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  “Rachelle, you came,” he said, smiling at her. “I was hoping if I opened the door you would be standing here. You had me a little worried when I went to take a shower.”

  She took another glance at his smooth stomach before looking back into his eyes. She couldn’t miss the simmering desire there, but she held back from acting on her own. Cash wanted to talk and that is what she came to his room to do—nothing else was going to happen between them.

  “Yes, I came,” she answered. “I think we need to talk. I was going to leave but I changed my mind,” she said, dropping her hand.

  “You’re right,” he agreed. “We really need to finish our conversation. I think you misunderstood what I was trying to tell you after your sister left. Come on in.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his room, closing the door behind them.

  “I hope you will listen to me before you make any more judgments.”

  The mere touch of hand was making her skin tingle, showing her how long it had been since she had been with a man.

  Stop it! she scolded herself. She hadn’t come here to have sex with Cash.

  Letting go of her, Cash ran his hands down her arms and then moved away from her. “Why don’t you have a seat on the bed while I go back into the bathroom and get dressed?” he suggested.

  “Alright,” Rachelle said, walking over to the bed. She took a seat on the edge and watched while Cash spun and hurried back into the bathroom. She was nervous about what he was going to tell her, but she wanted to hear what he had to say. It only made sense she learned more about him. Five minutes later she heard the door open behind her. She turned around on the bed and stared as Cash pulled down a t-shirt over a pair of gray sweatpants.

  Walking around her, he took a seat in a chair next to the window. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and fingers folded between his muscular thighs. “I have so much to tell you,” he said.

  “What do you have to tell me?” Rachelle asked. “I do want to know more about your life. You have to understand all of this is new to me as well. I’m not used to being this attracted to a man after one meeting. It’s a little scary and exciting all at the same time.”

  “I shouldn’t have been so quick to push you away, but your sister did make me think about some things after she left us alone. First, I should tell you more about me. You have asked me more than once, but I keep avoiding the topic,” Cash said.

  “It’s not that I’m trying to hide anything from you. It’s just there isn’t much to tell about me. I’m a pretty simple guy with an okay life, nothing to really brag about to be honest with you.”

  She wasn’t about to believe what Cash was telling her for a minute. His life wasn’t as dull as he was pretending it to be. This was her chance to find out more about him and she was going to take it.

  “Didn’t you tell me you were a reporter? What made you decide on that profession? It sounds very fascinating to me. Have you interviewed any famous people or are you more on a local news man in your hometown? If I was to Google you, would I find out any information about you on the Internet?”

  ****

  Why did Rachelle ask the questions he was trying hardest to avoid? Cash knew this was going to happen sooner or later. He still wasn’t ready to dive into his career yet, but she had just tossed it out there.

  So, what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t pretend like she hadn’t asked him a question directly. He told her to come to his room and he couldn’t back out now. She kept up her end, so he would do the same for her.

  He always got asked these same questions every single time anyone new in his life found out about this job. He never wanted to answer them, but they kept coming. Yet, when he gave honest answers people gave him looks of disgust like he was absolutely the worst person in the world because he was getting paid to report the juicy gossip about the Kims and Kanyes of the world and other celebrities who liked being in the spotlight.

  His most recent television shows weren’t anything he would proudly brag about, especially to a woman like Rachelle. She came across as good with a sweet personality that could draw anyone to her. She might not like how he earned his paycheck. He would hate to see the light leave her eyes once the words were out of his mouth.

  His coworkers, along with other members of the paparazzi, weren’t getting the best of attention over the several few weeks. Not with celebrities banding together to punish all of them for taking pictures of their children.

  Every day another bad story about celebrity reporters hit the newspapers and amateur gossip sites. He wasn’t as bad as most of them, but he wasn’t squeaky clean either.

  He couldn’t tell which way Rachelle would lean when it came to this. He should be honest with her, but what if the truth cost him someone that could possibly be a changing factor in his life?

  “I wouldn’t call myself a local news reporter, but I do report the news in a way,” Cash answered, wondering would his answer be enough. “I really don’t want to say anything else about it. I have talked about a few celebrities here and there over the years, but that’s about it.”

  “I can’t believe that is all you have to tell me. You’re a reporter. I know you have done something more exciting than what you’re telling me,” Rachelle said, looking at him. “Come on. I told you about my crazy sisters. God, you even got to meet one of them tonight and you survived Akisha’s interrogation.

  “I know you can give me a little bit of information about you. If what you told my sister was the truth then you’re going to have to open up more than you are right now. I like you a lot and want to know about you, so what else do you have to tell me?”

  Her beautiful eyes held his as she continued talking. “I wasn’t that open with my ex-boyfriends in my past because I didn’t feel a connection to any of them like I do with you. Please don’t make me regret my decision to come here by not opening up more.”

  Cash felt like if he did as Rachelle wanted he would push her away. He couldn’t let that happen, so he would rather keep quiet until he was sure she wouldn’t judge him too harshly. “I’ll tell you later. I promise.”

  “No, it will be now or I’ll leave,” Rachelle said with a feistiness he hadn’t heard before. “I won’t keep going around in circles with you over this. Yes, we haven’t been around each other for that long. However, I know you feel the same spark as me when we are in the room together. Why would you want to lose that over not revealing more of yourself to me? All I asked about was your job. What are you hiding from me? I know it can’t be that bad, or is it?”

  Cash didn’t want to lose Rachelle, so he pushed ahead. She was bound to find out sooner or later, and maybe he was making a bigger deal than it really was. “I fell into it by accident after not landing a job as a regular television news anchor like I hoped for after college.

  “After the disappointment of not getting hired to report the nightly news, I knew I had to pay the bills so I started working odd jobs here and there. I was about to give up completely at getting hired for my dream job until I saw a small article in the newspaper.

  “A top rated syndicated news program called The News where I lived in California was looking to hire a new reporter. I didn’t waste anything getting a resume emailed to them, and within a month I was working for them. I did quite well for a few years, but then my ratings started getting low. So, the producers of my show came to me with a new idea. They wanted me to change the direction of my show to draw more viewers.”

  “Okay, what’s so bad about your bosses wanting to change the direction of your show?” Rachelle asked. “I think it’s great they wanted to keep you and decided to find a way to do it instead of firing you or replacing you with someone younger. Why would you be ashamed to tell me about it? They noticed you have a gift and your employers wanted you to use it every day. What is so wrong about that?”

  Getting out of his seat, Cash came across the room and sat next to Rachelle on the bed. He watched her for a second or two, feeling e
motions of anticipation and dread. He was usually good at reading people, but he couldn’t gauge what her reaction would be when he told her the rest of his story. The longer it took for him to answer Rachelle’s simple question made the silence lengthen between them, making him even more uncomfortable.

  He was no longer proud to tell people that he had taken all his years of journalism training to become a tabloid reporter. He had become so well-known over the years, he had received offers from TMZ and Star Magazine to leave his television show to come and work for them.

  However, he didn’t want to work for either of them because he wasn’t fond of certain things they stood for. He didn’t think making fun of some stars was the way to do business anymore.

  “Cash, what is wrong with you?” Rachelle asked him, putting her hand on his leg. “You haven’t answered my question, plus you have this faraway look on your face. Was it something I said?”

  He placed his hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. “No, it wasn’t anything you said to me. It’s me. I was just thinking. I have so much to tell you and I don’t know how to tell you this, because it will change how you look at me. I’m not the guy who you think I am,” Cash admitted.

  Unconsciously her brow furrowed as her dark, brown eyes held his. They searched his face like she was trying to read his thoughts. “What? Why would you tell me something like that all of sudden?” she questioned, confusion in her soft voice. “I’m not following you. What kind of guy are you?” Rachelle eased her hand off his leg and placed it back in her lap. He missed the warmth of her touch immediately and wanted it back.

  “You believe I’m a news reporter who spends his time informing people about car crashes and heroes in the community, but you’re wrong. I haven’t done any kind of stories like that in over ten years.”

  “Okay, if you aren’t the kind of news anchor from the morning news like Good Morning America or The Today Show, tell me what you do instead.” The lines on her forehead got more pronounced. “Do you report the nightly news? If you do, there is nothing wrong with being on after six o’clock at night. I know a lot of people, including my father, who watches the nightly news more than the morning news.”

  “No, I don’t do either one of those,” he confessed.

  “Have you reported on something I might not like to see? Will I find it on the Internet? I understand sometimes reporters get assigned stories they aren’t interested in, but they do them away. I can’t fault you for doing something like that. Your job can’t be perfect all of the time. Life isn’t fair and sometimes throws you a curve ball, but it doesn’t mean I will like you any less.”

  God, he wished that was true, but he wasn’t quite sure if Rachelle would say those same words after he finished. The unwelcome tension stretched even tighter between them as Cash tried to get his words together. Okay…here went nothing. He was going to place all of his cards on the table and see what happened.

  “I’m the kind of tabloid journalist people like Wendy Williams and The Talk have on their television shows. I get paid a lot of money to talk about the latest stars’ downfalls. I have worked very hard over the years to uncover each and every one. Any lies or secrets celebrities might be hiding from their fans, I didn’t waste a minute getting on the air and showing the photos to back up my story. I loved every minute of it.

  “I’ve done an entire newscast about how Robin Thicke might have had a scandalous affair with a stripper, cheating on his wife Paula Patton. I lived to find all of the best gossip and reported it to back my bosses for a nice huge paycheck with a lot of zeros.”

  Rachelle eased across the bed, putting some distance between their bodies. He could see the disappointment in her beautiful eyes. She stared at him like he was a totally different man than the one she made S’Mores with downstairs hours earlier.

  He missed the closeness they had shared. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut. She was reacting just the way he thought she would, and it wasn’t looking good for him.

  “Are you saying that you are a reporter for one of those trashy cable shows that talk about celebrities’ divorces or the latest stint in rehab? The ones who compare celebrities’ mug shots and then have you vote which one is the worst? What about talking about an actress’s eating disorder or a hidden drug addiction?” she demanded, glaring at him.

  Could he admit the truth to her?

  Just hearing the words come out of Rachelle’s mouth made him feel worse than he already did. He knew what he had been doing for the past couple of years wasn’t the most respectable job, but it paid his bills and put a roof over his head for the longest time.

  Hell, he was younger then and the thought of making a lot of money seemed amazing to him. Nothing else mattered, but now he was older and wiser. Time had shown him there were more important things in the world than having money.

  “Yes, I’m one of those people, but I’ve changed. I’m not planning on reporting those kinds of stories anymore. I want to change my life and that’s why I went on this vacation. I know that I can become a better man and I hope you won’t hold my past against me. I’m very aware of how most people have their opinions about people like me. Do you think you can still give me a chance after I’ve told you the truth? I don’t think it’s a huge problem, but…”

  Rachelle held up her hand, cutting him off. He prayed she wouldn’t toss him away without giving him a chance to show her another side of him.

  “I don’t know how I feel about you getting rich off of someone’s misfortune. It doesn’t seem right. I don’t know if I could be with a man who made himself richer off of another person’s suffering. I need some time to think about this, because it goes against everything I stand for.”

  A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach as Cash got off the bed. He wasn’t going to give up on Rachelle. She was the woman he had been searching for, but didn’t know it until now. She was a caring and gorgeous woman who would think about anyone else’s problems before her own.

  She needed some time to let all of this sink in. So, he would leave her alone inside his room and go downstairs. She couldn’t think about everything he just told her with him hovering around, but he wasn’t about to give up on her not when he just found her.

  “I’m going to go downstairs and make some phone calls. Maybe this time, I can get a hold of my brother. I’ll see if he can transfer me some money through Western Union to pay for this room. However, this isn’t over between us. I want us to talk more about this when you’re ready.”

  He headed for the door but paused with his hand on the door knob. He glanced back over his shoulder and found Rachelle watching him.

  “Please don’t judge me too quickly. Get to know the real me and you’ll see that I’m still the nice guy you thought I was tonight.” Opening the door, he closed it softly behind him.

  ****

  Why did Cash turn out to be somebody with a despicable job? Rachelle stared at the closed door. Cash had left over twenty minutes ago, but she still hadn’t moved from her position on his bed. It was like her mind wanted her to do one thing, but her body couldn’t do it.

  This wasn’t how she imagined her night ending when she thought about being in Cash’s bed. She thought about how he made his money off the misery of other people and he didn’t seem to care about it until recently.

  How was she supposed to deal with all of this now that she knew the truth?

  She wasn’t trying to come off as judgmental at all. However, she did have some self-respect and Cash’s job wasn’t what most decent people would choose as their career path.

  Now, he was trying to give her some time to think about his revelation and here she was upstairs debating on what she was going to do about it.

  Most people might think she was overreacting. A part of her wanted to overlook how he made his money, but the logical side of her knew it was wrong and she shouldn’t give him the time of day. She was a big believer in being upfront and completely honest. Sure, Cash hadn’t lied to
her, but what he did for a living was a form of bullying in some way.

  As someone who got bullied and in middle school and all through high school because of her clothing, she knew what it was liked to be gossiped about when all you wanted was to be left alone.

  She hated when somebody picked on another person to make himself feel better. It was even worse with Cash because he was getting paid huge paychecks by digging into these people’s pasts and reporting it. What if a celebrity didn’t want a certain fact known about him? Would he even care enough about their feelings not to report it on his television show, or was the idea of a huge payout more important to him?

  Rachelle walked towards the door. She still had a lot of thinking to do about Cash. She didn’t know what she was going to do about this. She hoped Cash gave her the space she needed because she couldn’t deal with him at the moment. Her sisters might think she was being silly, but they hadn’t been teased like she had during school. The teasing from her classmates had left its mark on her, but she had found ways to get over it. However, it wasn’t something she liked remembering.

  She wasn’t naïve enough not to understand some celebrities loved being in the spotlight and did everything in their power to have their photos in the magazines. Being in the limelight gave them the fame they were seeking out or a place on the newest reality shows.

  None of them were her concern at all. Rachelle thought about the ones who loved being famous but desired peace, to live their lives without the media hiding in the bushes to take their photos. Somehow hearing about his job had opened up some old wounds. She needed time to sort through some things without him pressuring her to give him a chance.

  Opening the door, Rachelle walked out thinking about how happy she was that she hadn’t jumped into bed with Cash tonight. Akisha had been right. She shouldn’t have acted on her attraction to Cash without knowing more about him first. His confession might have changed everything, she just wasn’t quite sure yet.