Bone Frog Bachelor (Bachelor Tower Series) Read online

I was glad I’d never taken anything out on him personally and still felt bad for how I’d treated Frank. I deserved that one big time. And I really missed having him at my side.

  My cell rang. Harry’s familiar voice tried to charm me. He wanted to put the sultan on the line.

  I was okay with that.

  I was going to ask his advice. I embraced the inevitable that my future was somehow linked with his purely because he was probably the only person on the planet Rebecca couldn’t get to.

  Maybe that was his secret.

  Chapter 14

  Shannon

  I found Jared as soon as I walked into the station.

  “I have a problem with the Rebecca Gambini interview.”

  He was crisply dressed in a white shirt, tie askew. His sleeves were rolled up. He’d been writing something, and, as usual, he’d been dunking wads of discarded drafts, mostly hitting the garbage can in the corner.

  He sat forward, elbows on the desk, checking his cell phone.

  “The interview that’s supposed to start in twenty minutes? That what you’re talking about?” He eyed me closely, squinting, as if he suspected some change had come over me. Or, maybe I was just feeling like I had a big sign on my back, “I slept with Marco Gambini.”

  “She’s already here, Shannon. She brought you a coffee. She told me she’d promised it to you.”

  “Oh God.” I mashed my face with my palm.

  “That bad? She have a disease of some kind, Shannon?” He wasn’t getting any of what I was feeling.

  Of course he wasn’t!

  I looked down on him. “I slept with her husband, Jared.”

  He scratched his chin and fingered his lips, checking down the hallway to make sure no one was listening.

  “Tell me why you thought that was a good idea?”

  “I didn’t think. I’m not sorry, but I didn’t think.”

  “Let me see if I have this straight. You’re the young lady who wants a career in broadcasting, is that right?”

  I nodded.

  “You ask for special favors, which I give you. Did you do this after or before I helped you get the interview all set up?”

  “Both.”

  He cocked his head to the side as if he was going to knock water out of his ears. “I don’t believe I’m hearing this. I once worked for an editor of a small-town newspaper who told me never to hire women. Work only with men. I’m beginning to understand why he told me that.”

  “Jared, I can’t interview her. It would be unethical of me.”

  Jared stood up, walked behind me and closed his door. He stood no more than a foot away. “No, Shannon, that would be what you already did!” He calmed himself and whispered, “I don’t give a flying fuck how you manage to justify this little viper’s nest of sex, lies and video tape, but I won’t be a part of it. And I’ll not save your bacon, either. You’re on your own. Get your little buns down to makeup so she can remove that disgusting peachy glow off your face, and paint your lips red. Bright red. You Jezebel!”

  Him raising his voice knocked some sense into me. He was right. It was all my problem. Why had I even told him? With my back still turned to him, I mumbled an apology and opened his door. As I was leaving, I heard his stinging rebuke, controlled and softly spoken.

  “You should have had the drink with me. That was the choice you should have made.”

  I carefully closed the door behind me and heard the crash of something hitting the wall in his tiny office.

  Sandy, our makeup gal, took a look at my hair, still wet from the very steamy and soap lathering love licking, and kissing tickle fest in the shower and rolled her eyes. Her Cuban accent was always stronger when she was annoyed.

  “Why didn’t you just come in soaking? You got parts here that stick straight up, and parts here that are limp. I cannot do curling iron on you because it will burn your hair. And it’s no good to see that on camera either. So, we leave it?” she said, with her wide, fake smile challenging me in the mirror.

  “Yes, I think so. Where is…”

  “Ah,” she leaned over and whispered in my ear. “That beech I’d like to slap across the face. I do her makeup, all pretty. You know, for the taping? She stares at me and wipes it all off with tissue, smudges her lipstick halfway up to her nose. They gonna think I gave her a bloody lip. You watch out for dat beech.”

  “I already know about her. Just get some powder and lipstick on me so I don’t look like I’m sweating through my clothes, which I am.”

  “Ya. I do a good job for you. I got a whole two minutes to do a good job for you. You know it takes much longer to do professional makeup.”

  “Stop it, Sandy and just get it done. And, say a prayer for me.”

  She said something in Spanish I didn’t understand and crossed herself.

  “What did you do to get hooked up with this chika? You musta been a bery, bery bad girl.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “So you gonna get your butt spanked today? It going to be a regular catfight with dat one.”

  “Sandy, this isn’t helping. Please, I have to get to the set.

  “Oh, the set! You should see the roses got delivered for the set. Making half the older folks around here sneezing their butts off, too. Roses is too strong I tell you.”

  “Who are they from? For me?” I was blushing through all the powder she was applying.

  “No card. Nothing. I think they were for her.” Sandy lowered her voice and whispered in my ear, “She musta got one of them gangsta boys or a Don. Someone who’s all sorry he got nasty with her. Yea, dat’s what I think.”

  But I knew otherwise. Marco was inserting himself into an already complicated and dangerous situation.

  Bunny Copperfield poked her head into the room. “We gotta go, Shannon. Everything’s set.” Her headsets were falling off the back of her head. She hugged her clipboard to her enormous chest. That was the way she always ran around here, covering herself up.

  “She was askin’ about the flowers, Bunny. You know anything?” asked Sandy.

  “A secret admirer. We teased Rebecca about that.”

  Except no one else knew she was coming in except the staff here and Marco.

  “Come on, Shannon. They’re playing the weekend show credits.”

  “This is live?” My knuckles clutched the metal handles on the black makeup chair.

  “Yes. Didn’t Jared tell you? She requested it. He said he tried to call you.” Bunny pulled my arm and extricated me from the chair. I ran quickly behind her to keep from falling.

  The set was different than the normal routine. Hanging in the background was a huge American flag. On the raised dais were two light blue easy chairs, halfway facing one another on either side of a low coffee table with two paper coffee cups. On the table was an enormous glass vase filled with heady deep red roses. I didn’t check for a card or note because if there had been one, I was going to sit on it.

  Rebecca came onto the set from the other side. She pointed to my coffee. “I brought you a cappuccino, just like I promised, Shannon.”

  I was frozen in place. This wasn’t happening to me right now because I was somewhere else—anywhere else, floating up to the moon or someplace never to be heard from again.

  Bunny whispered, “Sit, ladies! We have to start now.”

  I collapsed, kinda awkwardly onto one hip, then adjusted myself, pulled my hair behind my ears and over my shoulders, and smiled at the camera, after I licked my lips.

  They had a teleprompter all ready with my introduction, which I was grateful for and hadn’t even thought about. As I focused on the letters, I heard Rebecca clear her throat and then gargle a tiny bit.

  It was distracting. I was sure I looked like a cat about to be hit with a broom.

  “Good morning Tampa Bay!”

  The canned applause had me looking off into the blackness to see where the audience was.

  “We have a very special treat in store for you today. As ma
ny of you know, this station supports veterans causes, and when we heard that headway was being made on the new Trident Towers building for disabled Navy SEALs, as well as other at risk and deserving veterans, we knew you, the viewers, would love to hear more about it. As luck would have it, we have our very own celebrity with us today, Rebecca Gambini, wife to former SEAL Marco Gambini…” My stomach lurched and almost tripped over the fact that they hadn’t mentioned they were divorced.

  When my introduction was complete, and as the canned clapping died down, I turned to Rebecca, who smiled back eagerly. I could see a little of the lipstick Sandy was talking about but doubted it would show. She was dressed in red, white and blue. I was in all blue.

  “Welcome, Rebecca.”

  “Thank you, Shannon for having me. I’m delighted to be here. Did you sleep well?” She followed it up with a wink.

  I froze again. Did she know?

  I studied my fingers twisting around themselves in my lap, brushed the hair that had fallen into my eyes, tossing it behind me, and then turned to the camera.

  “What Rebecca is referring to is a very pleasant evening we spent together, listening to oldies music, and drinking entirely too much wine.”

  Rebecca beamed. The canned audience laughter was a little late on cue.

  “It wasn’t wine, we were drinking Scotch,” she said, nodding in my direction. To the camera, she announced. “It was one of the funniest girl’s night outs I’ve ever had!”

  I quickly jumped in, whispering, “Don’t tell my mother. She thinks I only drink wine.”

  Again, more canned laughter.

  “So, Rebecca here is working on the Trident Towers. Tell me about it and what are your plans? How can we help you as a station?”

  “Well, thank you. I appreciate that so much. The Trident Towers is part of a mission statement my husband,” she raised her eyebrow and spoke lower, “my ex-husband, that is. And don’t worry. It was an amicable divorce. In fact, I think he sent these, unless your boyfriend did, Shannon.”

  My pulse quickened. Either she was living in a fantasy world or she was tooling me. I couldn’t tell which one it was, and what complicated it more was that she was right about some of it.

  “No, I’m sure they were meant for you, Rebecca,” I lied.

  “I still enjoy working closely with him on his various philanthropic projects. As wives and family of Navy SEALs, it is often our calling to help heal these heroes when they come home. As I started to tell you, they have a saying, “Leave no man behind,” which is throughout all our military as a code of conduct. Some who come home can’t take the first step to becoming whole, to healing. They leave it all out on the battlefield and come home empty. We want to show them we love them. That they are not forgotten.”

  She delivered it well. I put myself in the place I would have been if I hadn’t felt Marco pulsing inside me as he held me close—if I had never met him, tasted his kisses or the way he looked at me when we made love with our eyes open.

  “Such an honorable and noble plan, Rebecca. And how unselfish of you to carry on your husband’s vision, too.”

  “I think if you really loved someone once, you always do,” she answered timidly.

  I imagined if Marco were watching the interview he’d throw something at the set right about now. She was exquisite with the lying and the play acting. Far better than I.

  “So, when does construction begin and will all the designs be the same?”

  “That’s the part I love the best. I should have been an interior decorator. We’re picking out colors right now, placing holds on fabric and carpeting. The construction will begin just as soon as the modified plans come out of design review. We have the financing all ready to go. I’d say, by next April? And occupancy on some of the earliest units in the back a year from now. Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded, proud of herself.

  “What kind of changes are you making to the plans?”

  “Well, we’ve created some group living spaces where several bachelors can live together, share duties. They will be offered at a reduced rental rate. We have small condominium-style apartment homes for purchase, which will of course qualify for VA so the vets can come in with no money down. We’ve got a scale model prepared for the hearings, and I’ve brought in a whole new team of sales agents and representatives of the non-profit to help these men and women find the right home for them, based on what they can qualify for. We’ll have some that are designed for handicapped for some of our disabled veterans.”

  She made it sound like Shangri-la. I was genuinely impressed at how well thought out the project was. “I’m sure our viewers will be anxious to hear more about it. When you have the interior renderings and color schemes, would you come back and share it again with us all?”

  “I’d be happy to, Shannon.”

  “And how can they get in touch with the non-profit group that is helping to spearhead this?”

  “Well, when I took over, I naturally had to make some staffing changes. I have a brilliant general manager working under me and he has charity background, so he’s going to handle the sales. Perhaps we can have him come on and share as well. He’s smart. He’s about your age, Shannon, and he’s very cute!”

  I couldn’t help but blush. I immediately sensed he was her new boyfriend, her new toy. Something she could torture and make run away.

  “I’ll leave the contact information so anyone can call the station and get that given to them,” she added.

  “That would be great!” My voice broke so I grabbed my water.

  The ending music began and I was surprised how quickly the ten minutes had gone by. After I thanked her for her time, we talked out of earshot of the audience. She became fixated on the roses, and touched them.

  “You are sure your boyfriend didn’t…because this looks like…” she started.

  “No ma’am. If he had sent these, there would have been a card. Trust me on that.” A nervous giggle erupted from my throat, and then I had a hiccup.

  “May I take them with me?”

  “Of course. They’re yours, Rebecca.”

  “Care to join me for a bite to eat?”

  “No thanks, I have some things here I have to work on for the weather report later on.”

  “Dinner?”

  “My boyfriend, remember?”

  “Oh yes. Well, maybe tomorrow then. If you’re free.”

  “I’m going to play it by ear. He has to leave on—” I hesitated giving too much detail. “I think he’ll be here until Thursday and I want as much time with him as possible. Thank you so much for doing this, Rebecca.”

  “I enjoyed it.”

  Chapter 15

  Marco

  The Bentley was to arrive soon, so I quickly showered. I thought about the phone call I had with sultan Bonin earlier today. It went well, which is to say I gave him everything he wanted. In return, he got me. He didn’t want anyone else. He wanted me. And he would have paid double what he offered me. It was an insane amount of money.

  So I light-heartedly asked him for his advice on the woman front.

  “My biggest problem, son.”

  “Oh really? Because everyone looks pretty happy to me.”

  “You are not family. With family, they fight like cats and dogs.”

  “So how do you keep the peace, then?”

  “By never expecting it to change. Now, when my affairs of the heart get in the way of my duties as administrator of our tiny kingdom, my ministers’ step in, and that’s when it can get ugly.”

  “You love them all?”

  He chuckled, then fell into a coughing fit that concerned me. “If they are blowing on my balls and sucking my staff, yes, I fall in love. I like to fall in love several times a day. But you, Marco, you are at a very great disadvantage. You should have been raised in our part of the world. You could have—”

  “I never wanted more than one woman at a time. Tha
t’s where we’re different.”

  “Ah, so you have been bitten hard by the snake of love. Then it is simple. You will feel much pain and be miserable until the day you die.”

  It was my time to laugh. I nearly spit out my coffee.

  “Haven’t you learned by now how to ignore them? I’ve seen pictures of you guys running on the beach. You don’t grab the pretty ladies who like to show themselves to you and take them in the waves, do you? You focus on your mission, and that is why what you offer is a gift greater than happiness, than all the wealth of the world. Me? I don’t have that. I learned my lesson. I fell in love with Harry’s mother. I could never make her my wife but she was the wife of my heart. It was her face I saw when I was bedding my wives. I saw little Harry’s tiny face when I greeted my other children and grandchildren into the world. And because of that, I had to move her away from the palace where both their lives could be at risk.”

  “You see her?”

  “It was a long time ago, Marco. I don’t want to see her now. She was the sweetest flower of all the land. I want to remember her that way. My seeing her would be dangerous for her. I had to cut out those feelings with a sharp knife because it was my love that would cause her death.”

  “Fascinating. We are polar opposites.”

  “So why all this talk of managing harems you will never have? Sounds like perhaps you are in love with two women at the same time?”

  “No, not really. I thought I was in love when I was married. But now I don’t know what it was. It was like I was running away from something. I needed something from her for a time, and then when I stopped needing it, somehow, we just ended. The fun and excitement were gone. She’s probably right, I was the one who walked away, even though she was the one who was unfaithful.”

  “Women are complicated. You ignore them. You let them go. You bury your happy memories if you have to, but you let them go find someone else.”

  “So I shouldn’t have gotten angry when she sued me for divorce and took away half my fortune—or more?”

  “Mmmm. I see, young Marco. You didn’t fix this soon enough. What were you doing, this running away?”