“I can see that,” he agreed.
“Aside from the staying power issue, I’ve seen how a small group of people can create demons where they don’t exist. It makes people irrational, and irrational can be dangerous.” She took a bite of her egg roll and made a sound of pleasure. “And either this is really good or I’m just really hungry.”
“I wouldn’t know,” he said. “I’m too hungry to be objective.”
“I’m leaning toward thinking it’s really good food,” she said. “I’m hoping the rest of the meal is, as well.”
They ate in surprisingly comfortable silence for a while before he leaned back in his chair. “I’d never have figured you for a small-town girl.”
“Yeah, well, I got out of that small town the minute I could.”
“And then you ended up in L.A.”
“Not immediately,” she said. “I went to school and that led to me producing a news program in Waco, Texas. Some random lucky breaks and I ended up in Dallas at a much larger station. A connection there gave me the chance to pitch this show. And now that I’m here, I don’t want to blow it.”
“Then I say we need to look at this property,” he said. “The right location and security might just silence this curse nonsense. We should go check it out early tomorrow.”
“That’s impossible. I have footage to shoot and get edited.”
The waiter appeared with their food, and Sam paused until he left, before adding, “A busy schedule is all the more reason to secure the right location and move on to other things,” Sam said. “And I might be pushing a bit on this but—”
“No matter how amazing the location is, I don’t have time tomorrow.” She shook her head. “Not unless I can be cloned.”
“I have a key,” he said. “We can go after we finish here if you like. Or I can go check it out and let you know if it’s a waste of time, but if it’s good, you have to find time tomorrow—”
“No,” she said quickly. She wouldn’t be able to make the time, but she also knew this couldn’t be left to someone else to decide. It was too critical to the show. “Tonight. We’ll go tonight.”
For several crackling seconds, they stared at one another, and reality washed over Meagan. She’d just committed to going to a secluded beach house with Sam. She immediately picked up her fork, stabbing a water chestnut.
Sam chuckled and Meagan’s eyes lifted to his. “What’s so funny?”
“The absolute horror on your face when it occurred to you we’d be alone somewhere private. I can have one of my staff take you. Or you can bring along one of your staff members, if you want.”
The offer surprised her. Her reaction surprised her even more, though it shouldn’t have. She didn’t want a chaperone. “You were some sort of Special Ops guy, right?”
“For fourteen years.”
And since he was in his early thirties, that meant he’d gone into the army when he was a late teen. She wondered why, she wondered...damn it. “Then I’d say you’re experienced enough to protect me,” she said, shoving aside curiosity, refusing to get to know Sam any more than she felt she already did. She knew too much. She liked too much. She didn’t want to like Sam.
She ate her chestnut and dabbed her mouth with her napkin. He was watching her. She could feel the warmth of those blue eyes as surely as if she were looking into them. Finally, when he didn’t speak, she glanced up at him, his inspection too intense to bear, his unspoken thoughts unnerving. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
He chuckled. “I’m not sure what ‘like that’ means, but I was just wondering who’s going to protect me from you?”
6
HE’D BAITED HER, unable to stop himself—expecting the flash in her eyes, and the fierceness of her expression that he found so sexy. And it had worked. For the first time since they’d sat down in the restaurant, she leaned towards him, her full lips close enough that he could imagine kissing them, as she said, “Don’t tick me off and you won’t need protection.”
“You like being ticked off at me and you know it.”
“Why would I like being pissed off at you?”
“At some point I think you thought it kept me at a distance. But seems to me that plan has backfired. I’m here to stay, sweetheart. Now what are you going to do with me?”
“For starters,” she said, without hesitation, “if you call me ‘sweetheart’ again, you’ll be wishing for that protection.”
“I’m willing to take whatever you dish out and then some. In fact, maybe you need to unload on me and get it out of your system.” He lowered his voice, all jest gone, a realization taking form. “Maybe there’s a lot we need to just get out of our systems. Maybe then we can move past...it.” Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t lean back, didn’t immediately reject the idea, didn’t ask what “it” was, because they both knew. “It” was desire, hot and getting hotter by the second.
Sam didn’t know what this woman did to him, but while she worried about him stealing her control, she had all but shredded his. There was something about her. Actually, everything about her worked for him, from how her forehead crinkled when she was thinking, to how passionate she was about her show. Being this interested in a woman wasn’t a comfortable place to be. It wasn’t uncomfortable, either. Just different for him because he couldn’t seem to flip the “off” switch.
Long, sizzling seconds passed and she hadn’t responded to his proposition. He arched a brow at her silence. “No snappy comeback?”
“Maybe it would just complicate things,” she said, clearly talking about sex. “Maybe it would make things worse.”
“My thoughts exactly up until a few minutes ago. But we damn near combust every time we’re together, and it’s only a matter of time before we do. We both like to maintain control, so I say we deal with this on our terms, where we control how it happens.” And, he added silently, I can finally get you alone and try to tear down the walls you’ve built around yourself.
“You don’t know me.” She didn’t sound as if she quite believed those words. “You don’t know what I like.”
“But I want to know. And I’ve known you a while now. I know things you might think I hadn’t paid attention to. Like how you left a small town for a big city and now you’re daring to work for a monster studio who’d eat their own young for ratings. That takes courage. On top of all of that, you’re sitting here with me, alone, knowing exactly where it could lead. So I’d lay my money on you enjoying danger as long as it’s on your terms.” He softened his voice. “After tonight, the cameras and crew will be everywhere.”