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And Erin Davenport had never been a giggler.
Under all that lightness, though, something seismic had happened. She had never been casual about sex, and after her incredibly wild night with Jay, she’d never felt so vulnerable either. She’d given him everything. Did he have any idea? Since she knew perfectly well he had a lot more experience in that area than she did, did their night mean anywhere near as much to him as it meant to her? She needed a little time to make sense of what had happened. Of her feelings. Because right now she felt head over heels.
And she couldn’t quite believe it was with Jay Malone.
She couldn’t concentrate on her article at home, so she decided to head into work with Buzzy, where the office atmosphere might do her some good.
By the time she arrived, she was still feeling disoriented. Only a couple of minutes passed before Pat Sinclair, who hadobviously been on the lookout for her, came out of her office and perched on the edge of her desk. “That handsome film agent, Jay Malone, dropped by this morning to see you. Since you weren’t in, he left you a note.”
Erin hoped she had sufficiently controlled her expression at the mention of Jay’s name. Inside, it felt like a little bird was tap dancing in her stomach. Not much got past Pat.
“Thanks.” She took the envelope with her name scrawled across it in Jay’s looping handwriting. Even the sight of his handwriting made that little bird dance a little faster. Oh, she had it bad. Pat shot her a knowing look and then went back to her office, leaving Erin to stare down at the envelope, almost afraid to open it. Had she offended Jay by making her escape while he was on the phone to her brother?
Because at the mention of Archer’s name, it had all become too real. There was zero chance of her brother approving of the match, and she wasn’t ready to face the rest of her family with all their big opinions. She needed to get her own thoughts straight first. Hopefully Jay knew her well enough to realize that was what was going on—not that she had any regrets about the night they’d spent together. In fact, she wished they’d had some hot morning sex before she left.
She fiddled with the envelope, still not tearing it open. Maybe it was just a crush. The kind that teenage girls got sitting in dark movie theaters watching Smith Sullivan in some role where he was heroic and gorgeous and spoke lines that had been written for him by experts. Maybe it was that kind of crush and it would pass quickly.
But somehow she suspected that wasn’t true. She had to face facts. This went far, far deeper than that.
She took a breath and opened the note.
Dear Ms. Davenport,
Thank you for leaving me a note before you departed. I will grant your request, as I shall be leaving for LA shortly and will be there for the next few days. I’m bringing Nelson this time. If I weren’t leaving, however, I would do everything I could to convince you that what we have together is every kind of right.
With fondest regards,
Julius (Jay) Malone
P.S. I know you’ll miss me, but you’ll survive. I just hope I will, because I’ll be missing you like crazy the whole time.
Erin sat back in her chair. She read the note again, slowly, as though savoring the best kind of chocolate. She’d felt a momentary spike of despair when she read that he was leaving, and taking his dog with him so she wouldn’t even have the pleasure of being in his home. Butevery kind of right? So he had felt it too. And she really loved the part where the charming formality dissolved.I’ll be missing you like crazy.
She resisted the urge to kiss the note, and instead tucked it into its envelope, then into her bag. Somehow, his note had calmed her. She would have some space to process this new development between them, now that she knew she was as much on Jay’s mind as he was on hers.
But right now she had work to do, so she would have to put those sumptuous, sexy thoughts in a box and get back to it.
When she finished her article, there were a few obituaries to update. She loved how the elder residents of Carmel-by-the-Sea liked to keep her updated on all the goings-on in their lives, ostensibly so that at the time they passed, their obits would be pretty much written and approved by themselves. But also shethought they sometimes liked to boast to her about their newest grandchild or the latest family marriage.
Finally, when she was on top of her work and it was time to break for lunch, she composed an email back to Jay. She could have texted, but somehow email felt more formal.
Dear Mr. Malone,
Thank you for letting me know you will be out of town. I suspect I shall be very busy with my duties at the newspaper and will not have the time to miss you. But I will definitely miss Nelson. Give him a scratch between the ears for me, please.
Wishing you great success in Los Angeles and a safe and speedy trip back to Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Your friend (with some quite breathtaking benefits),
Erin Davenport
She paused. It felt very bold to have writtenbreathtaking benefits, but she decided to leave it in. She hit Send.
Then she tried to put Jay Malone out of her mind and took herself out to lunch. She loved to treat herself to a fancy focaccia sandwich from time to time, and this was the perfect day to allow herself that distraction.
She walked out into the brilliant sunshine, trying to keep her hands from pulling out her phone every five minutes. It was a gorgeous day. A nice, long surf out on the waves was what she really needed to clear her mind, but that would have to wait until evening. Maybe she could text Mila and see if she wanted to join her. But then Mila would want to know what had happened with Jay, and Erin wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about it yet. Not until she had her thoughts clear.
As she stood in line waiting for her mortadella sandwich, her fingers twitched and again she resisted checking her phone.