Rock My World. Cindi Myers

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      “I know.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, I was new in town, new to the job. She came on to me and I was flattered. But I’ve learned my lesson. It won’t happen again.”

      Carl nodded. “One thing I like about you is you’re a man who learns from his mistakes.” He looked at his watch again.

      “I know, I know. I’ve got a show to do.” Adam started to leave, but paused in the doorway. “You’ll tell Nick to behave himself with Erica, right?”

      “Nick will behave himself. Everything will be great.”

      Right. Everything would be great. But he was going to worry until this was over with, all the same. He might be unable to do anything about his attraction to Erica, but he hadn’t yet found a way to stop thinking about her.

      2

      “ALL RIGHT, PEEPS. You all know what day it is. That’s right—it’s Tell All Tuesday. So call me up with your true confessions. Today’s topic—your baddest sexcapade. The world and Naughty Nick want to know.”

      “Sexcapades?” Erica shook her head. This is what she had to look forward to for the next three days—and three nights. The closer it got to the day of her big debut, the longer that seventy-five hours looked. But she’d promised herself she’d see it through. Too many times in her past she’d failed to stick with a plan when the going got tough—hence changing majors three times in college and running through a string of relationships in the past seven years.

      But radio was different. This was what she really wanted to do, so she was going to make the best of this opportunity. She’d even rehearsed a few comebacks to put Nick in his place. There had to be more than a few women out there who’d cheer to see a player like Nick get his and she planned to use that to her advantage.

      Tomorrow was the big day. The past month had flown by in a rush of activity. She’d recorded teasers with Nick that ran throughout the day on the station, posed for photos for billboards and ads, and met with Mattress Max himself, who’d looked her up and down and announced that plenty of people were sure to stop by to see her in a nightgown.

      Great. She studied herself critically in the mirror of the ladies’ room at the KROK studios. Last night, on impulse, she’d added a pink streak to her hair. She’d wanted something different to celebrate her public debut. Too bad the debut had to be in bed with Naughty Nick. “It’s for a good cause,” she reminded herself, and took out a tube of lipstick.

      “Hey, Erica.”

      Erica looked up from freshening her lipstick and was startled to find Bombshell Bonnie talking to her. Before now, Erica would have bet the weather and traffic reporter didn’t even know her name. “Uh, hi, Bonnie. How are you?”

      “Fine and sassy, as always.” She fluffed her blond curls with her fingers and adjusted the straps of the red knit camisole that clung to her curves like a second skin.

      “That’s good. I’m fine, too.” Not that you asked. She checked her lipstick in the mirror again.

      “Who are you primping for?” Bonnie asked.

      “No one.” Unfortunately the rush of blood to her face proved her a liar. Actually she’d been hoping to run into Adam. He came in about this time every morning to tape teasers for his afternoon show, to work on any commercial spots he’d been hired for and to pull any songs he wanted that weren’t in the scheduled rotation. Ever since she’d been picked for the promo gig with Nick she’d made it a point to be waiting for him, to exchange at least a few words. She was still working on convincing him they could be more than friendly co-workers. She’d decided to take a little more care with her appearance, in hopes of waking him up to the fact that she was a reasonably attractive woman who was, after all, only five years younger than him.

      “You’re not putting on the glam for Nick, are you?”

      Erica was so startled by this suggestion she dropped the tube of lipstick. As she chased it around the sink, she shook her head violently. “Nick! No way. What made you think that?”

      “You’re doing that furniture store promo with him tomorrow aren’t you? I thought you might be trying to butter him up so he’d throw some more work your way. Maybe make you a regular part of his show.”

      She stared at Bonnie. “But Nick’s show is all about him being a player. Having a female sidekick wouldn’t fit very well with that.” Except for the times when they had to be together to do promo stuff, she’d made it a point to avoid Nick. He’d made a few suggestive comments on his show but then, Nick was always making suggestive comments. It was part of his whole shtick.

      Bonnie narrowed her eyes. “Since when does anything in this business make sense?” She tapped Erica on the shoulder. “Us girls have to stick together. And we do whatever it takes to get ahead, right?”

      “Uh, right.” Except that she couldn’t see herself posing for Playboy anytime soon. Or going after Nick Cassidy. Ick!

      Bonnie smiled. “That’s right. You just remember that.”

      “I will. I better get back to work.” Erica was already late for her chat with Adam.

      He was coming up the stairs from the basement as she was descending. Man, he was hot! While most jocks were behind a microphone instead of in front of a camera for a reason, Adam had a rugged, outdoorsy look that was definitely easy on the eyes. “Hi, Adam.” She flashed him her warmest smile.

      “Hey, Erica. How’s it going?”

      “Great. Everything’s set for my big debut tomorrow.” She wasn’t counting her ill-fated intro of the car dealer ads. That was a last-minute fill-in. This was her real chance to star.

      “What’s with the pink?” He gestured toward her hair.

      She put one hand to her shoulder-length locks. “Just something fun I did, something different for my debut.”

      He nodded. “Looks good. Hey, I saw the new billboards for the furniture store promo,” he said. “That’s a good picture of you.”

      “You think so?” She flushed, pleased that he’d noticed. She’d seen the ads for the first time that morning and had almost run off the road. The first ads had referred to her only as Nick’s “mystery woman” but these new spots had her picture as well. There was something disconcerting about seeing her face twenty feet high looming over the roadway.

      “Yeah. Too bad Nick’s ugly mug was spoiling the picture.”

      She laughed. “Not everyone can be as good-looking as you are,” she teased.

      He looked away from her and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. I shouldn’t be so harsh on Nick.”

      “What’s on the schedule for your show this afternoon?” she asked, anxious to keep the conversation going.

      “It’s Friday, so we have the trivia contest.”

      Adam was the station’s rock trivia expert. Every Friday listeners had the chance to stump him with questions. Winners earned cool prizes.

      “Nickelback’s doing a live performance СКАЧАТЬ