Hot Spot. Debbi Rawlins

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СКАЧАТЬ sank into the swivel chair she’d nearly sent flying across the small office.

      Nearby, Talia looked up from the article she’d been editing and peered over her thick, black-rimmed glasses. “You arranged a meet,” she said in her usual monotone voice. “Just a guess.”

      Out of breath, Madison nodded. Talia was good people, in spite of her odd sense of humor and even odder taste in clothes, and she did let Madison use her office sometimes, but, man, Madison wished Karrie were here.

      Madison missed her like crazy on a normal basis but at a time like this it was really hard to have her best friend living all the way across the country. Not that she wasn’t happy that Karrie had found Rob, but jeez…It had been months since Karrie had moved west to be with her guy.

      She glanced at her watch. Two-fifteen, which made it eleven-fifteen Las Vegas time. She wouldn’t call yet. She’d wait until after she met with him. The Jack Logan. She still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around the magnitude of snaring someone like the heart-stopping Logan.

      Talia snorted. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

      “What?”

      “You acting like a star-struck teenager.”

      Madison laughed. “He’s only the sexiest man in the western hemisphere.”

      Talia shook her head. “I still don’t believe it.”

      “The only thing Jack Logan means to me is the cover of your magazine.” Madison locked her hands behind her head, leaned back and stretched her legs out. Wait until the other photographers found out whom she’d snagged. They’d drool like babies. Cry their eyes out. Or want to scratch hers out. An ugly thought struck her, and she looked at Talia. “Heard anything about who the other men are?”

      “Nope. Nothing. Oh, wait, I did hear that Sheila Higgins might have Brad Pitt on the hook.”

      Madison shot upright. “No way.”

      Talia just shrugged.

      “Big deal. He’s been on so many covers. Old news. I’m not worried.”

      Talia smiled. “Yeah, I can tell by the way you nearly hit the ceiling. Relax, kid. I was kidding. I haven’t heard a word.”

      “Go ahead, make fun.” Madison stood and tucked the loosened white T-shirt into her jeans. “Some day you’ll say ‘I knew her when.’”

      Talia put down her pencil and cocked her head to the side. “Say you get the cover. Then what?”

      Madison stared in disbelief. “No more begging for assignments, or sitting at the bottom of slush piles. I get to write my own ticket. I mean, getting to shoot the cover is a pretty damn big deal.”

      “Oh, yeah. Definitely a major career coup.” Talia’s dark eyes bore into hers. “My question is, what does writing your own ticket mean?”

      Madison looked blankly at her and then shrugged. “More freedom.”

      “To do what?”

      “Pay my bills, for one.” Madison snorted. “Get to choose my own assignments. Why?”

      “No reason.” Talia gave her a small mysterious smile, her dark red lips barely curving.

      “You know something I don’t?”

      Talia just shook her head. “Just curious.”

      Madison grabbed her navy blue blazer off the back of the chair, a sudden unease quelling her excitement. “I don’t want to take celebrity photos for the rest of my life.”

      “You’re very talented, Madison, you certainly don’t have to.” Talia paused, and then added, “If that’s not what you want.”

      “For now it works for me. It’s something I know I can do well.” She shrugged into her blazer. “Maybe later I’ll branch out. After I put a few bucks away. Just not yet.”

      “No need to get defensive.”

      “I’m not.” Madison knew that was a lie. Even her posture had turned defensive. Silly, really. No reason for it. Everything she said was true. She was happy. This was the break she’d been waiting for. “Well, I’d better go get ready. We’re meeting in two hours.”

      “Hmm. You have time for a color and blow dry.” Talia frowned at Madison’s short, uneven nails. “No, get a manicure instead.”

      “You’re hysterical.” She picked up her portfolio that contained a recent head shot of Logan and a brief bio she’d found on the Internet.

      She figured she ought to know a little something about him other than he had a face and body that gave even her elderly grandmother heart palpitations.

      “You coming by tomorrow?” Talia took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

      “Probably, but it kind of depends on tonight.”

      Talia grinned. “I’m jealous.”

      Yeah, right. As if. Madison sighed. “You’re hopeless.”

      “You know what would be a real kick?”

      “Do I want to hear this?”

      “Remember that psychic you went to?”

      “Don’t even go there.” Madison headed for the door. “Anyway, I didn’t go to see her. She was at a party. It was stupid.”

      “I’m just saying…” Talia’s eyes widened. “Hey, didn’t your friend Karrie’s prediction come true?”

      Madison’s hand froze on the doorknob. She’d been so wrapped up in getting this assignment she’d forgotten. Not that Karrie’s or her prediction meant anything. Coincidence of course.

      Even so…

      Jack Logan? No way.

      JACK ARRIVED AT EROTIQUE ten minutes early, but she was already there. He knew it was Madison Tate sitting at a small table near the black circular bar. Not just because she was the only woman sitting alone. The voice on the phone matched this woman perfectly. The way she was dressed, the way she sat with her back straight and her head held high. No-nonsense.

      While the other women in the bar were decked out in the latest fall offerings from Prada or Bebe, she dressed simply in jeans and a white T-shirt, generic, not designer. Her dark-blond hair wasn’t particularly stylish, either. Kind of short and unruly, and before he crossed the room, her long slender fingers pushed the stubborn locks away from her face twice.

      The moment she saw him she stood and smiled. A nice friendly smile. Not the kind he usually got from women.

      “You’re early,” she said and offered her hand.

      He accepted the firm handshake. “You’re earlier.”

      “Bad habit of mine.” СКАЧАТЬ