When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(16)
Author: Brenda Novak

“I’m fine, why?”

“You need me to explain?”

She turned to face him. “No.” She knew perfectly well why he’d asked.

“So?” Eyes wide with curiosity, he closed the door. She wasn’t sure why, since they were alone. Just more of his sense of drama, she supposed. “Give me the lowdown. How’d it go?”

Could she classify the meeting she’d had with Simon and Ian as  good? They’d worked out a lot of details, launched “The Plan.” But whether or not they’d regret what they’d started remained to be seen. “Simon’s in.” That was about all she could say, all that was certain.

“I figured, when you sent me those pictures. It’s the dirty details I’m after.” His voice took on a husky undertone. “Were you two really kissing in that photo? Or did it just look that way?”

They hadn’t kissed. But they’d stood awfully close. Close enough so she could smell the toothpaste on Simon’s breath. Close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body. When her br**sts accidentally grazed Simon’s arm as Ian pressed them into ever more compromising positions, she’d jumped back as if he’d burned her, and Simon had scowled.

Maybe she had overreacted. But that brief contact had sent a jolt through her.

“It was all staged,” she assured Joshua. “We weren’t kissing.”

He flopped into a seat. “How disappointing.”

It had been a little anticlimactic to continue their discussion while her heart was pounding like a jackhammer. Thanks to her line of work, she associated with the rich and famous quite often, but she’d never gotten so worked up over anyone else. In an effort to fight the effect Simon was having on her, she’d searched his face, only inches above her own, for one significant flaw, something to convince her that he wasn’t as attractive as she’d originally thought—and found nothing.

His eyes were especially distinctive. An unusual sea-green color contrasted with thick black lashes and even thicker eyebrows, they reflected too much cynicism. That wasn’t attractive, but there was a hint of the lost little boy in there, too. His fine build, combined with those eyes and that sense of hidden vulnerability, packed a punch that had left her reeling.

She’d been pleased to find his bottom teeth slightly crowded.

Not that such a small imperfection really mattered. Thanks to  Shiver, his last suspense thriller, she’d seen what he could do to a woman with his lips and tongue.

“You should’ve made out with him,” Joshua said.

She pulled a skeptical face. “Right. In front of Ian?”

“Why not? He was hoping to get a steamy pic. You could’ve blamed it on the PR campaign. I can’t believe you missed the opportunity to indulge. I would’ve made out with him to my heart’s content.”

Instead, she’d been clinging to her control, trying not to get swept up in the lust surging through her veins. “Simon’s too feminine for my taste.”

“Are you kidding?”

Kidding herself, maybe. High cheekbones and a prominent jaw, not to mention the perennial shadow of beard growth, added more than enough of the masculine to compensate for his pretty eyes and pouty lips. But she had to create some kind of defense. There were moments when she was afraid the hero worship she’d once felt would reassert itself and undermine what she knew of the real Simon. “I’m just saying he looks like his mother more than he does his father.”

“Doesn’t make him feminine.”

“Did you get those pictures off?” she asked instead of responding.

“As soon as they hit my in-box.”

Rounding her desk, she straightened her blotter. “And…did you get confirmation that they’ve been received?”

“Immediately. Sarah’s ecstatic about breaking the story—and avoiding any heat from that other mess we created.”

“Good.”

“So.” He crossed his legs. “You’re sure you’ll be able to make yourself go through with it? You’ll marry him?”

“I don’t see that I have any choice. I’ve already signed the contract.”

Hanging his head, Joshua peered at her through the hair, dyed a stark black instead of his usual brown, falling into his eyes. “I feel so bad about what I did.”

“I know.”

“I endangered Sarah’s job, too.”

“Yes.” Gail drummed her fingers on the desk. “What’d her boss say?”

“He’s every bit as excited as you’d expect. Anything Simon does is big news.”

That picture they’d taken in the backyard would soon be online. Other magazines and bloggers would jump on the publicity bandwagon before she could blink.

Sick at the thought of all the calls that would pour in, how  she’d become the focus of the paparazzi who’d harried her biggest clients, Gail propped her chin on one fist. “Do you think this is a disaster waiting to happen?”

“Could go either way, but you’re saving my ass by doing it, so I can’t tell you how grateful I am.” He gave her a childlike smile. “Makes me love you all the more, if that helps.”

“It doesn’t,” she said, but smiled back.

He sobered. “I deserve to be fired.”

“Except that you’ve been great at your job and I can’t judge your entire performance by one stupid, drunken mistake.”

“I appreciate that. I really do.” His mood brightened. “Tell you what—I’ll marry Simon.”

She pictured the fury in Simon’s face when she’d said what she had about his family, or lack thereof. At this point, he’d probably prefer anyone to her—maybe even Josh. “I wish you could.”

She prided herself on being able to handle anything, but she was out of her element here. Maybe she was better at running other people’s lives than her own. “What if he won’t stop drinking?” she asked. “Or he secretly bites his toenails? Or sleeps in a coffin? Or burns incense and offers up prayers to his own picture?”

“All movie stars are eccentric—or get that way if they go unchecked for too long. Just roll with it. The marriage is only temporary.”

Two years didn’t feel as short as he made it sound. “But he might be more insufferable than I’m expecting. Maybe he’s…abusive.”

Josh grimaced. “He’s not abusive, not physically, anyway. With his ex running her mouth to anyone who’ll listen, we would’ve heard about it if he’d ever even threatened to hit her or the kid.”