Chance on Love (4 page)

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Yes?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“I’d like some coffee before you get started.” He propped his feet up on the desk and leaned back, placing his hands behind his head. He threw her a smile. “Thanks so much,” he said, winking.

Her only response was to slam the door on her way out. However, he could have sworn he’d heard her mumble, “Asshole,” after she’d left the office.

He smiled to himself.

That woman was a real pill, no matter how sexy she happened to be. Chance knew she planned to make his life hell—she succeeded on a daily basis, really, but he’d made up his mind to return the favor. He just had to figure out interesting ways of going about that.

She’d been up for the News Director position, but all that had changed once she’d given him attitude at that first meeting. He’d only wanted to knock her down a peg before moving her into her rightful position. To his surprise, her sass had only worsened.

Yeah, she’d have to deal with him a bit longer
and
lose the nastiness, if she wanted her precious promotion. Something told Chance the second part of that would be the most difficult.

He closed his eyes. It had been another late night—and his sleep had been anything but restful. He’d had some very intense dreams starring none other than the Grumpy One herself. Oh, the things he did to her in those dreams...and her to him.

Chance bit back a groan as his cock stirred at the mere thought of her naked, sweaty body writhing beneath him. She thought she was so tough. He knew he could have her screaming his name in no time at all. Then again, Stephanie Love was no dainty, little princess.

Shit, she would probably have
him
screaming. The thought was almost frightening. Nobody had ever come close to unnerving him before.

He hated to confess that he rather liked the fact that she was so difficult and unaccommodating. He had to admit—he wasn’t used to that. Instead of sitting around daydreaming about his unwanted rival, however, it was time to become active. Making her get coffee, and answer phones was fun, but trivial. It was time to turn up the heat.

Sighing, he opened his eyes. Too bad there would be none of the sexual, breathtaking type of heat. Taking his feet off the desk, he rubbed a hand over his face. No time for fantasies. Love had started this little war.

He’d finish it.

Chapter 5

After retreating to her now even smaller office to try to calm down, Stephanie eventually made it to the large break room to fetch coffee like some 1950s cliché. “That son of a bitch,” she muttered as she made her way inside just as Amber exited.

“Bad day?” she called back.

“Every day is bad now that I work for the chauvinist man-whore.” Stephanie marched over to stand in front of the coffeemaker. The bastard had gotten a big kick out of getting her hopes up about going to the meeting, only to laugh at her once she had. She hated him. It was official.

It was disgusting how he’d been blatantly flirting with Carly. Had they actually been trading sexual innuendos under the guise of discussing something work-related? Yeah, Stephanie doubted
that
was listed under any standard operating procedures she had ever seen in KMLP’s employee handbook. Nasty.

Of course, none of this was surprising. Nasty, but not surprising. She’d known forever what kind of woman Carly was and, well, Chance was just as bad. Put two hoes together, you dig up a whole lotta dirt.

She felt more than a little disgust at herself, too. Every time the schmuck called her “Love”, she experienced a small tingle down her spine. And when he aimed that intense more-gray-than-blue gaze her way, it was even worse.

As he’d stared at her earlier, he’d probably been fantasizing about various ways to kill her, but it didn’t matter. The pang of longing that had filled her was undeniable.

Hopefully she’d managed to look completely unfazed, but her damn pulse had gone from sixty to one hundred in less than a second. Thoughts of a naked Chance Valentine looming over her had leapt to her brain. As horrible as he was as a person, she’d bet her life savings that the man knew what he was doing in the bedroom department. And as much as she hated herself for it, she couldn’t stop picturing his big, thick—

“Great timing,” Carly said, coming to stand next to her. “Don’t think you’re going to stand in my way of getting a shot at the position your little pal stole from me, though.”

Stephanie gave her a sidelong glance. “What the hell are you blathering on about now?”

Carly crossed her arms. “The morning co-anchor position should have been mine. And if things go the way I think they will with Chance,” she said cheerfully, “it will be.”

Stephanie had enough on her plate, trying to come up with a way to get Kenny back. If she had to juggle taking Carly down too, however, so be it. No one screwed with her best friend. “Amber has the co-anchor spot. Deal with it.”

“Yes, but for how long? You see, Chance just gave me an unexpected, ah, chance.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

“He called me back into his office after you left and, well, he offered me a nice little gig to get me off the evening shift.”

“Yay,” Stephanie said flatly.

“Maybe you’ve heard of the position? What is it called again?” Carly placed a perfectly manicured finger to her collagen-injected lips. “Oh, that’s right—News Director.”

Her pulse quickened again, but this time for a very different reason. “What?”

She gave Stephanie a dazzling smile. “That’s right.” And because Carly was Carly, she couldn’t stop there. The knife was in—she just had to twist it, for good measure. “Oh, and I have to tell you how saddened I was to hear about the sudden demise of your relationship with that rich hottie.”

Stephanie forced herself to take slow, deep breaths while she stared at the coffee carafe. This woman was dangerously close to having it introduced to her face. How had she found out about Clay anyway? She turned to the tramp, giving her best bitch face in the process.

“Don’t worry,” Carly continued. “I haven’t told a soul.” She patted her arm. “You poor thing.”

She looked down at the hand that was touching her before looking up into the face of the evil it was attached to. “How the fuck would you know anything about it?”

Pulling her hand back, Carly grimaced. “So vulgar.”

Stephanie took a step closer to get right in her face. “Answer me.”

“Donna’s an acquaintance.” Carly shrugged. “That’s all.”

She gave a mirthless snort of laughter. “Of course. I guess she filled you in at the last Loose Women Unlimited meeting?”

Carly ignored the dig. “It’s so sad. You’ve always been alone for the annual Valentine’s Day gala and, well, I guess this year won’t be any different.” She shook her head. “So, so sad. Ooh, perhaps I can get Chance to be my date. He’s a much more interesting prospect than the guy I’d planned to take.”

The bile had risen so far from the pit of Stephanie’s stomach, she was surprised she was not yet frothing at the mouth. She eyed the nearly empty carafe with great longing.

I will go to jail. I
will
go to jail. I will go to
jail.

That was her mantra whenever she dealt with soulless, brain-dead people, which meant she had to repeat it often.

“I mean, obviously, the man likes me—to give me such a huge promotion that I wasn’t even up for...” Sighing contentedly, she stared off into space.

Stephanie calmly picked up the carafe and poured the remainder of coffee into the sink.

Carly turned to her again. “You know, it’s too bad. If you were still Assistant News Director, you’d be working for me. But, now with you being a big secretary and all...” She threw her head back and laughed as she made her way out of the break room.

Screw Clay and his bed bunny. He’d hurt Stephanie’s pride more than anything. She had never loved him. She’d loved the idea of him—the idea that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t completely incapable of having a relationship work for longer than a year. There’d only been one man whose betrayal had ever hit her where it truly hurt—that bastard, Frank Alford. Maybe it was because he’d been the first one to screw her over. No, the real sting had come from finding out that bitch, Carly, had gotten the position that was rightfully Stephanie’s.

She paid no heed to the tinkling sounds of laughter that drifted to her from down the hall. Instead, she took a deep breath and started a nice, fresh pot of coffee.

It needed to be piping hot. Stephanie smiled to herself.

Only the best for my boss.

****

Chance lifted his shoulder to hold his cell phone to his ear as he looked at the newspaper. He chuckled softly. “You can’t call me every other minute, Jen.” He listened for a few seconds. “I know. I miss you, too. I’ll be there as soon as I can get away. I love you too. Now,
stop
calling,” he said with a grin. “Bye.”

He looked up from his newspaper as he disconnected the call. “It’s about time. I almost sent out a search party,” he said as he went back to reading. Frowning, he gave her a second, longer look.

Love smiled at him sweetly as she walked toward his desk holding the coffee cup. She leaned in and held it out to him. “Your coffee, Mr. Valentine.”

He looked at the cup and back up at her before narrowing his eyes. “Is it poisoned?”

Her smile remained in place. “Of course not.”

“Drink a bit of it.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Plain black coffee’s not really my thing so—”

“Drink a bit of it,” he repeated. Leaning back in his chair, he waited.

Her smile vanished and she scoffed. “Whatever.” She took a tiny sip of the coffee. “There. Are you satisfied?”

Chance shook his head. “Not a sip, a drink.”

“You want me to chug it down?” She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself. This shit is hot.”

He glanced at his watch before turning his attention back to her.

“You seriously think I’d poison you?” The glint in her blue eyes was unreadable.

If he hadn’t known better, he’d almost mistake it for humor. Given that he had never heard her laugh, or seen her smile—save for the terrifyingly sweet one she’d sported when she’d walked into the office just now—he doubted very seriously that the woman even
had
a sense of humor.

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“You’re scared of me.” She gasped softly. “And I thought you had balls.” After toasting him with the cup, she took a big swig from it and grimaced. She held it out to him once more. “Feeling safer now, little girl?”

“Barely.” His lips twitched. This woman was a demon, pure and simple. “You see, I have balls, but I also have a brain. And it tells me you’re up to something that may not end so well for me, so...please forgive my wariness.”

She drew her eyebrows together. “Why would I be up to something?” Leaning in, she stepped closer to the desk. “Just take your damned coff—” She tripped and the hot liquid splashed from the cup and came to rest all over the front of his dress shirt and slacks.

He bit back a curse as he looked down at himself. Well, at least she hadn’t lied about the shit being hot.

“Oh my God,” she said. “I’m
so
sorry.”

He stood up slowly. This crazy ass woman was becoming a bit too much. A bit, hell. She was way past that. Now he was even happier he’d given her precious position to a woman she couldn’t stand. Of course, he’d have to keep tabs on Carly, lest she throw the station into a tailspin with her newfound power. Still, he’d figured it was worth it just to piss Love off. He just hadn’t planned on being assaulted with scalding coffee in return. Taking a deep breath, he glared at her.

“The toe of my high heel must have hit the desk.” She bent down to look. “Yeah,” she said, standing up straight again. “There’s a weird edge at the bottom that kind of juts out. Are you all right?” She widened her eyes. “That coffee was scorching.”

He gave her a little smile. “I’m fine.”

Love arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

The devil woman sounded disappointed. “Really.”

“Oh, well, that’s good.” She looked at his desk. “I’ll clean up this mess, of course.”

“Yeah, you will.” Chance unbuttoned his shirt as he stared at her. “But now there’s something else you’re going to have to do first, Love.” He took off the ruined shirt, and dropped it on the floor before unbuckling his belt.

Her gaze flew to his face—before traveling lower. Eyes squarely on his crotch after roaming past his bare chest, she cleared her throat. “W-what’s that?”

Never taking his eyes off her, he pulled his belt off. He walked around the desk to stand next to her.

She gave an uncomfortable sounding laugh as she turned to face him. “Are you going to spank me?”

“Well, you’d definitely deserve it. Do you want me to?”

Her focus zeroed in on his face once more.

Chance gave her a lopsided grin. “You’re a smart woman, Love. You tell me—what do you think you’re going to have to do to make this up to me?”

Her chest rose and fell a bit more rapidly. He should probably watch it or else she really
would
try poisoning next. Still, he couldn’t resist having a little fun with her.

Silently, she stared up at him.

“Here’s a hint,” he whispered as he leaned down to get close to her face. “It might require getting on your knees.”

Her face lost all traces of color, and those pretty lips of hers moved though no sound escaped them. After only the briefest moment of flailing, she put one hand on her hip and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I spill coffee on you—”

Chance smirked. “Accidentally.”

“And you have the audacity to ask me for a blow job to,” she made air quotes with her fingers, “‘make it up’ to you? I’ll sue you for sexual harassment, you son of a bitch.” She shook her head. “No, I’m going to kick your ass, and
then
I’ll sue you for harassment.”

She stepped back just a bit, balled up her fist, and swung for his face with all her might.

Only his quick reflexes saved him from a broken nose. His own hand shot up to catch hers mid-swing. This woman was definitely, undeniably dangerous—and yeah, a little scary. He could admit it. To himself.