Page 10 of Kiss Me Forever

"Then I'll get the check." He motioned for the waiter to come over, then handed him his credit card. "Tomorrow, I've made plans for you to see how I spend my weekends. You'll also be able to meet some of my friends."

"All right." She wished she could get him talk about his strange reaction a moment earlier, but there was something about his gaze that told her that line of questioning wouldn't get her anywhere.

"I'll pick you up in the morning—around ten," he said. "Will that be all right?"

"I'd like to see where you live. Why don't I meet you at your place?"

"Fine."

He gave her the address, and she jotted it down on her phone.

"Do you know the area?" he asked.

"No, but should I just look for the biggest mansion on the block?"

"It's large, but not quite the biggest."

"You mean there are still a few goals left for Alexander Donovan to accomplish?"

"A few." He let out a breath as the tension eased from his face. "What about you, Andrea? What kind of goals do you have for yourself?"

"I want to do my job well."

"No bigger dream? What about winning a Pulitzer prize?"

"I wouldn't say no to that, but it's probably an unrealistic and impossible goal."

"Most worthy goals are filled with challenges. When did you decide to be a reporter?"

"When I was ten years old. I started the first fifth-grade newspaper at Hazelton Elementary School. It was one page, and I handed it out at recess."

"Fifth grade. You were an early achiever. What did you write about?"

"My first story was about why they moved the garbage cans to the other side of the playground," she replied, smiling at the memory.

"Was that an important move?"

"Not at all, but I wanted something to write about, and that was the only thing I could think of." She paused. "My father was a foreign correspondent. He traveled all over the world reporting on wars, politics, famine and global changes. I grew up hearing from him about the power of the press to change the world, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"He sounds like an admirable man."

"He made a difference by revealing truths that needed to be told. I wanted to be just like him. Unfortunately, I soon realized that the power of the press can be squashed by those in actual power."

"How so?"

"When the principal at my elementary school decided that girls couldn't play flag football with the boys, I wrote an article about discrimination and passed it around the school."

"I'm surprised you knew how to spell discrimination," he said with a grin.

"I did have to look it up. But I've always been an excellent speller."

"What happened?"

"The principal gave me detention for a week and made me write, 'I'll mind my own business' five thousand times. It was very unfair. I wanted to write about that injustice but my mother told me she would ground me for a month if I did. She didn't like her daughter being a troublemaker."

"It doesn't appear to me that you learned your lesson very well, since you're still sticking your nose into other people's business."

"But now other people's businessismy business. And I don't back down from challenges. If the story is important, I go after it, regardless of the potential fall-out. The public has a right to know."

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