Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“That’s not why I’m crazy about her.” He enjoyed the time she’d been able to give him, but he didn’t like the thought that he’d been using her.
“I think that’s a perfectly good reason to be crazy about her,” Sylvie countered.
“I’m not using her so I can write,” Quaid insisted.
“No, but you’re writing because she’s here. You’re writing because she’s inspired you, because she’s supported you and unlocked that part of you that’s been buried for a couple of years now,” Rene replied. “Tell me you’re not excited about it again.”
“I can’t. I had gotten to a point where I was ready to quit. I was sick of getting rejected, and the whole ‘I write for myself and don’t need an audience’ thing was starting to feel like a lie I told myself.” Jayna had changed that simply by reading what he’d written and then challenging him to do better. He was suddenly thinking about his characters again, and that was all because of her.
“She’s good for you.” Sylvie smiled, a bright expression, before sending him her “I’m the mayor and I will get things done” frown. “She’s good for all of us, so you should do what you need to do to keep that woman here.”
“Offer her a job.” Quaid knew it probably wouldn’t work. “But you should know she’s overqualified.”
Sylvie sat back, a satisfied smile on her face. “Aren’t we all. And I’m putting together a proposal that would offer her a permanent position as the city’s attorney. I’m working with a couple of the small towns in the parish. If we pool our resources, we might be able to offer her enough to make it tempting. But she’s used to city life. She needs more than a job to stay. She needs someone she wants to stay with. That’s you. So step it up, Havery. I don’t want to lose this resource. We need her.”
Because she was better than him when it came to the hard-core legal work. He would have thought the insinuation would bug him, but it didn’t. He was proud of how smart she was, how hard she worked for her clients even when they were paying her in gas and chips and gumbo that never actually got made.
If she’d fumbled the way he had this afternoon, he would have listened to her. He would have shoved aside the pain and tried to understand her. He would have given her a second chance.
Damn it. He was in love with Jayna Cardet.
“Is he okay?” Sylvie asked in a whisper.
“That’s his thinking face,” Rene replied smoothly. “He’s working some stuff out in his head. He’s going to come up with a plan, and then she won’t stand a chance.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. The more he thought about it, the more . . . angry wasn’t the word. Irritated. Unsure. Vulnerable.
He was in love with her, and she’d walked away from him. The smart play would be to protect himself.
He didn’t want to be smart. He didn’t want to protect himself. He didn’t want the world to view him as some manly man who didn’t take crap off anyone.
He wanted her.
Her eyes widened as she caught sight of him, and she quickly turned back to her sister.
If she thought she was going to run, she was in for a surprise.
“Okay, now you’ve got some crazy eyes going.” Rene sounded worried for the first time. “Maybe we should talk about this.”
Jayna stood, and Sienna leaned over and said something to her before she turned and carefully schooled her expression. He knew what she was doing because he’d watched her do it in court. She put on that bland, professional countenance when she was going to make a logical point.
He should have known she wouldn’t run. He should have known that his baby would walk right over and likely tell him she got here first and he should leave.
She was about to find out that he wouldn’t walk away so easily.
“Quaid, could we speak for a moment?” Jayna asked in that oh-so-polite tone of hers that still somehow held an edge of challenge. Like she halfway expected him to say no because he was a scaredy-cat.
He stood. The good news was he was friends with the owner of this place and knew exactly where they could talk.
“Of course.” He slipped his napkin on his plate and stepped aside.
“Quaid, remember your manners,” Rene warned.
Manners didn’t matter. It was obvious she wasn’t going to respond to his gentlemanly side.
It was time to let the bad boy come out to play.
chapter eleven
Jayna followed Quaid into the dining room. “Uhm, I thought we should talk outside. It’s loud in here.”
She wasn’t sure where he was going. Did he need a drink in order to have a conversation with her? This might go worse than she thought. She’d expected a short conversation followed by some awkwardness and then they would get on with their lives.