Secret Desire(26)

He resembled the type of man who belonged at a polo club in some exotic location. He’d changed and kept changing, revealing a bit more of himself until there was no possible way to resist him.

She wanted to kiss him, wanted to do much more. What would have happened if her phone hadn’t interrupted them? Her mouth went very dry.

They shouldn’t become involved, not with Fran coming home. Suppose they had kissed or, heaven forbid, made love? A fleeting image of him, naked and between her legs flooded her imagination. She turned up the air conditioning and put the car into gear.

Would it have been so bad? There was so much water under that bridge, she was nearly drowning. They couldn’t go forward without settling the past. Otherwise, Fran would make a mess of anything and everything related to Dustin and her. That one fact, she could take to the bank.

Was it possible, after all this time, that she’d been mistaken? Stabbing pain hit the side of her head. She had no time for a migraine. She reached for her purse, pulled out her water bottle and looked for and found her bottle of ibuprofen. She uncapped the water and downed two tablets. She took a long sip of water, drinking in the coolness. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d suffered because of Fran’s ability to bend the truth.

She hadn’t spoken with her sister, but with a large inheritance sitting on the table, if Fran didn’t come to help out with the house and estate, she might just tell her a thing or two. Claire’s nerves were frayed, and her familiar world had all but bottomed out. So much was happening so fast, it threatened to tear her apart. She could let it, or she could take a stand. Not be bounced around by others. Even in the midst of this storm, she could see a light at the end of long tunnel. What she needed to do was decide what the heck she wanted.

She pressed redial on her phone. “Hello, Laura?”

“Yes, this is Laura Shinster.” She sounded in a hurry.

Claire swallowed and launched into her explanation, “Laura, this is Claire Robertson. I sent Ethos the wrong story. Sorry for the confusion, but I’m about to send you the correct story concerning diversity in the mayor’s race. You should my piece have in ten minutes max.”

“Claire…the story has already gone upstairs.”

Claire jammed on the brakes. The car stopped with an ugly screech. “What? That’s not possible. Upstairs where?”

“Mike was given the thumbs up. He had a reading during the morning meeting. Kevin James was there. Apparently, everyone in the room wanted a copy and it’s like wildfire. You know upstairs is looking to expand.”

“I’m being invited upstairs by Mr. James, the editor for Olympia?” Her mind was reeling.

Ethos was part of Olympia West publications, a huge publishing house with a finger in every type of publication. With the new online market, Olympia was interested in expanding the publication of novels. Any and all fiction was welcomed, and romance was their biggest seller. The e-publication department was in the same building on the upper floors, the bigger, prettier offices, ones she’d secretly wanted to be invited up to and now the doors were being flung open.

“Well, yes. Mike and Mr. James thought this was a perfect segue given someone with your experience. It’s about to be released in a special online preview with a follow-up in their end of summer romance releases through the Temptress line.”

“No, absolutely not.” Claire tried to keep her voice level. “You don’t have my permission.”

“Mike just walked into the office. How about you take this up with him? Hold on.”

She closed her eyes trying to concentrate on what story she’d sent to Mike. She prayed it was one of the short stories she’d written about Seattle, but was unable to believe those would cause a storm of expectation in Olympia’s erotica imprint. A ringing sound interrupted her thoughts and she was transferred to Mike.

“Claire Bear.”

“Mike—”

“You’ve created quite a stir in the office. When did you start writing erotica? Sweet Jesus, you are a pistol. Now, we’re thinking of the angle of doing a teaser with a follow-up interview of you as author before the Temptress release. We want you to present both sides of the writer coin building your presence online. You’d better start getting your platform together. A website, Facebook, and Twitter up and running.”

“No. The piece was a mistake. I can send you the diversity article in minutes.”

He chuckled. “Calm down. I rather enjoyed the piece. Almost too hot to touch—much too hot to put down. Different from anything we’ve ever run. That’s why I called Kevin. We did an impromptu reading using Ethos staff. You’re in as their debut novelist. Kevin is certain your writing will garner a shitload of readers. Damn, I think you got a lot of people hot and bothered. We had the most productive meeting this morning. A regular reading orgy, over bagels and coffee. When you come back, people will want to shake your hand.”