Calling All the Shots Read Free Page A

Willow it was that
she didn’t pull her punches or her words. “How would you describe me?”
    “Too charming for your own good,” she said.
    “I can work with charming,” he said.

Two
    “N ot charming. Too charming,” she reminded him.
    Willow hadn’t meant to reveal how she felt about Jack but she
realized that she couldn’t help herself. Yes, she wanted some kind of revenge on
him but she also wanted him to know how she felt. She wanted him to have a clue
about her distrust of him. She almost would have said she disliked him but she
knew that was a lie.
    “Too charming…that can mean a myriad of things,” he said. “Do
you find me irresistible?”
    “Never,” she said. “You do have moments when I think I could
like you but then your ego comes shining through.”
    “It’s hard to be humble when I’ve got so much going for me,” he
said.
    It took a minute for her to get that he was teasing her. She
really didn’t want to like him. It was okay to see flashes of it but she didn’t
want to see that there was a real man behind the toothy grin and perfectly
styled hair.
    “Yeah, you got it all,” she said. “I know you’re being silly
but to someone on the outside it looks like you do live a charmed life. Why
would you be interested in me?” she asked. No sense in beating around the bush.
It was the one thing that seemed illogical to her. He could have any woman he
wanted so why her? Why now?
    “Maybe because you’re a challenge,” he said.
    It was the answer she was expecting but disappointing all the
same. “So it’s just a game to you then?”
    “Not a game. Life is too short to not go after what you want. I
like you. You can be funny on the set and I see the way you really connect with
the couples and with your friends and crew. I want to be a part of that.”
    She didn’t know what he meant. Sure she made the time to listen
to people but only because she’d learned that if she didn’t then the results
they got when filming weren’t that great. “That’s just the way I work.”
    “It’s more than that. I saw you holding Bella McCaw when Fiona
needed someone to take care of her. And there was a look on your face....”
    Fiona was a fashion designer and single mom who’d come on the
show with her darling daughter, Bella Ann. She’d been matched to Alex Cannon, a
games developer. They were an interesting couple who were now happily
engaged.
    “What look?” she asked. She always liked to believe she had a
poker face that didn’t reveal what she was thinking. Wasn’t that true?
    He shrugged. “It just got me to thinking that I wanted to get
to know you better.”
    “Are you looking to settle down with me?” she asked. If he said
yes, it would really give her the ammunition she needed to bring him to his
knees. But on the other hand…he wasn’t the boy she knew in high school. Maybe he
didn’t deserve her vengeance.
    “No,” he said. “Just want to get to know you better. For a few
moments I want to be like every other man in America who has an attractive
coworker and invites her out for dinner.”
    “You’re never going to be like every other man in America. You
know that, right?” How could he look at his life and think he could be like
everyone else? He’d won a Heisman Trophy. They only gave out one a year, so that
put him in an elite sportsman category. He’d been named Associated Press Athlete
of the Year and played professional football before going on to be the host of
some of the most popular shows on TV. He was never going to be an average
Joe.
    “Yes, I do, but with you I feel like I am. All the trappings of
the celebrity lifestyle aren’t important to you,” he said.
    “That’s true. I’ve seen the other side of celebrity,” she
said.
    “Me, too. We are uniquely suited for each other,” he said,
waggling his eyebrows and smiling over at her.
    “I don’t know.” She did know. If she played this right she
could get him thinking that maybe he could