Page 47 of Someone Exactly Like Me (Wounded Hearts 1)
“I — uh, thank you,” she says, one thumb looped into her pocket and the other hand pointing to the kitchen, “for breakfast. That was very nice of you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m a pretty good cook.” I cock my head to the side and smile.
“And —” She rubs the back of her neck. “Thank you for taking care of me yesterday. I appreciate it.”
“Of course. I’m glad I was with you. Although I don’t think I did much to help.”
“But you did. I…” She hesitates. “I feel safe with you.”
My heart swells. “Good. I’ll always keep you safe.” Stepping toward her, I tuck her damp hair behind her ear and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into me. She smells like citrus and vanilla. Pressing her into me, I feel her breasts against my chest and yearn to touch them, with my hands, my mouth. I love how she feels in my arms.
Releasing her, I stare into her beautiful eyes. Fuck I want to kiss her.
Breaking the moment, she steps back and folds her arms across her chest. “Let me know how it goes today.”
“I will. Eleven tomorrow?”
“Great. I’ll see you then. Good luck.”
I walk out the door and, as she closes it behind me, it hits me: I want to break my own damn rule and kiss her.
My brother, Marco, should be done with his photography job and I want to check in with him to see how it went and also to tell him what’s been going on with me. As soon as I get back to my hotel, I sit in the chair on my balcony overlooking the city, light up a cigarette, and call him.
“Hey, how’s it going? You’re home now, right?” I ask.
“Yeah, bro. Hey, how’s your vacation? How’s L.A.?”
“I have so much to tell you.”
“Yeah? Tell me.”
“The Fendi shoot went great. Candi was incredible as usual.”
“That’s good to hear, man.”
“Yeah, yeah. At the shoot, I met Candi’s best friend, Destiny. It turns out, her mom is in the industry and, not only does she know people, she set me up on interviews with some of the big guys for representation here in the U.S.”
“No fucking way!”
“Yeah. I had two interviews on Monday and I have one more later today. It’s fucking unbelievable.”
“That’s incredible. Let me know how it goes today.”
“Yeah, I will.”
“What else have you done there? Did you drive around and start getting familiar with places?”
“Actually, I hired a tour guide.” I blow smoke into the breeze.
“A tour guide?”
“Yeah, I made a deal with Destiny. Actually, we have two deals going.”
“Okay, now I’m curious. What are these deals?”
“She’s an author. She writes romance books. And right now, her career is having a hard time. So, I asked her to show me around L.A. and told her I’d pay her for her time since it would take away from her time writing. She needs the money.”
“That was generous of you. And the second deal?”
