full of surprises, and she was throwing him off his game, both his dating game and his work game. Perhaps that was why today’s eternity of conference calls with advertising directors, the Alabama and Georgia store managers, and then his father and Ethan—all discussing typical corporate minutiae—had completely exhausted him.
He entered his condo, dropped his keys on the table near the door and did what he always did upon arriving home, moved to the back of the condo to view the beach. He’d always loved beaches, Florida’s Destin beaches in particular. The sand on the panhandle was whiter than that on the Atlantic, the water bluer, and the atmosphere enough to lift his spirits, even after a half dozen tedious conference calls.
Occasionally, he stayed at home throughout the day and worked. Thanks to the Net, he could conduct business practically anywhere, but he typically went to one of his nearby offices, usually the one composing the top floor of the Seaside store, because it made him feel more like he was “at work.” Plus, it made coming home even more rewarding, that feeling of leaving work at work.
Right now, all he wanted was to spend the remainder of the day away from the job and have a good time with Kylie Banks, particularly since he’d sent her home last night. Jeff had met the pretty brunette at last month’s Destin Chamber of Commerce dinner. She only lived two resorts from White Sands, in a condominium complex much like this one, but due to their conflicting work schedules, he’d never seen her before the Chamber dinner. She’d mentioned that she worked in real estate, and since seeing her that night, he had noticed her photo on several billboards around town. Nice photo. She was an attractive woman with a killer smile, a great combination for selling real estate, or at least for capturing attention with her billboards, and she was easy to talk to. She’d also been extremely flirtatious at that dinner, and had called Jeff last weekend and invited him sailing. The sailing had gone well, with both of them enjoying each other’s company, and with both of them knowing there were no strings attached. Jeff, as usual, had made that clear up-front, and Kylie agreed that fun-and-fun-only was exactly what the doctor ordered for her too. She’d gone through a recent break-up with a long-term boyfriend and didn’t want anything to do with commitment. Therefore, when she had called Jeff again and asked him about making up for last night and enjoying a date that consisted of “forgetting the jobs and having more fun,” he’d agreed.
He liked the boldness of women here; it was different from what he’d been used to in Birmingham, where he’d been raised. And it was nice, given his current non-committal mentality. The women pursued him, and that made it easier to tell them from the get-go that he was all for having a good time, but that was it. Most of the time, they understood, or said they did. If he’d have met Kitty now, instead of right after the fallout with Babette, he’d have told her the same thing. She’d come on strong, relentless in her pursuit to not only date him, but get a ring on her finger. But since he had met her right after Babette, and since he was still stinging from the knowledge that he “wasn’t commitment material,” the fact that Kitty thought he was a commitment kind of guy lured him in and kept him there until he nearly tied the knot. He would have, if it hadn’t been for Samuel Farraday and his yacht. Jeff smirked. He should send the guy a thank-you note. In the end, Kitty was like every other woman he’d dated; none of them had it in them to commit. And maybe Babette was right: the reason they didn’t was because he simply wasn’t the commitment type.
When Babette hadn’t shown at his office today, he couldn’t deny that he’d been somewhat disappointed. Not because he wanted to hear her plead Kitty’s case, but because it’d been a long time since he’d seen her and he was looking forward to sparring with her again. The two of them had an odd relationship, with sarcasm and flirtation working hand-in-hand to keep everything fresh and exciting. One thing was for sure, he’d never been bored when he was with Babette.
He stepped onto the balcony, inhaled the warm Gulf breeze and looked out toward the beach. The