Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Erin had saved him from himself. He wanted to wrap her in the world’s biggest bear hug and squeeze her tight. And then he found he couldn’t stop the image from developing. . . He’d hug her, feeling how small she was in his arms, how smooth her skin, how taut the muscles in her back. His hands would drop farther down, trailing over that soft, soft skin until they found her waist and circled it, drawing her in tighter. He closed his eyes. He could smell the coconut of her shampoo, feel the length of her strawberry blonde hair.
He stopped there. “Get a grip,” he muttered. “This is Erin.” Erin!
He shook the erotic image from his mind. All he needed to do was thank Erin for her discretion. He was about to pick up the phone and call her, or maybe arrange for a big bouquet of flowers to be delivered to her apartment, when his cell rang.
He gulped when he saw the display—did the guy have telepathic powers?
“Hey, Archer,” he said, keeping his voice light and breezy, like he hadn’t just been fantasizing about the man’s little sister. “How’s my favorite client?”
Archer laughed. “I know you say that to all your clients.”
He grinned at that. “At the moment I’m speaking to them, every client is my favorite.” However, he didn’t pick up for all of them on the first ring like he did for Archer. He didn’t need to tell the star of Shock Tactics that—they both knew it. They were also busy guys with no time to waste. “What’s up?”
He was ready with pen and paper to take down whatever was vital from the call, but Arch surprised him. “Great job on the interview.”
“Wait, you read the Sea Shell?”
Arch laughed. “Jay, everybody in Carmel-by-the-Sea reads the Sea Shell. I don’t like to boast, but I thought my sister did a great job.”
“I did too,” he said, not letting Arch know how much she’d kept back. And how grateful he was. Jay kept waiting for Arch to talk business, but he never did. After a couple of minutes of catching up, he said he had to get going and congratulated Jay again on the profile.
Jay hung up a little bemused. He was not the kind of guy who underestimated anything, but clearly he hadn’t quite grasped the local power of the Sea Shell.
He picked up the paper and read the other articles: The reopening of the town’s oldest bakery after extensive renovations; a fire put out by a team of volunteers up in the valley after hiking teenagers lost control of their campfire. He turned to a full page devoted to a local animal shelter. It was becoming so full of homeless animals that it was running out of funding. There was a community-wide drive to try to keep it afloat. His gaze immediately landed on a real pity ad for a homeless dog. A scrappy little stray stared out at him with what appeared to be entreaty. The dog had the most soulful dark eyes, and as he stared at the photo, Jay couldn’t help but think of that kid with a hard life looking for a break. That kid who’d been a scrappy little stray too.
He would have kept staring at that poor dog, but his phone rang again. He smiled when he saw the name. It had been a while since he’d heard from Smith Sullivan, who was currently working on a screenplay while he and Valentina looked forward to the birth of their first child. He couldn’t imagine he was having any work problems, but Jay picked up his pen again as he greeted his friend and client.
“Jay,” Smith said, “I just finished reading your profile piece in the Sea Shell. It was really great. Cool photo, too. Though you know you’re going to have every sculptor in California trying to sell you something for your garden.” He laughed.
Jay shook his head. “Smith, you don’t even live in Carmel-by-the-Sea. How on earth did you get a copy of the Sea Shell?”
“I subscribe online. I wouldn’t miss an issue of that any more than I’d miss an issue of Variety.”
Again, Jay waited for Smith to talk business, but it never happened. Once they’d caught up on Valentina’s pregnancy and how his writing was progressing, Smith said he had to go—they had a friend’s birthday party to attend. After he hung up, Jay’s bemusement deepened. He had to accept that everybody in Carmel, or who had any association with Carmel, apparently, read the Sea Shell. And maybe some of his clients valued their friendship more than he’d given them credit for. He smiled. He really did owe Erin a lot.
He picked up his phone and found her number. She answered after two rings. At the sound of her voice, he felt an instant warmth and connection and understood immediately why he had told her so much about himself. She was just so easy to talk to.