Chance on Love (3 page)

Her eyes felt damn near close to misting over and
that
could not happen, even for Kenny, whom she loved dearly. “No, he’d rather pretend he’s okay with this.”

Amber regarded her silently.

Stephanie stopped pacing. “What?”

“Did you just call the interim GM ‘hot’?”

“No. Pfft.” She stopped to think about it. “Did I?”

“Pretty sure you did,” Amber said, smiling.

Stephanie feigned interest in her manicure. “Well, if I did, it’s beside the point.”

“Is it?”

She pinned Amber with a glare.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me because the man’s gorgeous. It’s not my fault.”

“I don’t care how gorgeous he is; he’s a total asshole. And, yes, maybe under different circumstances, I’d screw his brains out, but under
these
circumstances, I’m more likely to
shoot
his brains out—got it?”

A throat cleared, and Stephanie turned to see the bastard himself leaning against the doorway, staring at her.

Aaaand...I can die now.

“I’m sorry,” he said, smirking, “do go on.”

Amber jumped up and stared at the floor like a shy schoolgirl. “I should be going.” She dared a peek up at him and shot out her hand. “It was nice meeting you. And, again, thanks so much for giving me this opportunity.”

After Stephanie’s golden departure from the conference, the rest of the promotions had been made official, including Amber’s. She was now morning co-anchor for Channel 6 News.

Valentine took her hand and brought it to his lips, making Stephanie want to gag. Of course he was a playboy. Why wouldn’t he be? What man could be that good looking without being a complete douche?

Amber’s face reddened and she smiled coyly before floating away on air.

Stephanie took a deep breath. “I appreciate you coming to say goodbye, but, really, it wasn’t necessary.” She threw him a fake smile before going back to her box search.

“Are you always this bitchy?”

If he was hoping the question would offend her, he was in for disappointment. “No,” she said nonchalantly, “this is one of my good days.”

That earned her an unexpected flash of dimples.

Caught off guard, she almost found herself smiling back.

“You’re really quitting over the fact that your former supervisor is leaving?”

“I’m quitting over
how
he’s leaving. Instead of a well-earned promotion, he gets fired. One of your very first acts as the all-powerful one around here and you boot the best fucking employee this station’s ever seen. Kudos.”

Stepping into the office, he looked around. “If you do end up staying, we’re going to have to work on your language.” He squinted at her. “You’ve got a bad case of potty mouth.”

Stephanie flipped him off.

Tapping a finger against his lips, he nodded. “More than potty mouth, I see.”

“Being raised in a testosterone-laden home can do that to a girl, I suppose.”

“Oh? Big family?”

She rolled her eyes. “The only thing I want to discuss with you is my severance pay.”

“You shouldn’t quit, you know.”

“Even if you hadn’t screwed my friend over, I’d still want out. Executive Assistant? That’s pretty much a demotion and you know it.”

“It’s a
pro
motion, really.”

“Yeah? Instead of being News Director, I’d be your glorified secretary. Moving right up the career ladder at breakneck speed—I’ll pass.”

“You do realize it’s a nice way to familiarize yourself with the General Manager position. After all,” he shrugged, “it
is
going to be up for grabs when I leave.”

Well, that shut her up. Wait a minute. He’d dangled her absolute dream job in front of her as if it was a doggy treat, and she was an eager puppy. Oh, he was good. Nevertheless, she wasn’t willing to roll over just yet. No way was she screwing over a friend. Taking the GM position, should it ever become available to her, without discussing it with Kenny first would be a knife in his back.

She squared her shoulders. “I’ll need some time to think about it.” Her new enemy didn’t need to know about the plan to get the okay from Kenny.

The schmuck raised an eyebrow. “Fine.” He walked closer, coming near enough for her to get a whiff of his expensive-smelling cologne. They stood toe to toe as she peered up at him, noting the faint stubble along his jaw. “Now,” he said, leaning down to bring his face close to hers, “did I hear you say something about screwing my brains out earlier?”

She ceased breathing in that moment. He’d started an ache right between her thighs, damn it.

“Because that could be...improper.” His gaze landed on her lips briefly. “You know,” he said as he headed for the door, “with you being my secretary and all.” He turned, giving her a wicked grin before vanishing.

All Stephanie knew was—that bastard had been lucky there were no lamps within reach.

Chapter 4

Chance’s hands were warm and skillful as he slid them over her body. Her nipples hardened in anticipation of what his mouth was about to do. Stephanie closed her eyes, feeling the first wet swipe of his talented tongue against the sensitive, puckered flesh.

“Oh, God,” she said between moans.

The more he licked and sucked her nipples, the wetter her pussy became. She needed this man inside her more than she could remember ever needing anything. And that included air and water, so that was saying something.

He eased one large hand down her body and it came to rest between her thighs. He began to rub the ache there and, by doing so, made it even worse. She moved her hips against his hand. Chance circled his finger over her clit and she cried out. She needed him. Now.

“Fuck me,” she said.

“Not just yet.” He smirked. “I’m going to make you beg for it.”

Stephanie frowned. It would be a cold day in hell before she begged any man to— She gasped when his mouth replaced his hand. She started grinding her pussy against his face. He spread her legs even farther apart as he continued to drive her insane with his tongue.

Fine, so the temperature in hell was dropping rapidly.

She couldn’t wait to ride that big, thick cock of his. Moaning, she buried her fingers in his hair. She wanted him inside her, but she was reluctant to put an end to the oral attention. Damn. Decisions, decisions...

Just then, Carly appeared out of thin air. Literally. And for some reason, she was singing ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’. Fucking bad timing. Awful. Horrible. Good song, though.

“Go away, Carlene,” Stephanie said through gritted teeth.

She stopped singing abruptly. “It’s Carly.” Then, she continued with her solo.

Stephanie groaned. She blindly reached out to stop her CD player slash alarm clock from blaring her eighties song of the moment, which happened to be the very one Carly had been performing. Two weeks straight of sexy dreams about the hot schmuck who was now her boss. How gross.

They’d never managed to go all the way in the dreams, though. For that reason, she teetered on the thin line between relief and frustration.

After dragging her reluctant body from its nice, warm bed, she prepared herself for the day ahead. More glorified secretary work—awesome! She’d had a long talk with Kenny before accepting the Executive Assistant position.

He shared Valentine’s opinion; it was a good opportunity to put herself at the front of the line for GM candidate. And he’d also stated exactly what she’d known he would: He was fine with being let go from the station. Pure bullshit.

She had a plan, though. If she could finesse her way into the General Manager spot, she’d rehire Kenny, put him in place there, and she would become News Director. That was her brilliant plan, and she was sticking to it.

Now to go about getting Chance Valentine away from KMLP and out of her life, and hopefully her dreams, forever.

The cocky bastard was something else. He got a thrill out of ordering her to do the most mundane of tasks: getting his coffee—the schmuck liked it black, no sugar...blech, sorting his mail, fielding his calls—many of which were from a particular breathy, pretty-sounding, giggling “Donna”.

Stephanie sighed. Oh, this was
so
much better than planning news assignments and creating budgets.

Frowning, she stepped under the hot spray of the shower.
Those damned Donnas.

No matter how yummy the man was, he had horrible qualities. The fact that he had absolutely no scruples was at the top of the list. Plus, he was a total man-whore. She supposed that went along with his lack of ethics, though. He’d leave work whenever he damned well felt like it because he always had something to take care of—probably a ‘project’.

God only knew what he was doing during those little excursions, but she could certainly venture a guess. Yeah, she knew all too well, thanks to Clay, what ‘project’ was code for.

Oh well, she’d go in and, once again, try her best not to cuss Chance Valentine out.

She usually failed.

****

Chance sat on the edge of the desk as he regarded Carly Samuels. The long-legged brunette sat in the chair smiling up at him. She was trying her best to finagle her way into the morning co-anchor spot recently taken over by Amber Keegan. He patiently heard her out.

Why not? She wasn’t going to get anywhere. But in a tight, short skirt and a low-cut blouse, she provided an excellent view.

“So you see,” she was saying, “it only makes sense for me to have that time slot. It could really help my career, give me great...” She uncrossed her legs slowly before crossing them again in the opposite direction. “Exposure.”

Chance almost laughed, but coughed in order to cover it. This woman was as subtle as blunt force trauma. “Oh, I bet you like being exposed.”

Carly smiled, lowering her lashes briefly before gazing up at him again.

He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “And just what are you willing to do to get what you want?”

She gave a quick shrug of her shoulders. “Oh, if I want something bad enough, I’m willing to do,” she licked her lips slowly, “anything.”

He rolled his lips inward to stop himself from laughing.

“Ahem.”

He turned and smiled. “Hi, Love.” Her shoulders tensed slightly. She didn’t appreciate him calling her that, but it
was
her name after all. The fact that it ruffled her surly little feathers was only a bonus.

“
Ms.
Love,” she corrected, her eyes landing on Carly and narrowing slightly. “I see I caught you in the middle of a new...project.” With a smirk, she looked at him. “I’ll come back,” she said, turning around.

“Don’t leave.”

She faced him again.

Chance stared into her ice-blue eyes. “I need you.” The woman was the biggest pain in the ass he had ever met, but she got things done. The fact that she was fucking gorgeous was only a bonus. Her light, golden blonde hair caught the rays of sunlight that spilled through the open blinds.

Her lips looked kissable as all hell, and even though she was on the smaller side in the tits department, he bet they absolutely begged to be kissed as well. And sucked...licked, too.

Not to mention, she had an ass that wouldn’t stop. The things he could do to that curvy part of her. She was so used to being in control all the time; he’d love to make her submit to him. He’d bend her over and put her backside to good use. And he would dare her to tell him to stop.

Love was giving him an impassive look.

Chance realized he’d been staring. After clearing his throat, he glanced at Carly. “We’re done here.”

She pouted. “But—”

“We’re done here,” he repeated.

Carly sighed and stood up. “We’ll resume this later.”

Love smirked as Carly passed her. “Carlene.”

She gave her a tight, obviously fake smile. “It’s Carly.” Squeezing past her, she left the office with her shoulders thrown back.

He peered at the gorgeous, feisty blonde. “Come here,” he said in a low, husky voice.

She stared at him a moment before taking a step forward.

He tilted his head. “I’m not going to hurt you. Unless you want me to,” he added, giving her a slow smile.

Love scoffed. “Oh, I’m not worried about you hurting
me
.” She crossed her arms as she walked farther into his office. “What do you want?”

“I have a meeting tomorrow with a few people from corporate. They want a progress report on all the changes that have been implemented.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “It’s been two weeks.”

He scowled. “They want a report on the last two weeks then.”

“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What’s this got to do with me?”

“Well,” he said slowly, “you’re my assistant. I need you to assist.”

Dropping her arms to her side, she took another step toward him. “You want me to sit in on the meeting?”

He frowned. “I need you to gather updates from the department heads and type up a report.” Chuckling, he shook his head. “Sit in on the meeting...”

“You’re—”

He arched an eyebrow.

She pressed her lips together. “...the boss.” Fire blazed from her eyes, belying the soft hint of a smile that barely touched her mouth. She looked like she wanted to kick his ass.

Strangely enough, though she only looked to be five feet, six inches and couldn’t be more than one hundred and thirty pounds, he had the unsettling thought that she might actually give him a run for his money.

He was not only a thirty-four year old man; he was a pretty big dude. There was no reason in the world this woman should make him think twice before crossing her.

“It’s nice that you’re finally starting to understand that.” He walked around the desk to sit in his large, comfortable chair. “You probably should be going. I want a detailed report so that may take you some time.”

Taking a deep breath, she remained silent for several moments. Finally, she spoke. “Fine.” She turned to go.

“Oh, and Love?”