raised dais. Wires ran everywhere, and the studio lights which would soon be hot and blinding, hung darkly overhead.
Anna sat and tried to relax, taking deep breaths the way Alonso, her personal trainer, had shown her. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five, deep breath out. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five…
“You’re not nervous, are you, Ms Findlay?” A familiar voice asked.
Anna’s stomach muscles cramped and she choked on that last breath.
“What are you doing here? This is a closed studio and they’ll be televising soon.”
“I’m interviewing you.”
Anna gaped. “You’re the Boss?”
“Yes, ma’am, Jed Walker, CEO of Walker Media Enterprises, at your service. I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful, in-depth interview.”
The wicked glint in his eyes made Anna cringe.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Don’t look so anxious – the Boss will handle it all for you,” Leone assured her.
“Cripes, he already has,” Anna muttered to herself as she watched Jed confer with a couple of the technical staff. The assistant gave her an odd look, then shrugged her shoulders and walked away. After all, odder ducks than Ms. Findlay walked into the studio every day.
Oh, how calm, cool and collected he looks – like a lion that knows exactly where his dinner is coming from!
Anna was ushered forward and introduced to Mr. Jed Walker as formally as if they’d never met – or shared some very intimate moments – before. Of course, this was no surprise to him. He’d probably recognized her name hours before and had time to prepare his reaction.
Or revenge.
One look at his face and Anna quailed; a flash of memory reminding her how she’d callously left him wanting in the honeymoon suite. That wolfish grin told her he didn’t just remember, he was going to savage her on screen, in front of millions of people. Anna thought she’d probably throw up on his shoes. And that would just serve him right, pretending to be with an escort agency just to get a scoop…
Anger flooded through her. She remembered the feeling of guilt when she arranged for an escort, how she felt sorry for the guys who did this kind of work. Surely they were humiliated by having a woman pay them for a date? All her Women’s Lib beliefs were compromised by this single act of hiring a date.
Oh, yes, she had principles. But the guy for whom she’d felt the prick of conscience was none other than a scheming, lying fraudster. Of course, all her sociology studies had suggested that a little bit of the caveman lurked in every modern guy. In her experience and research, men were basically primitive beings. The way she had ignored his needs had left him with a smoldering anger and need for revenge. A need to prove himself dominant. Her stomach roiled again.
“Ms. Findlay? We’re on go.”
And all the pithy words and scathing rebuttals fled from Anna’s mind. All that was left was an equally primitive urge to flee in the face of an oncoming storm.
***
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you are as delighted as I am to welcome our guest tonight. She’s Dr. Anna Findlay, author of a book which claims to be the definitive work on sexual behavior in the 21 st century. I quote from the back cover blurb: ‘It’s a book that should be read by everyone who wants to understand modern sexual mores; and particularly by parents of the notorious Generations X & Y’ – yes, folks, the book tells you a lot about the sexual behaviors of your sons and daughters…”
“Well, no, Mr. Walker – I have to stop you there. The book is actually a serious work on the changing sexual mores of…”
Jeb jabbed a finger at a page. “But it says right here: ‘A between the sheets study of the sexual behaviors of Generations X & Y’….”
“I know what it says.” Anna tried to keep her voice steady. “Actually, this work began as a serious study for my thesis…”
“And you must have found the research a lot more fun than the average dry as dust
Anna sat and tried to relax, taking deep breaths the way Alonso, her personal trainer, had shown her. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five, deep breath out. Deep breath in, hold for a count of five…
“You’re not nervous, are you, Ms Findlay?” A familiar voice asked.
Anna’s stomach muscles cramped and she choked on that last breath.
“What are you doing here? This is a closed studio and they’ll be televising soon.”
“I’m interviewing you.”
Anna gaped. “You’re the Boss?”
“Yes, ma’am, Jed Walker, CEO of Walker Media Enterprises, at your service. I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful, in-depth interview.”
The wicked glint in his eyes made Anna cringe.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Don’t look so anxious – the Boss will handle it all for you,” Leone assured her.
“Cripes, he already has,” Anna muttered to herself as she watched Jed confer with a couple of the technical staff. The assistant gave her an odd look, then shrugged her shoulders and walked away. After all, odder ducks than Ms. Findlay walked into the studio every day.
Oh, how calm, cool and collected he looks – like a lion that knows exactly where his dinner is coming from!
Anna was ushered forward and introduced to Mr. Jed Walker as formally as if they’d never met – or shared some very intimate moments – before. Of course, this was no surprise to him. He’d probably recognized her name hours before and had time to prepare his reaction.
Or revenge.
One look at his face and Anna quailed; a flash of memory reminding her how she’d callously left him wanting in the honeymoon suite. That wolfish grin told her he didn’t just remember, he was going to savage her on screen, in front of millions of people. Anna thought she’d probably throw up on his shoes. And that would just serve him right, pretending to be with an escort agency just to get a scoop…
Anger flooded through her. She remembered the feeling of guilt when she arranged for an escort, how she felt sorry for the guys who did this kind of work. Surely they were humiliated by having a woman pay them for a date? All her Women’s Lib beliefs were compromised by this single act of hiring a date.
Oh, yes, she had principles. But the guy for whom she’d felt the prick of conscience was none other than a scheming, lying fraudster. Of course, all her sociology studies had suggested that a little bit of the caveman lurked in every modern guy. In her experience and research, men were basically primitive beings. The way she had ignored his needs had left him with a smoldering anger and need for revenge. A need to prove himself dominant. Her stomach roiled again.
“Ms. Findlay? We’re on go.”
And all the pithy words and scathing rebuttals fled from Anna’s mind. All that was left was an equally primitive urge to flee in the face of an oncoming storm.
***
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you are as delighted as I am to welcome our guest tonight. She’s Dr. Anna Findlay, author of a book which claims to be the definitive work on sexual behavior in the 21 st century. I quote from the back cover blurb: ‘It’s a book that should be read by everyone who wants to understand modern sexual mores; and particularly by parents of the notorious Generations X & Y’ – yes, folks, the book tells you a lot about the sexual behaviors of your sons and daughters…”
“Well, no, Mr. Walker – I have to stop you there. The book is actually a serious work on the changing sexual mores of…”
Jeb jabbed a finger at a page. “But it says right here: ‘A between the sheets study of the sexual behaviors of Generations X & Y’….”
“I know what it says.” Anna tried to keep her voice steady. “Actually, this work began as a serious study for my thesis…”
“And you must have found the research a lot more fun than the average dry as dust
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