Punchline Read Online Free PDF Page A

could have the ideal relationship—physical, intense and forgotten as soon as we’re out of each other’s sight. Maybe once a week, until we get bored. What do you say?”
    He didn’t know why he kept teasing her, except that it was fun, and he couldn’t wait to hear what she would say next.
    “Call someone to pick you up,” she managed to gasp after several speechless moments. “Make sure he has a car roomy enough to accommodate your swelled head!”
    With that, she clapped on her hat and sunglasses, picked up her tray and went to sit by a window.
    A S SOON AS she’d put a short distance between herself and Darryl Horak, Belle could think of a dozen rejoinders she should have made.
    But she knew none of them would have erased the self-satisfied grin on his face. The arrogance of the man appalled her. How could he even suggest that she would want to come near his bedroom again?
    He was obviously accustomed to females who gazed adoringly at his thick dark hair and intense eyes and lean hard body, females who agreed to everything he suggested. He deserved a woman like her, Belle reflected, someone who would stand up to him.
    She wished she remembered how it had felt to make love to him. Not that she considered Darryl even moderately desirable, Belle reminded herself. She downed the last of her milk and let it ease the queasiness in her stomach.
    She simply felt curious about what it had been like to sleep with him. There was nothing unnatural or demeaning in speculating about something you had experienced while in a state of unconsciousness.
    Once her curiosity was satisfied, the man would never cross her mind again.
    She picked up the tabloid and pretended interest in a space alien story while Darryl went to a pay phone in the corner. When he hung up and strolled toward her table, she transferred her attention to the tabloid’s horoscope, which declared that she must stop letting people walk all over her.
    “I called my office and yours,” he said when he reached her. “They’re both sending someone to pick us up.
    He moved on. Two college-age girls at the next table twirled their long hair and pursed their lips in admiration as he passed. One uttered a wolf whistle.
    Belle didn’t know why she found their behavior so irritating.

3
    A NITA R IOS, the food editor of Just Us, sat on the edge of Belle’s desk eating a chili dog. “Nobody believes that nonsense about you and Darryl. Nobody. Not me, not this chili dog—and if you don’t think it’s alive, just ask my stomach.”
    “But has everybody seen it?” Belle demanded, rattling the tabloid. She’d spotted two copies that her staff must have picked up at lunch break.
    “Well…yeah.”
    Today was definitely turning into one of those days. Even getting back to the office had turned out to be a battle.
    When Darryl’s macho entertainment editor, Greg Ormand, had showed up at the restaurant to fetch his boss, he’d failed to recognize Belle in the hat and sunglasses and had favored her with a bold stare.
    Darryl had grabbed the guy’s arm with unnecessary force, just as Janie Frakes had marched in to rescue Belle. Janie and Greg had recently broken off a fiery relationship, and Janie had witnessed Greg’s leer. She had let him know in no uncertain terms what she thought of his adolescent need to flirt with every female he encountered.
    Greg had responded with such adjectives as “controlling,” “jealous,” “frustrated” and “too thin.” The teenagers at the next table had stared in awe at the soap opera.
    On the drive back to the office with the angry Janie, Belle had found neither peace nor sympathy. And now, the tabloid had invaded her inner sanctum.
    “By the way,” Anita said, downing the last bite of chili dog. “What did happen that night?”
    “With Darryl?” she asked with what she hoped was innocence. “We both fell asleep. The next morning, we woke up, took one look at each other and screamed.”
    That was true, as far as it