Page 42 of Kiss Me, Darling

London moved closer. “Oh yeah. Grams loved seahorses. You’ll see a bunch.”

Grams started collecting shells and sea creatures very young and had hundreds of jars filled with the most beautiful shells I’d ever seen. London had them displayed around the house, so I was hunting them all down. There were giant conch shells, sea stars much, much larger than the one I saw on the sandbar, and, apparently, seahorses.

“This sea urchin looks deadly.” It was black and had long sharp spikes.

London nodded. “I agree.”

She was nervous. Zoe should be here any minute. Instead of going out and enjoying the day, we had lunch brought to us. “What are the guys doing today?”

“Poker game at Chris and Olivia’s. They were originally going golfing but now…”

“This could go on for ages. I once had a client who was stalked for three years.”

London cringed. “I heard our bodyguards talking yesterday. They said they thought the stalker was developing a pattern. They think they’ll be able to catch or identify the person the next time they appear.”

Well that was good news.

“Hello, hello!” Zoe knocked on the door as she let herself in.

“Gah! So good to see you again!” I went right to her and gave her a big hug. She wore a cute little navy blue shift dress and white sneakers. Her hair was down and longer than ever.

“I’ve missed you too! How are you?” She smiled up at me.

“I’m doing pretty good, actually. Thanks for meeting us here. Let me introduce you.” We moved into the house where London waited nervously. “Zoe Hyde, London Anderson.”

They shook hands and London invited us into the dining room. When the food arrived we plated it on real dishes so it would feel like we were in a restaurant and not eating takeout at home.

“Oh this all looks delicious!” Zoe took a seat on the far side of the table, while London sat at the head of the table and I sat across from Zoe near the doorway.

I ordered the blackened grouper Cesar salad and my mouth had been watering for at least five minutes now, so I dug in. “What are you working on these days?”

“I’m in the middle of a new romance series. Super steamy! It’s so much fun to jump back and forth between genres. I don’t think I could ever stick to just one. I’d always be bored,” she laughed.

London shook her head. “I can’t even imagine it. Writing one book is hard enough!”

“Oh it is,” Zoe agreed. “But my brain never stops. As soon as I think I can never write another word,boom.A completely different world pops into my head and I’m back off to the races. But I’m weird. Most people aren’t like me.”

We had projects developing science fiction, fantasy, and romance novels from Zoe. I often marveled at her ability to write so much, but more often than not I was just glad to have a great resource for new material.

“And you?” she asked me.

“Well, I have news.”

She set her fork aside and grinned. “Yes?”

“Our new team has selectedRansom Due at Midnightas our next series.”

She fist pumped the air. “Ah! I’m so glad! I was really worried you were going to say movie.”

“There’s too much material for a movie.”

“Exactly! I mean, I get that when I sell my rights I lose my ability to control a lot, but I always feel better when it’s you guys buying my rights.”

I preferred it that way. If a writer truly didn’t want to have anything to do with the adaptation of their work, fine. But I wanted them to be part of the process and to help us recreate their world in a new way. It’s part of why we liked working with Zoe. She was great to work with and respected our opinion when it came to making changes for the screen—big or small.

“I’ve looked over the chapters you sent me, London. I’m completely sucked in.”

London squeaked, gripped her fork tight between her fingers. “You are? They don’t suck?”

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