Chapter Thirty-One
Erin spent the week feeling as though she was living in her very own romantic comedy movie. Nothing could have prepared her for how much fun writing a screenplay with Jay would be. In between his agenting commitments and her job at the paper, they worked together feverishly on the end of the screenplay. Of course, sometimes they argued: her ideas were often quite different from his, and that would cause them to sit back—usually naked and in bed—and discuss the way she saw the world versus how he did. Sometimes she felt it was a female perspective versus a male one, but they always seemed to come up with something better together than either of them would have been able to on their own.
By Friday night, the script was almost done and they were reading through the final draft, when Jay said, “Every one of the scenes you wrote—and the scenes of mine you’ve edited—just fly off the page. I can see these scenes onscreen already. Where did you learn how to write a romance?”
She thought about it for a minute. “From life, I guess. I watch my parents, and every day they show each other in little ways how much they’re still in love.” She gazed into her memories. “And then I watched Arch and Tessa fall in love. Smith and Valentina have had a pretty rocky time of it, but they’re so happy now and having a baby. Even Mila and Hersch. Mila was never going to fall in love easily.”
He laughed. “You didn’t either. But I think we’re the kind of people who, when we do love, it’s forever.”
She couldn’t help it. Tears filled her eyes. “Forever. I feel that too.”
They kissed deeply and then smiled at one another. “What about you?” she asked. “Where did you learn about romance?”
“From loving you. I finally get what all the love songs and movies and novels are about. I’m ready to be the kind of man who can truly love a woman.” He looked into her eyes, “I will only ever love you, Erin. I’m making that promise to you now.”
In her heart, Erin knew it was a vow he intended to keep. She’d never felt happier.
Then Jay smiled sheepishly and swept out his arm, gesturing at the room. “You know, I said I bought this place so friends and clients could stay, and that’s still true. But deep down it was also because I’m ready for a family.” He chuckled. “A big one, clearly.”
Erin’s eyebrows shot up in a mild pang of alarm. “How big?”
“As big as you want it to be,” he said. “But I do have six bedrooms, and I’d love a big family like yours. And, as soon as you’re ready, I hope you’ll consider calling this place home.”
Erin was speechless. Everything was moving so fast and yet it felt so right. Gently, she moved the computer off her lap and kissed him. And then they were moving instinctively, their bodies taking over. Jay took the lead this time and she was happy for him to do it. She could barely contain herself as he spent what felt like hours caressing her, kissing her breasts and her belly. He discovered how aroused she became when he licked around her navel and once he found that tender spot, he lingered there until she couldn’t take it anymore. She let herself melt into his arms and moaned as he loved each part of her body with his tongue, gently licking, making his way down farther and farther until she was trembling all over, feeling worshiped and adored.
As much as she loved the attention he was lavishing on her, she wanted to do the same for him. She took his head in her hands, pulling him back up to eye level, before rolling them over so that she was on top.
“Hey,” he moaned into her mouth, “I was enjoying myself down there.”
“Me too,” she murmured back, “but it’s your turn now.”
She felt his excitement swell against her leg and decided that he too needed teasing right to the very edge. So she took her time exploring him, allowing herself the pleasure of feeling his pleasure. His body was divine. Tanned and sculpted and oh so manly. She loved the shape of him. He smelled clean and fresh, a subtle whisper of the sea-salt air and sun in his warm skin. When he cried out that he couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to be inside her, she straddled him and guided him into her, and together they rocked to a mutual climax, hands entwined, sticky with sweat, completely and utterly spent.
* * *
The next morning, Jay left Erin sleeping in what he was coming to think of as their bed. He walked Buzzy and Nelson on the beach, which was already becoming a routine, as though it was his morning job, along with making the coffee and usually breakfast. Erin needed more sleep than he did; besides which, she had developed her own routines and roles. She was, he had to admit, much better at tidying things away and making the house look prettier. A carefully arranged vase of flowers she’d picked from the garden, a bowl of enticing-looking fresh fruit on the kitchen counter—small touches he’d never have thought of, but that made the house feel more like a home.
Most of all, it felt like home because she was in it.
Out on the beach, with the ocean air blowing away the cobwebs, he cringed to remember that he’d even admitted to her last night that he had bought a house to fill it with children. She hadn’t exactly looked thrilled at the idea. She’d brought it up again after they’d made love, her eyes wide. “Six children? You’re really planning to have six children?”
“Well, not all right away,” he’d replied and then laughed. “Okay, I could compromise. How do you feel about five?”
“That’s your idea of a compromise? I was thinking two.”
“How about we split the difference and call it four.”
“How is splitting the difference between two and five four?” She was quite irate. “Isn’t the compromise between two and five more like three?”
He laughed and pulled her to him. “You know what I love about this conversation? We’re not arguing about whether we’re going to have children together, but how many.”
She twinkled at him. “That’s true.”
But, he hadn’t made his living brokering great deals for his clients for nothing. “I’d just like to remind you that your parents have six, and it’s worked out pretty well for them.”
She kissed him on the nose. “To be negotiated.”
He had been itching to leap out of bed, drop to one knee, and ask her to marry him right there, but something stopped him. The time wasn’t right. When he and Erin announced their engagement, he wanted every single person in the Davenport family thumping him on the back and offering congratulations. He definitely did not want her brothers glaring at him the way they had at breakfast last week. Not only for his sake, but for Erin’s. She was the nicest person he’d ever known and she deserved the full support of her family when she took that momentous step.
It was a momentous step for him too, but he was ready. He had a feeling that Erin had gotten under his skin a lot earlier than he’d realized. Well, Betsy had seen it, but he’d been too busy thinking he needed to prove himself by showing off the women on his arm like they were trophies. His behavior embarrassed him now, but, as in every decent romantic comedy, he had to accept that loving Erin had made him a better man.
He stood for a moment at the water’s edge, watching the dogs splash along the shore, and came to a sudden decision. He couldn’t move forward and ask Erin the question he was burning to ask her without clearing the air with Archer and the others. Archer was not only his client, they’d all but made each other, and for more than a dozen years had been close friends as well as respected colleagues. It had to start with Arch.
Leaving a note for Erin, who was still enjoying her Saturday morning sleep-in, he left the dogs at the house and then headed straight along Scenic Drive to Archer’s home. He walked deep in thought, his mind working a mile a minute, trying to figure out a way to convince his friend that he was the right man for Erin, and she the right woman for him.
By the time he rang the bell, he knew what he was going to say. He also knew perfectly well there was a video camera at the door. So he wasn’t all that surprised when he got a text from Archer.
You’re not wanted here. Go away.
Jay shook his head and then stared up at the camera. Was Arch really going to play this game? They weren’t children. Arch couldn’t just hide away. While Jay stood there, trying to decide whether he should go around the back and try to find a window he could shimmy through, the front door swung open and Tessa Taylor-Davenport stood there. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, and whether she meant to chide him or her husband or, as he suspected, the pair of them, she gestured for him to step inside.
In her soft voice, she said, “You need to work this out.”
“I agree,” Jay replied and followed her into the great room. He watched, a little bemused, as Tessa got busy texting someone whom Jay had to assume was her husband. After a minute or so, Archer stomped in wearing workout shorts and a sweat-stained T-shirt.
“I don’t want him here,” he repeated, close to sticking out his bottom lip like a petulant child.
Tessa calmly smoothed back her dark hair. “Yes, you made that clear. And I’m telling you, you need to work this out. Also, I just texted your brothers and told them to come over right now.”
Arch looked incredulous. “You did what ?”
“You guys need to sort this out and deal with it. I am going to have coffee with Mila and I’ve asked Erin to join us.” Then she shook her finger at the pair of them. “And when I get back, there’d better not be anything broken—not an arm, not a head, and not so much as a vase in my house. Do I make myself clear?”
The pair of them nodded mutely. Jay had never seen Tessa so tough. He’d always assumed Arch was joking when he said she was a hard taskmaster when she made him do his workouts. Now he realized Archer hadn’t been joking at all. Tessa had a core of steel in her and he admired it enormously. He was also grateful, because if there was anyone other than Betsy who could help sort this mess out, it was Tessa.
Archer didn’t look happy, but with a grumpy shrug, said, “You’d better sit down.” He trudged into the living room with its grand view of the ocean.
Tessa stretched up and kissed Jay on the cheek. Quietly she said, “I really like you and Erin together, and I believe in you. Make this right.”
He whispered back, “I intend to. And if it doesn’t work out with Erin, I am going to steal you away from Arch and run away with you.”
She laughed, delighted, patted him on the cheek, and then left.
Despite his host’s invitation, they didn’t sit. Arch stood glaring, his arms crossed over a chest even more formidable since he’d been bulking up for Shock Tactics . Jay was no slouch in the workout department, but if Archer decided to take him down, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Tessa left us a pot of coffee,” Arch said, and begrudgingly walked to the kitchen to pour Jay a cup.
He gulped the hot stuff down as if it were Dutch courage and then took a seat on Arch’s leather couch. Neither of them spoke, just watched the glorious waves through the panoramic window. Jay recalled watching Erin out there on the surf alone, so brave and beautiful. He had just opened his mouth to deliver his speech to Arch when the door opened and in walked Nick and Finn, Damien right behind them.
How had he never noticed how built all the Davenport brothers were? If they decided to gang up on him, what was he going to do? Still, they were also decent men and he doubted very much they intended him physical harm. They barely acknowledged Jay as they joined Arch on the couch.
Jay took a deep breath. It was better they all heard this together.
He had to stand. He’d pitched tougher men than these four in his life, but never, ever had his pitch been more important. He didn’t have notes or a prepared speech. All he had were his feelings.
“First of all, I get that I’m not the guy you’d have chosen for Erin. I wouldn’t have chosen myself for Erin either. I absolutely agree with you that she deserves better. But you know what? She loves me and I love her. And maybe at breakfast the other day I felt like I really wasn’t good enough, and maybe I was willing to walk away, but Erin has convinced me not to. And I’ll tell you what—I would not do one single thing that would make Erin Davenport unhappy. If my walking away makes her unhappy, then that is non-negotiable.”
The four brothers looked at each other. Obviously, they figured it was Arch who should do the talking, since he and Jay had always been so close.
Arch scratched the back of his head, as though he couldn’t quite figure out what to say. “But I told you to stay away from her. I told you to stay away from both my sisters.”
He’d made that argument a few times now, and it was starting to sound a little weak. This was good. Jay hadn’t become an expert negotiator without being able to gauge the strength of an argument and the commitment behind it. Archer might be saying the words, but he was having trouble holding on to his conviction.
Jay opened his hands. “You did. And I’m telling you right now, I tried. I never thought of Erin as anything but your kid sister. But since I’ve arrived here and we’ve come to know each other, what I feel for Erin is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before—anything I thought I was capable of feeling. Can you understand that?”
Okay, it was a bit of a low blow and he knew it. Because Archer had walked the same road Jay was walking now, having to accept that Tessa, the love of his life, had been right under his nose for a while before he’d figured it out.
However, Archer wasn’t giving in that easily. “What happened with me and Tessa has absolutely nothing to do with you and Erin.”
“No. I know that. But you have to admit the situations are a little similar.”
Damien obviously couldn’t hold himself back any longer. Outraged, he growled, “But she’s our little sister. You had to know she was off limits.”
Jay turned to the fierce rock star. “I never meant to fall for your sister, and I know what a shock this must be for all of you. I agree that I’m not good enough for her, but I love your sister so much that I would give up my whole life and every dollar I’ve ever earned for her. She’s my everything.”
Archer scoffed and then stepped forward, getting right in Jay’s face. “Do you really think that after pulling a stunt like this, I would let you near my business?”
Sure, it was hard to face the threat of losing one of his most lucrative clients, but Jay was not going to be intimidated. Not by Arch or anybody else. He didn’t flinch or retreat. “Falling in love with Erin is not a stunt. I’d pick loving your sister over running your career any day of the week.”
Arch was so shocked he couldn’t seem to find words.
Finn muttered, “I never thought I’d see the day.”
Arch finally found his voice. “Wait a minute. I’m firing you . You can’t fire me .”
Jay looked at his friend, red in the face, nostrils flaring, and softened. In a quieter tone, he said, “I don’t want to fire you. I want to represent you and your best interests. I want to keep making money for both of us and finding you movies so great they haven’t even been dreamed up yet. All I’m saying is that if I have to choose between the two of you, I choose Erin.”
Nick shifted on the sofa. “It’s easy to say you love her. Can you prove it?”
How did you prove love? How could he show what lay deep in his heart? Did they expect him to pull out that organ and display it for them?
Then an idea struck like a sneaky wave. An idea so embarrassing he wasn’t sure he could do it. Would he make himself that vulnerable to four of the toughest guys he knew?
Well, Nick wanted proof. He couldn’t think of anything better than this. He pulled out his phone and tapped through it.
“It kills me to do this,” Jay said. “I can’t even believe I’m showing you.” Then he had to close his eyes as he pushed the phone toward Arch. “Read this.”
Arch took the phone and stared down at it. “What is this? Are you trying to pitch me a project? Now ?”
The other three gathered around to look over Archer’s shoulder and Damien said, “It’s a screenplay.”
“I know that, genius,” Arch snapped, “but why do I want to read a screenplay now?”
Nick, who was the most computer savvy of them all, began flicking the pages forward. “It’s a romantic comedy.” Now the four of them were silent, all skim reading. “It’s about us. Our family. And Jay and Erin.” Nick sounded like he couldn’t believe it. Then all the brothers stared at Jay.
Stunned surprise dripping off every word, Arch said, “No way did you write this.”
“I did. It started out as kind of a love letter to Erin, but now the two of us are working on it. Together. We just figured out the ending last night.”
Archer and Damien stared at each other. “He’s not bluffing,” Archer said. “He never puts his clients in romantic comedies. If he’s writing one for Erin, he’s got to be in love with her.”
“That’s what I keep telling you. I love your sister and she loves me. Deal with it.” And as they all stood there, looking more like they wanted to laugh at him than kick his ass, he said, “Can I have my phone back?”
He had done everything he possibly could here and had nothing left to give. Jay said a curt good-bye and left the room, wondering if Arch would ever speak to him again, never mind let him represent him any longer.
He was almost to the door when Archer yelled after him, “We’re watching the video of the Scottish wedding tonight at seven. Make sure you and Erin come.”