Songbird (10 page)

She went into the bathroom, pulled her nightgown over her head, and stepped beneath the shower’s warm, stinging spray. The morning sped past as she straightened up her bedroom, paid a few bills, and watered the flower beds in her front yard.

She showed up at the station with an hour to spare, produced three commercials in record time, and slipped into her seat at the console at precisely two o’clock. She was more than halfway through her shift and was standing by her counter logging promos when Barbara threw open the door.

“
Hi, Des. What’s new with my—” Barbara pulled to an abrupt halt in the doorway and stared at Desiree, her eyes wide. “What is that you’re wearing?”

Desiree shot an impatient glance over her shoulder. “It’s quite obvious what I’m wearing.”

“
But it’s... a
skirt
!” Barbara uttered the word in disbelief, as if a skirt was the last thing on earth a petite, thirty-year-old female would wear.

Desiree smoothed the folds of her floral wrap-around over her knees, and fluffed the ruffled V-neckline of her turquoise silk blouse. She’d bought the outfit months ago, on impulse, even though she had nowhere special to wear it. “You act like you’ve never seen a skirt before,” she said testily.

“
I haven’t—not on you. Since the day we met, you’ve worn nothing but cutoffs or jeans. What’s the occasion? Come on, tell me! You must be going somewhere.” Barbara’s glance darted to the vase of roses which still graced the counter beside the console. “Ahh! You’re seeing Kyle Harrison, aren’t you? And you
do
like him!” She giggled loudly. “Far be it from me to say I told you so.” She flounced out the door.

A moment later Tom poked his head inside. “I had to see it for myself—and it’s true. You are wearing a skirt.”

“
Get out of here!” Desiree glared at him.

Tom shook his head, grinning. “For two years I’ve offered my body up on a plate, and who do you fall for? Some loser in a rented Maserati.”

Desiree picked up a paperback and hurled it at him. The door slammed just in time.

She climbed up on the stool, put on her headphones, and drummed her fingernails against the console, waiting for her cue.

“
102 FM, KICK on this Friday afternoon,” she said into the mike. “That was Kenny Rogers with ‘Why Was I So Blind?’ from his latest album ‘Cutting Loose.’ The weekend’s almost upon us now and we’ll all be cutting loose. It’s ten minutes before five o’clock.”

She played three more songs, then ran a commercial break. She began to read a public service announcement about an annual aerobics dance for the National Heart Association when she heard the studio door open again. She froze, not daring to look over her shoulder. No one would walk in here while she was live on the air. No one except...

“
You can win some exciting prizes,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady as she read, “get some great exercise, and have a whole lot of fun.” She heard the door shut.

“
Sign up now. That’s The Dance for Heart...”

Strong hands came to rest on her shoulder blades. Warm lips pressed against her neck. She stifled a gasp as a frenzied shiver traveled up her spine.

“…
at the Anaheim Convention Center...”

She felt his hands rove up and down her bare arms, his body press against her back. A heady languor descended over her, as if her veins were flowing with thick, sweet syrup. Her voice slowed and deepened with each touch of his fingers.

“
...next Saturday, June twenty-seventh.” Her chest rose and fell with increasing rapidity as his mouth nuzzled against her throat. Her ears began to pound. She strained to hear her own voice.

“
For registration forms, call the National Heart Association at 555-3110, or stop by the studio here at KICK.”

She flicked off the mike and punched a button on the cart deck to start the next song. Pulling off her headphones, she heaved a sigh of relief. He crossed his arms underneath her breasts and pulled her back against his hard frame.

“
I missed you,” he said against her ear, his voice soft and deep.

“
Don’t you know what a red warning light is?” She tried to sound indignant, but the words came out like a soft sigh.

“
Yes,” he murmured. “It’s the signal that flashes in my brain every time I see you.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, enveloped by his warmth and the spicy scent of his cologne. “I’m talking about the big red beacon on the wall outside the control-room door.”

He lifted his head. “Red? You mean that green light telling me it’s all right to come in?”

She gasped, remembering he was color blind. “Oh! You thought it was green?” But when she pulled out of his embrace to look at him, she saw a flash of devilment in his eyes. “Liar!”

He laughed. “I assumed it was red. I know what a warning light means.”

“
Then why did you—”

“
Barbara said it was okay—just like last time—as long as I was quiet. And I wanted to surprise you.”

“
Well,” she huffed, “you have to stop doing this. The mike picks up every little sound.”

He leaned over and breathed close to her ear. “Every little sound?”

“
Yes.”

“
Would it pick up this sound?” He wrapped his arms around her again and kissed the side of her neck.

Her head tilted upward, as if obeying a silent command. “Yes,” she said huskily.

“
And this?” He dropped kisses around the graceful curve of her neck to the hollow of her throat.

“
Definitely.”

“
Then I guess I’ll have to restrain myself while we’re in here.”

“
You will.” She sighed. “Otherwise I might make a mistake. Say the wrong thing. Sound...terrible.”

“
Au contraire.
I’ll wager you’ve never sounded more sultry or sensuous in your life than you did on the air just now.” His arms tightened around her from behind. “I only helped promote your image.”

“
I’ve been doing just fine on my own, thank you.” Desiree knew she was playing with fire. This time her job, not just her emotions, were on the line. Anyone might walk by and see them through the high windows above the console. If Sam caught them kissing, or if she missed so much as one precious cue, his rage would be immediate and intense.

She squirmed out of Kyle’s arms and slipped off the stool. “I guess you missed your flight to Seattle?”

“
Looks that way. Pity, isn’t it?” He leaned back against the counter, his eyes sliding the length of her slim figure. He whistled. “Don’t you look nice. Quite a change from your previous work attire.”

Her cheeks grew hot. “I felt like dressing up a little today.”

“
Just in case I decided to stop by?”

“
No!” She pushed him out of her way. “Because I felt like it.” With a glance at the rotation chart, she cued up the next few songs.

“
Whatever the reason, I’m glad you did. I figured we’d need time for you to go home and change, but now we can fit in a quick dinner before the show if we leave right at six.”

“
Dinner?” Her glance fell on his wrists, where square, gold cuff links glimmered in the cuffs of his long-sleeved dress shirt. He wore the light grey suit she remembered from the night they met, this time with a matching vest. “Show?” she asked.

He pulled two theater tickets out of his breast pocket and handed them to her. “I had a hell of a time getting these.”

She stared at the tickets in astonishment. They were for a new musical that had gotten rave reviews. “This show has been sold out for months!”

“
So they told me. I badgered them so long at the box office, though, they finally managed to find something. I hope you can go? Last night, I know you said you had to work late…”

She smiled sheepishly. “As luck would have it, my schedule just opened up.” She slid the tickets back into his jacket pocket. “Thank you for getting these. I’ve been dying to see this show.”

“
So have I. It’ll be even more fun to see it together.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Her attention returned briefly to her work as the song on the air ended with a cold fade. She expertly segued into the next tune, then sat back on her stool.

Kyle’s eyes darted about the room, finally coming to rest on the row of knobs, meters, and buttons on her console. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but this equipment isn’t exactly state of the art, is it?”

She shook her head and touched a hand to one of the black knobs. “No. Most control boards today have levers instead of pots like these.”

“
Pots?”

“
Short for potentiometer. It controls the level of modulation. There usually are remote starts right in a row, so the operator doesn’t have to go through as many motions.” She smiled ruefully. “Lucky me. With all the modern equipment around today, I end up at a station with an ancient system.”

“
But this is a major market. From what I’ve read, you’re a highly rated station in Orange County. Why doesn’t the owner modernize?”

“
This place is only a hobby for him. He owns several other companies that keep him busy, and he has some pretty definite ideas about what to spend his money on. The equipment works, he says. As long as we have an engineer who knows how to keep it running, he’ll make it last for ages.” She shrugged. “He’d rather spend his money on an air watch pilot, if you can believe that.”

“
An air watch pilot? You mean you have your own man in a plane up there?”

She nodded. “I’ll show you. Traffic is next. Hang on.”

She whipped on her headphones and turned up the volume inside the studio for Kyle’s benefit, then switched on the mike. “It’s five o’clock. You’ve got Desiree, and this is KICK-FM, Anaheim. Now let’s hear from our daredevil in the skies, Deadly Dave Dawson.” She punched a button marked Traffic on the control board. “Dave?”

“
Hi, Desiree. Hey, you were breathing pretty hard a few minutes ago. Who’ve you got in there with you? Some hot, young stud?”

She felt a blush start in her cheeks and spread to the roots of her hair. This was their typical daily banter; Dave was always kidding her about the sensual quality of her voice. How was he to know that this particular time his comment hit the nail on the head?

“
The truth is, Dave, I do have somebody in here.” She turned and met Kyle’s amused gaze. “He’s a top name in his field, incredibly rich, devilishly handsome, and he has a fantastic body and the most gorgeous eyes you’ve ever seen.”

“
Oh yeah? Who is it?”

“
That’s
my
little secret.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the buttons light up on her phone. Don’t miss a trick, do they? she thought with a grin. “Now what about that traffic? How’s it look out there?”

A chuckle traveled the airwaves. “Things aren’t looking
too
bad for a Friday night. The Golden State southbound is slow and go at…”

As Dave continued the traffic report, Desiree’s earphones were plucked from her head and an arm stole around her again from behind. Quickly she flipped off the mike.

“
Devilishly handsome?” he murmured, his lips against her ear. “Fantastic body? Gorgeous eyes?”

“
I guess I did get a little carried away.” As she sat on the stool, his chest pressed against her back, she couldn’t stop her eyes from closing and her neck from arching back and resting against his shoulder. “As long as they
think
someone’s in here, let’s give them something to worry about.”

“
Great idea.” He slowly rotated the stool until her side rested against him. Cupping her chin in his hand, he turned her mouth up to his and tantalized it with light, soft kisses. His free hand roamed to her opposite hip, holding her captive against his chest as his tongue traced her lips, then slipped inside her mouth. She returned the kiss as it became deeper, locking her hands behind his neck and pulling him closer. In the back of her mind she heard a voice, distorted words, droning on in what seemed a foreign language.

“
Stalled vehicle...605 northbound...no other problems...”

She felt Kyle’s hand drift down her arm, brush the side of her breast. She was spinning, as if from lack of oxygen, as if he was drawing the breath from her body.

“
That’s about it for...” The voice hazily penetrated her dazed state. The words formed a familiar pattern, then began to flash in her brain like a neon sign. “...Dawson for KICK. Have a nice weekend.”

She bolted upright, pushed Kyle away with a shaky hand and turned to the console, turning up the volume control. Her heart pounded in her ears as, with several instinctive, expedient motions, she started the next tune and sank back against the counter, arms hanging limply at her sides.

She glanced quickly out the control room window in both directions. Thankfully, there was no one in sight. She blew out a sigh of relief. “Kyle. How do you expect me to do my job, when you…”

“
When I what?”

“
When you hold me and kiss me like that!”

He lifted his palms, shrugging innocently. “Sorry.”

She attempted to glare at him, but suspected she was failing miserably. “I can’t concentrate with you in here. Go sit out in the waiting area until I’m finished. Go!”