Savannah nodded again as she swallowed her huge bite. “I know. But I don’t want any connections!” she argued.
“Well, I will take them! Does “Ryan” want to help me with my Broadway career?”
“You don’t need any help,” Savannah said pointedly. Last month Sage had been cast in Wicked and she was already the understudy for Elphaba.
“Well, I’m sure that knowing Ryan Seacrest couldn’t hurt.”
Savannah had only been home for about an hour on Sunday evening before she launched into her story about the party. Sage had arrived home shortly after, having grabbed Chinese takeout after her matinee. Savannah wanted to tell her about Elijah but something stopped her.
Ever since freshman year in college Savannah had told Sage everything, but something about Elijah made her hold her tongue. She felt guilty not telling Sage, but she told herself that there was really nothing to tell. On Saturday morning Savannah had chalked up the incident to too much champagne on an empty stomach. She wasn’t the first person to kiss a stranger at a party.
Sage studied her carefully, her bright green eyes scrutinizing her. “Anything else happen over the weekend?” she asked.
“Nope!”
Sage watched her for another second and then let it go, delving into a story about how one of the flying monkeys nearly came off his harness at the afternoon’s performance. Savannah only half-listened to Sage, her mind still on the mysterious Dr. Preston.
Savannah was rudely awakened Monday morning by her buzzing cell phone. She fumbled for the phone on her nightstand and saw that it Kaci the producer whom she had
interviewed with on Friday afternoon. She sat up excitedly in bed and tried to sound awake. “Hello?” she croaked, silently cursing herself for sounding like she had been woken up in the dead of the night.
“Hello? Savannah?
“Yes, this is she.”
“This is Kaci Peterson. I hope I didn’t wake you up,” she said dryly.
Savannah glanced at the clock and saw that it was ten o’clock in the morning.
“No, no. Not at all,” she fibbed, as she tried to make her voice chipper yet professional.
“Good. I have some news for you. The job is yours.”
Savannah cheered silently, not deterred at all by Kaci’s monotone voice.
“That’s wonderful! Thank you so much!”
“I was hoping you could start today. Things have really picked up around here and we are on crunch time now.”
“Absolutely! Yes, of course. I’m available to start immediately.”
“Perfect. We’ll see you at eleven.”
The line went dead.
Savannah stared at the phone for a minute unable to process what had happened and then she jumped into overdrive. She sprang from the bed and ran down the hallway to pound on
Sage’s door.
“I got the job!” she screamed happily to which she heard a very annoyed grunt from the other side of the door. She raced back to her bathroom and took a quick shower before pinning her hair into a wet bun on the top of her head. Knowing that she could be doing grunt work, she threw a pair of sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt into an extra bag and then dressed in black capris, a sleeveless black blouse and a pair of bright pink ballet flats. She rushed out the door and hurried up to the corner to hail a taxi. Normally she tried to travel by foot or subway, but she didn’t want to risk being late and it was already ten-forty.
The taxi pulled outside the studio on East 44th at three minutes till eleven and Savannah jumped out and hurried inside. She was buzzed through to Kaci who seemed happier to see her in person than she had sounded on the phone.
“Thank god you are here,” Kaci said quickly as Savannah followed her to her office. Kaci moved quickly and Savannah tried to keep up. “Our host arrived today so now we are all the shows past him for the first week and breaking down all the segments.”
Savannah nodded as she took a seat across from Kaci’s cluttered desk.
“Here’s a temporary badge until you get yours,” she said flinging a badge at her.
Savannah quickly put the piece of plastic around her neck.
“I’ll also make sure that Jackie from HR talks to you this week so we can set up all your pay information, but right now I need you to get lunch for everyone.”
Savannah blinked for a second and then nodded, knowing full well that she was basically Kaci’s bitch now.
“There’s a deli around the corner that usually provides lunch for Rachel Ray’s crew across the street. Just tell them you’re with the new talk show and use this,” she flipped through her wallet and pulled out an AMEX card.
“Right.” Savannah said, carefully placing the card in her purse. “And, what show is this, exactly?” she asked, feeling foolish.
Kaci smacked herself on the forehead. “Oh my god! I nearly forgot! Of course, you’re wondering because we couldn’t disclose anything during the interview.” She jumped out of her chair and motioned Savannah to follow her down the hall. They walked into a big well-lit lobby and Kaci proudly pointed to the huge poster that took up much of the opposite wall.
Savannah nearly fainted. Grinning sexily back at her from the larger-than-life poster was none other than Dr. Elijah Preston. "The Ask Dr. Preston Show".
“Fuck,” she breathed.
Forty minutes later Savannah was hauling a cart of food back to the studio. Kaci directed her to a large cafeteria space and Savannah began setting up the fruit, veggies, chips, sandwiches and drinks. Her mind was still reeling over the discovery that she was now working for Elijah.
She had angrily swallowed tears on her trip to the deli, wondering if Elijah had pulled strings to get her hired. She tried to tell herself that he had no idea she had interviewed on Friday, but then again, a man as powerful as Elijah was probably privy to all types of information.
People began filing in just as Savannah had placed the final stack of napkins. Some people smiled hello to her, while most of the employees seemed to stare right through her.
Another young woman with short inky black hair and wide-set eyes came up to her and stuck her hand out.
“Hi! I’m Kiki! Are you the new PA? I’m a PA too!”
“I’m Savannah. Nice to meet you,” she said gratefully shaking Kiki’s hand.
“I’ve only been here for two weeks, but we definitely needed more help. I think this show is going to be huge! Dr. Preston is so damn sexy! I can’t wait to actually meet him!” she said excitedly.
Savannah nodded as she shoved a sandwich half in her mouth to try to distract herself.
She couldn’t necessarily share with Kiki that she had wanted to fuck Dr. Preston so badly over the weekend that her muscles physically ached from her yearning.
The lunch break passed quickly and Elijah never appeared. The room cleared out and Savannah found herself alone, clearing up the table.
“I’d know that body anywhere,” a deep voice spoke and Savannah wheeled around, instantly knowing whom she would see.
“Dr. Preston!” she gasped, as her heart began to pound wildly in her chest. She could feel the blood in her veins begin to move quickly as her entire body suddenly felt alive and on edge.
What the hell did he do to her?
“Elijah,” he drawled as he moved towards her like a mountain cat. He was dressed in black pants with an expensive looking navy blue shirt and grey tie. He oozed power and wealth as he watched Savannah closely.
Savannah backed up against the table, feeling cornered as Elijah approached her. She felt her chest heave up and down from her heavy breathing and she tried to get control of herself.
“Did you do this?” she asked angrily, trying to focus on her anger over possibly being handed a job without earning it.
Elijah smiled and shook his head. “You did this all by yourself,” he whispered. “I only saw your name on the employee list this morning.” He was now standing less than two feet from Savannah and she could see how white his teeth were and how perfectly his lips moved when he spoke.