Page 13 of California Sunsets

They shared a look that seemed to go on for hours, so lost was she in the gray of his eyes, like the soft foam of ocean waves when they rolled at dusk.

A bark from Buzzy downstairs broke the moment. She shivered, not from cold, but from the startling realization that her whole body was tingling.

Jay smiled. “I think that’s Buzzy asking if we’re ready to get to work.”

“He’s a tough taskmaster,” Erin said, relieved for the millionth time that Buzzy was in her life.

They went downstairs, and Jay made a pot of coffee and carried two cups into the study. He took a seat at a stylish desk that looked as though it was made of glass. The chairs looked fancy, but she found hers was actually comfortable.

“Do you mind if I record this?” Erin asked as she always did, setting her phone between them. Sometimes she needed to go back and get a quote exactly right or listen to something she might have misunderstood. But she also took notes in an old-fashioned notebook for the bulk of her story.

He told her to go ahead and they settled across from each other. She had all his attention as those gray eyes focused on hers.

Chapter Seven

Jay had been interviewed by some reasonably tough characters—hard news reporters trying to get the inside track on a former client’s drug-induced spree of destruction, paparazzi trying to weasel romantic scoops on his A-listers—so to be interviewed by somebody he’d only ever considered as his best friend’s kid sister should have been a breeze. And yet, as he waited for Erin to begin, he felt strangely on edge. Erin was a lot smarter than many people gave her credit for, a good listener, and often the quiet one in a noisy family. A family that was noisier, let’s face it, when he was around. So he knew what she was like at a family breakfast, on the surfboard, and, if he was honest with himself, he’d enjoyed seeing her all dressed up and gorgeous at her brother’s wedding.

But he’d never seen her at work.

It didn’t help that they’d just shared a moment in the bedroom. It wasn’t his mind playing tricks—she’d looked at him with a kind of tenderness he’d never seen enter her eyes before. There had been heat there too. A desire he’d been pushing away—for how long?

This was Arch’s kid sister, he reminded himself. NO-GO.

He turned his attention to the interview. He could pretty much imagine all the questions she’d ask him, questions he’d been asked a hundred times. What was it like working with top celebrities, how had he got into the business, and sometimes, painfully, that almost throwaway question: If I were looking to get into the business, or if my sister / brother / girlfriend / kid wanted an in, how would they go about it? He would feelthe want emanating from the interviewer as they waited for his answer, hoping he’d give them the keys to the kingdom.

Truth was, there were no golden keys. Talent, hard work, and of course good looks could help, but so much of it was luck. Luck and pure hustle. These last two had been the magic ingredients that had worked for Jay’s career.

This time, he decided, he would try to enjoy himself for once, and not feel as though he had to put up walls or be too careful about what he said. Erin looked so cute with her reporter’s notebook, her phone set to record, and her dog, but as she met his gaze, her smile was a little cooler than it had been. It must be her professional smile. Interesting.

She cleared her throat. “I’m sure my first question will come as no surprise to you. We always ask everybody, what made you choose Carmel-by-the-Sea?”

If there’d been any residual worry that Erin might ask hard-hitting questions, it melted away. He gave herhisprofessional smile and then launched into a well-rehearsed response.

“This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I love the beach and the relaxed atmosphere here. LA can get intense, so to be able to retreat to somewhere peaceful with a slower pace of life is amazing. And then this house came up and I fell in love with it right away. Love at first sight, as they say. Plus, I’ve got a few clients in the area. A lot of people in my business find themselves up here, so I can fly between LA and here in my PJ.”

Erin shot him a teasing look. “Your pajamas?”

“My private jet.”

“Right. Cool,” she said a little sarcastically.

Jay grinned. Her brothers owned or flew in private jets all the time, so she knew exactly what he meant byPJ. But she was having fun messing with him, and it was kind of hot to be teased. Usually, women were impressed by his jet. Not Erin. It was refreshing.

He realized then that she hadn’t taken a single note. Clearly this was territory as familiar to her as it was to him.

Then she said, “I’ve known you for a long time, but I always do some background reading on my subjects before I interview them. Do you know what struck me? In none of your interviews do you say where you got your education.”

He paused, weighing his options. He tended to overshare, but it was only ever about things he was happy for the world to know. There was a big part of him that he kept closed off from public scrutiny. Still, this was Erin and he wanted her to get a good interview. Maybe he could give her a little more than he’d usually give a reporter. Maybe it would also do him good to start talking about this stuff.

He took a breath. “I went to the school of hard knocks.”

She chuckled a little. “Sure, I get that, but did you get a degree from Harvard Business School or—”

Before she listed every Ivy League school he could have gone to and didn’t, he blurted, “I didn’t finish high school.”

Silence filled the room. He must have shocked her—heck, he’d shocked himself. He’d never told anyone that, let alone someone interviewing him. But as he met Erin’s gaze, he saw that she wasn’t shocked, merely interested in him.

“Really?” she asked. “I never knew that.”

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