Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
She was half blinded by tears as she ran forward and threw her arms around him. “I love you, Herschel Greenfield.” She laughed. “It was so hard to say the words the first time. Now I can’t stop.”
“Never stop,” he said, kissing her until she had no words at all.
Epilogue
Erin Davenport loved to surf. Oh, she’d never be the champion her sister was, but she had the technique and, like Mila, like all of them, had been surfing since she could walk. Her dad had put each of them on the end of his board and taken them out for little rides as soon as they were old enough. Mila had always been fearless. She rode those waves like she owned them. Erin was a little more respectful of the power of the ocean. She liked to think she didn’t so much ride the waves as ask their permission before getting on their backs.
It was early morning, and the Davenports were surfing together. It was a great day. Archer and Tessa were back from their honeymoon, looking completely relaxed and totally in love. Damien was goofing around happily between gigs. Even Nick, who was usually busy with app development, had left his work at home and was clowning around with the rest of them. Finn, the largest of them all, had swum farther out than anybody.
But Hersch was the one she was watching. Herschel Greenfield, who’d been so traumatized by his near-death experience that he’d been frightened of water, was learning how to surf. And he wasn’t half bad either. She’d watched Mila teach plenty of people to surf, mostly kids, and she was a good teacher. But Herschel was definitely her prize student. It probably didn’t hurt that when he did something spectacularly good, he got a big, smacking kiss. She suspected Mila’s other students had to make do with a word of praise or maybe a piece of candy if she had some on hand.
Erin had never seen Mila so happy and carefree. It did her heart good. She tried to believe that one day there might be somebody out there for her too, but she was only a reporter for a small-town weekly. She wasn’t a bright international star like Damien or Archer. She wasn’t a statuesque and successful Realtor and former surf champion like Mila. She was the girl next door. The quiet one. Maybe her destiny was to be an aunt to all the nieces and nephews she imagined were on the horizon. And she’d be fine with that. She thought of all the Victorian novels she’d read about women who were devoted aunts. Maybe that was her destiny.
And then a loud and unwelcome voice intruded on her thoughts.
“Hey, is there room for one more?”
She didn’t have to turn her head to recognize the voice. Jay Malone, Archer’s agent, the loudest, pushiest man she’d ever known. He came up and slung an arm around her. They’d known each other more than ten years, so he treated her more like a kid sister than a grown woman.
“Hey there, short stuff. Race you to the waves.” And then he pounded into the surf, got on his board, and started to swim out to join the others.
Short stuff? Was that how he saw her? Erin didn’t have much of a competitive streak, but in that moment, she decided to show Julius “Call Me Jay” Malone exactly what she was made of. She’d show him short stuff.
She ran in, jumped on her own board, and swam as though there were a medal at stake. As she overtook Jay, she saw his eyes widen in surprise. She reached the break ahead of him, which pleased her immensely. Then she sat on her board, waiting for the next set of waves.
He set up not too far from her. While they bobbed atop the water, he gazed toward the row of expensive houses on the beach and said, “One of those has my name on it.”
She rolled her eyes. He was so annoying. “Not one of them is even for sale.”
“Erin, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that if you want something badly enough, you can usually get it.”
And then he gazed at her with an intensity that made her breath catch. There was one thing she knew for sure. Jay was single-minded and didn’t stop until he got what he wanted, whether it was the best deal for one of his clients or a woman he’d set his sights on.
For an awful moment, Erin wondered if he was setting his sights on her. If so, he was going to be very disappointed.
But the moment passed as a set of waves headed toward them and caught Jay’s attention. “Come on, short stuff,” Jay yelled to her, popping up on his board. “Race you to shore.”