When He Was Bad.... Jane Sullivan

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      He’s a self-absorbed loner, aloof and jealous and tantalizingly possessive, attracting you with enough charisma for ten men; at the same time, he holds you at arm’s length.

      Caught up in the thrill of the chase, you try to grasp his heart and soul, only to feel him slipping away like sand through your fingers.

      And while you know you should resist, with just a crook of his finger and a devastating smile, off you go with him, your mind filled with delusions of taming this enigmatic man. And when he has you melting under his hypnotic gaze, falling so fast your head is spinning, that’s when he leaves you like a shadow in the night, never to be seen again…

      SARA DAVENPORT knew every one of those men inside and out. She could quote their characteristics, chapter and verse—every nuance of behavior, every game they played, every brand of falsehood that passed their lips. After all, she’d written the book on bad boys.

      Literally.

      She took a sip of coffee, then sat back on the sofa in her office and spread her planner out in her lap. Next to her, Karen paged through her own planner, lining out their schedule for the coming week.

      “I’ve set up book signings for Wednesday and Thursday evening,” Karen told her. “They’re here in Boulder, so there’s no travel involved.” She flipped to another page. “I arranged a phone interview for you with a regional magazine in Charleston. The reporter will e-mail you tomorrow to set up a time. And I booked you for a Friday evening Internet chat with a reader’s group in Spokane.”

      Sara made a few notes. “Wow. You’re keeping me busy.”

      Karen smiled. “Busy is good. It won’t be long before your name is a household word.”

      Sara didn’t doubt that. Her friend’s PR wizardry was a big reason the book had been successful so far. Karen knew just which newspapers and magazines to target with advance reading copies to garner the most articles and reviews. She’d brought Sara untold numbers of new readers by suggesting she pair a minilecture with book signings. She’d gotten her a cameo in Cosmopolitan. All that publicity had put Sara on the fast track to success, but still it was hard for her to believe that she’d barely turned thirty and already her dream was coming true.

      Not that she’d intended for things to work out the way they had. She’d initially envisioned the book as an expansion of her dissertation, a serious examination of the psychological, social and emotional reasons women make poor choices in men. But one year, three edits and a show-stopping cover later, it had become a shorter, slicker book with a pop psychology tone and a title that made her cringe: Chasing the Bad Boy.

      Sara was still hiding her face over that, but she couldn’t argue with success. The book was heading for its third printing, her editor wanted another book and Sara’s message was getting out in a way that never would have happened through her private psychology practice or her seminars alone.

      “Oh, yeah,” Karen said. “One more thing. I called the program director at KZAP this morning.”

      Sara came to attention. “What for?”

      “To book you on a radio show.”

      Sara felt a surge of apprehension. “Radio? No. I don’t want to do radio.”

      “But you can reach a lot of people on a radio show. And it has an advantage that advertising doesn’t.”

      “What’s that?”

      “It’s free.”

      “No. Radio is unpredictable. It’s too easy to say the wrong thing and get embarrassed.”

      “Come on, Sara. You’re in front of audiences all the time.”

      “Right. Doing seminars. It’s friendly territory. I have notes, and I’m in control. I don’t like open-ended situations. They’re recipes for disaster.”

      “You know your subject, and you’re a great speaker. What is there to worry about?”

      “I just don’t want—” Sara stopped short. “Wait a minute. KZAP? Isn’t that the station with Dr. Frieda?”

      “Yeah.”

      Okay. Now, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Discussing her book with a medical doctor, maybe getting into the physiological aspects of attraction, taking questions from her listeners…how tough could that be?

      “But I booked you on Nick Chandler’s show,” Karen said.

      For the count of three, Sara’s voice deserted her, and when it finally returned, still she could barely get words out without choking.

      “What did you say?”

      “Now, I knew you were going to freak out. But—”

      “There is no ‘but’ here. I’m not getting within ten miles of that man.”

      “But it’ll be great publicity.”

      “Promoting my book on his show? Are you kidding me?”

      “Okay. I know it sounds a little weird, but—”

      “A little weird? Do you know he once interviewed a man who claimed he’d had sex with a thousand women and has the notches in his bedpost to prove it?”

      “Well, yeah, but—”

      “And a woman who tends bar in a topless club? Topless?”

      “Yeah, I heard that one. But—”

      “And a man who has a Web site dedicated to teaching other men how to score with chicks?”

      Karen held up her palm. “I know. I know. It’s a lot of testosterone all in one place, but—”

      “I’ve read the gossip columns. I know Nick Chandler’s reputation in this town.”

      Karen shrugged. “So he gets around a little.”

      “A little? The guy with the thousand notches in his bedpost is an amateur compared to him!”

      “And that’s exactly the reason I booked you on his show.”

      Sara took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it was a hard-won battle. Publicity was a good thing, but Nick Chandler wasn’t. The man was so Neanderthal that his knuckles had to drag the ground. Sara shuddered. He probably had back hair and bad posture and drew pictures of bison on his apartment walls.

      “Sorry, Karen. I’m not doing a show like that. Call the producer back and tell him to forget it.”

      “Even if Nick Chandler has a hundred thousand listeners?”

      Sara’s lower jaw fell halfway to her lap. “Are you telling me that a hundred thousand people tune in to hear that kind of programming?”

      “Yep.”

      “But none of them are going to want to hear about my book. His audience СКАЧАТЬ