page.
“Are you willing to work overtime during sweeps season?”
“Yes.” I signed that page, and then listened as he read me the overview for a hundred more—ignoring the intense gaze of James.
When we were finally finished, he presented the stack to James and requested for him to sign the last sheet.
“Alright, perfect.” Mr. Levin extended his hand to me. “Honored to have you here with us, Miss Kennedy.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll make you a copy and be right back.”
James extended his hand, and I once again felt an immediate jolt of warmth as his skin touched mine.
“Let’s try to keep things one hundred percent professional,” he said, looking into my eyes. “If that’s alright with you, Miss Kennedy.”
“That’s more than fine with me, Mr. Holmes.”
“Let’s try not to talk to each other if it’s not about work.” He was still shaking my hand. “I mean, you did get this job by default with a split vote, so I’d try to do my best work, if I were you.”
“Mr. Jewell said the vote was unanimous.”
“It was 16-1.” He paused. “I was the one.”
“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You were ... Until you didn’t come back.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Come again?”
“Off the record,” I said, “it must feel good to have achieved all you have in such a short time, to become who you’ve always wanted to be.”
“If you think this is who I’ve always wanted to be, then you never knew me at all.”
“That’s probably true, too.” I swallowed. “The James I knew would’ve never left me waiting for months without any communication.”
“He gave you plenty of communication. You chose to stop waiting.”
Silence.
We were still shaking hands, still touching—the feel of him still too familiar to let go.
“I’m glad we could have this conversation, Miss Kennedy,” he said, finally—his tone bone dry. “I trust that we’ll be able to work together and leave the past in the past moving forward?”
“Yeah.” I let his hand go. “That’s exactly where it belongs.”
...
Kate
~ November 14, 2008 ~
HOW THE HELL DID I forget to get his phone number?
Thoughts of James’s kiss had been running through my mind for two weeks, and I’d touched myself at night—wishing I’d invited him inside and let him take things further. Dreamed about feeling his mouth all over my body, feeling his lips press kisses lower and lower. Feeling his tongue caress the tip of my clit as he brought me to the edge, again and again.
“Kate!” A deep voice interrupted my thoughts. “Kate, stop leaning against the window. I just got this thing detailed this morning.”
I opened my eyes and held back a groan. Reality had struck again.
I was sitting in the passenger seat of a red-coated Maserati, and there was a glittering “Miss Edgewood” crown in my lap. The man sitting behind the wheel was Grant Harrison, one of the biggest assholes I’d ever known.
“What were you thinking about?” he asked. “How excited are you to watch me judge the swimsuit competition? I’m awarding extra points to whoever has the best ass and tits.”
“I can promise you that I wasn’t thinking about that at all.”
“Well, you should be.” He looked over at me. “Now that you have to give your crown away to the next girl, you should be interested in who is taking your place. Hopefully, the new Miss Edgewood will be down to fuck, unlike you. Then again, I’ve enjoyed sleeping with some of the runners up in the past.”
I rolled my eyes and looked ahead, tuning out his words. We still had five more miles before we got to The Salted Shores Fair, and I could only deal with him in doses.
Born wealthy to the other “royal” Edgewood family, he was gorgeous with striking blue eyes that could take any woman’s breath away. With chiseled abs and the cocky smile to match, he was the type of man who was well aware that the universe had blessed him with a winning hand of cards. A hand he often played to his advantage.
We’d been forced playmates since the age of five, and although we knew each other well, our connection was far too strained for me to consider him a friend. Especially now that he was only a year away from inheriting his part of his family’s eight-hundred-million-dollar estate, and he’d evolved into even more of a jerk.
The sea blue Ferris Wheel finally came into view ahead, and I let out a breath.
Just turn in your crown, say “Good luck tonight, ladies,” and ride the Ferris Wheel