Page 10 of Breaking News

“I might pop over for a couple hands.” I wouldn’t have the kids the next weekend, after all. It felt like joining a poker night with my employees breached protocol somehow, but did that really matter?

Besides, there was another reason I wouldn’t mind joining this particular group for one of their Friday night get-togethers.

“I’m ready,’ Jill said, emerging from the house again. Xander touched her waist, and I looked down at the ground as the two of them shared a quick peck on the lips.

I only looked up when Xander spoke directly to me. “Thanks for getting her home.” I could tell he didn’t really want to say it. I wasn’t one of his favorite people.

But when I thought about it, there weren’t many people Xander seemed to like. I tried not to take it personally.

“Yeah,” I said, withholding every sarcastic response on the tip of my tongue.

He turned back to Jillian, dropping his hands from her hips. “I’ll call you,” he told her, and everyone else said goodbye as Jillian and I made our way through the wooden gate.

“I really appreciate this,” Jillian said one we were in the car. I started typing her address into the GPS on my phone.

“It’s really no problem,” I assured her, turning the key in the ignition. I quickly lowered the volume of the early 2000s alt-rock song that blasted from the speakers the second my phone connected. “Sorry.”

Jill let out a giggle, leaning back against the headrest. She seemed tired, but her eyes were wide open, watching my hand shift into reverse to back out of the driveway. The car was filled with warm, stagnant air, so I reached for the A/C controls just as her hand shot up toward the volume button. My fingers awkwardly crashed into hers, and we both laughed.

“Oops,” I blurted.

She folded her hands between her thighs. “Sorry, I was going to turn it back up. I love this song.”

“Ah,” I said, like I was making a new discovery about her. I didn’t know what kind of music I assumed Jillian liked. But her not only knowing butlovinga song by The Strokes was a surprise. They were from back in my day. Not hers.

“I just thought the music might make your headache worse,” I said, rolling up to the stop sign at the end of my street.

Jill sighed. “It’s not a headache. Well, not really.”

Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure what made me assume she had a headache in the first place. I didn’t want to press her for details about whatever symptoms she was experiencing, either, just in case she wasn’t willing to share. So I just uttered a weak, “Oh, okay,” as I drove through the quiet subdivision.

Jill sighed. “I just get these random aches and pains… everywhere. I think it’s my mattress.”

“Sounds like you need a new mattress.”

“That would be smart, wouldn’t it?” she replied with a grin. She settled back into her seat some more, staring up at the ceiling. “Gosh, I think the pain medication I took is finally kicking in. This is the best I’ve felt all night.”

My hands shifted on the steering wheel. “I can take you back, if you want.”

“No, no. Thank you, but I’m exhausted. I get up at five for the morning broadcast, so it’s almost my bedtime.” She glanced at her phone with a yawn. I thought about making a joke about her shitty mattress calling her name, but she spoke again before I could get any words out. “I can’t hang like the rest of those guys,” she said with a little laugh. “I’m always the first one to call it a night. I’m the official party pooper of the group.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, they’ve invited me to come next Friday night, so I’m happy to steal that title from you. I can’t ‘hang’ very late, either.”

Jill smiled, shaking her head. “A few of them are talking about going clubbing after the ECJ conference in New York, and I’m like, what about ordering room service and going to bed? That’s my idea of a good time.”

“Wait, you’re going to that?”

“To the ECJ conference?” Her brows furrowed, and suddenly I felt like an idiot for not already knowing. For weeks I’d assumed it would just be Meghan, Xander, and me attending the journalism conference in NYC, but it made sense that theWWTV folks were coming along. “Marco gave Chase and me tickets ages ago. I think we all have a block of rooms together. You didn’t know that?”

“Evidently not.” I swallowed, imagining how this trip to NYC might go down now that I knew Jillian was coming along. “But that makes sense. I saw the expense report for the trip, and it wasn’t adding up.”

“Just wait until you see my room service bill.”

“I’m sure it’ll be right up there with mine. I won’t be ‘clubbing’ with the youngsters.”

This made Jill throw her head back with a hearty laugh, clutching her stomach. “Youngsters? What the hell are you even saying? We’re not that much younger than you.”

“I’d feel like a chaperone,” I muttered, glancing at the map on the screen before turning right. As I turned back to the road, my eyes flicked briefly to Jillian’s crossed legs, faintly illuminated by the streetlights. I swallowed, trying not to think about all the ways those thighs could ruin a man.

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