“Thank you, Alice but Chloe has school in the morning, so we need to call it a night,” Hallie said.
“Ahhh man.” Chloe’s shoulders slumped, mouth pinched as her mother guided her off the set.
Alice motioned to Ronan who pushed the camera tripod into place. “Shall we get started? We’re going to roll the video and if you’d like to take us through your process, then we’ll edit it from there.”
Niko plopped into the chair and eyed the monitor between them. A freeze frame of him standing at the judge’s station marked the screen. He was about to review his performance in detail but what happened had been such a blur, he wasn’t sure how accurate he’d be.
She settled into her seat and crossed her legs, the toe of her shoe brushing his pant leg. Alice leaned in and slanted the monitor for both of them to view, exposing the skin of her neck that begged for exploration. He shifted in his chair and averted his eyes. She’d made herself clear on where they stood and it wasn’t an invitation to seduction.
The screen went blank and she cursed under her breath. “Ronan, something is wrong. We lost the feed.”
“Shit, we really need new equipment. Give me a few minutes while I reconnect.”
Alice opened up the yellow notepad on her lap and lifted the first page. “Sorry about that. You did well, by the way. I liked the concept of the tree. The other contestants had good ideas but yours was fresh.”
“Thanks. It was more fun than I imagined. Did you taste any of the desserts? Oh, wait, you don’t eat sugar.” He steepled his fingers and studied the flush rushing up her cheeks. “You’re on a macrobiotic diet, right?”
“It helps me stay healthy on the road.”
He watched her read for a long moment, perturbed by the way she ignored him. He wanted her attention, juvenile though it was. “What are you studying so intently?”
“My schedule. Tomorrow is clean-up day. I’ll send the remaining video to Mitchell’s team to edit, then we film the next show in two days. I’d like to set up an interview with the charity that you spoke about. The more footage we film ahead of time, the easier post-production will be. Do you have a contact?”
“Sure, I’ll get you one. Isn’t the second show the same formula? Three compete, judges judge, contestants wait in the back room until one gets the boot. Then the remaining two, and the poor sap that lost, has to sit with the producers and brag how great they were in the previous round?”
Her lips bowed and she flipped the page. “And weren’t you great? If you said no, I’d be shocked.”
Those same lips had melded with his, soft and supple. Even though she sat across from him, he still caught the hint of vanilla through the fading smells of cooking. He leaned his elbow on the chair arm and rested his chin on his fist. “And why is that? Do you think I’m arrogant and full of myself?”
“Video is back on line,” Ronan said, rushing back into the kitchen.
“If you’re fishing for compliments, then aren’t you proving my point?”
“Apparently, yes.” He threw back his head and laughed at her sharp retort. After the stress of the day’s events, it felt good to let lose. With Alice. He cast a curious glance in her direction, and contemplated his next move. Should he bring up their tryst or let it go? It was best all-around to do the latter yet he balked at giving up on something that had promise. They were doomed to failure. She’d be leaving soon and he had too much on his plate to add more.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alice ran the brush through her hair then pulled it into a ponytail. The sleepless night showed in the shadows beneath her eyes and she turned away from the mirror. Heading back into the kitchen, she palmed her phone. What she was doing was crazy. She’d given her daughter up for a reason and rehashing the past wasn’t healthy. It didn’t matter that the child was sick. She could donate stem cells and never need to meet the person. It would have been the decent thing to do yet she’d been driven to seek out Chloe and see the truth for herself.
“Are you ready?” Grace asked, stretching one arm over the other. Her dark hair fell over her face and she blew it away.
“Sure.” Alice followed Grace out of the condo and to the exit stairwell. Since the moment she’d received the email from the donor program, she’d been obsessed with her daughter’s welfare. And now she was fast becoming obsessed with Niko.
“You seem awfully quiet this morning.” Grace trotted down the first of ten flights of stairs leading to the outside of the building. “Something bothering you?”
“When did you learn to read my mind?”
Grace rounded the corner, her feet flying. “You’ve always been an open book.”
Alice rushed to catch up. How much to share? She’d kept the interlude in his apartment silent for days and had been bursting at the seams to confide in someone. Other than the time on the set yesterday, she rarely saw Grace and she couldn’t tell Brooke. “Yes, I have, we, um, Niko and I, um, had an encounter, the other night, and a—”
“An encounter of a sexual nature? Do tell.”
“Well, he kissed me and, well, I was upset over Richard and Lance and I, well, I kissed him back and then…” She jumped down the last two steps of the flight, embarrassment quickening her strides. Her words sounded innocuous enough but there was nothing innocuous about what happened between her and Niko.
“And then? There’s more?”
“Yes. He’d just worked out and his shirt was unbuttoned and well… let’s says, I pushed things a bit more than I should have. If it hadn’t been for Chloe’s knock…I was stupid, Grace. So stupid.” Even talking about it sounded wrong.
