Page 23 of Sinful Abandon

I startle at the accusation.

Pushing my shoulders back, I walk into the room and take a seat at my desk. I turn to the screen of my computer and start scrolling with my mouse, moving it around the desktop, even though I have nothing worthy of looking up at the moment. Still, it’s better than facing him.

I open an email to Meg and start typing.

With my eyes on the screen, I flatly say to Ryan, “What can I do for you?”

His body is stiff, controlled. There is no movement coming from him. Just the deep bass of his voice. “Surprised you showed.”

I answer, unimpressed, “You get ten minutes. Give me your three best story ideas.”

“I’ll wait until you’re done typing. You seem distracted.”

My fingers pause on the keyboard, my eyes still on the computer screen. “I have to get this memo out. It’s far more intriguing than ‘Sexless in the City.’” I throw in an annoyed sigh for good measure.

“Actually, I was thinking of another story line. Something a bit more human interest,” he says.

My curiosity is piqued.

God, if I could only just give myself the opportunity to look at him, I’d bet he had that sideways smirk on his face. Or maybe he’s biting his lip, the way he does with the side of his mouth pulled in, making the rest jut out in a way that makes me want to suck on it.

I swallow hard and take a deep breath, cleansing myself of the ridiculous thought, before I start typing again. “And?”

“It’s called ‘Never Have I Ever.’ We take the anchors and all the correspondents, even the weather girl, and find out what they’ve always wanted to do but never have, and then we follow them on that experience.”

“Been there, done that.” In my defense, I’d be this rude to any staff member. I consider myself an equal-opportunity bitch.

He doesn’t seem to notice. “Not on this show and not like this. It would run once a week for five weeks, and after that, we’d have viewers write in with something they’d never done. The traffic it would drive to our social media pages would be insane. We could even use Facebook Live and record the events as we were filming them. Make it interactive, as if the show were going on beyond the broadcast time.”

And, now, my fingers halt completely.

That’s actually a really good idea.

My eyes are fixated on the letter G on the keyboard as I decide if I should be mean and run Ryan out of my office or take the high road and address him like the adult he is.

I swallow my pride, hit Send on the email I was typing to Meg, and turn to Ryan. He’s looking at me. His masculine jaw is jutted out, and the perfect arch of his brow is curved in as he waits for a response.

I place my hands on my lap and rub them on the chiffon fabric of my dress. “What kind of experiences do you have in mind?”

Ryan’s chin relaxes, and his cheekbones rise as he looks down at his paper and reads his notes. “I spoke to our anchors, and Chad said he always wanted to go skydiving.”

I roll my eyes. How many times has someone filmed their first time skydiving? Though I wouldn’t mind pushing Misty Waters out of a plane…sans parachute.

“But,” Ryan says, “I told him that was cliché, so we worked on other ideas. After some digging, I learned that our boy Chad has always wanted to tap dance.”

I must have a look of confusion on my face because Chad Lyons is this burly ex-football player who became a television host after his retirement from the NFL. Apparently, the television industry has become a place for people who can no longer play sports. Go figure.

Ryan continues, “‘Never Have I Ever Tap-Danced.’ I know it doesn’t sound that great, but trust me when I tell you, anyone who watches football would go crazy over seeing Chad dance. It would be all over the Internet.”

I sway my head from side to side. “I’m not crazy about it, but I like where the idea is headed.” Despite myself, I lean forward and say, “You’re looking at producing a series, which is very ambitious, but you have to look at the business side. How is this going to move the show forward, toward the greater goal?”

“Ratings?”

“Revenue.” I pick up a pen and write down some notes. “We could team up with Broadway in Chicago and have them sponsor the series. I’ll find out what shows they have that need a boost in sales and have them cast Chad in one for a performance.”

Ryan nods. “That’s a great idea.”

“It was yours. Now, you have to find more experiences to make this worthy of a five-week series for February sweeps. That gives us enough time to pre-produce all the moving parts.”