Bruno walked toward me and startled me when he grabbed my face. “Hello, sweet, Allison. My goodness if I were fifty years younger.” He winked.

“That is very sweet. Great to meet you,” I said and sat back down.

Bettina grabbed the bottle of wine that Bruno carried in and they both disappeared into the dining room.

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“Allison, why don’t you join us with Callie in here?” Bettina shouted from the other room.

This Christmas now played on the stereo as Callie and I entered the dining room.

Callie went straight for the chips.

When I spotted her licking the salt off them and sticking them back in the bowl, I immediately stopped her.

“Allison, can I get you some wine?” Bettina asked as she opened a bottle of red.

“Oh, no, thanks. I am on the job.” I’ll help myself to some soda later, Bettina.” The guests picked at the appetizers that sat on a buffet table at the corner of the room. I counted the place settings again and thought to myself: Bettina, Callie, Me, Bruno, Maria, Kurt…and one more.

I would likely not be able to relax until the last person arrived, so that I could be sure it wasn’t Cedric.

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A half hour passed, as I sat with Callie while she ate a plate of appetizers that I gathered for her to deter her from attacking the chips.

Bettina began setting some food that had come out of the kitchen on the table: a roast surrounded by potatoes and carrots, French style green beans, salad, a rice cas-serole and a chicken fettuccini alfredo dish.

Then, I jumped as the doorbell rang.

My heart started pounding furiously again.

“Allison, would you mind answering the door for me? I think that’s my son,” Bettina shouted from the kitchen.

Oh God.

Oh God.

Oh God.

Without having time to think or prepare, I got up from the chair, took a deep breath and slowly walked to the door and opened it.

CHAPTER 12

CEDRIC

Peggy-Rose Kim was an aspiring news reporter, a few years out of Columbia University’s journalism school. Her father was the general manager at one of the stations I consulted for in Chicago. Peggy-Rose lived in Boston now and as a favor, I agreed to a coaching session after hours at the agency, where I would meet her, look at her resume reel and critique it.

When she walked into the office, I was immediately drawn to her exotic look.

Her mother was Korean and her father was Caucasian. But she used her mother’s maid-en name—Kim—on her resume.

Her vanilla perfume was really strong.

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“Hi Cedric. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. You have quite the reputation,” she said flirtatiously holding out her tiny hand.

“Peggy, the pleasure is mine,” I said as I shook her hand, not exactly sure which reputation she was referring to.

She batted her eyelashes. “I brought my demo disc; it’s mostly stuff I did in school and footage I was able to put together while interning at one of the Boston news stations.

I have no real experience on-air. That’s why I am hoping for your advice, so I can land my first real job.”

I nodded, staring her up and down.

“Ok, Peggy…let’s get to it.” I closed the door, then slid the disc in-to the machine and we both stared at the screen.

The video started with a shot of Peggy in front of a building talking in an uncomfortably high pitched voice: ‘ This is Peggy-221/727

Rose Kim reporting live from the scene of a fire on Broad Street.’ It then cut to a clip of her reading the news from what looked like an amateur college TV station news desk:

‘ Police are investigating a homicide in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood...’

If I could have chucked the video into the garbage then and there, I would have. In the second clip, Peggy was actually smiling on camera when talking about the murder.

She sucked ass.

I stopped the DVD abruptly and turned to her.

“Peggy, I am friends with your father which is why I am here now looking at your reel. If I were a news director, that is as far as you would have gotten. Do you realize you were smiling in that footage while you were talking about a murder?”

Peggy looked at me dumbfounded.

She said nothing, looked down, and then looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I am 222/727

sorry. I should have never come here. I know I am not ready to be showing a big agent my tape. I needed your advice, but obviously I am way out of my league,” she sobbed.

Aw, shit. I grabbed a tissue from my desk and handed it to her.

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa…come on. It wasn’t that bad. I was just trying to make a point, that there is a lot of competition out there and you do have a great look; you just need to work on your voice and presentation.

You get ten seconds to wow a news director before he shuts off your demo. But you have potential.” I put my hand on her shoulder as I lied through my teeth because I felt like shit for making her cry.

“You think I am pretty?” she asked.

“Yes, I think you’re gorgeous, Peggy.” I immediately regretted my use of that word.

She was gorgeous, but that was inappropriate under the circumstances.

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Before I could clarify what I said, Peggy stopped crying, looked me in the eyes, grabbed my tie, pulling me toward her and kissed me suddenly and fiercely.

I froze, but didn’t stop her. We continued to kiss for about thirty seconds, when I pulled back.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, huffing and puffing.

I wiped my lips. “Nothing, Peggy…I meant what I said, but this isn’t right. Your father would kill me.” It was the truth. But I hadn’t been this close to a woman since Karyn and felt conflicted.

She grabbed my tie again and we continued kissing. Just as I was about to push her off me, she kneeled down and started to unzip my pants. I had to stop this, but my brain and my body were on a break and not speaking to each other.

Should I let her do it?

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She pulled my boxers down and my decision got easier as I noticed the desperate look on her face, which made her less and less attractive and my dick less and less hard by the second.

I abruptly pulled my pants up. “Peggy, this is not right.”

“What my father doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she said grabbing at my pants again.

This time, I was saved by the bell, as my cell phone rang. I stood up with my pants still hanging down and moved away from Peggy.

“This is Cedric,” I answered hoarsely, my breathing erratic, as Peggy continued to try and kiss my neck.

I covered the receiver. “Please, stop,” I whispered to Peggy.

“Cedric, it’s Caleb. I need to talk to you. I am at Mom’s.”

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Why was he at Mom’s and why was he whispering?

“Is everything ok?” I panicked.

“Yes, it’s not an emergency, but—”

“Hold on, Caleb.”

I turned to Peggy, zipping up my pants. “Peggy, this was a mistake. If you want to mail me your future demos, I’ll be happy to look at them and give you my feed-back but this…here…can’t happen again. I need to leave. Something’s come up, so you’ll have to go, so I can lock up the office. I am very sorry.”

With that, Peggy took her DVD and stormed out without saying a word. I waited until she was out of sight.

“Caleb, are you still there?” I said as I left my office and locked the door, walking toward the elevators. I noticed the elevator door that Peggy just entered closing shut. I pushed the down button for myself.

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“Cedric. Did you know that Allison has been working with Callie?” My heart nearly stopped. What did he just say?

“What…what do you mean?” I asked.

“When was the last time you spoke to Mom?” he asked.

I ran my hands through my hair.