Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
And this verbal sparring is getting us nowhere, so I hold up my hands in surrender. “Stop. What I said was uncalled for. We’re both professionals. We can handle this arrangement for as long as is necessary. No more low blows.”
She swallows hard, the soft line of her throat moving up and down. I want to trace the silken skin with my tongue, bite down until I mark her and she moans like I know she would. Those sounds she used to make in the back of her throat when I was deep inside her still haunt me.
“Fine,” she says, breaking into my irreverent daydreams before I can go further, before my body can react to the thoughts I can’t control in my brain.
At least she acquiesced easier than I expected. “So what is next on your agenda?” I ask in a rough voice.
She rubs her bare arm with one hand. Her nails are long and painted a light blue.
“Errands and then home. I have an early appearance on The Morning Show. It’s a short interview and then I’m performing.”
“Indoors or out?” I ask, already assessing the situation and risk.
“Out.”
I blow out a sharp breath. I’ll just have to stick close to the stage. “Fine. When we get back to your place, I need to see your most recent itinerary. Make sure nothing’s changed compared to what was given to me.”
She nods in agreement. “Okay. And you’ll come by in the morning and go with me to the studio?”
I can’t stop the slow grin from lifting the corners of my mouth. “Nope. I’ll be spending the night, so please tell me you’ve got a decent-sized couch?”
She blinks, and those big doe eyes look at me as if surely I’ve lost my mind. “Why would you need to stay over? I’m perfectly safe locked in my apartment until you come to get me.”
I cock an eyebrow. “In your walk-up apartment with no doorman or alarm? Is that really your definition of perfectly safe?”
She opens her mouth to argue, then shuts it again, obviously realizing she really can’t fight me. The fact is, this is my business and I know it better than she does.
She blows out a long breath. “You’re in luck,” she mutters, somewhat ungraciously. “I have a pullout sofa so that big body of yours won’t have to curl up on a too-short couch.”
I smirk, realizing I am enjoying watching her squirm. “I can’t wait.”
I took the subway to get to Summer’s appointment because I was told she has a car service provided by Jade Glow during the time of the so-called competition. From the stylist’s, a waiting car drives us to Summer’s. I am grateful I don’t have to deal with keeping her safe in subways loaded with people or taxi cabs with random drivers. Rose sent her home with tomorrow’s clothes and promised to deliver everything else. Without a doorman, Summer instructed Rose to leave everything with the super in her building.
When we arrive, my suspicions about her apartment are confirmed. The place is a security nightmare. Anyone can come into the building just by following close behind someone heading in. Her lock isn’t any more secure, something I’ll take care of right away by getting one of my company’s trusted locksmiths to put a secure Medeco lock and deadbolt on the door.
“Be it ever so humble,” she says, opening the door and letting me inside first.
I look around her home, taking in the bright colors and homey atmosphere. A white canvas sofa is covered in red and yellow pillows, and there is a black-and-white area rug beneath the cocktail table, which I assume will move easily so I can open the bed hidden inside. The kitchen is a tiny, narrow room, the eating area a small table at the end of the entryway and just outside the kitchen. A pass-through window opens to the family room. There is nothing pretentious about how she lives.
I place my bag down beside the sofa.
“The bathroom is through there,” she says, pointing to the door beside her bedroom, a short couple of steps away from where I’ll be sleeping, something I won’t think about until I absolutely have to.
“I think we’ll manage just fine,” I say, wishing I was as confident as I sound.
But the last thing I am ready to do is spend God knows how many nights in this small apartment, surrounded by the fragrant scent of wildflowers I associate with Summer.
* * *
Summer
I can’t sleep. Dinner, which I prepared for us both, consisted of whole wheat bow tie pasta with fresh vegetables and tomato sauce, and lackluster conversation. In the background, a locksmith changed my locks and secured my home, but Ben wouldn’t have been chatty even without the worker there. There seems to be a definite tension between us leftover from our time together and the past, and he seems determined to do his job with no other real conversation between us. So I gave him what he wanted and turned in early to my room for bed. But first I helped him open the pullout sofa and made up the bed for him to sleep.