Contracted For Love: Famous Love Series (20 page)

“Oh. I wondered why you put boots on when it was so hot. Is there anything else deadly out here that I should know about?”

She glanced at him and shook her head as she blinked in disbelief. “I think there’s an old bull next door. As long as you stay out of his field, you’ll be fine.” She stopped and turned to face him with a frown. “Is this what you came here to say?”

“Of course not, Char… um… Charlotte. I haven’t been to Australia before, though.” He glanced around him nervously. “Everyone says every creature that’s outside here can kill you. I didn’t consider that when I asked to go for a walk.”

“Go back, then, if you can’t take it,” she said as she continued in the direction of the creek. “I think you can safely assume that, as usual, the only thing in the vicinity that wants to kill you, is me.”

He laughed without a touch of humour as he hurried after her, “I could guess that by myself. I don’t want to go back, definitely not on my own, anyway. Just point out anything that might bite me, okay?” She smirked at him and waited for him catch up to her. He took her hand, but she shook it away. Jack was silent until they reached the tree line and entered the bushland that signified the creek was nearby. Once the trees covered them, he turned and stood in front of her. She kept her gaze firmly on the puddles at the edge of the creek.

“Look at me please, Charlotte.”

Startled by his tone, she looked at him before she realised she’d given in. He stepped close and folded his arms around her. As she tried to wiggle out of his grip, he whispered in her ear, “Please don’t pull away. Please.” She stilled, waiting for him to relax his grip so she could slide out of it. He kept a firm hold on her, though, as if he knew she might flee at any moment. “Okay. Let me start with the basics. That press release is false.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, it’s important to me that you heard from my own mouth that it’s not true. The minute I saw it, I knew I had to come. I couldn’t have you hating me more than you already do. So, that’s the first thing.

“Second, I proposed to you properly, because I wanted you to have the memories of that day. I wanted you to have an engagement ring that your friends could coo over, just like any newly-engaged woman would have. I was worried that you might leave, so I got you to agree to move up the wedding date. I thought, once we were married, the rest would take care of itself. On the day I freaked out that I forced you, I wanted you to tell me you loved me, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you first.

“I carried you over the threshold, because you do mean much more to me than just an agreement we made. You’d become my best friend, my confidante—the person I trusted to have my back and set me straight on matters of household employees and how to treat them.” He watched her face as she tried not to smile at his last point. “I miss you, Char. I miss your smell; I miss never having a clean business shirt, because you’ve worn them all to bed. I miss holding you in the dark and your hand on my chest. I miss your company and your foul mouth.” She snickered, but kept gazing at the creek. “The house is empty without you there. No one flashes me in the pool, annoys me for coffee, or sings in the shower. Mrs. Jones glares at me every time she sees me, now. Last week, she even reprimanded me for being such an idiot and treating you badly. She said writing you love songs and singing them to the world didn’t make up for my shitty behaviour. You’ve ruined her, by the way, and she’s going to have to go. I can’t have my staff berating me.”

“Don’t you dare,” Charlotte whispered, still not meeting his eyes.

“I want you back. I need you to come home with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She finally stared up at him and Jack could see the anguish in her eyes. He’d done that: he’d put that pain in those perfect, blue eyes, and he’d never forgive himself. A single tear tracked down her cheek, but he dared not raise a hand to wipe it away. He still wasn’t sure if she’d run away from him if he released his grip.

“You want to know why I call you Char?”

She nodded, but she didn’t look away, this time. He felt a tiny glimmer of hope that he could salvage this, so he slipped his hands from her waist and took her hand in his. He’d missed holding her hand. He moved them gently in the direction of the creek again before he spoke.

“I call you that, because you’re white-hot. Everything about you is fiery: your temper, and your passion for life and being yourself. It’s contagious and dangerous all at once, just like now. You’re gone and the heat has gone out of my days. I live in one of the hottest cities on Earth, and I’m left with the burnt remains of a flame that was blindingly bright, but that isn’t there anymore.” He dared not look at her as he continued, “I shouldn’t have started calling you that. You’ve definitely left me burnt and blackened.”

“Wow, you should write song lyrics—you have a certain way with words.” She let a small smile touch her lips as she looked at him, and he could see some of her old humour returning.

“Not to push the envelope, but please tell me that smile means you’re not going to send me on my way with nothing but a tissue to dry my tears?”

“Don’t push your luck just yet, buddy. I’d forgotten what a drama queen you are, that’s all.”

He grinned at her and then laughed out loud. “I’ve barely had drama in my life until you arrived. Since I’ve met you, I’ve punched out a talk show host, been robbed at knifepoint, been practically molested, got myself hitched, destroyed my band, incurred a million dollar debt by cancelling two concerts in Vegas, been shouted at by my housekeeper, asked a woman to have my baby instead of just admitting I loved her, fallen off a stage, faked my need for a next of kin at the hospital, and lost my mind over photos of myself on the internet.” He looked down at her amused face, “Does that about cover it?”

“It seems accurate enough. You left out how you discovered that you can go out in public and be normal without an army of bodyguards to hold your hand. Oh, and that you got dumped, because you were being a dick.” She frowned as she looked up at him again, “I don’t know if I can stand a life with you, Jack. It’s only been eight months since we met, and you’ve been insane the entire time.”

“Yes, well there’s a reason for that. I was sexually frustrated.”

She doubled over, laughing at him, and he had a flashback to the day they’d discussed his mother’s sex tape. “You fucking idiot,” she said when she could finally catch her breath. “After the ridiculous baby discussion, you were about to get laid so hard that you wouldn’t have been able to walk for days, but you let Cindy into your room before I could get there, and we all know what happened after that.”

“I’m truly sorry for that. I was weak and I should have sent her away. I didn’t know how you’d taken my suggestion the night before, though. I was so horny for you, and she was just there—”

Her fingers shushed him. “Enough. I don’t want to hear about it, anymore. Why did you really come here, Jack? Why was it so important for you to make me understand that the press release wasn’t true? You’re going to have to tell me, if you expect this to work.”

“I thought I did tell you. Just then, in great detail.”

She sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time since they’d met in August.

He’s such an idiot. Does he think I’ll go home with him, sleep with him in his bed again, and take up where we left off, without a promise of more?

As he gazed at her, searching for the answer she wanted, she saw the light go off behind his eyes and a giant smile spread across his hips. “For someone who writes love songs, I’m pretty fucking stupid, aren’t I?”

“Uh huh.”

Jack pulled her close and moved his mouth until it was just inches from hers. “I love you, Charlotte Shipton—Char.” He finally kissed her ever so lightly, raining tender kisses all over her lips as she felt the last few months of misery melt away. “Please come home with me, baby.”

She sighed against his lips and tried hard not to cry. “I’ve waited a long time to hear those words from you, Jack. I love you too.” She squealed as he picked her up and whirled her around as he laughed and kissed her all over her face. A startled bird flew from the tree above them and they suddenly heard voices calling their names.

Pushing through the trees that had sheltered them, Charlotte smiled and waved at Nikki as she held Reid’s hand and dragged him across the field. The look on his face said he was having the same thoughts about the wildlife that Jack had endured on the walk over.

“What are you guys doing out here?” Charlotte called as Jack slipped his arms around her waist and tucked his chin into her hair.

“You won’t believe it, Charlotte,” Nikki called with an excited lilt in her voice. “Reid and I are getting married!”

From behind her ear she heard Jack’s voice, “What. The. Actual. Fuck?”

The End

I hope you loved reading Contracted For Love. This book was meant to be a standalone novel but as you can see Nikki and Reid appear to have other ideas about that! I suspect the pants-less Fergus has his own story brewing too – wouldn’t you love to know why he was missing his pants that day in the recording studio?

If you’d like to receive notification when their stories are available, subscribe
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Now I just have to work out what to call it


The people that made this book possible are my fabulous beta readers. Without them, I’d be lost. In particular for this book, Kerrie Andrews helped me with some dodgy plot holes and to make sure Charlotte and Jack didn’t degenerate into two crazy celebrities, battling it out in the press! She even read the draft of my book when she was home sick from work – I’m eternally grateful to her for letting me bounce ideas off her poor, sick body. Thanks Kerrie – you rock!

I’d also love to thanks the peeps at Love Kissed Books for being such a powerhouse of promotion. Knowing they are there to help has kept me writing, because I know readers will be able to get their hands on my books.

I love to hear from readers so don’t be shy, look me up!

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I always hate waiting for the next book in a series to be released so while you’re waiting, here’s a sneak peak of my first release
All At Sea
to tide you over. Here’s what you can expect:

Romance. Sizzle. Intrigue. A whale watching cruise, gone terribly wrong, throws two strangers together for a hot and exciting adventure!
Jenna Michaels has spent the last two years wrapped up in writing her three best-selling novels. She's quit her job and is now a full-time writer. Then the unthinkable happens. The words just dry up. Hell-bent on finding inspiration for her fourth novel, Jenna throws herself out into the world to rediscover her writing talent.
She needs the words to fly from her fingers again.
 
Ryan Price is attempting to extricate himself from his ex-girlfriend who refuses to let go. He's not happy to discover she's been in contact with his mother behind his back. To an outsider on this beautiful day, he seems grumpy and aloof.
When Jenna and Ryan meet aboard the Ulysses III there is instant sizzle. Being surrounded by a boatload of strangers can't cool their attraction and it's hands-on all the way.
Their fascination with one another quickly becomes a desperate struggle for survival when disaster and tragedy strike in the blink of an eye.

All At Sea

As I was leaning toward the mirror and rubbing in the last of the white around my nose, the door to the toilet cubicle burst open. A male presence filled the space with me. He pulled the door shut, flicked the lock, and turned around to survey me with surprise. Of course he was wearing a red shirt. My breathing stopped in my chest as I stared at him, open-mouthed, in the mirror. Some little part of me was not surprised at all.

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “The little sign said ‘vacant.’ I thought it was empty!”

He stared at me and I stared at him. He made no move to go out to the cabin, and I couldn’t form a coherent sentence with him standing so close to me. 

He cleared his throat and looked embarrassed. Crimson started to creep up his neck and I had the distinct impression that he didn’t find himself on the back foot often. “Um... would you mind terribly if I just stayed in here for a minute? I’m avoiding someone and I don’t want to go out to face her - um… them.”

I was choking on the sudden dryness of my throat, but I smiled at him to show it was okay. I turned my attention to my sunscreen and started to rub it on my arms. Lucky these cubicles were larger than normal, or we would have been skin to skin in the tiny space. 

Lucky or unlucky, Jenna?

When I’d finished with my arms, I turned around and put my foot up on the closed toilet lid and started to apply sunscreen on my calf and thigh. I rubbed it in well while he watched. He was silent, but I could have sworn his breathing got a tiny bit quicker as he stood there, too close to me. I had the distinct feeling that I was having some kind of effect on him, just like he’d been having on me all day. To test out my theory, I started on the second leg and made more of a show of rubbing the cream in slowly and thoroughly right up to my thigh. I pulled up my shorts to make sure sunscreen was applied all over my upper leg.

Yep, I heard a sharp intake of breath as he watched. He tried to hide it, but now I knew I wasn’t imagining it. 

Nice!

Knowing I’d had an effect on him made me a bit more daring than usual. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not the shy type. I hold my own and I’ve had my share of experience with the opposite sex. I’m not usually hesitant when talking to men

except for this one…

and I can play the siren with the best of them, but it’s just not my usual way of acting. I decided to throw caution to the wind, since that was my new mantra for the week. 

Yes, and look how that turned out with poor James. Didn’t you just promise yourself this morning that there’d be no more interludes with random men?

Ignoring my own sensible thoughts, I figured I might make Ryan suffer a little bit more for bursting in here and then not leaving. Turning away from him again, I held the sunscreen up over my shoulder. “Would you mind putting sunscreen on the top of my back and shoulders? I can’t quite reach, and I don’t want to get it on my clothes.”

I swear I heard him choke. He acted nonchalant, though, and took the sunscreen, squeezing some into his hand. He pulled aside my hair and my singlet and started rubbing the cream into my shoulders. I have to admit: it was heaven. His hands were warm and large. He was making an effort to rub the cream in really firmly, almost giving me a massage at the same time. I fought the urge to groan with pleasure as my toes threatened to curl. It had been a long time since a man had touched me and given me this kind of reaction. I never wanted it to stop.

We were facing the mirror, so I couldn’t exactly close my eyes and enjoy the moment. To distract me, I decided to seek out some of the answers to the questions I’d been brewing up all morning. He was my captive audience, so he wouldn’t get away. I supposed he could open the door and take his chances with Leah being outside, but he was making no move to leave, and I hoped he’d stay for a while. 

As he moved the bikini strings from behind my neck, I said, “She seems awful.”

His hands stopped moving and he met my eyes in the mirror. A moment passed before he answered. “She is.” He dropped his eyes and went back to rubbing my shoulders. His hand moved down inside my singlet, and I felt goose bumps spring up all over my skin.

Oh, God.