Page 51 of California Sunsets

If she’d had any doubts about her feelings for Jay, they all melted away in that moment.

She loved him. Wholly and completely, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. But after the day’s confession, she wasn’t ready yet to tell him so. Things between them were already moving too fast. Besides, there was the not insignificant issue of her brothers, especially Arch, all of whom would have something to say about their choice of each other.

For now, she just wanted to enjoy their newfound intimacy. Now there was nothing she couldn’t say to him. Nothing he wouldn’t understand. Nothing he couldn’t say to her and know that she would also understand. It was bliss. Pure and simple.

By the end of their walk, they were both famished, so he took her to Cannery Row for lobster rolls. She loved his suggestion, which was about as far as they could get from an uptight, exclusive restaurant.

As they took a seat, he told her that he’d been doing a little more research on romantic comedies, even talked to a couple of screenwriters he knew. And here she’d thought the script he’d begun was more of a joke or a kind of a romantic gesture than something he was actually taking seriously. But she should have known that once Jay got an idea in his head, he didn’t let it go until he’d brought the thing home. It was, she realized now, one of the qualities she most loved about him.

She smiled to herself at the thought, and then took a fry from the basket that had arrived along with their lobster rolls. They shared a pool of ketchup, both dipping their French fries into it, and when he chomped into his lobster roll, he got a little mayonnaise on his cheek. She leaned forward and wiped it away with her thumb. This meal probably cost about a hundredth of what the fancy one had, and she enjoyed it so much more.

In fact, everything felt so right and so easy it scared her a little. She just hoped that Jay’s feelings for her were as strong as hers for him.

After dinner, they agreed that they didn’t want the day to end, so they drove back to Jay’s place and the pair of them settled in the library. She couldn’t decide which was her favorite room in the house. Was it the upstairs bedroom, with its amazing view and the Barbara Hepworth sculpture? Or in fact this room, with its beautiful bookshelves crowded with so many amazing books, and the stylish but comfy furniture that simply insisted a person curl up, flip the gas fireplace on, and read. She was looking along the shelves for something new, picking up books, some of which she’d either read or always meant to, and putting them back. And then she spied a shelf of board games.

She turned to him. “I love Scrabble.”

He took off his reading glasses and grinned at her. He’d been reading theSea Shell. Adorably. “Ever played strip Scrabble?”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Strip Scrabble? Is that even a thing?”

He said, “I don’t know. Should we find out?”

It turned out they were both pretty good at Scrabble. He came up withexudate, which gave him the X and a whole bunch of points. But she countered withnexus, using both the X and a U. They figured the best way to play strip Scrabble was to take off a piece of clothing every time they tried to play a word that didn’t exist in the Scrabble rulebook.

She added a little extra spice by suggesting that whatever part of herself she revealed, he should crawl over and give it a kiss or lick. There was the inside of her wrist when she took off her shirt, her ankle when she took off a sock. Then he had to help her off with her jeans, kissing his way from the bottom of her foot, to the inside of her knee, and up her thigh. But even though she was wet and aching for him, he stopped whenhe got to the barrier of her panties. She was dying to come up with a new, unheard-of word. And then her imagination, along with her body, fired up and soon they were both naked. She got everything she wanted as they made love on the floor, then with her bent over one of the leather club chairs, until finally, exhausted, they collapsed in a heap on the sofa.

He bent to pick up some of the letters scattered all over the floor. He found anEand placed that on one of her nipples. TheRwent on the other nipple. Then anIbetween her breasts and anNright on top of her navel.

She glanced down at herself. “Is this so you can remember my name?”

“That’s good. We should use this scene in our movie.”

She laughed, then had to stop and gather up all the boldness inside her. “Jay, I’m scared. I’m not your usual girl and you’re not my usual guy.”

He turned and kissed her softly. “I’m scared too. But what I feel for you is unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” He was so much more open in his response than she’d ever thought he’d be that she softened.

She would trust them both to follow their hearts.

They collected their clothes and Erin realized she was hungry again. “All that lovemaking really works up an appetite.”

Jay agreed and said he’d throw together a light supper. In the kitchen, he was in his underwear opening a bottle of white wine, when the doorbell rang. “I’m expecting a delivery—do you mind getting that?”

“Not at all.” Since they kept tearing off each other’s clothes anyway, she hadn’t bothered putting all hers back on again. All she wore was Jay’s shirt, which she loved because she had to roll up the cuffs and it hung down on her like a dress. She figured she was decent enough to answer the door.

She opened it, ready to sign for whatever Jay was expecting, when she got the shock of her life. Her brother Damien stood on the step. It was all she could do not to slam the door in his face and run back inside.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Erin knew this looked very, very bad to her overprotective older brother. She forced herself to be calm. “Damien. What are you doing here?”

After a stunned moment, he said, “I think the better question is, what areyoudoing here?” His cheeks were turning red and his eyes were taking on a wild look. He was clearly already losing his mind at discovering her here in a very compromising outfit.

Obviously having heard the rock star’s voice, Jay appeared at the door behind Erin. He’d somehow quickly thrown on his T-shirt and jeans.

“Damien, my man,” he said coolly. “What can I do you for?”

Damien stepped inside, managing to slide in front of Erin so that she was forced behind him. Not going to play nice, then. He looked at Jay and then at Erin and back at Jay again. It took about three seconds before Damien completely lost it.

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