Page 10 of Pursuing Desire

“Jess? It’s me, Dax.”

That’s a voice I didn’t expect nor want to hear. Didn’t I just see this guy an hour ago?

Instead of going into the sandwich shop, I let the door close. The loud noise of the street drowns out the impatient tapping of my foot on the pavement. “Why are you calling me, Dax? And how’d you get my number?”

“I just got off the phone with my brother Jake. I mentioned that you had been at my place, photographing it.” Dax pauses. I hear the hesitation in his voice when he continues. “Jake told me about your situation with your boyfriend.”

An irritated hiss of breath blows out between my clenched teeth. How could Jake and Lana have told Dax about my personal business? How could they do that to me? Lana might be my best friend, but she’s going to get an earful about this. I don’t mind that she told her husband, but Jake should have kept his mouth closed and not told his brother.

Let’s just broadcast it to all of New York: JESSICA ROBERTS, THE GULLIBLE IDIOT, JUST GOT CHEATED ON BY ANTHONY THE ASSHOLE.

“Jake had no right to tell you about my breakup. And why do you even care? That also doesn’t answer my question about why you’re calling me.”

I hear Dax sigh into the phone. “Jake only told me about your situation because they are worried about you. He knows I have a lot of contacts. I know a lot of people. He thought I might have some ideas to help you out or might know of someone hiring while your business is slow.”

Even though I’m still irritated at the breach of my privacy, that placates me some. He’s being nice and not his usual flirty, overbearing self. Maybe I can give him the benefit of the doubt. I purposely soften and lower my voice. “I’m not sure how you’d be able to help unless you know someone who can make a body disappear.”

Dax pauses for a second, then chuckles. “Actually, I might know someone like that. But no, I think we can do something less . . . illegal.”

I laugh softly because surely he is joking. Dax might know a lot of people, but I imagine they’re all businesspeople wearing ten-thousand-dollar suits.

“Less illegal sounds good. Do you have something in mind?” I ask.

“Possibly, yes.” I can hear the smile in his voice. “I have an idea. I’m not sure anything will come of it, but it’s worth a shot.”

I wait patiently for him to give me details.

“And are you going to tell me the idea?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.

He laughs. “Yes, of course. So, I know you have plenty of experience with still cameras. Have you ever worked with live feed? Like video cameras?”

“Yes, I have some experience from college. I worked in my college news station as a cameraperson. I also do some video with my SLR camera with my photography business. But, as for recent professional experience with video, that’s not exactly what I do. Why do you ask?”

“I have a producer friend who works with a small-to mid-size network TV station. He and I happen to be meeting for dinner tomorrow. He owes me a favor. I thought maybe you could join us for dinner, and we could ask him about job openings. If he doesn’t have any himself, I’m willing to bet one of his other producer friends has something available.”

As intriguing as that sounds, I have doubts. My experience doesn’t even compare to other job applicants in that particular field. I’m also unsure about accepting any help from Dax. It feels like there may be strings attached. I don’t need to owe this guy any favors.

“It sounds interesting, and I appreciate your offer of help. But I’m good.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re good,” Dax says. “Why not take my offer of help?”

The wind blows a strand of hair into my face, and I roughly push it back. “Why would you want to help me anyway? We aren’t friends. We barely know each other.”

“Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot. I’m not a terrible guy, I promise. You’re friends with my brother’s wife, and I just want to help if I can. Like I said, I don’t know if anything will come of this, but isn’t it worth a shot?”

It’s not like I have a whole lot of options right now, and Dax sounds entirely too reasonable. Would I be an idiot to turn this chance away? I swallow hard before answering. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to see what he says,” I agree.

“Don’t sound too excited,” he says at my dry tone. “I’ll text you the name of the restaurant. The reservation is under Dax Anders. We’re meeting tomorrow night at seven. Does that work?”

“Sure. I’ll be there. And Dax? Thanks for doing this. Even if it turns out to be nothing, I appreciate you trying.”

“No problem at all. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After we hang up, I replay Dax’s words in my head. This shows a different side to the egotistical asswipe I thought him to be. Who knew he’d go out of his way to offer help? Not only is he helping his cousin Leslie with her business, but he’s trying to help me out as well.

Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

Nah, he’s still an egotistical asswipe, and it’ll do me good to remember that.