Donna Hill - Tender Loving Passion

Another voice, more controlled, less perky came on the line.

“May I help you?”

“Yes. I’m calling to speak with Mr. Burke.”

“Mr. Burke is very busy at the moment. Maybe I can help you.”

She hadn’t realized that Michael had risen to the point of having two screeners for his calls.

“Perhaps if you let him know that it’s Mia Turner...”

There was a moment of deafening silence.

Ms. Control cleared her throat. “He really cannot be disturbed, but I’ll be happy to take a message.”

Mia’s slender neck jerked back. She was about to blurt out, “Say what?” but remembered who she was—a professional.

“Why don’t I do this—I’ll call him on his cell a bit later. Perhaps he won’t be so busy then,” she said, playing the power game. Of course, she didn’t have Michael’s cell-phone number, but this chick didn’t know that. “And who am I speaking with?”

“Brenda Forde. I’m Mr. Burke’s executive assistant.”

I’ll just bet you are. “Thanks so much for your help...Brenda.” She hung up.

Mia sat back and tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth. She could have left a number for him to call her back, but that would have defeated her purpose of pretending to have the upper hand. Besides, she wasn’t quite ready for Michael to have a direct connection to her.

But now that she’d lied and said she’d reach him on his cell phone, she’d have no logical reason to call back.

While she was pondering her next move, Ashley buzzed her on the intercom.

Mia stabbed the flashing red light. “Yes.”

“There’s a Michael Burke on the line for you.”

Mia nearly choked. “Who?” she asked with all the calm she could summon.

“Michael Burke. Could that be the Michael Burke of Avante Enterprises—the one that Felicia and Linda said referred them?”

“I...suppose so.” Her heart was galloping at breakneck speed.

“He’s on line two.”

“Thanks,” she managed. “I’ll take it.”

For several moments she stared at the flashing red light. Would he sound the same? What did he want? How would she respond?

The unanswered questions rushed through her head. Finally she picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Mia...”

The deep bass of his voice rolled through her in waves. For an instant nothing stood between them, but then she remembered what she had to do.

“Michael, how are you?”

“Actually, quite well.”

Silence. Then they both spoke at once.

“You first,” Michael conceded.

“I wanted to thank you for the referral. I must admit I was surprised when they told me it had come from you.”

“Why?”

The one-word question was suffused with a melancholy tone. Although it was asking the obvious, the inflection of his voice was asking her for an answer she couldn’t give.

“I...had no idea...”

“What, that I’ve followed your career?”

He had? “Well...yes.”

“I have. I know all about your business, that you’re doing very well. I have friends who have seen you around the city. They tell me that you’re still beautiful,” he said softly.

She shut her eyes and a Technicolor image of Michael bloomed behind her lids.

“So now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, was that the only reason for your call today?”

Mia cleared her throat and tried to clear her mind, but it was pointless.

“Yes. Why else would I call? I mean, it was very generous of you and I wanted to thank you.”

“I think you know that I’ve always wanted the best for...my clients and myself. And that’s what you are.”

Why couldn’t she get her brain to work and her lips to move? She felt like an idiot. Concentrate.

“I took a look at some of the projects that you’re working on,” she finally said, taking the first step into the land of no return. “And I was wondering if you’d contracted with anyone for the upcoming red-carpet event for Raven, the new R & B artist.”

“I have two outfits that I’m considering, but if you wanted to handle it, I can call them off right now.”

She laughed nervously. “Just like that?”

“Why not? You are the best at what you do?”

She drew in a breath.

“Why don’t we meet and talk about it?”

This was going better than she’d hoped. “Sure, I can come to your office.” She needed to get access in order to plant some listening devices and perhaps a small camera.

“I thought we could discuss it over drinks. I can have a car pick you up at your office about six.”

“Six? Tonight?”

“No time like the present. You do want the assignment, don’t you?”

“I don’t even have a proposal prepared.”

“We can discuss it when we see each other. Six o’clock. A black Lincoln will be out front. I’ve got to go. I have a meeting in a few minutes. I’ll see you later.” He disconnected the call before she could come up with a reason not to.

Slowly, she returned the handset to its cradle. Six o’clock. Absently she glanced up at the clock on the wall. Four hours. She had four hours to prepare to see the man her heart would not let her forget.

There would never be enough time.

Chapter 5

Mia walked to the front of the office. Ashley was just hanging up from a call. She looked at Mia curiously.

“You okay? You look...shaken.”

Mia pressed her lips tightly together, as if the action could somehow hold back the words she needed to say. She pulled up a chair next to Ashley’s desk and slowly sat down.

“Remember the other day I asked you if an old flame had ever come back into your life?”

“Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word into two syllables.

Mia glanced away. “Well, my old love asked me out for drinks.”

Ashley’s finely arched brows rose. “Oh. Okay. Was this your idea or his?”

“His!” she said much too quickly. The guilt already getting to her.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning? Maybe that would help.”

The beginning. Yes, she could do that. Perhaps it was time.

Mia looked directly at Ashley. “I’ve never told this to anyone. No one. Not even Savannah and Danielle,” she said with a new pang of guilt for having kept her two best friends in the dark for so long. She drew in a long breath and as she released it, the illicit love affair spilled out on a rough tide of emotion.

Nearly an hour later, Mia blinked back the past and her gaze rested on Ashley, waiting for condemnation, a look of reprimand. Instead, she saw tears welling up in Ashley’s eyes.

Ashley sniffed and dabbed at the corner of her almond-shape eyes with the tip of her index finger. “Wow,” she sputtered. “A true-life, tragic love story.” She folded her hands together. “And now he’s single?”

Mia bobbed her head.

Ashley pressed her hands flat on the desktop and leaned forward. “Do you love Steven?”

* * *

The question taunted her, tugged at her heart.

Of course she loved Steven, she told herself again as the black Lincoln navigated in and out of midtown Manhattan rush-hour traffic.

That’s what she said to Ashley, who told her simply, “Keep that at the forefront of your thoughts and then when you see Michael everything will fall into place.”

Mia certainly hoped so.

* * *

The driver gave her no indication where they were going. He’d only told her that Mr. Burke had arranged for dinner.

Dinner! That wasn’t the agreement, she’d worried. Drinks were impersonal. Dinner was intimate. It raised this meeting to another level.

When she next looked out the window, she realized that they were leaving the city. She grabbed her glasses from her purse and the directional signs came into focus. The driver had taken the exit to the FDR Drive.