Chapter Five
Watching Jay take down a tin of Ghirardelli chocolate powder and then select a copper pan from his extensive collection, Erin asked, “When did all your stuff arrive?”
“Yesterday and today. I worked with a designer Mila recommended and chose most of the stuff so it just had to be delivered, and I sent some of my personal possessions here too. It’s been pretty intense, but I like to get things done fast.”
With enough money you could get anything done, but even so, she was impressed. The house didn’t look lived in, exactly, but it looked settled. Like a home.
In a huge bouquet of flowers on the kitchen island, a card read, Welcome home . She didn’t even need to read it. She recognized the personalized cards that went with her sister’s housewarming gifts.
Even his kitchen was completely outfitted, and she’d bet Jay hadn’t taken a buggy around Safeway to stock up on food either. Erin laughed. “I feel like I’m on MasterChef .”
He grinned at her. “One of those guys is my client. I asked him for a few tips once, but he refused to give me any.” He tipped milk into the pan and then stood for a moment, staring at the range. “I’m gonna be honest. I haven’t attempted to work this thing yet.” He gestured at the extraordinary range, which looked like it cost more than her entire apartment. “Why don’t you go have a hot shower while I figure it out?”
Erin laughed. Of course he didn’t know how to work the range yet. He probably hadn’t made his own hot chocolate in over a decade. A shower sounded like heaven right now, but accepting a warming drink was one thing. Getting naked in his house was another entirely.
“Don’t be polite,” he said, firmly but not unkindly. “We’ve known each other too long and your lips still look a little blue.”
She hesitated, then said at last, “Okay, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”
Upstairs, she chose one of the guest bathrooms, instinctively steering away from his gorgeous ensuite. Still, there was nothing shabby about the guest bathrooms either. She sighed as she stepped into the hot, pounding rain shower. Erin couldn’t believe where the evening had taken her. She’d meant to surf for an hour max, just long enough to clear her head about Jay and the newspaper assignment. Now she was showering in one of his luxurious bathrooms, slowly feeling her body come back to life.
She’d been foolish to stay out so long and get so cold. Maybe even more foolish to allow Jay to all but rescue her. Still, she’d solved one problem. Now she wouldn’t have to send him an awkward text to ask if he would mind being interviewed—she could do it in person.
And yet the bubble of nerves in her stomach hadn’t disappeared. As she soaped her body with a creamy ylang-ylang gel, she was reminded of how odd she’d felt standing in front of Jay in her bikini, even though they’d been out surfing together on countless hot days over the years. She couldn’t help but imagine herself through his eyes—eyes that had appreciated a hundred supermodels and lingerie models with their perfect, sculpted bodies. She wasn’t ashamed of her own—she loved her small frame and her curves, but next to those gazelles she must have appeared unimpressive at best.
Then she shook her head. What did she care what Jay Malone thought?
She stepped out of the shower and rubbed her gleaming skin dry with another of his warm and fluffy towels. A pleasant tingling in her toes told her there must be underfloor heating beneath the slabs of white and gray marble.
As he’d insisted, she helped herself to the body lotion, feeling like she was in a high-end spa, taking the time to massage it into her skin. It smelled heavenly. But as she reached down to smooth it over her legs and thighs, the image of Jay’s large hands came to mind. For a split second, she closed her eyes and imagined it was his fingers traveling across her skin. The image felt so good she shuddered with pleasure and then caught herself.
No, this was Jay. Her brother’s brash, loud agent. What was she thinking? Mila and Tessa, as well as the hot water and steam, had gone to her head.
She dressed quickly, leaving her hair to air dry, and then made her way downstairs.
As she walked past the library, she couldn’t help but peek in. The reading light was on and a book lay open on a side table, reading glasses beside it. She was almost certain she’d interrupted him reading.
Dammit, couldn’t he have been doing something she really disliked, like watching sports?
Reading was her favorite activity in the whole world. She had a momentary vision of the two of them sitting in this library, both reading, maybe talking about what they read. Other women had wild sex fantasies about their men, but to Erin, the sexiest thing she could imagine was a man who read for pleasure. Then, that moment when they closed their books for the night and looked over at one another with a certain expression in their eyes, when all thoughts of reading would be forgotten.
She shook away the image and scolded herself.
When she walked into the kitchen, he said, “Perfect timing,” and poured warmed milk into two thick earthenware mugs, then gently dropped three marshmallows into the liquid.
When she took the first sip, she let out a deep sigh of bliss. It was perfect. Rich and creamy. She licked a melted marshmallow and a hint of chocolate from her lip. There was a pause and she searched her brain for something to say, sifting through subjects, but nothing felt right. For once, Jay was also quiet. It was weird, because they knew each other so well, but normally they were in a group. Until today they’d rarely—if ever—been alone together.
It was as though they were playing poker, both looking at their cards, thinking about what they might put down, what the other might have. But the trouble was the card she really needed to play was sort of a joker.
She might as well get it over with. “There’s something I need to ask you.”
He looked surprised. “Okay. Shoot.”
She took another sip of hot chocolate to buy herself some time. With her index finger, she poked at a marshmallow, watching it bounce up and down on the hot chocolate like a life raft. That way, she didn’t have to look at him. “It’s more of a favor, really.”
“I’m listening.”
“And it wasn’t my idea.”
“Noted.”
Finally, she took the plunge. “My editor at the Sea Shell was understandably annoyed that I never told them about Arch getting married right here in Carmel.”
“Your editor should know you’d never throw your brother under the bus like that,” he said gravely.
“I think she does. But in her journalist’s eyes, I denied the paper the scoop of the year.”
She glanced up and saw that Jay was nodding and, without words, clearly understanding what she was getting at.
“She found out that you’ve moved here, and that you’re Archer’s agent.” She paused. “She wants a profile piece on you. And she wants me to write it.” She ended the last bit in a rush and waited for Jay’s response. When it didn’t come, she blurted, “You don’t have to do it. The thing is, a lot of celebrities live here, and since a number of them are perfectly happy to be profiled in the paper, my editor insisted that I ask.”
Jay was still silent. Erin could tell he was balking at the idea, but she wasn’t entirely sure why. Yes, he was a busy man and wouldn’t want to give up his valuable time, but he seemed troubled by the request. Strange. This was the man who loved an audience, who would talk to anyone and everyone. She didn’t know what else to say, so she waited for Jay to speak.
Finally, after appearing to weigh a long list of pros and cons, he said, “I’d be happy to do it.”
Erin blinked twice. Despite their long history, she’d been expecting him to say no. The little flutter in her chest told her that she’d been hoping he’d say yes. Was it simply because she didn’t want to go back to her editor without a story, or was something else at play?
“Really?” she asked, not quite believing it. “I’d be so grateful. It might get me off the blacklist. Otherwise, I bet she assigns me to report on high school basketball. I don’t even understand basketball.”
Jay grinned. “Well we can’t have that, can we? I’m free tomorrow, if you like.”
Erin blinked again. Jay was never free. He must have sensed her desperation—since she needed this interview for the next issue, it had to happen this week. “Seriously? I know what that really means is that you’re going to clear your schedule, and you’ve probably got several zillion-dollar contracts on the line for your clients right now.”
“It’s no big deal. I needed a breather while I moved in anyway. I’ll tell my PA to keep everyone at bay for a while. They can wait a day.”
Erin breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “I am so grateful,” she said. “And would it be okay if a photographer came and took a couple of shots of you?”
“Of course.” He was still smiling. “You never know—with all the movie stars moving to Carmel, I might pick up some clients.”
She knew he turned away more clients than he took on, but she appreciated his making it seem as though it were a mutual favor. She suggested a start time of eleven a.m. and he nodded.
“There’s one more thing before I come tomorrow,” she said.
He looked up, alarmed. “What is it?”
“Can I bring my dog? He usually comes to work with me and he hates to be alone.”
Jay laughed, the alarm vanishing. “Of course. I love dogs. I’ve always wanted one, but I’m too busy.”
With the business chat out of the way, they fell into their usual easy rapport, drinking hot chocolate in the kitchen and laughing about some of the funnier things that had happened at Archer’s wedding in Scotland. Then suddenly she remembered his asking her to dance, and how comfortable they’d been together, how well they’d moved together. She hadn’t seen that coming, any more than she’d seen that library coming.
In fact, she was beginning to realize there were aspects to Jay Malone that she’d never glimpsed before.
* * *
Jay offered to drive Erin home, but it turned out she had parked her car nearby. By the time they’d finished their hot chocolate, he felt so comfortable in her company that he’d been tempted to ask her to stay and hang out. He’d had a vision of them watching an old movie in his home theatre and it felt darned good. But then he remembered his earlier conversation with his oldest and one of his most valuable clients, Archer Davenport, who’d warned him to stay away from his sister.
Then there was the small matter of his own conflicted feelings. He didn’t want to give Erin the wrong idea. He’d wanted them to watch a movie like old buddies, but what if she got the wrong impression? Or worse, what if, in the intimate setting, he got the wrong idea and let these new thoughts about Erin take the reins?
No, it was much better to say good-bye and tell her he’d see her tomorrow. Besides, he had an absolutely packed day of meetings to reschedule.
He wasn’t sure why he’d told Erin he was completely free tomorrow. They both knew it was a lie. It was just that he’d been able to read her and could see how much she wanted to get back in her editor’s good graces. He’d worked with enough journalists and enough media to know that stories were always time sensitive. He imagined even a weekly community newspaper like the Sea Shell tried to stay topical. Besides, it might be fun. It would be interesting to see Erin at work, to hear the kind of questions she’d ask him—especially with so little time to prepare. Maybe there was also a little pride at play. He wanted to show off his new house and, more than that, he wanted to fit in with his new community. It was important to him to be accepted in Carmel—it was already feeling like home in a way nowhere else ever had, even LA.
He quickly composed an email to his personal assistant, Gina, to reschedule all tomorrow’s meetings. In less than a minute his phone flashed and he smiled. She was an excellent assistant.
Are you sick? Do you need me to call an ambulance?
He laughed out loud. Okay, he was a workaholic, but surely he wasn’t that bad. He wondered what to tell her. He couldn’t exactly say he was dumping meetings with studio heads to be interviewed for a community paper.
No, I have to do a favor for a friend.
It’s not April Fool’s Day or something, is it?
It’s real. Huge thanks, you’re the best.
Gina and her team would make everything work—that’s why he hired the best and paid them well. Then, because he figured he’d earned the right, he went back to his library, settled in his favorite chair, put on his reading glasses, and picked up his book.