Chapter 1 #4
“That’s wonderful.” He heard Camilla clap her hands together. He must be on speaker phone. “Tell me everything,” she demanded. “And I mean now.”
For once she actually listened without interrupting him as he explained the link between Simon and Ronan, and how a reader had given him inspiration while they were talking in the ocean. He could hear the rasps of her breath as he explained the final denouement.
“A reader gave you this idea? Hmm. How did he know what you were writing? We should get him to sign an NDA.”
“He’s a her. And she’s fine. She won’t give anything away. I trust her.” Oliver said.
Camilla clucked her tongue. “You know how rabid your fans can get.”
“Juniper’s not rabid,” he told her. If anybody was rabid, it was him.
“That’s her name? Like the tree?” Camilla cleared her throat. “You’re close with this girl?”
“Was that everything you wanted to talk about, Camilla?” He knew her tendency to stray into non-agent areas if you didn’t cut her off.
“Yes,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Keep writing, Oliver. And send me over what you’ve done so far so I can read it.”
“Okay.” Another set of eyes would be good. Plus, if he sent it, she might not call again for a while. His books ran big. “I’ll email it over tonight,” he promised. “Speak soon.”
“Yes we will. Oh and Oliver?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes?”
“Juniper would be a great name for a love interest. If you need one.”
* * *
Juniper been fretting about that kiss since Sunday.
After he’d broke it off, Oliver swam away from her so fast she hadn’t a chance of keeping up with him. And when they’d gotten out of the ocean, he’d made his apologies about lunch and went straight back to his beach house, muttering about needing to revise his manuscript right away.
For the past three days, he hadn’t come out of the office at all when she’d been here. The door was firmly shut and she hadn’t dared knock. It was all a mess, and she was supremely embarrassed about it.
Taking a deep breath, she hit the keypad and let herself into the house, her thongs slapping against the marble floor.
She checked over all the plants in the lobby and they were fine.
Didn’t even need watering yet. But the flytrap in the living room was looking brown at the edges, and it made her stomach twist.
“What’s up, bud?” she whispered, scanning the flytrap to see if there were any other problems with the plant.
“It’s missing your singing.”
Oliver was standing in front of her. He was dressed in black again.
“I’m sorry?”
“The flytrap is missing your singing. I haven’t heard you do it for days.”
Her cheeks flushed. “You’ve been busy in the office.”
“Not so busy I wouldn’t hear ‘The Muffin Man’ if you were singing it.” There was a hint of a smile on his face. “Your idea worked, by the way. The villain being somebody from Simon’s childhood. I’ve spent the week rewriting my book.”
Juniper blinked. “You’ve had to rewrite it?”
“Kind of.” He shrugged. “I had to add in some hints throughout the earlier chapters. It takes a long time to go through each one.”
“Oh God. Now I feel bad for making you do all that extra work.” She put her hand on her chest. “What if everybody hates it?”
“It’s a good idea. It works.” His eyes caught hers and for a moment neither of them could look away.
“I didn’t realize that’s what you were doing,” she said softly. “I thought you were avoiding me.”
“You did?” He looked confused. “Why?”
“Because of the kiss in the ocean.”
“Why would I avoid you because of that? It was my fault. I was the one who kissed you.”
“But I wanted it,” she told him. “Maybe you just didn’t know how to get out of the situation.”
His eyes caught hers again. “I wanted it too.”
Oh. For the first time in three days, it felt like she could breathe properly. “It was a good kiss,” she told him, a smile ghosting her mouth.
“It was,” he said, his gaze hot on hers. “Want to do it again?”
She nodded. He stepped forward, cupped her face with his hands. “You’re beautiful,” he told her.
And then he brushed his lips against hers and she let out a low breath before curling her arms around his neck. Her body arched against his as he deepened the kiss, his mouth demanding, his hands sliding down her back to the curve of her behind.
And then his phone rang.
“Shit.” He pulled back, looking furious. It rang again, and he sighed, pulling it out of his pocket.
“It’s Chris,” he told her.
“You should probably take it.” Juniper’s mouth was still tingling from their kiss. Would they ever actually finish one without getting interrupted, either by his conscience or his phone?
Oliver nodded and stepped back, and her body missed the feel of him.
“Hey Chris,” he said, lifting the phone to his ear. His voice was low. He paused and raked his hand through his hair. “Yeah, all good.” Another pause. “No, it’s not a problem.” His eyes caught hers. “Yeah, she’s doing fine. Just in and out. The plants are good.”
And then he smiled at her, and like an idiot, she grinned back.
Damn, she liked this man.
“Yeah, it’s working finally.” Oliver chuckled. And she felt silly just standing here watching him talk, so she picked up her caddy and walked to the next plant, going through her usual routine of checking the soil, the plant’s leaves, making sure everything was good.
And when she finished, he was still talking to Chris. She lifted a hand in goodbye and he murmured something into the phone.
“Are you going?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m all done.”
Oliver blinked. “Can you wait for a minute? I’ll just finish this call and we can talk.”
She nodded and busied herself tidying her caddy while he said his goodbyes. And then he gave her the sweetest smile.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked her.
“Not much. Probably just watering my plants,” she joked.
He laughed and the way his eyes crinkled did something to her. It would be so easy to fall for him if she let herself.
“Let me take you out for dinner,” he said.
“You don’t have to take me out to dinner just because we kissed.”
“I want to take you out.” There was that smile again. It was starting to rock her world. Maybe the third kiss would be the charm if they ever got that far.
“Okay then,” she nodded. “We’re on.”
* * *
Juniper couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed this much.
Tears poured down her face as Oliver described a stunt gone wrong on the set of the first Simon Jakes movie, where the actor, John Marx, had gotten his foot caught in the rope of a pulley system and was left dangling in mid-air for what felt like an eternity.
Oliver’s voice was thick with amusement as he described the director ordering everybody off set while they figured how to get the actor down safely.
Unfortunately, by that point, a crowd of onlookers had gathered outside the studio walls, and they only grew bigger as they waited to see what would happen next.
Oh, and John Marx had only been wearing a pair of underpants.
When he was eventually freed, the actor started shouting at the crew. According to Oliver, the tantrum could be heard from miles away.
“I think I saw that on TikTok,” Juniper said, wiping her eyes. “Oh my god, I wish I’d been there.”
“You really don’t.” Oliver shook his head. “Everybody on set was like a bear with a sore head after that. There was word that John was going to leave the role.”
“But he is Simon Jakes.” She couldn’t imagine anybody else playing her favorite renegade.
“That’s what they said about Sean Connery and James Bond.” Oliver shrugged. “I guess nobody is replaceable.”
“Apart from the writer.”
Oliver lifted a brow. “Including the writer. Anyway, enough about my Hollywood horror stories. Tell me about your job.”
Juniper rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to know. It’s boring compared to that.”
“No it isn’t. Tell me why you wanted to become a plant whisperer.” He gave her an interested glance as he twirled his fork expertly in his spaghetti.
When he’d asked if she had a favorite restaurant, she’d chosen Delmonico’s on the Pier right away. She loved the food here, but more than anything, she loved the atmosphere. You could watch the sun slide down over the horizon as you ate. And if you were lucky, you might spot a dolphin or two.
Although tonight she only had eyes for Oliver.
“I guess I’ve always loved plants.” She cut into her chicken cacciatore.
“My grandmother used to have a hothouse and whenever I visited, I’d spend my time in there with her.
She taught me about how seeds germinate.
How plants need love and just the right amount of everything.
” She smiled. “And then I studied botany at college.”
Oliver broke into the garlic bread they’d ordered to share, offering her a piece.
“They say it’s okay if you both do,” he told her, and she smiled.
That meant he was planning to kiss her again tonight. And she was totally here for that.
Here for more than that if he felt the same.
She squirmed at the thought of it. The fact was, she was way too attracted to him. She couldn’t stop thinking about him after that first kiss. She wanted to know what it felt like to have his soft mouth all over her.
Wanted to know about his hard parts, too. The Porncenter parts she’d already gotten a glimpse and sense of.
“When did you move here?” he asked her, bringing her out of her dirty thoughts.
“Last year. Until then, I was working for a plant company. But I always dreamed of having my own shop.” She lifted a brow. “I feel very lucky.”
“You work hard. You deserve it.” His eyes were warm with approval.
“Thank you.” She smiled back at him.
They skipped dessert and coffee, and Oliver just asked for the check, refusing to even let her look at it before sliding his black Amex to the server.
When they left the restaurant, they walked along the beach, talking about Oliver’s life in New York and how different it was to here.
Before they knew it, they’d reached the bottom of the steps that led up to his house.