Page 6 of Beautiful Disaster

“I call it like I see it,” I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “I will pick our date next week. Somewhere safer that does not lead us into temptation to go beyond our fake relationship.” She tightened her lips, glaring as if I offended her with my suggestion.

Eight

Desiree

Monday Afternoon

I stayed put in the studio, taking the guest’s chair after I wrapped up my whirlwind show. No one asked about love, because they were more curious about my relationship with Hardin. The moment he stepped into the studio, I clenched my chest, trying to be sly while drowning out the furious pounding of my heart. Damn, I love a man in a suit. Though his elegantly sculpted chest was a masterpiece, seeing Hardin in a suit was still a huge turn-on.

Gripping my shoulder, he leaned over, “Are you nervous?” he chuckled in my ear.

Arching my brow, I smirked, “It’s not my first time on the air, Mr. Mills.”

“I mean, taking more of an onslaught of questions about our fake relationship,” he asked as he sat down, his eyes glazed over with shock to see his phone blow up with notifications from every social media platform. The show still had five minutes before it started, and he was going to be slammed with call after call. It was the inertia of my life in the studio. Now, it was his turn to juggle callers.

“You heard my show? That was the topic of every call. Thank God for my gift of drivel. There were a few sexual questions Randy intercepted before they made it to the air.” I told Hardin until Randy intervened.

“There are more that I had to intercept. Here’s one: ‘It’s no secret that super nerds have big dicks, are you one of those super nerds?’ That’s one for you—amongst a few more.” We both laughed at that ridiculously bold question. I mean, who would even think to ask another human that question, it’s uncalled for. But that’s today’s world. Everyone is braver behind any electronic device.

Randy counted down and the moment Hardin spoke up, I fell into a dream state, not hearing a word he said, until he introduced me. Suddenly the operator was answering call after call. I must have heard ‘Please hold’ a dozen times within a minute.

The first caller was an elderly woman. “Hello, Mr. Hannigan. I was cleaning my bedroom and found a check for five hundred dollars. It was from five years ago. Am I able to cash this?”

“Is it a personal check?” he asked with a gentle tone.

The sweet elderly lady was slow on answering, but Hardin was patient. He winked at me with a smile that made me melt into a puddle of goo. “It was from my daughter, right after my husband passed. She wanted to help and sent me the money.”

Hardin paused, waiting until he was sure she didn’t have another question. “Miss, there is no expiration date on personal checks. However, what I advise is to call your daughter to find out if she still has this bank account. Let her know the situation and see if she will still honor the check.” That was an easy call, with no relationship questions. I hoped the rest were like that. After fifteen minutes, they had all been money related. Nothing about me, nothing about us. It was a relief.

“I wanted to take a break from calls to tell you about my special guest, Desiree King. Not only is she the host of the wildly popular Queen of Hearts, but she is also a good example of being money smart.” I breathed a collective sigh of relief with the notion he was going to introduce me as his girlfriend. “I have a few questions for you, Miss King, then we will let our callers ask you some questions. Is that alright?”

I chuckled, “Yes, of course it is. Oh, and thank you for having me, Hardin. Hello everyone, out there in Mr. Money Man world.”

He chuckled while shaking his head; I patted his hand to put him at ease. “So, tell our listeners about how you keep such control with your finances.”

“Well, I hate spending money, for one. I eat out maybe once or twice a year. I prefer a home-cooked meal. I’m proud to say I’m a frugal shopper. Um, I bring my coffee, my breakfast and lunch from home. I am not sure what else there is to tell. Oh, I only have one credit card. I use that card once every six months that I use to fill up my gas tank in order to keep the account active.” The astonishment on his face was permanent, as if I was giving him some revelation to my life story.

“You set an outstanding example for career women all over the state of Nevada, I commend you, Desiree.” He told the listeners a bit more information about what we discussed, which was truly embarrassing. I hated being built up like that.

It relieved me when he answered the first call after putting me on a pedestal, “So, how long have you and the Queen been an item?” The questions about our relationship started with that one and never stopped until his hour was up.

***An hour later***

Every social media platform blew up on my phone throughout the day. After looking at a few comments regarding my fake relationship with Hardin Mills, I was finished. We had created a monster, hopefully one that would work in Hardin’s favor, and not backfire on either of us.

I raced to the fifth floor to see if there was a change in his received calls. He hadn’t arrived yet, but Frankie’s desk was overflowing with the same number of flowers and balloons that flooded Millie’s desk. “Do we call you Desidin now?” Frankie asked me, as if I was supposed to have a clue what he meant.

Noticing a box of Godiva chocolates, I lifted it off Frankie’s desk. Thumbing through what looked the most appetizing one and popped it in my mouth. “I don’t get it.” My mouth was full of rich, dark chocolate.

“Brangelina, Bennifer, Stewpatt?” I shook my head. “You and Mr. Money Man are KWOZ’s power couple after you both came out in the open while in Boulder City.”

“Ah, we are hardly celebrities, Frankie. Where’s Hardin?”

Just then, the elevator dinged. The Cars, ‘Moving in Stereo’ played in my head when Hardin approached me in slow-motion, removing his sunglasses. I knew I needed to take this slow, but it would take an army to stop my inability to keep my hands off this guy. “Hardin?” I smiled, giving him a playful bow. He pulled me into his office until Frankie called out my name.

Frankie pulled on my sleeve, “You two behave in there. The boss had more of an eagle eye since you two announced your relationship.”

I ignored his comment and turned to the three-sixty-degree camera and waved. I was sure the Boss Man was sitting in his office flipping me the bird. We didn’t get along so well, yet I was as sweet as can be to this arrogant jerk.

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