Behind the Scenes

Chapter Seven

We head back to my hotel room to do the Readers' Digest interview, and I'm not as nervous since there are no cameras pointed at me. Surprisingly, the interviewer, Darryl, actually focuses on the book instead of asking me a million questions about what it's like to know and work with Joseph King. 

          Not that I mind talking about him, as my best friend Millie would be quick to point out. But since any mention of him usually leaves me flustered, I'd better not. 

          Speaking of Millie, I text her between interviews to tell her what Joe said about flirting with him before he'd had his coffee. 

          Was that a come-on?? I text. Or am I reading way too much into this?

          I watch the ellipses dance across the screen. 

          Do you normally tease someone you're NOT interested in about flirting with you? she writes. She's typing a follow-up even before I send my response. 

          No, I write. I'd just ignore it. 

          He literally invited you to flirt with him again, her next message says. This man definitely has 😍.

          I grin and clutch my phone to my chest. For the first time since falling for him all those months ago, I allow myself to hope. 

          Maybe, just maybe, he's into me too. 

          Once my phone interview wraps and I've changed into my raspberry pantsuit, we're shuttled over to NBC Studios. I half expect to be stuck in a corner while Joe, Cath, and Maya get their own dressing rooms, so I'm surprised when I'm lead to a big dressing room for all four of us. I'm the first to arrive, and Deandra doesn't follow me back, so I'm scrolling through the oh-shit list by the time Joe and Maya get here.

          Maya enters the room first and gives me a quick hug. 

          "How're you feeling?" I ask. Maya waves her hand like it's nothing, but still, she indicates that she's saving her voice for the interview by miming zipping her lips closed and pointing in the general direction of the stage. 

          "Can I get you anything?" I ask and she shakes her head no but mouths "thank you" all the same. She heads over to the couch and takes a seat at the end, positioning herself on the edge of the cushions to avoid wrinkling her rather expensive-looking jumpsuit, her attention on her phone. 

          Joe walks in next. He stifles a yawn as he crosses the threshold wearing the same outfit from earlier, his hair slightly more tousled than before. I take my phone out, hoping it didn't look like I was standing there waiting for him. 

          Joe stops just inside the dressing room door and drops his gaze to my lower half, then lets it trail back up to my face--slowly. Very slowly.  

          "You look nice," he says. I glance up from my phone. It's difficult to suppress the goofy grin that threatens to spread across my face, but I try just the same.

          "Thanks," I say. His gaze flicks back over my body as he licks his bottom lip, then presses both lips together. My heart beats against the back of my ribcage like the wings of a caged bird. I'm mesmerized by his mouth. I swallow, my breath coming out unevenly. 

          Cath enters the room then with a loud clap of her hands, and we're both startled out of the moment. Joe turns toward the noise, then glances back at me with a sheepish smile like we were caught doing something naughty. 

          I wish. 

          I take a deep breath and sigh, hoping to calm the pounding of my pulse and the humming between my legs. It's been a long time since someone looked at me like they were undressing me with their eyes. The fact that it was Joe who did it...