Katherine Garbera - Secrets Of The Night - A Case of Kiss and Tell

“I’ll be there on Saturday,” he said. “And I will be bringing Nichole Reynolds. I’ve got to go now, Mom. Love you.”

He hung up before she could say anything more. After the lunch with Nichole, the last thing he needed was an emotional discussion with his mom. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but his tidy little life had suddenly been thrown upside down. Actually, he did know how it had happened and exactly who was to blame—Nichole Reynolds.

Nichole had taken the subway back to her office, hoping that by being around other people she’d be less likely to get stuck in her own head. But it didn’t work. She was still unsure of what she’d agreed to with Conner and the more time she spent thinking about it, the worse that knot of tension in her stomach became.

She had had a number of uncomfortable conversations with people over the years. She had gotten to be such a good reporter by asking tough questions, but she’d never had to discuss her personal life with her boss before and she knew she was going to have to do that today.

She had the distinct feeling that her own knowledge of what she’d agreed to with Conner was coloring her feelings on the issue, but she couldn’t help that.

She took the stairs up to her floor instead of the elevator, no doubt to put off the inevitable. But as luck would have it, her boss was in his office when she stopped by to see him.

“Do you have a minute?” she asked.

“I’ve got a few. What do you need?” he asked.

She stepped into his office and closed the door behind her. Ross Kleeman had started as reporter a long time ago and he’d managed to keep America Today vibrant and profitable. Many newspapers hadn’t made the transition to the web-based editions as skillfully as America Today , thanks in large part to Ross.

“Well, two things. The first is that I got an interview with Conner Macafee. I see this as a two-part story. The first will focus on his matchmaking company, featured in the new Sexy & Single television show. And the second will be a color piece on how the scandal with his father influenced his business and personal choices.”

“Wow. How’d you get him to agree to that? And what do you mean by color piece?” Ross asked.

“How I got him to agree kind of ties into the second thing I wanted to tell you—Conner and I are dating. Is that going to be a problem?”

Ross leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “We can disclose your relationship when we print the articles. That should take care of any ethics issues. So he agreed to let you write about that because you’re dating?”

Nichole nodded. “For the second piece, I’m going to rely on my own observations, since he won’t talk to me about the scandal with his father. But I can see how it has influenced the choices that Conner has made. To some extent I can see that in his sister, too.”

“Interesting. Depending on the type of story you end up writing, we might be able to run it in the Weekend Magazine edition.”

“Okay. I don’t intend it to be an exposé. It’ll be a longer version of my usual column,” she said.

“See what you come up with. And think feature piece instead of column when you’re writing,” Ross said. “Was that all?”

“Yes,” she said, heading out of his office.

She walked back to her cubicle and stowed her purse in her desk while turning on her computer. She got out her cell phone to text Conner.

No problems with my boss. I can move in tonight.

A few minutes passed before she got a reply.

Good. I have a 5 pm meeting so I can’t meet you until 8. Will call when I’m done here.

OK

Do you have to get the last word in all the time?

Yes. ☺

OK

TTYL

You win.

Good.

There was no other response from Conner and Nichole smiled to herself. That was the part that always surprised her about him. He was fun. He shouldn’t be because he was arrogant and too used to getting his own way. But he made her smile a lot of the time.

Part of her was worried about how she was going to be able to manage to live with him and not fall in love with him. It was bad enough that they had this bargain. She wished she could keep her emotions out of it.

She wondered what other men’s mistresses did. When she was in college, she’d done an article on a study that was conducted at NYU on brain chemistry and sex, and she knew that no matter how sophisticated society was, at its most basic level everyone was still programmed to find a mate and procreate.

If she tried, maybe she could use science to protect herself, but she doubted it. Conner just didn’t fit in the nice little mold she’d always used to make sure that she didn’t fall in love with anyone.

What she needed to do was somehow figure out how to make every time they were together about the articles she was writing instead of their attraction.

But she knew it would be next to impossible because she wanted him.

It hadn’t taken much prodding on her part to get him to kiss her after lunch. She’d needed it. She needed to know that she wasn’t the only one who was helpless in this infatuation. Conner seemed so much in control—both of himself and the world around him. Something she’d always assumed she was, but he put those beliefs to shame.

Her career had only been so super-important to her because the men she’d dated in the past had been boys. She hadn’t realized that the fun she was having had been designed to shield her commitment until this moment.

She put her head in her hands and stared at her desktop. In her mind’s eye she saw the list she’d written at lunch with Conner and she knew that she’d left one very important thing out of her column.

Don’t fall for Conner.

He’d told her he didn’t want to hurt her, and he’d been honest from the beginning, so she knew if she did get hurt she’d have no one to blame but herself. But that still didn’t help her figure out how she was going to get her story, be his mistress and not fall in love with him.

Conner had expected Nichole to need more time or try to make up some reason why she couldn’t move in with him, but she seemed determined to live up to the bargain she’d struck with him.

His respect for her grew a little bit as he realized that. The more he knew about her as a person, the less fearful he was of anything she’d print about him. But that was a foolish way of thinking. He had to remember that she was here for a story and he was going to make sure that she got the information he allowed her to have and nothing more.

His apartment was a penthouse in a building on the Upper East Side. It ran the entire length of the building and had a glass wall overlooking his patio. He’d spent a lot of money on decorating and it felt like home when he opened the door.

Conner ushered Nichole into his apartment. He was carrying her small overnight bag, leaving her with her computer and purse. Randall was bringing up the rest of her bags, but overall, she hadn’t brought a lot of stuff.

“Welcome to my home,” he said as they walked over the threshold and into the big open-plan living room.

“Thank you. I had to tell my parents I was staying with a friend while my building had some work done,” she said, blurting it out. “My mom calls on my house phone all the time.”

Her demeanor was the only clue that she was at all nervous about moving in with him. As she looked around his apartment, he tried to see it through her eyes. He knew it was stylish and well decorated, but he wondered what she thought of it.

“Okay, do you want to give them my home phone number as well?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind. That will make both of them feel better. I don’t want them to know about you, though,” she said.