizza.

“Do you ever not listen?” Roxy snapped.

“Do you ever not turn off your mic?” he retorted, plop-ping the box down on Roxy’s desk. “Extra cheese, double pepperoni, thin crust. Your favorite.”

“Sorry. Bad day.”

“So I’ve heard.” He tossed out three paper plates and a handful of napkins.

Roxy shot him a wry look. “Yeah, apparently. And that drive naked stunt sure didn’t help me any.”

“Maybe not on the home front, but the front office is thrilled. They’ve got new advertisers lining up, advertisers that want to wrap around your promos. How awesome is that? People paying good money to put their commercials on the air next to your commercial. Price went up this afternoon, in case you hadn’t heard. And there’s already a waiting list. It’s all about business, Rox. Your credo.” Pulling up a chair, Doyle scooted in between Roxy and Astrid, then opened the box. “So have some pizza, and in case you didn’t notice, I haven’t even touched it yet, so you can’t yell at me about that.”

“I didn’t yell at you about driving naked,” Roxy snapped.

“Depends on what you call yelling. And like I told you before, I know I shouldn’t have done it, but it seemed like such a good opportunity to give everyone a taste of the real Val. It worked out great, but I’m sorry. So are we good yet or do I need to buy you another pizza?”

Roxy relented with a forced smile. “It is working out pretty well for the program, isn’t it? And yes, you do owe me another pizza. They’re giving me grief on building on my property because they found out who I am and they sure didn’t like my driving naked spots. And on top of that, my handyman got rear-ended by a car full of naked drivers. Nothing serious, just a fender-bender, but he was sure doing a lot of trash talking about Valentine.” Of course, the fender-bender had worked out rather well. Something she wasn’t about to mention to Doyle.

“Yeah, I heard you telling some of that to Astrid. The part about your property.”

“They’re trying to pull out the big guns to keep her from building,” Astrid answered. “Hoping she’ll give up and go away because they don’t like Valentine.”

“Like I’ve been telling you all along. You’re city, Rox.” Doyle shook his head before he bit into his first piece of pizza—actually, two pieces still joined at the crust. He swallowed almost without chewing.

“That’s what you think. Just watch me.” She wasn’t sure what there was to watch since she didn’t have a plan.

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