Читать книгу Revealed - Joanne Rock - Страница 11

WBCI SAT ON THE outskirts of Boston, a high-tech television studio in a less than stellar part of town.

Greg didn’t mind the long commute. His car had state-of-the-art German engineering to smooth the back roads full of potholes, and today, he had a gorgeous woman on his mind to occupy his thoughts.

What he didn’t have was a new voice-over talent for the station.

That failing clouded his mood as he pulled into his primo reserved parking space in front of the building. He hefted his briefcase out of the car, the dozens of nixed demo tapes inside adding considerably to its weight.

What he hadn’t heard on any of these demo tapes was a voice like Jackie Brady’s. Had his listening ear been prejudiced after the sweet seduction of her perfect pitch? Or had there genuinely been no good candidates for the station’s in-house voice-over vacancy?

He mulled over the question on the way to his office. The penthouse in this relatively short building was only on the sixth floor, but it didn’t matter to Greg, who preferred to spend time getting work done as opposed to gazing out the window.

Of course, no matter how much Jackie’s singing voice haunted his dreams and possibly biased his professional opinions, Greg had to be grateful there was no chance they would ever be working together. He’d seen firsthand how detrimental a personal relationship could be to a professional one. Ever since the meteorologist incident, Greg made sure not to mingle his personal and professional lives.

Therefore, no matter how much he kept thinking Jackie would be a great voice-over talent, he counted his blessings she was safely involved in another career. He would keep her and her cat whiskers in his private life and figure out another way to solve his station’s dilemma.

Exiting the elevator into the sixth-floor lobby, Greg sensed trouble brewing. More than half the seats in the small reception area were occupied by WBCI employees. Every single one of those employees looked up expectantly as he sought his office.

He almost had the door unlocked when the barrage of questions began. Ten seconds later he was swarmed.

The engineer from the editing room pushed her way to the front of the pack. She was poker buddies with the lady meteorologist who’d caused Greg so much grief and she didn’t waste any opportunity to give him a hard time. “Greg, I’ve got to polish up the department store commercials this week to show the client. Any word on an in-house person for the voice-over, or do you want me to freelance it out?”

“Same here, Greg,” called one of his right-hand producers from the back of the crowd. “I need a voice for the Pink Lady Club and you told me you didn’t want one of our news anchors to fill in for a risqué spot like that. Didn’t you say you’d have some talent contracted by today?”

Greg worked the lock behind his back while he doled out smooth assurances. “I’ve just got to iron out the contract details.” As the lock gave, he backed his way into his private offices. “Give me a couple of hours to nail things down and I’ll have a name for you this afternoon.”

He hoped.

Assuming he could put Jackie’s voice behind him for a few hours and concentrate on the few remaining tapes that might have filtered their way onto his desk over the weekend. If that didn’t work, he’d dig through the pile of demos in his briefcase all over again until he found the right sound.

Tossing his keys across the desk and stabbing a few computer keys, Greg assured himself he could do this.

He just needed total focus and concentration.

What he didn’t need was a body lying on his camel-colored leather office couch.

Holy…

“Hey, Greg.” His brother Mike rose out of the tangled chenille throw blanket and a rumpled dinner jacket he had obviously tossed over his body, then propped himself up on an elbow. “Hope you don’t mind I crashed here last night.”

Greg dropped his briefcase to the floor with a thud. “How did you get in?”

“You gave me a backup key when you took this job, remember?” Mike shrugged, the casual gesture belying his shell-shocked expression. “I hope it wasn’t a big deal. Hannah dumped me last night and I—didn’t feel like going home.”

Son of a…

Greg sank into his oversized leather office chair, allowing the news to roll over him. “What do you mean she dumped you? You’re getting married.”

“I guess one of the waitresses at Flanagan’s used to work in the cafeteria where Hannah teaches school. Hannah got wind of the naked women at the bachelor party and she lost it. Told me I’ve only got eyes for other women—Jesus, Greg, you know that’s not true.”

“Yeah I know, but how the hell does Hannah know? You’ve got a tendency to lay on the charm with females.” Mike had a reputation that went back to high school.

“I’m a gentleman, damn it. That’s why I’m nice to women in general. That’s why I don’t—indulge myself—with my future wife. I’m showing her some respect.” Mike tugged down his shirt cuffs to straighten his sleeves, not making eye contact.