Thrill Me (Fool's Gold #18)(32)

“It was Eddie Carberry,” she said to distract herself. “I found her going through my material.”

“Not a surprise. She’s impressive.”

“I put a password on the files.”

He laughed. “Good for you. Make her work for it.”

“My plan is that she won’t have access to it anymore.”

Maya moved to her desk. Del took the visitor’s chair. He studied her.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Just tired. I was in shock last night. I couldn’t believe it. How did you find out?”

“Ryder Stevens saw it online and emailed me. Did you know Eddie and Gladys’s show has an internet following?”

Maya rubbed her temples. “No, and I didn’t need to. At least the internet is an open system and we don’t have to worry about the FCC there.”

“You’re not mad at them, are you?”

“No. Surprised. Flummoxed by them.”

“They’re uncontrollable.”

“You don’t mind about the kiss going viral?”

His gaze shifted. For a second she would have sworn he was staring at her mouth. She felt a flash of heat followed by longing.

They could do it again, she thought. A real kiss this time. With bodies pressing and tongues... Well, she could use a little tongue in her life.

But that wasn’t going to happen. She and Del were friends. They worked together. He liked her, they got along, but she was pretty sure he had no sexual interest in her. As for her feelings, they were, ah, nostalgic. That was all. She was reacting to the past.

“At first I was a little uncomfortable, but what the hell. Stuff happens.”

She smiled. “You like the attention.”

“Some. While you like being behind the scenes.”

“I do,” she said slowly, immediately thinking about her network dreams.

“What are you thinking?”

“That I put so much energy into getting a network job. I wanted to be on camera. To be the star. But you’re right. Looking at the video, I didn’t like the attention, but I did appreciate how good the shot was.”

That couldn’t be right, could it? Had she been chasing the wrong dream all this time?

“Regretting your decision to come here?” he asked.

“No. I was so tired of the gossip show. I couldn’t have done it anymore. This is nice.”

But maybe not permanent, a little voice in her head whispered.

“It’s good to be happy in your work,” he said.

“It is. What are you doing this weekend?”

“Hanging out. You? Oh, that’s right. You have your girls’ weekend with my mom. What does that entail? Mani-pedis?”

“I’m impressed you know what a mani-pedi is,” she said, dodging the question. Because her girls’ weekend would consist of making sure her friend was recovering.

“I’m well traveled,” he told her, coming to his feet. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. We are now world famous kissers. I’m sure we can both use that to our advantage.”

He grinned. “I know I will.”

* * *

DEL LEFT THE studio offices and headed for The Man Cave to see Nick. Maybe a little one-on-one time with his middle brother would give him some answers as to why Nick felt he had to hide what he was doing. Because Del sure didn’t get it. Ceallach might not approve of the medium, but he would be happy to see the art being produced. So why not let the old man know?

He crossed the street and turned at the corner. Everyone had their reasons, he supposed. Very few actions were random. Like his coming home. It had been a deliberate choice and he had a feeling he’d made it for reasons that were not the ones he’d first thought.

He walked into the bar and saw Nick wasn’t alone. Aidan was with him. Two for the price of one, Del thought as he approached them, wondering if Aidan would walk out the second he saw him. Their last conversation hadn’t ended well.

“It’s TV’s newest reality star,” Nick said from behind the bar. “Back only a couple of weeks and already making time with Maya. Everything old is new again.”

Del accepted the ribbing. “It wasn’t like that.”

“It looked like that,” Aidan said, grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the counter. “It looked a lot like that.”

It had been a nice kiss, Del thought. When he’d first seen the video, he’d been shocked and a little embarrassed. But even though it was a personal moment, he wasn’t ashamed. Hell, he and Maya looked good together. His only regret was that they hadn’t done more. Not on camera, of course. But later. Privately. One on one. Naked.

She’d always looked good naked and he had a feeling time had been especially kind to her. They both had some years on them, which meant experience. Making love with her had been fantastic before. He would guess it would be even better now.

“What can I get you?” Nick asked.

Del pointed to Aidan’s bottle and sat down at the bar. “What he’s having.”

Aidan glanced at him. “Did you figure out what happened with the video? How it got online?”

“Eddie Carberry got into Maya’s files.”

Aidan shook his head. “You’ve got to admire her and Gladys. They move with the times.”