Channel 20 Something (3 page)

He leaned down, bringing his face closer to mine to avoid shouting over the eighties’ loudest hits. “I’m Aric. I got into town tonight, and Dennis told me to come by the station for a tour. Hope it’s okay I’m crashing your party.”

Oh God, there was the
voice
again, but this time in living, breathing, surround sound. Hearing it, I literally shivered in the overheated nightclub.

I gathered my senses enough to answer, “Of course. I mean, it’s not my party. It’s for Kenley.” I pointed at her. “Today was her last day at the station. She’s moving to Atlanta. And that’s Mara. She’s a dayside reporter. Mare,” I yelled to her over my shoulder.

She turned toward my voice then popped out of her seat with wide eyes and two arms raised in the air, forming a celebratory V. “The Man Candy!”

Aric looked at me quizzically.

I shrugged, turning back to him. “She’s been drinking for several hours.”

Janet noticed Aric and hurried over. She raised her voice to address the table. “Everyone. Hey—everybody, can I get your attention for a minute? I want you to meet our new weekend sports anchor, Aric Serrano.”

“Hi Aric,” several people chimed in together, dragging out the words as if we were in some kind of Addicts Anonymous meeting.

Brad cupped his hands around his mouth and faked a disaster-movie warning shout. “Stay away. Save yourself.”

Everyone laughed, and I reclaimed my seat while people took turns introducing themselves to Aric. The conversation around the table bounced from his long drive from Minnesota, to Southern food and college sports, back to Kenley’s move and wedding plans.

Aric had pulled up a chair next to me. He leaned forward and slightly across my body to address a question to Kenley. He didn’t smell like a guy who’d been driving all day—must’ve showered before coming over.
Okay, let’s stop imagining our new co-worker wet and naked, shall we?
I detected some kind of cologne or manly soap-scent that reminded me of beach vacations and fresh, green, growing things. When was the last time I’d noticed how a guy smelled?

His thick hair looked even more touchable up close in person than it had on his reel, light golden brown with strands of lighter gold shimmering through it. I had the craziest urge to lean a few inches forward and press my face into it.
Get a grip, Heidi.

“So, you’ll be working at a station in Atlanta?” he asked Kenley.

“Oh, gosh no,” she answered. “I’m getting out of this screwy business. The hours, the terrible pay, being so far from home. I’m going to move in with my parents until my wedding day and look for something in P-R. I think.”

Kenley was pulling the give-it-all-up-for-true-love move, which neither Mara nor I had recommended. She was good at her job and always seemed so passionate about doing news. But she said her relationship with Mark couldn’t withstand the long-distance thing any longer, and she was determined to go. I really hoped she didn’t regret it later.

“You were the weekend anchor, right?” Aric asked her. “I recognize you from the sample newscast they sent me.”

“Yep. Too bad you won’t get to work with me.” She sighed dramatically. “You’ll have to settle for Heidi.” Kenley put an arm around me and lay her head on my shoulder.

Aric’s brows lifted. He shifted back and turned his attention on me. “You’re the new weekend anchor?”

“For now. But my contract’s up in four months.”

“Oh, are you looking?”

“Sort of. I subscribed to Medialine, but I’m still working on my reel. It’s not ready.”

“So you haven’t sent anything out yet.” He leaned in, using a conspiratorial tone, “Well, I’m looking forward to working with you… for however long I get to have you.”

The dip in his voice and his sexy smile sent my stomach into teacup-ride-swirls that were all out of proportion to the actual words he’d said. What the heck was going on with me? He hadn’t meant anything by it.

Mara’s excited shriek broke the tension. “Michael Jackson, you guys. All P-Y-T’s report to the dance floor.” She jumped up from her chair and tugged at Kenley and me. Kenley went willingly. Allison and Ce Ce followed them out onto the colorfully-lit wooden floor.

“Heidi—get your ass over here.” Mara gave me a fierce Top Model look then spun around and wiggled her hips to the music.

I looked over at Aric. “I think I’m going to be forced to dance.”

“Great. I’ll go, too.” He stood and pulled my chair back as I rose.

“Okay…” My response sounded like a question. Guys never danced, or at least Hale never did. Unless you counted the feet-in-one-place-knees-barely-bending thing he’d done on the rare occasions he’d given in to my begging at frat parties.

Aric apparently had no inhibitions about dancing. As we reached the dance floor and joined the others, he began moving with the beat. And could he ever move.
Lord, help me.
He was really good. Not in a Justin Timberlake choreographed way, but more subtle, all rhythmic and sexy. He wasn’t showing off, just letting go and having fun. Still, his body knew what it was doing.

After a minute I realized I’d been watching his hips. I dragged my eyes up to his face. He smiled at me, and a flash of heat sparked low in my body. I had to look away. I turned toward my friends, who were singing loudly and dancing with their arms in the air. Better.

Back at the table, Dan-n-Janet stood and said their good-byes. They waved in our direction. Brad, Tony, and Dennis watched all of us, grinning and shaking their heads. No doubt they were enjoying the show as well as the free access to the now-unattended beer pitchers we’d ordered. Part of me wanted to retreat and join them, talk shop, watch from a safe distance. But part of me was starting to have fun. I hadn’t
really
danced in so long.

The song segued into another Michael Jackson hit—the DJ must’ve been encouraged by the sudden influx of dancers to the floor and didn’t want to take a chance on losing the mojo. Mara jostled me with a hip-bump, and I laughed, beginning to move to the music more fluidly, relaxing, enjoying myself more than I had in a long time.

The girls from the station were spinning and showing off, thrilled to find a guy who would actually dance, and Aric served as a sort of group-partner for us all. Though we were all together, every time I glanced up at Aric’s face, he was watching me. He studied how my body moved, responding to my motions, matching them with moves of his own. We didn’t touch at all, but it felt like we were… connected somehow.

After another song or two, I grew used to the feel of his eyes on me, grew to like it. And the focused attention made me brave. I sang along with a song I knew, closing my eyes and moving to the hypnotic beat, as Michael advised me to let the madness and the music get to me.

“It’s fun to watch you dance.”

The nearness of Aric’s voice jolted me out of the moment. My eyes opened, and I took a step back, the seductive warmth of his breath still caressing my ear. “Um… you too. You’re good.”

He leaned in close again to be heard over the pounding music, his fingers gripping my shoulder lightly. “No. I mean I really like watching you.”

I stopped cold, right there on the dance floor. Literally feeling cold, as if someone had poured a post-game Gatorade bucket over my head.

“I’m—going to the ladies room.” I spun around and headed for the lighted sign in the back of the club as if the hounds of hell were at my back.

I’d recognized him. Not
him
, of course. But I knew what kind of guy he was—I’d met his breed before. The elite players, the sexual Heisman candidates, genetic freaks who produced bionic pheromones capable of turning even the smartest girl stupid, at least temporarily.

How could I not have seen it right away? The beautiful face, the enticing scent, the self-assured way he walked and talked and danced. If I could’ve left the club right then, I would have. But I’d promised to drive Kenley and Mara home. I couldn’t strand them. I fled to the restroom and gave myself a narrow-eyed look in the mirror.
Not going there, girlfriend.
I did not return to the dance floor.

Aric danced for another song then left the floor, in spite of loud protests from the girls. He came to our table and sat across from me with the other guys, ordered a beer, and made small talk with them.

“So, you don’t look Italian,” Tony said.

Aric laughed. “No—I get that all the time. My dad’s Italian, but my mom’s Swedish.”

“And you’re from California?” Brad asked.

“Well, I’m from all over the place, really. We moved a lot when I was a kid, about every year or two. But when I was in high school we moved to Kingsburg, California, where my grandparents live—I graduated there, so I sort of claim it as home.”

“Wow. Every year or two—that would suck,” Brad said.

“It was all right.” Aric put on a big grin. “I have a short attention span.”

“I’ll
bet
,” I muttered under my breath and turned away from the guys as they laughed.

Brad and Tony tried to draw me into the conversation a couple of times. I gave one or two word answers and kept my focus on my crazy friends, who were now doing the electric slide. Some middle-aged guys had eagerly slipped into Aric’s spot, and in their happy-tipsy states, my friends didn’t seem to mind. It even looked like Mara had located a potential new himbo.

As much as I told myself I wasn’t interested, I couldn’t keep from eavesdropping on the conversation behind me. Aric asked the guys if there was a dog park nearby.

“You drove a thousand miles with a dog, man?” Brad asked.

“Yep. Took me twice as long to get here as it should have because I had to keep stopping. Thor is apparently prone to violent car-sickness.” He laughed, with the guys groaning in sympathy.

My eyes flicked back in his direction then quickly away. I folded my arms across my chest.
So what? Even a serial killer can buy a dog. It doesn’t make you a good person.

When the song ended, I glanced over to find Aric looking at me.

“Get tired of dancing?” he asked in a soft voice.

“Yes. Tired.” I looked away again, silently willing my friends to run out of party steam so we could leave.

When they finally wore out and Kenley had declared it an “epic” good-bye party, our group shuffled toward the exit door.

“When are you actually starting work, Aric?” Mara asked, sidling up to him.

“Tomorrow. I’m going in early afternoon for training.”

“So is Heidi,” Kenley told him.

Aric gave me an interested glance.

“Um, yeah. I’ve been at the station almost a year, and I’ve filled in on the anchor desk during the week a few times, but I’ve never produced and anchored a show myself. Allison’s teaching me the producing part tomorrow, and the studio crew’s going to re-set the lighting for me.”

“Yes, because you’re just a wittle pocket-anchor.” Kenley used a baby-talk voice and gave me an off-balance side-hug. She actually was quite a bit taller than me.

“How tall are you?” Aric looked me up and down. “Five feet?”

“Five two and a half.” I lifted my chin, straightening my back and shoulders.

“How big are
you
?” Mara asked him, the gleam in her eye spelling out her real meaning.

Aric chuckled. Her not-so-subtle connotation wasn’t lost on him. “Six-four.”

“Wow. Did you play sports in school?” Kenley asked.

He shrugged. “Nothing people around here would care about—volleyball, swimming.”

My mind instantly filled with images of Aric on a beach, in the water, his wide chest bare, his arms and legs long, strong, and tan.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Speedo,” Mara whispered to me, clearly thinking along the same lustful lines.

“But I like all sports,” Aric continued his thought as we emerged from the building into the warm night air. He grinned. “I guess that’s obvious.”

“Well, I’ll be seeing both of you at work tomorrow because Janet’s dragging me in for weekend photog duty.
Colleen
apparently had a very important
soiree
to attend in Jackson.” Mara’s tone revealed her disdain for anything concerning Colleen.

“I think it’s a family thing—parents’ anniversary party or something,” I said.

“Whatever. It’s always something. That girl’s social life puts Princess Kate’s to shame.”

Our group broke up in the parking lot. As Kenley, Mara, and I reached my car, Aric called out to us and ran over to catch up.

“Hey, it was fun tonight. Great meeting you all,” he said, then lowered his voice and looked directly at me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Um, okay.” I walked a few steps away with him while my friends waited.

Aric put a hand on my arm, turning me a little to the side for privacy. He lowered his face to mine. My heart started thumping so hard I worried he could hear it.

“Listen, did I do something wrong in there?” He hooked a thumb toward the club.

“No.” I shook my head and forced a smile. “No, everything’s fine.”

“Well, you just kinda… changed all the sudden. It seemed like we were having a good time, and then, I don’t know, I thought I made you mad or something.”

“You didn’t do anything—it’s—I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.” He nodded as if it made perfect sense. “Where is he tonight?”

That threw me. I’d expected to toss the half-truth out there and get away with it clean. Now I had to come up with another lie.

“He’s… busy.” Lame, but functional.

“Okay. Well, see you at work tomorrow.”

“Yeah—see you at work.”

I walked back to my friends, who stared at me with nearly identical bug-eyed glances. I shrugged and got into the car.

“What the hell was that?” Mara demanded, climbing into the passenger side. “Six-feet-four-inches-of-missing-Hemsworth-brother-Viking-hotness chases you across a parking lot, and you tell him you have a boyfriend?”

“I do have a boyfriend.”

“You guys are on a
break
,” she argued. “Which has now lasted nearly a month, so it’s looking more like a break
up
, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, if he’d been chasing
me
down, I wouldn’t be in this car with you two right now—sorry girls,” Mara said.