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Chapter Fifteen
Erin dropped Boswell at home, then walked over to meet Mila and Tessa at Anna’s Cafe. Tessa glowed in her quiet way as she told the sisters that a very prestigious art journal was doing a piece on her work this month. She was so modest that Erin felt she was almost embarrassed to share such exciting news, and probably would have kept it to herself if Archer hadn’t already outed her on the family WhatsApp group. When Mila chastised her for downplaying the whole thing, Tessa simply shook her head as though she couldn’t believe her good fortune.
“A year ago, I was a paid caregiver keeping my art a secret. I never thought I had any talent, never mind that people would pay to put my paintings on their walls or that a top art journal would want to feature me. So sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming and if I pinch myself, I’ll wake up.”
Mila had always had incredible confidence and Erin could see she was struggling to understand Tessa’s point of view. But Erin got it. “Imposter syndrome.”
Tessa nodded eagerly. “Yes,” she said, “and then on top of it, I wake up every morning beside a gorgeous, loving movie star. Honestly, how can I not be dreaming?”
They all chuckled at that. While Mila also visibly cringed at the notion that her brother was gorgeous, half the population thought as much. Harder for Erin to get her head around was why you’dchooseto live with Archer—she’d spent eighteen years sharing a bathroom with the guy. But apparently it was different if you were married.
Erin couldn’t help sharing her own experience. “I’m having kind of a fantasy experience myself right now. I woke up this morning in Jay Malone’s bed.” She waited for the two women’s exclamations of shock and surprise to subside, along with, in Mila’s case, a certain smugI told you soexpression, and laughed. “He wasn’t there. I was sharing the bed with his new rescue dog, Nelson.”
She nonchalantly took a sip of her coffee and let the other two digest this news. Mila got there first.
“Wait. I don’t get it. You’re telling me thatJay Malonelets you sleep in his bed when he’s not there? And he got adog?”
“Those two things are actually related. I was house-sitting for him and looking after the dog he rescued a couple of days ago. And it’s no hardship. Mila, you really did find him the perfect house.”
Mila was never unwilling to take a compliment. Her lips curved in a very satisfied smile. “I know. Honey, if you had a few more millions in the bank, I would have loved for you to get that house, but since you couldn’t afford it, and Jay could, at least it’s sort of in the family.”
Erin cringed. To the rest of the Davenports, Jay was family. But after the last week, to her he was anything but. She couldn’t hold the truth in any longer. She needed to tell the women in her life how she was really feeling. Who else could help her deal with such conflicting emotions?
Mila was looking at her with what she could only call a penetrating stare, so Erin put her cup down on the saucer with a slight clink and said, “I am so screwed.”
Tessa immediately looked sympathetic. “I’m sure you’re not. What’s going on?”
“I think I have feelings for Jay Malone.” She didn’t say it likeI like him and I hope he likes me, it was more a cry of despair.How was it possible that the man who could not be a worse match for her was making her feel like a horny teenager?
Mila laughed, and her earlier smug look intensified—almost as if she’d been certain all along that this crazy pairing would work. “Don’t look so tragic,” she said. “I told you before I could see you two together. He’s super hot, and he’s in your dream house. Go for it. Have a whole bunch of hot sex and worry about the details later.”
That was what Mila would do, but she wasn’t Mila. She was Erin, the quiet one who lived in her head more than her body.
She glanced up to find Tessa looking at her with understanding. Much more what she’d been looking for here. “What made you change your mind?” Tessa asked softly.
“Jay surprised me,” Erin admitted. It was simple and it was true. “But that doesn’t mean he’s the right man for me.” She shot a penetrating look of her own in Mila’s direction. “And I’m only interested in Mr. Right.”
Tessa made a murmur of agreement. “I remember having those feelings about Archer. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he was right for me so much as he was a million miles away from me in every way but physical proximity. I tried to so hard to ignore my own feelings, never realizing that Arch was having feelings too. Is there any chance Jay feels the same way you do?”
She thought back to that moment on the beach when they’d hugged a little too long, and then again when a kiss had hovered just beyond reach and they’d both pulled away.
“Sometimes it feels like he’s interested in me too, but I’m so far from his usual type that maybe I’m seeing things that aren’t there just because I’m longing for them.”
Mila said, “Maybe you need to let him know in no uncertain terms that you’re available for plenty of hot sex and no strings.”
Before Erin could even reply, Tessa shook her head. “Erin’s already tangled up in emotional strings, aren’t you?”
It was such a nice way to put it. Erin nodded. “I can’t believe it. He’s brash and annoying and pushy, but then you see him with his rescue dog and it’s the most adorable thing ever. I think that’s when I fell for him—when he took this scrappy dog that no one else wanted and saved him. And did you know that Jay Malone reads?”
“Oh,” Mila said, understanding dawning. “A guy who reads is your biggest weakness in the world.” She seemed to think about it for a minute and then said, “At least he’s hot. Not like that drippy young photographer who looks at you with his tongue hanging out.”
Shocked, Erin said, “Clark? We’re just friends.”
“Everybody in town knows that Clark wants to be a lot more than your friend. It’s kind of funny to watch him follow you around, a bit like Buzzy does.”
She didn’t want to laugh at poor Clark, but even she could see it was sort of true. She was never sure what to do about him. They were friends and, okay, she knew that his feelings were warmer toward her than hers were to him, but on the other hand, he never tried anything and she didn’t want to lose him from her life.
“But enough about Clark,” Mila declared. “So you have feelings for Jay—both in and out of the bedroom.” She put up her hands. “I say jump his bones and go for it.”