Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88057 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88057 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“We baked them together.” Cheeks flushing, Harley handed over the cookies, then rubbed his neck. Danny waited until Cash set down the vegetable tray to pass over the cookies, which got added to the groaning food table.
“Yup. Knock me over with a feather.” Danny did a much better fake swoon than the one I’d attempted earlier.
“Told you they’re the real deal,” Cash said mildly, joining us after he finished arranging the food.
“What happened to the ‘just a few friends’ you promised?” Harley asked Cash with a pointed look.
“Well, you gotta admit, this is a newsworthy event. And I couldn’t leave the new hires out. Duncan says some of the newbies seem lonely.” He gestured at the guy Duncan was talking with and another couple of similar-aged guys in the water. “Not my fault Duncan keeps adding employees.”
“Ha.” Harley chuckled good-naturedly. “They better watch out, or the two of you will be finding matches for all the single A-listers.”
“That’s a brilliant idea.” Danny immediately brightened at the suggestion. “I know some people—”
“How about you let them find their own happy endings?” Cash suggested, pulling Danny close.
“Fine. Steal all my fun.” Danny pretended to pout, which earned him a kiss from Cash. “But Harley seems to have done pretty well on that front.”
“Thank you.” At least, I thought it was a compliment.
Danny grinned at me. “You’re not at all what I would have expected, but you do seem to have done the impossible and tamed the beast.”
“Eh.” I gave an uncomfortable shrug, unsure if he meant unexpected gender, age, or something else. And like with his family, Harley’s friends’ tendency to poke fun at his resolution to stay single irked me. They hadn’t ever seen the real Harley, the one who was lonely and a little scared and had a heart of pure gold, but I had and was always going to defend him. “He was pretty tame to start with.”
“Oh, that’s right. I want to hear all about your big rescue and his dog sitting.” Danny linked arms with me, dragging me closer to the food table, dogs following us. We left Cash and Harley, and what followed was a pleasurable few hours of food and talk but scarcely a moment alone with Harley.
As the sun set, I found myself alone with Hercules on a lounger near the pool. A number of people had already departed. I’d been talking dogs with Danny and his and Cash’s friend, Jace, who volunteered with an animal rescue group, but Danny had drifted away to check the food table. Jace had removed his prosthetic leg to join Cash and Harley in the water. I had fun watching the three of them playing a rowdy game of pool basketball, fighting over the ball like squabbling siblings.
“You hanging in there?” Harley hefted himself out of the water. I rose from my spot to bring him a towel, which he accepted with a grin.
“Your friends are nice.” Hercules wandered over to where Danny’s dogs were dozing.
“Nosy, but nice.” He dried off, then slung the towel around his neck.
“Just wait till you meet more of my friend group.” As the afternoon had passed, I’d gone from being nervous around the many SEALs and former military personnel to realizing they weren’t all that different from my friends. “They’re all kinds of prying too.”
“You want that? Me around your fancy film friends? You get invited to lots of things like premieres, I bet.” He cocked his head like he actually doubted I’d bring him to a Hollywood function.
“I want.” I took his damp hand, squeezed it tightly. “Most of my crowd are people I’ve known since film school. The rest are more business acquaintances, and Cressida is far better at maintaining those connections than I am. I’d rather have a handful of genuine friends than a lengthy contact list simply to show off. Anyone who wants to get snobby about my taste in boyfriends doesn’t make the cut.”
“Good.” He tugged me close enough for a kiss on the head. “I like you here.”
“I like me here too.” I smiled at him before he led me away from the pool to a small gazebo area near the pool house. ”What are you doing?”
“Sneaking a kiss with my boyfriend.” He did exactly that, a quick but thorough kiss that left my shirt slightly wet and my lips tingling.
“I might like that title even better than boss. Boyfriend.” I grinned like I was fourteen and had never gotten to use the word before.
“Oh, you’ll always be my boss too.” He gave me a heated look that promised he’d have me begging long before we hit one of our bedrooms.
“Okay, maybe I do want to leave early. We need to squeeze as much alone time in as possible.” All afternoon, I’d been trying not to think about the trip the network wanted me to take—a preproduction outing to scout Atlanta locations, talk filming needs, and getting the new, smaller executive team on the same page. It was supposed to be a quick visit, a couple of jam-packed days, but I was already dreading it and the longer separation to follow in the early fall when filming resumed.