I let the image roll around my head for a moment of Zac being hard, overheating at the thought.
ME:Stop. You’re teasing me now.
ZAC:I can’t help how my body reacts when I think about you.
But my hand just doesn’t feel the same as yours.
My head drops forward as heat licks up my spine. I should be familiarising myself with the stories and scripts for tonight, but I can’t tear my eyes away from my phone.
ME:Seriously, Zac. I should be working on my most important week ever, and now all I can think about is you touching yourself.
Don’t be playing with me.
ZAC:I’m not. And I can’t help it. You make me too hard.
p.s. I would very much like to play with you.
I hunch over the phone screen just in case anyone’s walking past. What would Natasha Harrington say? She’d probably take my presenting shifts off me.
ME:Gaaah. You need to stop.
I’m putting my phone away now.
ZAC:I need to be on my knees beneath your desk right now.
Then maybe I’ll stop
ME:I literally just considered how I might be able to escape work for an hour. You’re making me insane.
Going now
ZAC:Coming now
While imagining doing something filthy with my tongue
Argh.I shove my phone into my bag, which is where it stays for all of thirty seconds until my mind shoots to the reason I’m reading the news in the first place. Christina answers my call right away.
‘Are your ears burning?’ she asks sunnily. ‘I was just about to call you with news. I had dinner with Oliver Novak last night.’
I grin into the phone, happy to hear that nothing’s wrong. ‘As you do when you’re Christina-freaking-Rice. Elon next week.’
She shushes me with a chuckle. ‘He convinced me to take my maternity leave early so he can get someone new trained in the job. I’m officially a lady of leisure, and I have no idea what to do with myself.’
‘That’s awesome! You deserve to do a whole lot of nothing for a while.’ I swallow a pinch of disappointment.‘That means Oliver has already chosen your replacement. Yvette Sinclair’s been sent down there to cover you.’
‘Wait, I didn’t finish my story. I fed Oliver an entire bottle of wine while singing your praises. Because he hasn’t seen you read before, it was my idea to bring Yvette down for one week, so you could read the news up there. Darling, I orchestrated the whole thing. Oliver is going to be watching you this week!’
‘Oh mygod!’
‘I know!’ Her smile practically shines through the phone. ‘If you read as beautifully this week as I know you can, I think you can expect a call from Oliver.’
Excitement churns up my stomach.This is it … my shot! If I don’t screw this up, I could become Sydney’s next prime-time newsreader.
I thank her at least a thousand times before my mind returns to the same place it’s been glued lately.
‘You OK?’ Christina asks as I stare at the half-written weather report in front of me. ‘You’ve gone quiet.’
I suck in a jittery breath. ‘Something kind of happened up here last night.’
