it?”
“Of course not.” Adam’s jaw tightened.
Carl nodded. “Good job, both of you. Keep it up. Next month I want to see number one in the drive-time slot.”
“Sure thing,” Adam said to Carl’s retreating back. He turned to Erica. “A beach party. I can’t wait.”
“It’ll be fun.” She nudged his shoulder. “You remember how to loosen up and have fun, don’t you?”
“Let’s just say my idea of fun and Carl’s aren’t necessarily the same. For instance, mine doesn’t include alligator wrestling. Or Bonnie.”
“She’ll be okay. She should be in a good mood, getting her share of the spotlight.”
“You don’t know her as well as I do. Bonnie wants all the spotlight to herself.”
“And she’ll have it. When she shows up in a bikini, nobody in that bar—at least none of the men—will be paying attention to you and me. We’ll be able to do our show in peace.”
His gaze flickered over her. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ll be getting your share of attention, too, I don’t doubt.”
“From you?” She studied him through lowered lashes.
The lines on either side of his mouth deepened. “Right.” Though his tone was less than enthusiastic, she didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened, as if he was imagining her in a skimpy bathing suit.
“It’ll be just like old times,” she said. “You and me on location for a promo. Only instead of lingerie, I’ll be wearing a swimsuit.”
“But instead of a bed we’ll have Bombshell Bonnie and an alligator in a sandpit.” He shook his head. “Somehow it won’t be the same.”
She lowered her voice. “I have a brand-new bed at my place, remember?”
His expression grew serious, and he held her gaze so long she felt a flush rise to her cheeks. “You never give up, do you?” he said.
She shook her head. “Not when I know you still want me the way I want you.”
“How do you know that? I haven’t said anything.”
She put her hand on his chest, her fingertips brushing the triangle of hair showing at the open collar of his shirt. “You don’t have to. It’s in your eyes every time you look at me.”
He turned his head away. “You’re imagining things.”
“Oh, I imagine lots of things.” She dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned close, her lips almost brushing his ear. “I imagine you making love to me. Do you remember what it was like there, in the dark at the Furniture Gallery? How close we were? How it felt when you were in me?”
With a strangled noise, he turned away, and stormed out of the control booth, slamming the door behind him. She stared after him, hope fluttering in her chest. Adam might try to deny his feelings for her, but they were there. If she could only break past his fear of making a mistake.
AS PREDICTED, Bonnie showed up at Outback Charlie’s wearing a gold lamé string bikini and gold high heels. A short, ruddy man with thinning brown hair, Charlie Mattingly, or Outback Charlie, rushed to greet her. “Miss Remington, it’s such a delight having you here with us,” he said, taking her hand.
“I wouldn’t have missed it.” Bonnie looked around at the large wooden deck decorated with fake palm trees, neon flamingos and colorful beach umbrellas. “Cool place you have here.”
“Could we get a picture together?” Charlie gestured toward one of the waiters, who held a digital camera.
“Sure.” She posed with her arm around Outback Charlie, chest thrust forward. Then she obliged half a dozen other men with their own cheesecake photos.
“Hello, Bonnie,” Adam said as he passed the photo session on his way to the stage set up at one end of the deck area, next to Ronnie’s sandpit. The alligator hadn’t moved since he’d been dropped off an hour ago. If Adam hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn the animal was fake, another prop adding to the outback theme.
Bonnie lowered her sunglasses and surveyed his board shorts and blue and white Hawaiian shirt. “Didn’t you get the memo. We’re supposed to be in Australia, not Hawaii.”
“Even Australians wear Hawaiian shirts.”
Erica passed them. Today, she wore her hair in dozens of tiny braids. “Hi, Adam. Hello, Bonnie. What a great setup, huh?”
Sure. Great setup. For the next four hours I get to work between a woman with a hair trigger who hates my guts, and a woman I want more than I’ve wanted almost anything, except this job.
Bonnie lowered her sunglasses again. “Nice suit. Very…girlish.”
Erica glanced down at the bright red one-piece with deep cut-outs