Release Me Page 18

  “I do not have an attitude.”

  “You mean this is normal?”

  Ivana plunked a hand on her hip. “Don’t you have anything better to do than harass me in the middle of the street?”

  His smile widened. “At the moment? No.”

  Ivana seared him with a disgusted look.

  “Actually, I do have something better to do than harass you in the street.” He looked up Canal Street toward the river, and checked his watched, switching his briefcase to his right hand.

  Who carried a briefcase on a Saturday morning?

  “I was wondering if I could harass you over coffee,” Jonathan continued.

  Ivana nearly swallowed her tongue. “Coffee?”

  His shoulder shrugged under the fine cut of his suit coat. “Coffee, tea, Jack Daniels. Whatever you’d like.”

  Having coffee with him; that was almost a date!

  “You don’t have to look like I just asked you to jump into the Mississippi River,” Jonathan said. “What’s wrong with grabbing a cup of coffee? I’m still new to the city. I was hoping maybe you could give me some insights.”

  “I can do that right here.”

  “True. But it would be a lot more enjoyable at a table with a drink and maybe a nice lunch.”

  So now it was lunch?

  “Come on, Ivana.” He captured her elbow, his intense stare full of purpose.

  Ivana jerked her arm away. She turned to leave, but Jonathan caught her arm again and held firm. He wasn’t hurting her, but Ivana knew if she tried to jerk her arm away again he’d just squeeze harder.

  “What’s your problem?” he asked. “Do you really find the prospect of spending just an hour with me that detestable?”

  Ivana could not allow herself to be affected by the disappointment she thought she heard in his voice. Having a man like Jonathan Campbell in her life presented problems Ivana was afraid to contemplate. Everything about him reminded her of the person she used to be: ambitious, career-driven, and concerned only with getting ahead. She could not allow herself to fall back into that way of thinking again.

  “I…I can’t do this.” She pulled free from him and headed up Canal Street. Ivana wasn’t even sure of where she was going anymore. She just knew she needed to get away from Jonathan Campbell and the indescribable feelings his nearness evoked.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The producers were impressed.

  Toby breathed a sigh of relief he hadn’t realized he had been holding. The bigwigs from A Week in the Life of a Wannabe Star had arrived in town and had gone straight to work. There wasn’t any time for entertaining, not when there was money to be made.

  “Aria is in the third slot. Her segment opens with a ninety second intro, which will be taped between Friday and Saturday,” the New Orleans segment producer, David Reynolds, explained. “We want a shot of her in the studio, and something that spotlights New Orleans. Maybe we can get a shot of her walking down Bourbon Street, or show her riding on the St. Charles Streetcar line.”

  “Will she be speaking to the camera at all?” Toby asked.

  “No. It’ll be a voice over of her explaining her love of music, how long she’s dreamed of an opportunity like this, et cetera, et cetera. That’ll be recorded Friday morning, as well. She’ll need to work on what she wants to say this week.”

  Toby silently said a prayer of thanks. Because of Sienna, Aria had already written her thoughts.

  David Reynolds continued. “Following her intro, we break live to the Hard Court, and Aria gives her four and a half minute performance. From that moment, we have two cameramen who will follow Miss Jordan around twenty-four seven, but a larger crew will be staged at her performances and the other pre-planned events.”

  Marshall Kellerman, the scout who’d first approached him about the show, had explained this part from the very beginning, but Toby nodded anyway. They were prepared for this. He had performances set up at six of the hottest clubs in the city, and had taken a little out of his savings to buy some extra time in the studio. He’d even rented a luxury executive apartment on St. Charles Avenue. One week cost more than twice the amount of his normal rent, but it was worth it. He needed to portray the look of a high-rolling producer.

  “So, are you ready for this, Miss Jordan?” the producer asked Aria.

  She smiled, and the hairs on the back of Toby’s neck stood on end. It was her nervous smile.

  Sienna had set up a special session with someone from a local chapter of Toastmasters to give Aria a crash course in reducing her camera shyness. It didn’t bode well that she was already nervous. The cameras had not even started to roll.

  “She’s ready,” Toby answered for her. “She’s just going to be herself.”

  “That’s right.” Sienna walked through the door. “It’s like the camera won’t even be there, right, Aria?”

  Toby breathed another relieved sigh.

  After last night, he wasn’t sure Sienna would be up to the meeting this morning. She’d been completely wasted. He should have stopped her when he realized she was getting tipsy, but something had prevented him from making the effort. The more she drank the sexier she had become. And he liked it.

  Leaving Sienna alone in bed last night had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. The ferocity of his desire had been a shock, but only initially. These feelings had been building over the past few weeks, and Toby had already decided to stop denying what had become a certain truth—he had it bad for Sienna.

  Who would have ever imagined that? Alex, maybe. His brother had spent enough time telling Toby he should look at Sienna as more than just a friend.

  Toby’s brain told him he should just wrap up any wayward thoughts he had about Sienna and throw them away. This was not the time to get involved with any woman.

  Yet, would it really be that strange to be with Sienna? Friends became lovers all the time. According to all those love gurus on Oprah, that was the best way to start a relationship. He and Sienna probably knew more about each other than most married couples did.

  Except in one area.

  Toby clenched his teeth. He did not need to think about Sienna in bed with him, especially while sitting in a meeting with a group of television producers who could make or break his future.

  “Toby?”

  He blinked, completely oblivious to the conversation.

  “I was just telling Mr. Reynolds about why we chose the Hard Court as the venue where Aria will kick off her Week in the Life segment.”

  “Uh, yes.” He had to get his head together. Fast. “Aria has developed a solid following at the Hard Court. The owner recently reported that he’s yielded his highest gross on the nights Aria performed. It’s also one of the trendiest new nightclubs in New Orleans.”

  “We have a full media blitz planned that will capitalize on the markets that have brought Aria the most success while exposing her talents to a variety of other sectors of the listening public,” Sienna explained. “Starting this week, Aria will begin making the rounds at several local radio stations. We’ve landed spots on a couple of the morning television shows, as well.”

  Sienna went on, laying out Aria’s entire schedule for the next two weeks along with the list of sponsors she had managed to garner. She was poised, professional and on top of everything—and that was with a hangover.

  “Best of all,” Sienna continued. “Aria will close out A Week in the Life of a Wannabe Star with a performance on the R&B stage at Jazz Fest.”

  Toby’s head jerked up in surprise.

  Reynolds was duly impressed. “I had a guy working on our end trying to land a spot. How were you able to do that?”

  Toby wanted to see the magic hat she’d managed to pull that rabbit out of, too. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was held over two weekends and was one of the biggest musical celebrations in the world. Every genre of music was on display, with some of the biggest names in the industry sharing their talent. And Sienna had managed t
o get Aria a spot on stage with them?

  “This is fantastic,” David Reynolds said. “We’re expecting Aria Jordan to finish in the top three.”

  Try the top one, Toby thought to himself. There was no way Aria was not winning this competition. He wouldn’t settle for anything less.

  He looked over at Sienna. She sent him a wink that she probably thought was conspiratory, but all Toby could think of was how sexy it was.

  If he was going to get anything worthwhile done, he needed to focus on the show and regulate these thoughts of her to a dark corner of his mind. Toby took a breath, and tried clenching and unclenching his hands to relieve the incredible mass of sexual frustration suffocating him. He couldn’t think of anything but having Sienna’s thighs wrapped around his head.

  Reynolds and the other two producers rose from their seats. Toby followed, sticking out his hand and shaking with all of them.

  “Good luck next week.”

  “Thanks,” Toby answered. “Be prepared to be blown away.”

  “I look forward to it,” Reynolds answered.

  Sienna turned as soon as the three men exited the studio. “I thought I was the only one allowed to have a hangover this morning,” she said. “Why did you space out like that?”

  “I didn’t space out,” Toby defended.

  Sienna gathered the leftover handouts from the table. “Have you finalized everything with Jonathan? We have all the spaces for the cameras blocked off, right?”

  They were going to do their own run through for next Monday night so that Aria could be coached on which spots on the Hard Court’s stage worked to her advantage.

  Toby crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain to me about Jazz Fest. How did you pull that off?”

  An entrancing smile brightened her face. “I remembered hearing that one of my sorority sisters was on the committee for Jazz Fest, so I gave Tianna a call. There was a message from her when I checked my voice mail this morning letting me know there was a slot opened on the R&B stage for Aria.”

  “Yes,” Toby said, squeezing her shoulders. It was something he had done hundreds of times before, but now there was a measure of awareness that sent a brush of heat across his skin. Just the slightest touch made his hands burn with wanting. He ached to skim his fingers over her body.

  Oh, God, if Sienna knew what was going through his mind right now, she would slug him.

  But, then again, maybe she wouldn’t.

  The thought gave him pause. What would happen if he made his feelings known? After her actions last night, Toby wasn’t so sure her reaction would be all that discouraging.

  How had they come to this? He would have never imagined in a million years that he would have these types of feelings for Sienna. And to think that she would actually reciprocate…

  “Toby,” Sienna squeezed his forearms. “What’s up with you today? Are you thinking about the show?”

  “Of course,” he answered. It wasn’t an outright lie. He had been thinking about the show. He just had not been thinking about it that very instant. Toby wasn’t sure he was ready to tell her exactly what had been on his mind. He still needed to figure it all out for himself before he brought Sienna into the mix.

  “It’s going to go fine, Toby. And if it doesn’t, that’s what editors are for. Remember, even though their touting the show as live,” she made quotation marks with her fingers, “there is a 20-second delay. The producers are not going to allow anything to air that will negatively affect their ratings.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “Concentrate on what this exposure will mean for her career. Good or bad, Aria Jordan is going to be in the homes of millions of Americans. When you think about it, sometimes the bad get more attention than the good. Look at American Idol. William Hung carved a place in American television history singing that Ricky Martin song.”

  “I never thought about it that way. Maybe I should tell Aria to tank during one of the performances,” he said with a wink.

  “Don’t you dare,” Sienna warned. “I think she’d rather long term success than 15 minutes of humiliating fame. She has the voice. As long as we work on her stage fright, there is no way Aria is going to lose this competition.”

  “It’s money in the bank,” he said.

  “Come on. We need to get to the Hard Court. I want to make sure everything is in place for the practice run. This is going to be another long week of preparation. I hope you’re ready.”

  “It’s a little too late to question it now,” Toby answered. “Ready or not, the show is on.”

  ***

  Jonathan sat at his desk, tapping the end of the Mont Blanc pen against his lips. He needed to get through this brief before tomorrow, but for the life of him he just could not concentrate.

  Ivana Culpepper was beginning to take up more of his thoughts than she had right to. If he believed in such a thing, Jonathan would have thought some mystic power had brought them together after all their run-ins over the past few days.

  He’d had to sit back and think about if he’d heard someone talk about where she would be prior to those times he’d bumped into her. It wouldn’t surprise him if his subconscious had sought her out. But there was no way he could have known where she would be.

  Fate? Coincidence? God?

  Something had brought them together. Now he needed to figure out a way to make her see him as more than some slick-tongued lawyer who would serve the world better living at the bottom of the ocean than practicing law in her city.

  “What’s up, man?”

  Jonathan raised his head.” Hey,” he said as Toby entered the office. Jonathan rose from his desk and met him halfway. They slapped palms, and Toby brought him in for a hug.

  “Haven’t seen much of you this past week,” Jonathan commented. “This show has you hopping.”

  “I’ve got a feeling it’ll be nothing compared to the coming week. I’m nervous as hell,” his buddy admitted.

  Toby settled in one of the leather chairs in the seating area to the right of his desk, while Jonathan returned to his seat behind the desk.

  “I forget that you have another business to tend to.” Toby’s eyes roamed around the office. “I didn’t know where to find you when you weren’t at the club.”

  “Why didn’t you call my cell phone?”

  “I did. It said you weren’t available.”

  Jonathan slipped the BlackBerry from its holder and stared at the blank screen. “I forgot to charge it last night. So, are you all ready?”

  “We’re set. The club looks great. Aria’s warming up at the studio right now and Sienna’s on the phone with more press people. You should make serious bank tonight.”

  “That is what it’s all about, right.”

  “Oh, yeah. I’ve got my eyes set on one of those babies you drive.”

  “Which you could have if you weren’t scared of your Mama,” Jonathan joked. He still could not believe Toby had never touched the money he’d scored all those years ago. He rarely took the opportunity to rib his friend about it. He knew the money, and what it represented, was a sore spot for Toby.

  “Give me about a year,” Toby answered. “You up for lunch?”

  Jonathan shook his head and motioned to the brief on his desk. “I’ve got too much work to do. Why don’t you go with Sienna?” Jonathan suggested.

  Toby stared him down, his eyes slant.

  “Don’t even try it,” Jonathan said before Toby could summon a denial. “If you don’t want to acknowledge how you feel about her, you need to pay more attention to how you look at her when you think no one else is looking.”

  Toby dropped his head to his chest. “Is it that obvious?”

  “It was last Friday night. Especially when Payton tried hitting on her. I thought I would have to hold you back.”

  “I guess it’s too much to ask that no one else noticed, huh?”

  “I think Sienna is about the only one who didn’t.” Jonathan laughed.

&n
bsp; “Man, I don’t understand it. Sienna and I were best friends for as long as I can remember. I never thought about her in that way before. Now, it’s all I can think about. And after we left the club last Friday…”

  Jonathan sat up straight. “What happened after you left the club?”

  “Sienna and I went to an all night pool hall. She didn’t want me going home alone after all that crap with Payton.”

  “And?”

  “And she got pretty wasted.” Toby’s brow quirked, along with one side of his mouth, in a rueful grin. “She said some things she probably wouldn’t have said if she’d been sober?”

  “Like what?” Jonathan motioned with his hand. “Come on, man, you gotta spell it out for me.”

  “Let’s just say if I were to suggest starting something up with her, I’m not all that certain I’d get a direct ‘no’.”

  Jonathan leveled his friend with a measured gaze. “So what are you gonna do about it?”

  Toby shrugged. “I don’t know if I should do anything, at least not right now. Tonight is the start of the most important week in my career. I need to concentrate on making sure everything goes smoothly.”

  “What do you have to worry about? Isn’t the whole point of this week to show people what really goes on in the life of a rising star? Why don’t you just let whatever happens happen?”

  “That may be what the others are doing, but I’m making the most of Aria’s time in front of the camera,” Toby answered. “Even though it may be a little more exciting then the average American’s life, a week of watching Aria go in the studio and record for seven hours a day is not going to hold anybody’s interest. We’ve set up an entire schedule of the type of stuff people imagine when they think about music stars.”

  “Such as?”

  “The televised portion takes place at the different music venues we have set up every night, including the two at the Hard Court. But during the day people will be watching Aria over a webcast on the show’s website. So, to make sure things remain interesting, Sienna has set up a ton of different events. Aria will be helping out voice teachers at an area high school one day, doing a concert at a retirement home another day, then on Sunday, before closing out the show at Jazz Fest, she’s filling in for the youth choir director at my mom’s church.”