by Amy Lamont
He laughed and eased a hand slowly up and down my spine. “So you don’t love the apartment?”
I shrugged. “It’s got no personality.”
“I guess I’ll have to start looking for a place that feels more like home.”
I lifted my head so I could see his face. “Seriously? You’re going to buy a place in New York?”
“Where else would I be? You’re here.”
My heart stuttered and I buried my face in his chest, fighting off tears.
He used a finger under my chin to urge my face up to his.
“Hey, what’s this? I thought you’d be happy I’d be around more.”
“Happy tears,” I said. “Apparently this new me is a big old cry baby.”
He grinned. “Yeah? What else does the new you do?”
I shrugged and planted my chin on his chest so I could hold his gaze. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“Are you definitely quitting school and the hospital?”
“I put my two weeks notice in yesterday.” I pressed a kiss against his chest, close to one of his flat nipples. “And tomorrow when school reopens, I’m going to go officially withdraw.”
He cupped a hand around my cheek, skimming over my skin with his thumb. “Are you sure, baby? You’ve really thought about this?”
I loved that there was no judgment in his question, just concern for me.
“I’m positive. It’s weird, but I’ve never been more sure in my life.” I told him a little about the revelations I had during the conversation with my friends the night I got back from Los Angeles.
He pushed my hair back off my face. “Sounds like you know what you want.”
“Well, I know what I don’t want.” A sudden surge of excitement gripped my belly. “I now have another new adventure to look forward to.”
“What’s that?”
“I get to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.”
He grinned and gave me a quick kiss. “Sounds like fun.”
“It really does, doesn’t it?”
He nodded. “I might have a place for you to start looking.”
I looked up at him. “Do tell.”
“I played the song for the rest of the band.”
“The song?”
“The one that you helped me with.”
I grinned, thinking of how much fun it was to help him finish his song. “You did? Did they tell you to take off the goggles and stop taking songwriting advice from some random chick?”
“First off, you’re not some random chick.” He kissed me again, this time longer and more lingering. “You’re my chick.”
A thrill ran through me, both from the kiss and his words.
“I am?”
“How can you even doubt it, Paige? I’ve turned my life upside down since the night I met you so I could spend as much time in New York as possible.”
“You did?”
“I told you our management would rather we were on the West Coast. I fought to record out here.”
“Oh, God, the guys are going to hate me.”
“They don’t.” His lips curled into a smirk and he waggled his eyebrows at me. “Don’t forget. They’ve seen you, and I think a few times they may have heard you. I think they get why I’m so obsessed with you.”
“I’m obsessed with you, too,” I whispered.
His lips took mine and his hands started to roam over my body. Desire pooled in my belly and my nipples hardened against his chest.
I tore my mouth from his and gasped for breath. “Wait, wait, wait. What about the place I can start looking for something to do with my life? Not that this isn’t totally a good idea.” I gestured to our bodies pressed together.
“Oh, everyone loved the song. They want to use your lyrics.”
“Really? That’s so awesome! I love writing poetry and lyrics. I used to do it all the time in high school, but then I got busy doing extracurricular stuff that would look good on college applications.”
“Well, we thought they were great. So with your permission, you’ll get listed as one of the songwriters and my manager can handle your contract if you want.”
“What do you mean my contract?”
He shrugged. “Standard to offer a contract. You give us the rights to use your lyrics, and my manager can negotiate your cut if you want.”
“My cut?”
“Your royalties.”
I shook my head. “You guys don’t have to pay me. That was fun.”
He smiled down at me. “I think I’m beginning to understand your problem. You’re stuck on the thought that work has to be a difficult thing that you slog through every day. Baby, I get out of bed every day ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I’ve had a whole week go by where I don’t think about sleeping until I can’t keep my eyes open another minute, and I don’t think of eating until my stomach is ready to gnaw its way out. That’s what your work should feel like. You can get paid for it even if you had fun doing it.”
I stared up at him. He’d hit the nail on the head. It had never occurred to me to mix work and fun. In my mind, they’d been two separate things.
“You forget to eat?” I infused as much horror as possible into the question.
He laughed out loud and snatched me to him, burying his face in my hair as his shoulders shook.
I latched onto him and held on tight. For the first time in forever, I saw a future where maybe, just maybe, fun wasn’t something I snatched in between moments of drudgery and sheer exhaustion.
Maybe Jade, Katelyn, Emma and I were onto something with this bet. We’d all gotten a little stuck over the last few years. But suddenly, my life stretched out in front of me as one wild adventure after another. And I couldn’t wait to meet each new challenge.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Jared.
“For what?”
“For not giving me the boot when I showed up here. For showing me how much fun work can be. For always being exactly what I need.”
His face softened and he shifted so our eyes were on level. “Don’t you know I’m crazy about you?”
“I’m beginning to get that.” I searched his eyes, seeing the truth of his words and wondering how I’d missed it before. “I’m pretty crazy about you, too.”
“I never doubted the crazy part,” he teased.
I smacked his chest playfully. “I’ll show you crazy.”
“Promises, promises.”
“That wasn’t a promise. It was a threat.” I yanked the comforter up over our heads and pressed my mouth to his chest. And I spent the rest of the afternoon showing him crazy, knowing it was only the first of the wild adventures life had in store.
THE END
A NOTE FROM AMY
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading the first three books of my Holiday Encounters series!
When I first came up with the idea for this series, I had no idea how invested I’d get in these characters. But as I started writing and I got to know them, I grew to really love all of them—the four best friends, my billionaire, my biker, and my rock star. They all hold a special place in my heart, and I can’t wait to share their next adventures with you!
What’s up next for our four friends? First, Jade will be getting her own happily ever after in Summer with the Soldier (Holiday Encounters Book 4). And in the fifth and final book of the series, we’ll be revisiting Nate and Emma to see if the happy-for-now they got in Christmas with the Billionaire turns into a forever kind of love.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll keep in touch. For updates on new releases, giveaways and special offers open only to fans, you can visit my website at AmyLamont.com or sign up for my newsletter here: Newsletter.
And I’d love for you to join my Facebook readers’ group here: Amy Lamont’s Reading Room. In the Reading Room, we chat about our favorite books and movies, book boyfriends, new releases, and much more. I also
have some exclusive giveaways and other fun plans for the group. Hope to see you there!
And you can always drop me an email at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you!
Happy Reading!
Amy Lamont