Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,11
running high at the hospital, she’d only focused on the things she’d needed. Her toothbrush, the location of the electrical sockets to charge her phone, and finding something to sleep in.
She looked down at Jake’s T-shirt. It felt soft against her skin.
The room was airy and even lighter as she tugged the gray linen curtains open. The rustic headboard had a charcoal finish and was pressed up against an equally dark wall. The rest of the space was painted white.
A narrow desk held two hurricane candle holders with fat ivory candles, a tall green plant, and a black-and-white framed image of Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in Dr. No.
Her workbag was on a comfortable, dark green chair in the corner, and Cassie grabbed her laptop and notebook from it. Within moments, she’d set up the desk as her workspace and began the process of downloading everything from her brain to her laptop and notebook.
Occasionally, she needed to take a deep breath as the volume of work overwhelmed her. But she knew there was absolutely no point in allowing panic to creep in. Every thought she had, every to-do she documented had to be dealt with. Worrying about how much work it was going to be or how long it would take or how the heck she could manage it all wasn’t conducive to actually understanding what needed to be done.
Once everything was out of her head and captured somewhere, she put her pen down and reached her hands over her head in a long stretch.
Then, she video-called her brother.
“Hey, sis,” he said gruffly, his voice edged in sleep. His dark hair stood up in every direction.
“Sorry for disturbing you before bed, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay with the messages I sent last night.”
“Yeah. Golden. I lose the gig on all three movies if I leave, but I want to be there if Dad needs me.”
What if I need you?
She didn’t say the words, she simply took a deep breath. “Yeah. I totally get the whole issues-with-work thing.”
Carter ran his hand across his face and sat up against a pile of white pillows. “Is your boss not happy with you being there?”
Cassie shook her head. “I only just messaged to say I was taking care of an emergency. But wanted to see Dad for myself, first. And talk with Marianne.”
Carter rolled his eyes. “Good luck with Marianne. Don’t envy you that. Doesn’t she hate hospitals?”
“Yeah. Remember the time Dad went to that construction conference and I thought I’d broken my wrist Rollerblading and she tried to send me to the emergency room in a cab?”
Carter laughed. “Yeah. Good thing Jake’s dad stepped in. Tell him thanks from me for helping you out. And good luck talking with your boss. Hopefully he’ll understand.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep you posted. Try not to worry. Don’t want you losing focus as you fall off a tall building or something.”
Her brother grinned. “It’s dropping down off a single story onto a horse this week.”
“Go be heroic then. I’ll call you.”
Once she’d hung up, it was a toss-up which she needed more, coffee or the bathroom, but the bathroom won out. If she got moving early enough, she could rustle up some breakfast for Jake as a thank you for letting her stay. It would have been a hotel otherwise, given Marianne would never welcome her back to what had once been her family home.
Cassie grabbed her things. As she approached the handle for the bathroom door, it opened from the other side and she collided with Jake’s chest.
Jake’s damp chest, with little rivulets of water running down pectoral muscles she had absolutely no memory of ever being quite so . . . firm.
Cassie glanced up and, yup, his hair was wet, and he smelled so freaking good she wanted to eat him between two buttered pieces of white bread instead of the peanut butter and jelly she’d eaten the previous evening.
Then she made the mistake of looking down. The soft, white towel hung low on his hips, and holy six-pack. Someone needed to give that white towel a medal because it was held up by a whisper and a prayer.
And yep. By the bump in the towel, he was freewheeling beneath it.
“Cass?” Jake asked. His hand slid over hers, and she was suddenly aware she’d bumped into him several seconds ago, had her hand pressed against his chest, and had just given him a leisurely once over.