Free Cross-Checked by Lily Harlem

stunned faces already turned my way.
    Shit!
    I snapped away from Brick, removed all body contact and glanced at Ray.
    He was staring down at us with a mixture of shock and amusement on his face. There was a certain amount of smugness too, as if he’d just been proven right. He opened his mouth but no words came out.
    The girl standing next to him holding out his water had a similar expression on her face. Surprise, horror, amusement, plus a certain interest, as though she’d just scooped a story.
    “Shall we, er…” A sound guy rushed over and started snapping wires from the back of Brick’s shirt. He plucked the microphone from his collar. “Shall we just take this off, sir?” His fingers worked quickly and efficiently.
    “Er, yeah, I guess,” Brick said with an amused huff.
    I frowned at him. This was not funny. This was hugely embarrassing.
    I glanced at a cameraman. He was staring at me as though seeing me for the first time. The young guy holding up a cable was suppressing a giggle into his armpit.
    “Get this off me,” I said, popping out my earpiece and yanking at my own microphone. I reached and fiddled with the wire at the knot of my halter. It was stuck—tight—and made me claustrophobic.
    “Here we go, sweetheart,” the boom man said, laying his stick on the couch opposite. He began to unloop wire for me and unattached the small black box from the waistband of my jeans.
    “Thanks,” I snapped when he’d pulled it free.
    I stood and held out my hand to Ray. “Thanks for having me and giving Promises and Dreams the publicity it deserves,” I said briskly.
    He took my hand. His eyes twinkled. “My pleasure,” he said. “Any time.”
    I walked as quickly as I could between cameras, over cables and out of the studio.
    I dashed to the makeup room, grabbed my purse and headed for the front of the building.
    Stepping out onto bustling Sixth Avenue, I hailed a cab and jumped inside.
    “Carly!”
    I twisted and saw Brick racing out of the studio’s automatic doors. I was irritated that he’d been so indiscreet but I still wanted him more than anything else in the world.
    “Wait,” I said to the taxi driver. “Someone is riding with me to the Waldorf.”
    Brick pulled open the door and sank next to me. “Why did you rush off like that?” he asked breathlessly.
    “I was embarrassed.” I frowned. “Everyone in there heard what you just said about,” I lowered my voice, “fucking me.”
    There was a glint of mischief in his eyes. “So?”
    “So, I thought you’d be embarrassed too. I thought you didn’t like gossip, didn’t like the press discussing your love life.” I frowned and crossed my legs, jigged my stiletto in the air in a fast rhythm.
    “I don’t particularly like my love life being common knowledge.” He shrugged. “But what can you do?”
    “Well, after what you just said, us leaving together adds even more fuel to the gossip. Can you imagine what they’ll all be saying, thinking?” I studied my fingers, knotted in my lap. “Especially if you’ve just run like a nut through the place to catch up with me.”
    “Honey, I don’t care what they’re saying or thinking, ’cause it’s not going to be anywhere near as good as actually doing it.” He hooked his index finger under my chin and tilted my head to his. “I may be a nut, Carly, but I know what I want.”
    I stared into his hungry gaze and my chest tightened in anticipation. His voice, his smell, his body so close to mine was enough to turn me into a quivering pile of aching need.
    “If I could take back everyone hearing I would,” he whispered, leaning so close his lips practically touched mine. “But I wouldn’t take back what I said, because that, sexy lady, is exactly what’s going to happen when we get to the hotel.”
    The heat of his breath trickled across my cheek and down my neck and I knew I would forgive him anything. He pressed his lips to mine, dipped his tongue in and began a lazy dance. It