Girls' Guide to Flirting with Danger (6 page)

She cleared her throat and chose her words carefully. “I appreciate your concern, but my life is not your business or your problem anymore. Good night, good luck and hopefully we'll never have to see each other again.”

Feeling rather proud of her little speech, she reached for the door handle. Devin still held her wrist, and she stared at his hand pointedly until he released his grip.

The sounds and, unfortunately, smells of her neighborhood rushed in as she opened the door, destroying the quiet cocoon, and the intimacy evaporated.
Thank goodness.
“Bye, Dev.”

“Damn it, Megan—” Dev began, but she closed the door on his words.

She climbed the stairs on unsteady legs, the imprint of his hand still burning into her arm. She didn't hear the engine start, so she assumed he was watching her make her way safely inside. That thought kept her head high. She
just needed to get inside, get a drink and crawl under the covers to forget this hellish, hellish day.

The urge to look over her shoulder was almost impossible to resist, but she kept her eyes straight ahead as she opened the door. Leaning against it, eyes closed, she waited for the sound of Dev's engine revving and pulling away. It seemed to take forever.

As the rumble faded, Megan grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and headed to her bedroom. Then, for the first time ever, she changed the voice-mail message on her phone to have clients with emergencies call the clinic's answering service.

She couldn't deal with anyone else's problems or pain tonight.

She had enough of her own.

M
ANNY'S AVARICIOUS GLEE
was not what Devin wanted to face at ten o'clock in the morning. Not after the night he'd had.

Dealing with Megan and all the history they'd stirred up had left him with much to think about, and it had been nearly impossible to concentrate on anything else. After years of
not
thinking about her, having her that much on his mind was slightly disconcerting. When he'd finally given up and gone to bed, different memories awaited him. Making love to Megan in every position known to mankind for hours on end had left him grouchy this morning from lack of rest and the residual frustration of erotic dreams.

And now Manny had decided to show up first thing this morning, throwing off what little ability to concentrate he'd managed to find. To make matters worse, it seemed Manny had only one topic of conversation available to him today: Megan.

“My phone started ringing off the hook five minutes after you two hit the airwaves. The show was incredible. You guys were a hit.”

“Kate would agree with you.” Devin reached for the nearest file, not knowing or caring what it contained, and flipped it open purposefully. “Now, I've got a few…”

Manny was oblivious to the hint and got comfortable in
the chair next to Devin's desk. “Kate is a genius, a complete freakin'
genius,
for putting you two together. You know, with the offers I've heard this morning, you should seriously consider partnering with Megan for more projects.”

That got his attention. “Have you lost your mind?”

“I'm serious as a heart attack. You should take your show on the road—do some rounds with the talk shows, some special appearances….”

“No thanks. I'm not interested, and I think it's safe to assume Megan isn't either.”
But considering Megan's living situation, she could benefit from some paying stints….

Manny didn't seem to hear him. “And The Powers That Be are giddy this morning. They want Megan to be a regular guest on the show.”

He closed the file with a snap. “Absolutely not. Last night's freak show doesn't need to be repeated.”

“Freak show or not, you and Megan together are magic.”

Devin choked. Magic.
Yeah, right.
They'd had some magic years ago, but that was definitely gone. “Kate lied to Megan, and that's the only reason she was on the show to begin with. Megan would like this whole situation to die a quick death, and I can't say I object to that. For slightly different reasons, mind you.”

“But—”

“No buts. This ends now. You work for me—not Kate, not The Powers That Be—and I want you to find something else to make money from. Something that doesn't involve Megan Lowe.”

“I can't control the media. I'm good, but I'm not that good. Until something better comes along, you and Dr. Megan are what the world wants to see.”

“Then
make
something better come along. Surely one of your other clients could be convinced to go into rehab.
Maybe one could pick a bar fight and get arrested? I'd be willing to make it worth their while.”
Anything to end this.
“And yours, too.”

Manny seemed to ponder his words, then shook his head. “Dream on, Devin. You're the media's darling right now.”

He felt more like the media's bitch at the moment. And fortune's fool. A strong mental slap brought him back to earth. He couldn't get Megan off his mind because he'd never expected to cross paths with her again, much less twine his life with hers—however temporarily—and create a circus. The edge of frustration cutting him…well, that was just a side effect of the long, crazy hours he'd kept recently and the resultant celibacy caused by those long hours and ridiculous schedule. In a couple of weeks the hype around the book would die down, and life would return to normal.

Megan had just landed in his life at exactly the wrong moment, and that was the reason for his headache.

As Manny babbled on, he amended that statement. Megan wasn't solely to blame for his headache.

“Look, I have things to do today—other people's marriages to dissolve, people who are depending on me to end their misery. In order to do that, I need to file papers before close of business. You, the book and the show will have to wait your turn.” He grabbed Manny by the biceps and hauled him to his feet. “In fact, I'm forbidding you to contact me—at all, in any way—until Monday. No email, no calls, no texts, no telegrams, not even a smoke signal from you until noon Monday. It will give you plenty of time to think of something else.”

“But, Devin…”

“No buts. If I hear a peep out of you before twelve noon
Monday—not eleven fifty-nine, twelve—you're fired. Understand?”

Manny sputtered, but Devin was feeling pretty good as he guided Manny to his office door and out into the hallway.

“Devin—”

“This is the only warning you're going to get. Not a word from you.”

They passed Kara, one of his paralegals, in the hall, and she dissolved into giggles as Devin frog-marched Manny to the reception area. “Kara, do me a favor and look up the termination clause in Mr. Field's contract.” He tossed the words over his shoulder. “We might need it.”

“Of course, Mr. Kenney. I'll get right on that.”

In the tasteful, designed-to-impress reception area, he released Manny's biceps. “I'll talk to you Monday. Enjoy the long weekend.”

Manny merely nodded, and Devin choked back a laugh. Manny's silence, however coerced, was both amusing and welcome. In fact, the prospect of an entire Manny-less weekend improved his mood considerably and he felt almost chipper as the door closed behind his overzealous agent.

His receptionist was openmouthed in shock when he turned around. She closed her mouth with a snap, but the smirk of satisfaction had him wondering how much his staff had resented Manny's constant intrusions on his office—and therefore everyone's time. A couple of his junior attorneys, several paralegals and a few secretaries—also wearing looks of amusement and satisfaction—lined the hallway as he made his way back to his office. “Now that we're less distracted, let's see if we can't get something accomplished today.”

On that note, everyone disappeared into their offices and cubicles.

Blissful silence awaited him as he closed his office door behind him. He should've threatened to fire Manny months ago.

But as he started working his way through his in-box, an earlier thought kept pushing its way to the forefront of his concentration. Megan obviously needed money. Whatever her internship was paying, it was barely enough to keep a cat alive. Maybe she
could
benefit from this mess. Devin was sure Manny would know a way to make “Dr. Megan” some quick cash from appearances or something.

Without him, though. Megan and Devin were not a package deal. Not anymore.

If Megan was interested, he could drop Manny a quick email; it would smooth Manny's ruffled feathers to have something to wrangle into profitability over the weekend.

Oddly pleased, he whistled as he picked up the phone. This was a win-win situation. Any lingering guilt he felt over Megan would be appeased, and he'd make his agent happy, as well. Then he'd be able to catch up on things here and enjoy his weekend.

He loved having a plan.

 

“Are you
trying
to get fired? Is that your plan?”

Had she not heard Julie's ring tone, Megan would have continued to ignore her phone. The damn thing had been ringing nonstop all morning, disturbing her much-needed pity party. Dev had done a number on her head last night, and all the self-therapy in the world wasn't making it easier to cope. The last thing she needed was Julie's dramatics on top of everything else.

“What makes you think I have a plan for anything?” she
grumbled, debating whether she wanted to bother making coffee. Nah, the caffeine would only wake her up, and she had every intention of going back to sleep as soon as she could get Julie off the phone. If she could just sleep until this was over, that would be
grand.
“Anyway Dr. Weiss said I wasn't in danger of being fired.”

“That was before. I think it's a distinct possibility now unless Dr. Weiss calms down.”

“What?” That sent a jolt through her, chasing away every last bit of sluggishness in a way no amount of caffeine ever could. “Why?”

“You left here Monday with instructions to lie low. To let this blow over.”

That feeling of dread she was beginning to think had taken up permanent residence in her stomach started to flow into her entire body. “Um, well…”

“What part of ‘lie low' did you translate as ‘go on the radio and stir up the whole country'? Dr. Weiss is having a duck this morning.”

Dr. Weiss was emotionally incapable of having a duck. Or anything else. But if Julie seemed to think Dr. Weiss was remotely close… “Ah, damn it. Since when did she start listening to Dev's show? Did she hear it?”

“She has now. She missed the segment on
Chicago A.M.
this morning, thank goodness.”

“Chicago A.M.?”
Her voice came out as a squeak.

“Oh, yeah. It was a great piece.” Julie's sarcasm cut to the quick. “Complete with a picture of you and a mention of the clinic.”

Oh, no.

“The phone has done nothing but ring since eight this morning,” Julie continued as Megan felt a chill settle into her blood. “The waiting room is buzzing because the clients
are talking about it. It didn't take Dr. Weiss long to get the drift and then go online to get all the details.”

The adrenaline of panic shot through her, making her hands shake slightly. “This is not good, Julie.”

“That's an understatement.
Why
did you go on his show?”

She'd asked herself the same question a thousand times with no good answer. “Temporary insanity?” she offered weakly.

“Try that with people who don't know what that term actually means.”

“I was trying to help….”

“Megan, honey, get real. There's no help for this but time.”

“I know that
now.
I just thought—I mean, I
hoped…
” She scrubbed a hand over her face and tried to regroup. “Should I call Dr. Weiss? Try to explain?”

“I wouldn't if I were you. She's a little unhappy with you at the moment.” Julie fell silent and Megan prayed she was thinking of a brilliant idea. “Let me plead your case. Temporary insanity won't fly, but maybe I could argue for diminished capacity or something.”

“Thanks.”

“Don't thank me yet. I'm not sure Dr. Weiss is open to much discussion about you right now. We've heard your name a lot this morning, if you get my meaning.”

Megan did. All too well. “Apologize to Alice for me, too. Let her know I'm sorry about all the phone calls she's having to take.”

“Oddly, I think Alice is getting a weird thrill out of hanging up on them. It's not something she gets to do often.” Megan could almost hear the smile in Julie's voice. At least there was something about this situation that didn't suck.

“Look,” Julie added, “don't do anything else to rile Dr. Weiss. Stay home. Stay away from the media. And stay off Devin Kenney's show, for God's sake.”

“Not a problem. I won't even call in to tomorrow morning's show. I promise.”
Not that that would help.

“Good. By the way, he's looking for you this morning.”

She was still trying to force out of her head the image of her career going down the toilet. “Who is?”

“Devin. He called here and asked us to pass along a message to you.”

Huh?
“Why would he call there?”

“According to Alice, he knows you're not answering your phone this morning, so he called us figuring we'd talk to you at some point.”

Lovely. “And the message?”

“He wants you to call him.”

“Did he say why?”

“Does it matter? Didn't we
just
agree you were going to stay away from him?”

“I'm only curious,” she argued, but she sounded weak.

She heard Julie sigh. “He didn't say why. Is that curiosity going to cause you to do something stupid now? Like call him?”

“Nope.” Although she'd love to know what Dev was up to, she could resist. “Obviously it's not important or life threatening.”

“Good girl. Keep that attitude and just stay home for the next few days. I'll try to calm Dr. Weiss down today—downplay what I can and put a positive spin on the rest. Maybe she'll calm down over the weekend and have a different attitude on Monday.”

“I will. And
thanks.
I owe you.”

“Oh, you definitely do. If I get fired for this, I'll never forgive you.”

Megan flipped the phone closed, fully intending to get back to her wallowing, but instead she opened it again and scrolled through the call log. She had several voice-mail messages, but thankfully not everyone who'd called this morning had left a message. She scanned the numbers, wondering if one of them was Dev's. Would he have left her a message explaining why he was looking for her this morning?

It doesn't matter, remember?
She had no need to talk to Devin about anything. Nothing good could come of it.

On that thought, she forced herself to get out of bed. Wallowing and moping weren't going to change anything, nor would they help, either. She knew that. She might have screwed up by going on Dev's show, but she could make the most of these unplanned days off and the forced seclusion. She'd revise and submit those journal articles, do some research she'd been putting off, maybe even paint her kitchen if she got really bored.

When this was over, she'd be able to go back to work with something positive to show—or maybe even impress—Dr. Weiss. All those projects she'd been putting off until she had time? Well, now she had it.