SASSY IN STILETTOS ARe version by Nana Malone Page A

whole situation. And he’d find out what it was. But that girl was an
innocent, and she needed his protection. “Yes. I’ll keep her safe.”
    In the meantime, he’d figure out exactly what
Sabine was up to.
    ***
    Micha had finally come to a decision. After her
little chat with Ricca and Jaya, she knew she couldn’t let her internal fear
keep her from moving on with her life. Even if her past did catch up with her,
she wasn’t the same scared little girl.
    But still, as Micha strolled toward her boss’s
office, she prayed she wasn’t making a mistake. Things were different now; New
York a distant memory. She could do this. At some point she needed to move on
with her life. Things had spiraled out of hand. And she needed to start facing
her dark and uglies.
    A slow, slimy shiver stole up her back as her
brain played the memory reel of the lights going out and the elevator jerking
to a halt. Her palms grew damp from the remembrance alone. The hairs on her
arms stood on end, and her heartbeat amped up from sedate thud,
thud, thud , to an instant gallop, like the first time she’d tried to run
a half marathon and thought she would die at mile eleven.
    She drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. Like
those long ago doctors had told her to do when she’d first started having the
panic attacks. When that didn’t work, she forced another breath, pictured her
heart going from racing to a softer rhythm. It helped, but not enough, so she
dragged in one more. Several of her coworkers gave her an odd look, but she
ignored them, trying to focus on something calming. Something like Caleb’s
voice soothing her, telling her she was going to be okay, telling her she was
the strongest woman he knew. He’d chased off her demons last night. And to
thank him she’d nearly fucked everything up.
    Kissing him had been a horrible idea. Showing that
vulnerability was the one thing she regretted in a life of mostly no regrets.
She really wished she could take it back. Well, not all of it. Boy, that man
could kiss. It was like he had a direct line to her body, and he knew exactly
how to touch, tease, and caress. Her body temperature increased, chasing off
the earlier chill, but the hairs on her arms stood up for entirely the wrong
kind of reason. Shit. Get your shit together, Bennett .
    When she reached Miranda’s open office door, she
went in without preamble. If she’d paused, she might have chickened out of her
decision.
    “Micha, hello.” Miranda glanced up at her
expectantly. “I’m hoping you’ve made a decision, because the sharks are
circling.”
    Micha pursed her lips. “I’ve given this a lot of
thought, and I’ll do it. But I want some guarantees from you. I want to choose
my camera crew if at all possible.” That way she could check them all out
herself . If only you knew someone who had a security
background and could check them out for you . She ignored the inner voice
and continued.
    “I also want to call the shots on my personal
team.” She’d keep it small, just in case. Nothing like last
time is ever going to happen again. She drew in a steadying breath. “And
I want veto and approval power on all questions. If they want me to ask
something bullshit and fluffy, and I refuse, I don’t want them hanging an axe
over my head. I say no, and I want support that they won’t try firing me every
two minutes. It will get tedious for me and very frustrating for them, because
I won’t back down.”
    Miranda smirked. “Anything else I can get for you?”
    “No, that should cover it.”
    “Good, then let’s get to work. I’ve emailed you
your first assignment. Producers want to meet with you this afternoon. The
subject can be a bit prickly about his personal life, so they’ll help you
navigate around that. You’re also being assigned a research intern. Screen
tests will be this week.”
    Micha raised a brow. “An intern? I’d prefer
someone with more experience. And I want to be Senior Features Editor with