Free Truth or Dare by Janis Reams Hudson Page B

dumb!   How could she be so stupid as to give him an opening like that?  One he was sure to take advantage of.
    Which he did.  "About last night.  About you.  About me.  About where we go from here."
    While he stood there, so relaxed it was disgusting, Rachel sidestepped around him and began gathering her recorder, laptop, note pad, and purse.  "Is that all?" she asked, her voice all business.  "I'm the secretary.  You're the boss.  From here, you go to dinner and a show, and I go to the computer."
    Just as she was about to make it out the door, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.  A warm, firm hand that made her spine tingle.
    "And last night?"
    Rachel forced herself to pull out of his grasp and turn to face him.  "Last night was a mistake.  A rather disastrous one, I'm sure you'll agree, that won't be repeated."
    She turned away and headed for the elevator as fast as she could without actually running.  Her knees felt watery and her heart pounded.  She didn't take a breath until she found herself inside the closed elevator — without Jared.
    *  *  *  *
    The only thing Rachel was pleased about during the second day of meetings was that Jared received permission to run his late – night movies during the July rating s period.  It gave her a sense of satisfaction to know she'd helped him gather the information needed to convince Harve it was a good idea.  She'd even helped Jared and the program director, Ben Davidson, select movie titles from the station's film library — that was the part she'd liked the best during all those late nights of work.
    Once Harve okayed Jared's plans, Rachel spent the rest of the time staying on the opposite side of the room from Jared and avoiding looking at him.  When the meeting ended that afternoon, some of the men planned to stay over one more night, but Rachel and Jared had plane reservations for that evening.  She'd just finished packing when Jared knocked on her door.  On her way to open it she wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt.
    "Are you ready?"
    Rachel nodded, and Jared, saying he'd rather not wait on a bellman, picked up his luggage, then came into her room and got hers.  "Let's go home," he said.
    Rachel had been dreading the flight home for nothing.  As it turned out, Jared made no attempt at personal conversation, and she dozed, or pretended to, most of the time.
    Their plane landed a few minutes ahead of schedule, and when no one met Rachel at the gate, Jared insisted on staying with her until her ride arrived.  She nearly panicked, fearing she'd have to introduce him to Mike.  She still hadn't go tten around to mentioning she had two children, and at this point, it would be a bit awkward.
    They stood just inside the doors at the downstairs baggage claim area and waited.  A few minutes later, Rachel spotted Mike pulling up outside.
    "Here's my ride.  You didn't need to stay with me, but thank you anyway."  Without waiting for a response, she threw a "See you tomorrow" over her shoulder and ran to the car before Mike could even get out.
    Jared stood where he was and watched her leave.  He couldn't see the driver of the car well, but it was a man.  His eyes narrowed.  What kind of game was she playing?  And why did that car look familiar?  It wasn't one he remembered seeing parked at the station, but it was still familiar somehow.  There weren't that many 1965, fire engine red, rag – top Mustangs around these days.  Especially ones in mint condition.  With Missouri tags.
    More questions to add to the puzzle of Rachel Fredrick.  And he fully intended to get some answers.  Soon.
    *  *  *  *
    The rest of that week and all of the next were hectic at the station.  It was the second Friday after Las Vegas before Rachel had a chance to slow down long enough to catch her breath.
    She blew on her coffee to cool it and wandered past her desk to look out her office window.  The sights were familiar to her now.  The yellow daffodils and