Page 30 of Crave
I swallowed and took a moment to recover the strength in my legs and to let my mind find focus once again. “I can’t,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“I’m on a tight schedule.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “An heiress with a tight work schedule. That’s a new one.”
I tilted my head to study his expression as I asked him, “How many heiresses do you know?”
Jamison tilted his head back to chuckle. “Not many but enough to know you’re different from the rest.”
What am I looking for? Deception? Dishonesty? Cruelty? Vulgarity? All of the above?Those were traits I often suspected belonged to men who’d attempted to court me in the past. But I’d made a commitment to think differently so that I could open myself up to healthy new experiences when it came to love.
I kissed him quickly, deciding to not scurry up the path of questioning him about other heiresses he could be involved with until he had done something that proved he was a preppy playboy who banged more than one girl at a time. I took him by the hand. “Let’s go, assistant. We’re late.”
Jamison tugged me against his barrel chest and tongued me long, hard, and deep. As usual, his kiss made my panties moisten, my head spin, and my body crave more.
“You’re not playing fair,” I whispered once our lips parted so that we could get air.
He raised his eyebrows. “Then it’s working.”
He was right, but I shook my head. “Nope.” I tugged him toward the door. “Let’s go.”
I sighed.Jamison was driving at a snail’s pace, but I knew it was because he was intent on keeping us safe. I remembered Dale driving us in the snow numerous times, speeding like he was possessed by the road-rage demon. When I asked him to slow down, he’d bark that he was from Michigan, so I shouldn’t question how he drove in the snow. He’d totaled two very expensive cars and, by the grace of God, hadn’t caused himself or anyone else serious bodily injury. So far, my observations were telling me Dale hadn’t changed. For Eden’s sake, I hoped I was wrong.
“And you really have no work to do today?” I asked Jamison.
“No, I’m recouping.”
“Recouping from what?”
Glancing at me with a smile and displaying his killer dimples, Jamison winked. Just then, my cell phone rang, and I reached into my bag to answer it. The caller was Claudia, an artist who made custom light fixtures. I’d left her a message the previous day.
Claudia was emailing the tech team a catalog of her new light fixtures so that images could be processed and used with the app. “I call them wall crawlers,” she said.
Then I asked how she was doing. Her parents were getting a divorce after forty years of marriage. Neither was involved with anyone else.
“My mom said we did our duty. It’s time.” Claudia’s laugh was mixed with the gurgling sound that accompanied sobbing. “I don’t know why I’m upset. They’re seventy-five and always lived and spoke to each other like they were robots.”
I glanced at Jamison. He smiled at me. If we were ever together for forty years, each day would be new and exciting. I just knew it.
Claudia and I agreed to talk about her parents and how she really felt about the divorce later, but first, I would call her if my client was interested in any of her pieces. We ended the call, but before I could put my cell phone away, it chimed again with a call from Alex. He and Alana would be boarding a flight to Denver that was sure to take off soon. When my phone beeped a third time, I turned to Jamison to apologize. I would have rather spent our time in the car talking about us. The state of our future together hung in the air. My phone rang a lot, but I remembered how Jamison’s phone used to ring ten times more than mine had. I found it odd that a man who used to be so busy wasn’t busy at all. I feared Jasper had done something to ruin his business.
“Sorry,” I whispered, seeing that the caller was Jada, my sister-in-law.
Jamison raised a hand graciously and whispered, “No problem.”
Jada spoke in a rush. She was home for the week and wanted to know if I cared if Jane and Ollie flew from New York to Montecito with Spencer that night, and I would spend the weekend with them all at the estate. There was no way I was going to turn down that deal. I would be able to visit my two nieces and nephew plus see Jada and Spencer at the same time.
As soon as I hung up, I could feel the tension in the air. It was a reminder of the animosity that existed between my family and Jamison’s, and it was going to be a high hurdle to clear. We both chose to leave the obvious unspoken. Since I already knew Alana and Alex were on their way, I turned off my cell phone.
As soon as I put my device in my briefcase, Jamison took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “So, your ex-boyfriend… you don’t talk about him much.”
I groaned, rolling my eyes. Whenever I thought about running into Dale, a knot formed in the pit of my stomach, which shouldn’t have been the case. “I try not to linger in the negative. I mean, I hated him for a long time for being my first bad experience with love.”
Jamison stretched his neck as he rubbed his jaw. I could tell he wanted to know more but was respecting my boundaries.
I sighed, choosing to open myself a little. “I never told anyone this, and it wasn’t in the book but…” I smashed my lips together.
