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“Maybe that’s what was wrong with us, huh, Allie?” Mark looked soulfully at her.
What a goof.
“You two were once…” Charlie wiggled his eyebrows at Allie. “You never told me that.”
“It never came up.” Allie glared at him from the curve of his arm.
“You’re a lucky man, Tenniel.” Mark was still trying to recapture Allie’s attention, but she missed his meaningful looks because she was busy glaring at Charlie.
Charlie beamed at them both, enjoying the situation. “That’s what everybody keeps telling me. Actually, it’s not luck, it’s skill.”
Mark tried again. “So how did you two meet?”
“In a bar,” Charlie said. “She picked me up.”
“Allie did?” Mark looked astounded.
“She begged me to buy her a drink.”
“Allie did?”
Charlie nodded. “Happens to me all the time. Animal magnetism.”
“Oh, a joke.” Mark looked relieved. “How did you two really meet?”
“I picked him up.” Allie took a deep breath. “The truth is…”
Charlie pulled her tighter, momentarily shutting down her lungs. “The truth is, she sat down next to me, and I looked at her and thought, ‘This is a good-looking woman,’ and we started to talk, and we’ve been together ever since.”
Allie jerked her head up and stared at him. Then she smiled, and Charlie smiled back by reflex, caught by the intelligence in her eyes and the warmth in her wide, soft mouth. She leaned toward him, and he bent to hear what she said.
She was almost nose-to-nose with him. “You are a good person. I forgive you for insulting me.” She patted his sleeve and then disengaged herself from his arm.
Charlie missed her warmth. “I didn’t insult you.”
“How long have you two known each other?” Mark asked.
“Eternity,” Charlie said.
“But it seems like only a few short minutes.” Allie glared at him again and then she leaned back, her attention caught by something over Charlie’s shoulder. She signaled someone away, and Charlie turned just in time to get the impression that someone was doing a fade from the doorway into the hall.
So, Allie had a secret. Life just got more interesting all the time. And of course that meant that he was going to have to stick with her until he discovered her secret. He’d been hired to find all the secrets at the station. It was his job. It was his duty. He looked at Allie, her hair shining like old brass in the warm light of the bar.
It was his pleasure.
“So, where’s Lisa tonight?” Allie leaned on the bar in an attempt at languid unconcern. “What a shame she’s not with you. We could all have dinner together.”
Careful, Allie, Charlie thought.
“Lisa’s at the station.” Mark frowned. “You’re right. It is a shame. This would be a great chance to meet Charlie.”
“There’ll be other chances.” Charlie finished his drink. “I’m not going anyplace. Except to the top of the ratings.”
Mark decided that was a joke, too. “Heh, heh, heh.”
Mark had a laugh like an asthmatic horse, and Charlie wondered if that was why Allie had left him. Listening to that laugh would certainly be reason enough for anybody to leave him. Which brought an ugly thought. He’d have to be very careful because if Mark was any indication of his radio competition, he would go to the top of the ratings. That would be bad. One of the basic tenets of undercover investigation was not becoming a household word.
“Well!” Allie slid off the stool. “We’ve got to be getting in to dinner. Wonderful seeing you again, Mark.”
Mark leaned forward to kiss her goodbye, and she tripped backward to get away from him.
Charlie caught her. “Falling for me all over again, huh?” He tightened his arm around her automatically. Allie was soft and round against his shoulder, and she smelled like flowers. He was in no hurry to let go. “Try to restrain yourself,” he told her. “We’re in public.”
She looked into his eyes and swallowed hard. “It’s your animal magnetism. I’m restrained now. You can let go.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, and kissed her.
He’d only meant to kiss her quickly and let her go, mostly to annoy Mark and, all right, because she had a great mouth. But she clutched at him in surprise and fell into his arms so the kiss was a lot more than he’d planned, a lot more warmth and softness and weight, and her mouth was cool and sweet from the cream. He was a little dizzy by the time he remembered where he was and came up for air.
“What are you doing?” Allie sounded more breathless than annoyed when she pulled away from him.
“Making my move. Come back here.” Charlie reached for her, and she stepped back.
Mark looked disgruntled. “Well, really, Allie, you’re in public.”
“That’s lust.” Charlie smiled at him happily. “She can’t keep her lips off me.” Allie took another step back, and Charlie stood up to follow her. “Well, it looks like we’re moving on,” he told Mark. “Tell Lisa we said hi.”
When they were in the hallway, Allie shook her head. “Who are you really? Satan? I’m being punished, right?”
“I’m Charlie Tenniel.” He held out his hand. “I work with that stuffed shirt you used to date. I assume all you did was date. I’d hate to think that any woman I’d kissed in a bar actually went to bed with somebody like that.”
She looked down at his hand and sighed. Then she took it and shook it once and dropped it. “I’m Alice McGuffey, your producer at WBBB. It was nice meeting you, and thank you very much for helping me with Mark, but I have to go now. We can talk again tomorrow at the station.”
She turned to go into the restaurant, and Charlie stepped around her to block her. The last thing he wanted now was to get dumped. There were too many things Allie could tell him about the station. He could probably get the information from other people, but other people didn’t have Allie’s voice. Or Allie’s mouth. “Where are you going?”
“To dinner.” Allie gestured to the dining room. “With my dinner date. The only perfect man I know.”
“Ah.” Charlie nodded at her encouragingly. “Your father. We should meet so he can see the kind of guy you’re working with.”
“No.”
“No, he shouldn’t see?”
“No, he’s not my father.”
“No?” Charlie thought faster. “Gee, I’ve never met a perfect man.” He tried to look wistful. “I’ve always wanted a role model.”
Allie looked at him with disapproval, but he smiled at her and finally she gave up. “Okay, I owe you. You want to eat dinner with Joe and me? If you can’t, it’s perfectly all right.”
“Thank you.” Charlie held the door to the restaurant open. “I can’t wait to meet Joe, the perfect man.”
“Terrific,” Allie said.
Charlie followed her into the restaurant, a big room with too much mahogany and not enough light. Allie looked around the dimness and then smiled when a man across the room stood up and waved at her.
Charlie narrowed his eyes a little. This guy might actually be the perfect man. He was tall, even taller than Charlie’s six-two, and classically handsome without being obnoxious about it. His jaw was strong, his blond hair gleamed, his blue eyes were warm and the smile he had for Allie was real and loving.
“Your brother?” Charlie asked, and Allie said, “No,” and walked away from him. He followed her, trying to find something about Joe that wasn’t perfect and feeling vaguely annoyed.
Allie introduced them at the table. “Joe, this is Charlie Tenniel, the new ten-to-two DJ. I’m producing his show.”
“I heard. Karen called.”
Joe shot Allie a look that appeared to be sympathy, but Allie had already turned back to Charlie. “Charlie, this is Joe Ericson, my roommate. He’s the station’s accountant.”
She sounded like a well-behaved child, but she didn’t look like one. Charlie began to wonder what Allie was like when she wasn’t behaving well in public. No. That sort of thought would add those complications he’d been avoiding.
“Charlie Tenniel.” Joe’s smile was open and admiring as he held out his hand. “Are you the one they call Ten Tenniel?”
Ouch. He hated lying, but it was better than “No, that’s my brother, the drug-dealing DJ.” He shook his head. “Call me Charlie.”
Joe kept going. “I’ve heard about you. I’ve got a friend down in Lawrenceville who was very upset when you disappeared. I’m looking forward to hearing you myself now.”
His smile was genuine, and Charlie liked him.
“Who in Lawrenceville?” Allie had already seated herself and picked up the menu. “I’m starving.”
Joe sat down next to her. “Rona. Remember? From that seminar we took?”
Charlie took the chair across from her so he could watch her.
“Right. You kept in touch with Rona?” Allie ran her finger down the menu list. “Pasta.”
“I keep in touch with everybody.” Joe tapped Allie’s menu. “Not pasta. I’ll do pasta tomorrow night. Get something here that’s a pain in the butt to make. You like pasta, Charlie?”
Charlie started. Joe and Allie were so in sync in their conversation, he was a little surprised to be suddenly included. “Yep.”
“Come to dinner tomorrow night.”
Charlie beamed his best smile at him. “Thanks.” Another contact at the station. First Allie, then Mark, now Joe. And he’d only been in town a couple of hours. God, he was good.
Allie glared at Joe.
Joe mock-glared back. “Don’t look at me like that. I want to get to know Ten Tenniel.”
“Charlie,” Charlie said. “Just call me Charlie.”
ALLIE WASN’T SURE how she felt about Charlie. He’d done a nice job of saving her from Mark, but he’d laughed the whole time he was doing it, which made her feel like a dweeb. Of course, he had a point: panic was not a good look for her. Don’t do that again, she told herself and turned back to the problem at hand.
She now had to work with a guy who’d kissed her in a bar. This was not a good way to start a professional relationship, especially since he was quite a good kisser. It would be hard to say no if he ever suggested they try that again, and of course she’d have to say no because sleeping with the talent was not a good idea. Look what had happened with Mark. No, forget about Mark. Socializing with Charlie was not a good idea, which was why she’d tried to look quelling when he suggested he eat with Joe and her, but Charlie didn’t quell easily. In fact, Charlie didn’t quell at all.
He did seem taken aback when he saw Joe for the first time. Allie considered her roommate as she sat beside him. Part of Joe’s impact came from the fact that he was such a good man, so everything he was sort of infused his face, and his face was perfect, so people just felt good just looking at him. She felt good just looking at him now. She’d talk this whole job mess out with him later, and everything would make sense.
But Joe did have his faults. Food, for instance.
He’d picked up his menu and was studying it as if there’d be a quiz at the end of the meal, which actually there would be. He’d say, “Too much oregano. And where was the basil? Obvious seasoning. Sure sign of a clumsy chef. What about the asparagus?” He could go for days on just a side dish. But for right now, all he did was gesture at the menu and ask, “What do you think?”
Allie prepared for the usual battle. She was still nauseated from the stress of the afternoon, so a large slab of dead animal did not appeal. But she had to eat or she’d pass out, and she had to choose something that Joe hated to make, or he’d be insulted. “Manicotti,” she decided. “The last time you made that, you bitched about stuffing all that pasta.”
“Not manicotti. Mine’s better than here. Get a steak.”
“I don’t want a steak. I want pasta.”
“Well, don’t come home tomorrow and say, ‘Pasta? We just had pasta.’”
Charlie looked from one to the other. “You guys been together long?”
Allie laughed at the annoyance in his voice. “You sound just like Mark.”
“Yeah, and speaking of Mark, what was that?” Joe frowned at her. “You and Mark having a drink together after he fired you?”
“Yeah.” Charlie frowned at her, too. “What was that? I was there, and I didn’t understand it.”
Allie slumped back in her chair, her lousy day returning in full force. “That was my worst nightmare. That’s why I picked up Charlie. I didn’t want Mark to think I still…you know.”
“We know.” Joe looked at Charlie. “She’s usually not this wimpy. In fact, she’s usually very confident. It’s just Mark that makes her act like she’s twelve again.”
Charlie nodded. “You should have been at the bar. She was practically incoherent.”
“I was not.” Allie stuck out her chin and tried to look strong and defiant, and Charlie snorted. She gave up then and dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, hell.”
Joe patted her head. “There, there. You have me.”
“Oh, good,” Allie said without raising her head. “That’s a comfort.”
“Now order,” Joe said. “And don’t screw up.”
Allie finally got Joe to agree that she could have the chicken fettuccini since he wanted a taste of it himself. Chickens weren’t really dead animals, she reasoned, ready to contemplate anything except her future. They were more like protein with feathers. Joe and Charlie ordered prime rib, and Joe gave the waitress lavish instructions on their side dishes, which she copied down word for word, having served him before. When the waitress was gone, Joe remembered that he hadn’t designed Allie’s vegetables, and Allie argued that she wanted hers plain, and he said that was no way to live, and they were off on one of their usual arguments with lots of laughing, when Charlie interrupted.
“So, how long have you known each other?”
“Four years,” Joe said. “Ever since she came to the station.”
Allie relaxed and smiled at Joe. “I was new in town and didn’t have a place to live, and he was at the station picking up the books, and his roommate had just moved out, so he said I could borrow the spare bedroom until I found a place.”
Joe grinned. “And then she came home with me, and we talked and laughed until two in the morning, and I said, ‘Don’t find another place,’ and we’ve been together ever since.”
Charlie looked from Joe to Allie, and he didn’t look happy. Allie stopped smiling, wondering what she’d said that was wrong, not really caring as long as it wasn’t another major trauma to deal with. Then Charlie said, “I don’t get this. If Joe is the perfect man, why did you ever get mixed up with that clown, Mark?”
Joe blinked at him. “I’m the perfect man?”
“That’s what Allie says.”
Joe raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m flattered.”
Allied tensed. “Well, almost.” She shot a look at Charlie, prepared to jettison him permanently if he said the wrong thing.
Joe looked at Charlie. “I’m gay.”
Charlie relaxed and beamed at him in what looked like relief. He picked up a bread stick. “Good for you, but that doesn’t justify Mark. There must be other men in this town almost as perfect as you who like girls.”
Allie blinked at him. She had obviously missed something there, but since it wasn’t homophobia, she didn’t care what was going on in Charlie’s brain. It was a male brain. It was probably incomprehensible, anyway. Look at Mark.
Joe sat back. “I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t happy about Mark, either.” He turned to Allie. “Why did you pick him?”
“I didn’t.” Allie tried to look unconcerned. “He picked me. I don’t know why.”
“I don’t, either,” Joe said. “You’re not his type.”
“What is his type?” Charlie asked.
“Lisa.” Allie stuck out her chin in defiant unconcern, but unfortunately, she stuck her lower lip out farther.
“Don’t pout.” Joe bit into a bread stick.
“You owe Lisa, whoever she is,” Charlie told her. “She saved you from a man worse than death. You say thank you very much the next time you see her.”
“Which should be any minute now.” Joe pointed his bread stick behind Charlie. “That’s them by the door.”
Allie looked up in time to see Mark wave and take Lisa’s hand and tow her toward them through the crowd.
The day from hell would never end. Well, she’d asked for it.
Charlie evidently thought so, too. “It’s a shame Lisa’s not with you,” he mimicked. “We could all have dinner together.”
“I know.” Allie pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and steeled herself for the mess to come. “I know. If I’d behaved like an adult, I wouldn’t have picked up Charlie in a bar and lied to Mark. I deserve this.”
“Nobody deserves this.” Joe handed her a bread stick. “Eat. I’m with you. We can take them.”
“Hell, yes.” Charlie relented and patted her hand. “The odds are in our favor.”
“You in this, too? Good.” Joe handed him a bread stick, too. “We can always use another foot soldier in the fight against yuppie scum dweebs.”
“That bad?”
“Lisa! Mark!” Joe stood up. “I was just telling Charlie all about you.”
Someday, Allie told herself, I’ll look back on this and laugh.
But not yet.
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