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)
Jay leaned back against the counter and let out a low whistle. His heart had been beating double time for the entire call. In choosing Erin to be the love of his life, he hadn’t made that life easy. Not with Archer, and he suspected not with the rest of her brothers either. They knew too much about him and his past relationships. But the point was, all that was in the past. He just had to make it very clear to everyone that being with Erin was a brand-new start for him. Like coming to Carmel-by-the-Sea, and buying this house, he felt as though he’d finally grown into himself. Finally arrived.
He couldn’t wait to tell Erin how he felt. With all that feverish lovemaking, he hadn’t got a chance to tell her he had to go back to LA for a couple of days. Now the thought of being separated from her for even an hour seemed unbearable. He considered telling her he loved her. Were either of them ready for that yet? He wasn’t sure. He’d play it by ear.
He raced upstairs, eager now for some intense and passionate farewell sex, after which she’d go to work and he’d get on with his day. He entered the bedroom, full of desire and excitement, only to find no one there. Not even the dogs. He frowned and looked around the room, wondering if she was in the shower, but the ensuite was empty too.
And then he realized there wasn’t a single trace of Erin left. No clothes, no watch, no hair tie. She had even made the bed. On the table beside the Barbara Hepworth sculpture was a handwritten note.
Dear Mr. Malone,
I apologize for leaving without a farewell. If you could please grant me a few days to ruminate on the latest development in the script, I would greatly appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,
Erin Davenport (Ms.)
He shook his head in disbelief. She’d gone!
He read the note again. As much as he loved their cute notes back and forth, the formal tone of this one made his heart sink. They should have been closer now they’d made love, but it felt as though their becoming intimate physically had made her pull back emotionally. That couldn’t be good.
A man with a smaller ego might have worried that she was trying to give him the brush-off. But Jay was pretty comfortable with his ego and with his appeal to women, and he also knew Erin very well. This was exactly like her—to take a moment, a step back, to think things through. It was one of the things he loved about her: she was a thinker. She didn’t rush into action, but instead took her time and contemplated the different aspects of every scenario.
He was going to have to make peace with the fact that she needed some space, when all he wanted was to put as little space between them as possible. The sooner he got used to not having things as quickly as he wanted them, the better.
That was the old Jay. The new one was patient and understanding.
He couldn’t help a tiny smile as he thought about last night. No wonder she wanted a moment to reflect—they’d rushed into intimacy with one another, and he imagined that acting on impulse was probably uncomfortable for Erin. She could use words like ruminate all she liked, but she’d been as hot and desperate for him last night as he had been for her. He didn’t have to worry about whether she was into him or not.
Although he’d obviously rather be having some seriously hot good-bye sex right about now, he gave the rounded top of the Hepworth a little pat and whistled a tune from an old Western movie as he got into the shower. Erin wasn’t fickle. If she’d turned up at his door, kissed him, and then had a glorious night of sex with him, it was because she had feelings for him. And if he could be the man she gave him the courage to be, then just maybe she could fall as hard for him as he had for her.
Besides, there were ways he could show her that she was on his mind without encroaching on her space.
So, bag packed and Nelson in tow, Jay left for the airport with a plan to make a quick stop at the Sea Shell office. His private jet was waiting at Monterey, and he was very curious to see what Nelson would think about his first flight. At least, he assumed it was Nelson’s first flight; Nelson wasn’t big on sharing his past and Jay respected that. He suspected Nelson’s past and his own were kind of similar. They were both scrappy outcasts who’d managed to make good, mostly by the sheer force of their personality.