Sinfully Sexy by Linda Francis Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

revenue by eighty-three percent
during Getting Real ."

"True. But that was only during the single episode where you showcased
a mini-golf tournament," he clarified. "That's finite programming.
Nothing that solves your larger issues."

"Meaning?" Kate said, worry in her voice.

The man looked directly at Kate. "Meaning that El Paso is cut off from
most other cities. You don't have much in the way of bleed factor. El
Paso is a good 250 to 300 miles away from any other city of significant
size. Tucson, 316 miles to the west. Albuquerque, 267 miles to the
north. And going east, Dallas-Fort Worth is twice that distance, with
more cactus than people between here and there."

"Cacti," Chloe said glumly.

He looked at her hard. "I stand corrected."

But on the bigger picture, she knew he was right. Texas wasn't like
many states that were built with
towns running together, making it hard to tell where one ended and
another began. In Texas, the minute you left the El Paso city limits,
you didn't see much more than those cacti and the occasional small
town, like some sort of holdback from the days of the wild wild west.
Unless they bought another station in another city of significant size,
KTEX's audience was here, and that was pretty much it.

"But a population of nearly eight hundred thousand is nothing to sneeze
at," she countered.

"No question. But given the geography, it's finite."

"Las Cruces isn't so far away. And we have Juarez right across the
border."

"Las Cruces is a small market. As to Juarez, do you plan to start
broadcasting and advertising in Spanish?"

She hated that he was right.

He looked at some of his notes. "Based on the information I have here,
you have to turn things around quickly, or you'll be too far in the red
to realistically pull out."

"Many companies operate in the red at one time or another," Chloe added
defensively. "We will pull
out of this. We have time. Don't we, Julia?"

All eyes turned to Julia, but she didn't respond.

Lucy knocked on the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the conference
room has been reserved for
eleven o'clock, and they're here."

Kate turned to Julia. "Reservations for the conference room?"

Julia stood up from her place at the head of the table, the men
following suit. She smiled tightly. "I think we are done here for now.
Mr. Tanner, Lucy will show you to my office. I'll meet you there
momentarily."

With that she was gone.

In apparent shock, Kate stood, then extended her hand. "It was nice to
meet you." Then she disappeared as well.

Ben said he needed to use the phone and headed out.

Chloe blinked, trying to quell the sudden uneasiness she felt. But that
uneasiness no longer had anything to do with what had happened between
the two of them last night. She was pushed off balance by the sudden
fear that she didn't understand all the forces that had been set into
motion by his arrival. Julia
had gone to Prescott Media without a word to her.

Chloe hardly realized that the man had picked up his briefcase and
headed for the door. When she did, she was so relieved that he was
leaving that it barely registered that he had turned back at the last
second.

"Ah, I forgot," he said.

She was jarred from any sort of relief when she looked up. For the
first time since their misguided interlude at the hotel, their gazes
truly met. He smiled in a way that turned her insides to putty and made
her knees go weak. The kaleidoscope began to churn again. Images.
Yearning. The memory of his mouth closing over her breast. His hands
sliding up her thighs.

She could only be thankful that he hadn't recognized her when she
walked into this room. She had wanted to forget her moment of
indiscretion since the second it happened. Now, in addition to that,
she knew that she couldn't afford to feel anything for him if she had
any chance of saving the station from Prescott Media.

But then he reached into his briefcase, before extending his hand to
her, and the world ground to a halt when she saw the