Page 7 of Kiss Me, Darling

Calusa Key was not a tiny spit of land. There were many roads, lots of beaches, shopping, and neighborhoods. Chris’s house was right on the water, but once we left the house we were immediately enveloped by a canopy of towering trees that cast shadows everywhere, and hid the homes on either side from view. I couldn’t even see the beach most of my ride to the island grocery store.

I didn’t really need groceries. Scott stocked the fridge and pantry with things he knew I liked. I just wanted to get out of the house and breathe. Scott still overwhelmed me.

Especially after five months without being in the same room.

Talk about pheromone overload. I swear I was high on them. Doing a little fruit and veggie shopping was enough to clear my head, though, and now I was standing on a beach near London Anderson and Ben Kaine’s house. My toes sank into the tan colored sand with each wave that passed over my feet. This beach was entirely different from the little bit of sand and water around Chris’s dock.

“The waves are bigger here.” There were very small waves that came up onto Chris’s beach, but here there were swells of at least a couple of feet. The beach also sloped down to the water much more dramatically.

“Yeah,” Scott ran his hand through his hair, “there’s a barrier island near the house that keeps things calmer over there. Here we’ve just got a straight shot at the Gulf.”

It made sense but I was still surprised by the incredible variation on the island. I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the waves, the pungent smell of the salt water. My shoulders dropped and I found myself breathing deeper. No wonder Scott came here to figure himself out. I was more relaxed in these five minutes on the beach than I had been since the day he left.

And yeah, I was trying really hard to keep my feelings on Scottleavingin check. I knew he was a complicated guy when we got together. And I was happy he truly seemed happier than I’ve ever seen him.

But did he have to cut me out so completely in order to figure things out? It hurt. Especially not knowing what the future held. I was a planner. Seeing future possibilities and preparing for them was my specialty. These five months were like putting on blinders. I got really focused on work and nothing else.

“Are you going to live in your brother’s house forever?”

He froze. “We going straight to it then?”

“Not really.” I didn’t want to hash everything out immediately. I wanted a chance to see him move, react, interact. I wanted to take in this new Scott and absorb him. But it didn’t mean I didn’t have questions.

“No. I’m not going to live here forever.” He turned just his head to face me. “But I do like spending time here. Who’d have ever thought the Kaine brothers would have a place to call home? Not me.” He scratched his chin and shook his head, looking genuinely surprised. “But here we are. Ben has his show and London travels for work, Chris obviously travels most of the year, but they’re both based here now. Their hearts are anchored here.”

Anchor.That word struck me because I had just used it back at the hammock, but for a very different reason. Abadreason. I was exhausted by being pulled back over and over again by Scott’s inability to move past his mistakes.

“And now you feel anchored here as well?”

He turned to fully face me. “Not in the same way. My family is here but my heart isn’t.” His eyes darted between mine, taking my breath away.

Damn Scott and his expressive eyes! I wanted to swoon and forget any hurt I had inside me. Just jump straight into this bright new future together. But I knew all too well that ignoring hurt feelings never ended well. That shit needed to get sorted properly or no one could move forward.

“I like living in California.”

“So do I. But there’s something about this island. It makes me feel more like the person I want to be. It clears my mind. My brothers are here and I’ve found I need family in my life to make me whole.”

* * *

“The content teamhave all reached an agreement,” Tessa Gonzalez, my team leader back at Kaine and Lily Productions headquarters, said excitedly. Her voice always got higher and her words quicker when she was really excited.

“And which project is the big winner?” I was so excited when Scott and Lily asked me to come run their new production company. Becoming an agent was a practical decision on my part. I had an in with a big talent agency and the job paid well.

Unlike my dream job of making movies. That felt like a crap shoot from a moving car at a target the size of a frozen pea. Being an agent put me close to the industry, so it was a win-win in my book. The pull was always there, however. I wasn’t a writer or a musician, and I was most certainly not an actress. My talents lay in organizing and vision. I could see an entire project, all the moving pieces, and how it would all come together.

So I didn’t blink when the offer to do exactly that came my way. Especially since they handed me the reins and let me have full freedom to mold the company as I saw fit.

One of my biggest requirements was that everyone agreed on each project. I wanted every one of us, from the top to the bottom, to feel invested and passionate about the work we were doing. With one creative team hard at work on one project, we expanded, bringing in an entire second team so that the company could work on two projects simultaneously. Last week was their first creative retreat where they looked at potential projects, budget, and logistics, narrowing it down to three possibilities. From there they brainstormed ideas and really let their ideas fly. They got back to HQ three days ago, where I got to hear the debate raging over which project would be the winner.

It seemed a consensus had been reached!

Tessa took a deep breath and held it before bursting out the answer. “Ransom Due at Midnight!I know, I know! Another Zoe Hyde book adaptation, but the team loves the possibilities.”

Were we becoming the official Zoe Hyde production company? Maybe. Did I care? Not at all. I loved her work and enjoyed the woman behind the words quite a lot. “I love it. What’s the plan?”

There was another pause for more excited breath holding. “They want to use theBattlestar Galacticamodel. A big, movie production level miniseries of the prequel novel, and then a television season for each subsequent novel.”

“The prequel was published after the first two books. Why are we starting there? Maybe we can useThe Expansemodel and weave the backstory into the present timeline.”

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