Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, but why am I getting my makeup done?”
I tried to play dumb and just shrugged nonchalantly. “Just in case we end up having something that pans the area, or maybe we end up asking you a question or two.”
Not wanting to ruin the surprise, I moved over to Mace. “Looking dead sexy there, bro.” I punched his arm as hard as I could.
“Ouch!” He cringed and rubbed at his arm. “Love you too, Mia. See how she treats me, Rach? No respect. I should tell the papers something gross about my month with her, something like…” He scratched at his chin, pretending to think about it. He snapped his fingers and pointed at my reflection in the mirror. “Something like she picked her nose and wiped it on my wall.” He grinned manically.
My eyes practically bugged out of my head. “That’s sick! You wouldn’t!”
His eyes narrowed into slits. “I so would. Don’t tempt me, bruiser.” He rubbed at his arm, which couldn’t possibly be that sore. He’d had his best buddy, Junior, tag him a lot harder on multiple occasions.
“Wuss!” I shot back, not caring about the consequences.
“Stop it, you two. It’s time to get serious,” Rachel said. It would have sounded a lot more powerful if she didn’t have her mouth in a fishy-face pucker while the makeup artist applied lip gloss. “Mia, do you have your questions ready? I’d like to see them.”
Oh, shit. That was not good. Trying to hide something from your PR representative wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. I glanced at Mason, and his eyebrows rose.
“Um, yeah, but uh…”I tried to think of anything I could say to get her off the path as well as avoid wanting to see the questions I planned on asking Mason.
“Rach, babe, I approved them already.”
Her eyes turned into daggers. “You what? That’s my job. I can’t believe you’d do that.”
“Babe…” His eyes turned soft, and he reached out and took her hand. “It’s Mia. She’s not asking anything inappropriate, and you were busy dealing with that pencil dick from PowerStrong drinks. Remember?”
“Oh, that guy was such a tool. Do you know he wanted you to offer to be a spokesperson for their second line pro bono? And it wasn’t even for charity.” She shook her head and her cheeks pinked up in irritation. “They thought they were big enough to not have to pay for each promotion. Pig,” she whispered under her breath.
Okay, that sounded like my cue. “See ya in the media room. Guys, how much longer until they’re ready?”
“’Bout five minutes,” one of the makeup artists said while fluffing Mason’s hair into something stylish yet cool.
“Me too,” the other one said. He held a large blush brush and was touching up Rachel’s face with powder to seal the job.
“All right, let’s get you miked up.” Kathy gestured with a hand down the hall where the media room was located and where I planned to film first.
* * *
“Hello, and welcome to a very special segment of Living Beautiful we’re calling ‘Be Thankful.’ Today’s guest is none other than professional baseball player Mason Murphy.” I turned to look at Mason, who was sitting in the white leather love seat across from me looking cool as a cucumber. “Mason, thank you for joining us today.”
“Anything for you, sweetness. You know that.” He winked.
I grinned and leaned back. “Still the charmer, I see.”
“Only for you. Since you broke my heart.”
This was part of the special I had not been expecting. Sure, as far as the public knew, I’d technically dated Mason Murphy for a month back in April. “I did not. You’re terrible.”
He smirked. “Nah, we’re just good friends.”
“That’s right. And as good friends, I’d like to share a bit about the side of Mason Murphy that your fans and the fans of the Dr. Hoffman show don’t already know about you. You game?” I teased.
“Bring it on.” He sat back, arms spread wide over the back of the love seat, one ankle up on his opposite knee. His pose said casual and comfortable. Just the side we wanted the rest of the world to see. That part I knew Rachel agreed with.
“Okay, my first question is: what are your plans for Thanksgiving?”
He smoothed a hand along his rugged chin and smiled. “Gonna hang with the fam. My brothers and father are big on the holidays, and we do what we can to be together whenever we can.”
“That sounds lovely.”
“It is, but what’s better than that is I’ll be bringing my fiancée.”
I knew my eyes lit up like Christmas trees and were paired with his eyes as he looked off to the side at Rachel, whose chin was hanging down to her chest.
“Are you announcing that you are engaged?” I asked, leaning forward as if I were hearing this secret for the first time.