Heart in the Field (18 page)

           
There was no use hanging around. He
drove to the Steel
Tower. He would need a
pass for the parking, he was told by the officious man at the gate, but Nick
was let through with a daily fee this time. Nick would get Melissa to handle
the pass. She’d told him earlier this morning, before Serena arrived, that she
was at his beck and call.

           
Nick sat down at his desk and called
Melissa to put the parking pass into motion. But he soon left his desk again to
glance out of the window and stare down to the parking lot. He saw his car
parked there. He didn’t see Serena’s Porsche. He tried to imagine her driving
into the city in a Jeep all winter. He rather liked the vision of a female in a
masculine vehicle. He also liked the vision of her naked in his arms, her body
wrapped around his, her need in a skirmish with his need. It would be more than
great sex. It would be everything.

           
He rammed his fist into his palm.
How to love had never been taught to him, so he’d never allowed love to enter
into his relationships. But since he’d met Serena he was wondering if he did
have the fortitude.
If this was love?

           
Someone tapped at his door. He
turned to see Juliette in a short-skirted magenta dress. She meandered into his
office on her high heels and glanced around. “Hi,” she said, “I had a few
moments to spare so I thought I’d see where you landed up.”

           
I’ve
landed up a wreck,
he thought, but said
instead, “Hi. Take your time.”

           
She smelled of a very strong perfume
that wasn’t unpleasant but knocked his senses off key. This wasn’t the woman
for him.
    

           
He didn’t think he could even date
her. Yet he was sure in the days before he had met Serena he would have been
able to take her out and home to bed. Or was he right to blame Serena for all
his up and down emotions? What about the sensation in Heathrow, that he was in
for changes? Hadn’t he even precipitated this change by pledging to help his
parents in their old age?

           
Juliette tossed her hair. “I wasn’t
too keen about what happened on Saturday evening, Nick. I don’t like being made
a fool of.”

           
He didn’t need this. “I wasn’t under
the impression I made a fool of you.”

           
“We hung around all evening and
then, poof.” She waved her hand in the air in a swirling motion. “You were
gone.”

           
“Because the people I came with were
leaving.” He had to extricate himself from this right away. He walked away from
the window and closer to her. “Look, Juliette. I got off the plane last
Wednesday. I haven’t had much time to think since. I’ve got a hot show starting
on Thursday and it’s taking all my energy. I relaxed a bit on Saturday night,
but that’s all the relaxation I’m going to get.”

           
She reached out, touched his
shoulder, and made sure her eyes were staring into his. “You didn’t have to run
like a scared rabbit. I wasn’t going to snare you.”

           
He withdrew her hand. “I didn’t
think that at all. I was tired. I wanted to leave.
Right?”

           
He could see her regain her
confidence quickly. “I suppose. I must have been under the wrong impression. So
see you around.”

           
She left briskly and closed his door
behind her. Nick closed his eyes for a moment. He was going to swear off women
for good, and he’d begin this evening with Serena. Then he’d stick to business.
Otherwise he was going to get hurt.

           
The Steel News van, driven by Fred
Dexter, slid through dark streets that were enveloped in flashing neon. Serena,
dressed in a black tailored pant suit and low, thick heels, sat beside Melissa.
Nick and Paul were behind the women, and Cam
was in the front passenger seat with Fred.

           
Serena wondered if it would have
made more sense to have scheduled
City
Streets
after all. They could have beefed up
the content to fit their requirements. At least John’s work had been solid.
This aimless driving seemed fruitless. Or was it that her nerves were on edge
from Nick’s offhand treatment of her this evening?

           
She’d arrived at Steel TV feeling
quite energetic after sharing a drink with Seth in a bar near his loft. Getting
to know Seth was like getting to know a new person. She’d been pleased with
herself about the developing relationship with her brother, which had now
become part of her program to banish the pain of her past and start afresh.
She’d been chipper enough to smile at Nick and be friendly.

Her smile
had soon faded when he’d greeted her with a very cool attitude. All he’d done
was shrug into his leather jacket and tell her Fred was waiting downstairs with
the van.

           
Well,
up yours,
she’d thought as they rode the
elevator with Melissa, who’d been trying to juggle notebooks and an extra
camera, and Cam, who’d also been carrying a
load of equipment. Nick helped Melissa with the camera, but he hadn’t spoken to
Serena.

           
It was Cam
who instructed Fred to stop the van, jerking Serena’s mind back to present
problems. The neighborhood was a shopping street, a lot of the shops still
open. As it was a mild night, there were enough people on the streets to stare
at the news van coming to a fast halt at the curb. Their expressions were wary
when they saw the crew tumble out.

           
Serena wasn’t entirely sure what
Nick had in mind, but she realized he must have spoken to Cam about his ideas
because Cam seemed to know what was going on.
Therefore, over the next two hours the entire team was busy.

           
Nick stopped people on the street.
“I’m Nick Fraser. You’re appearing on the debut show of
Neon Nights
. The show
will reflect the people, and the real concerns of your city. Tell me about the
issues you want covered.”

           
Cam
directed the moments for Nick to hand the mike to Serena so she could ask the
questions. These were night people. Some were drunk, and ranted and raved. Some
were speechless at the sheer magnitude of the thought of appearing on TV.
Others at last found their forum to talk, and voiced their concerns, angry
tirades, humor, and well-thought-out intelligent monologues. All the time Paul
kept the camera trained on Serena or Nick and their subjects.

           
At last, Fred drove them back to
Steel. By now Serena wasn’t sure if she was tired from the late hour or annoyed
with Nick, who seemed to be in a bad mood despite the seeming success of the
evening. He had a sort of tenacious element about him.
Almost
like he was being driven by something that she hadn’t spotted before in his
personality.
        
He wanted to
go straight into a studio and begin the edit.

           
“It’s two
AM
,” Serena told him.
“Can’t it wait until the real morning?”

           
His jaw took on the stubborn thrust
she had noticed the first time at the party. “I want to do it now. Tomorrow
will be too late. The show airs on Thursday at nine. If what we got tonight was
trash, we go out again tomorrow.”

           
“I didn’t feel like we got trash
tonight.”

           
“It depends on what we can make of it.
Studio Three in ten minutes.”

           
No one else appeared to mind working
late. Cam looked more animated than Serena had
ever seen him. She suspected it was because he worked well with Nick. Nick
might be opinionated, but his opinions and ideas were concrete. Cam liked that. And Nick wasn’t averse to backing down
when Cam’s vision seemed more logical.

           
At last they disbanded. Serena, her
head buzzing after such a long day, went up to her office to grab her purse.
The Steel Tower felt eerie and silent at night.
When Nick came into the office suite behind her, Serena jumped.

           
“Must you creep?”

           
“I wasn’t creeping intentionally.”

           
She let her gaze focus on his. Had
she ever really seen emotion in his eyes? Anyway it was too late to argue with
him. “I’m leaving now.”

           
“You’re always running out. Did you
think things went well tonight?”

           
“Very well.
You seem to get along with Cam.”

           
“He’s a good guy. He takes
instruction.” Nick put on his jacket.

           
“What do you mean by that?”

           
“He doesn’t screw me around.”

           
“Like me? Is that what you’re
saying?”

           
He removed his car keys from the
inside pocket. “Could be I’m saying that. Come on, you do look bushed. I’ll
walk you to your car.”

In the
hallway Nick pressed the elevator button hard. The light came on.

           
While they waited Serena couldn’t
help asking, “Okay. What the hell is wrong? You haven’t spoken a civil word to
me all evening.”

           
He stuffed his hands into his jacket
pockets. His gaze was glacial. “Nothing is wrong. I’m merely tired.”

           
“Then why didn’t you call it a day
when we got back here. Why go to the studio and do the edit?”

           
“Because I wanted
to do the edit while everything was still fresh.
And so did Cam.”

           
The elevator arrived. They got on.
The doors closed. Serena felt the elevator drop a little and then stop.

           
“Damn.” Nick pressed the alarm
button. A shrill buzz rang out through the silent building around them.

           
Serena panicked. “I knew this would
happen to me one day. Everyone gets stuck in here eventually.”

           
“I guess it’s our turn.” Nick pushed
the alarm again and patted down his pockets. “Damn.
Left my
phone in my suit pocket.
Do you have yours?”

           
She dug in her purse for it. It
wasn’t there. Damn. She’d left it at Seth’s apartment. She remembered taking it
out when she repaired her make up. “It’s not here. It’s at my brother’s place.
Oh, Nick. I have to get out of here.”

           
“You will.
So calm
down.”

           
“I can’t.”

           
“Breathe easy.”

           
“I can’t.”

           
“Think of it being like when you’re
sitting under the lights waiting for your cue. Take big, calming breaths.”

           
“Is that what you do?” She really
couldn’t imagine Nick suffering from a case of nerves.

           
“Sometimes.”

           
Did that make him human? “Press the
alarm again.”

           
He did so, and then moved closer to
her. “Okay. Stop panicking. I’m here with you.” He placed his arm across her shoulders
in what Serena termed an affectionate sort of brotherly gesture. Something had
definitely changed between them since earlier in her car. She could hardly
believe he was the same man who had looked at her with such heat in his eyes
and touched her with desire in his fingertips.

           
She wanted that heat again, a
complete contradiction to how she felt they should really behave with one
another. She couldn’t bear this cold stranger standing with his arm heavily
across her shoulders while her body flooded with warmth and longing.

           
Nick glanced at her. “Aren’t you
frightened anymore?”

           
“You’re helping me.”

           
His chest heaved, and she heard him
let out a breath. “You’re not helping me.”

           
“What do you mean?”

           
“You know, we either go for it or we
don’t go for it.”

           
“I don’t—”

           
He cut her words off with a kiss. A
kiss that forced Serena to accept the pressure of Nick’s body against hers and
to wrap her arms around his waist inside his open jacket until her palms were
clinging to his back and she could feel heat pouring from him the way it was
pouring from her own body. When he left her lips aching for more he held her
face between his hands and kissed her eyelids and her nose and her cheek and
her ear and stroked his thumbs against her jaw.