Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I scowled. “No, Sarah McCulloch as in Ardnoch’s resident master storyteller and—” I’d been on the verge of making some droll, overshare comment about how exquisite she was in bed, but I stopped. Not because I hadn’t before. I’d made all sorts of outlandish comments about my one-night stands to North and other friends. Somehow, however, it didn’t sit right to speak about Sarah like that.
She wasn’t some casual stranger I’d enjoyed a good night in the sack with.
I didn’t know what she was, but she wasn’t that.
“And?”
I cleared my throat, willing my heart rate to slow. “And … a grown woman. She’s thirty-one, not some innocent child. And you can’t tell anyone about her pen name. That’s up to her when she wants that information made public.”
“She might as well be an innocent child, Theo, for fuck’s sake. Of all the shitty things you’ve done, this is the shittiest.”
Anger flushed through me. “You don’t know a damn thing about her.”
“I know she’s not some gymnast from Thurso you can fuck around with.” He referred to my last casual affair.
A busy line sounded in my ear and I pulled my phone away to see a London number was trying to call me. I ignored it and said into the phone, “You know, it’s unlike you to be such a judgmental bore, North.” But that wasn’t true. The man was extremely protective of women. I just didn’t think he thought they needed to be protected from me. It chafed more than I liked.
“It’s unlike you to go after women who don’t know how to play the game.” He was pissed. “I have to go.”
He hung up on me.
The little prick hung up on me.
So much for friendship.
A burn scored across my chest, and I refused to explore that feeling. Instead, I noted the voicemail message the London number had left. Pressing the phone back to my ear, I listened to it.
“Mr. Cavendish, this is DCI Rick English of Scotland Yard. If you could contact me on 08904313002 immediately, I’d be grateful.”
That was it. That was the message.
I suddenly remembered North joking that there was a rumor going around that I was a missing person. Oh, for Pete’s sake, please tell me my brother has not made a missing person’s report.
Ridiculous ass of a human being.
Grunting, I shoved my phone in my pocket with no intention of calling the bloody detective chief inspector my moronic brother had sicced on me.
Sarah turned my way, a soft, pretty smile on her face.
No, I had far better things to do today.
“I want to read your latest chapters.” I turned my head on the pillow to look at Sarah.
She was flushed, still trying to catch her breath. Her hand rested near her cheek, her elegant fingers relaxed as her gorgeous tits trembled. “What? Now?”
I ignored the surge of desire and the ludicrous thought that if I were a painter, I’d grab a paintbrush right now to capture the stunning, sexual creature at my side. “Yes, now. You can read the revisions I made to the script while I read yours.” I slid out of bed to haul on my boxer briefs.
Sarah pushed onto her elbows, a frown marring her brow. “But I haven’t had a chance to read it through myself or edit it.”
“I think I can manage through a couple of spelling errors.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, pushing out of the bed to pull on her pajamas as she muttered, “So much for round two. Get a woman used to multiple rounds of sex and then suddenly, a book is more interesting than her vagina.”
Laughing, I rounded the bed to haul her against me just as she pulled her pajama bottoms up. She made a little grunt of surprise and heat flashed through me. Smoothing her hair back as I cuddled her, I bent my head, my lips almost touching hers. “Later, I will fuck you until you can’t walk straight, little darling. But first, I want to know what happens next to our Juno.”
She pulled back, one eyebrow raised. “Our Juno?”
Trying not to smile, I released her. “Did I say our?” With a shrug, I turned and walked out of the bedroom. Despite the heating system, the cottage couldn’t seem to get to a nice temperature without the fire on in the sitting room, so I hurried to grab our laptops and return to the bed.
Sarah sat crossed-legged on it, waiting for me. “Just to be clear, she’s my Juno.”
I snorted. “Dear God, woman, don’t panic. I know Juno is yours. It was just a slip of the tongue. And I thought you liked that sort of thing.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively as I slid under the duvet next to her.
She smirked as I gave her my laptop. I opened her laptop to pull up the latest draft of the next book in the series.