by Kat Mizera
“You’re a good man, Jared Wylde.”
He snorted. “Yeah, well, we’ll see how good I am if she asks for more money.”
“You going to call her back?”
“Fuck no.” He dug into his breakfast. “By the way, you need to call Daisy so we can extend our stay if that’s what you want to do.”
Their eyes met and she smiled. “I do. I’m enjoying being unencumbered by my child or any other responsibilities. This is nice.”
“And when we get back to Vegas, it’s going to be even nicer.”
“Sleepovers for the win!” she laughed.
“Hell, yeah. Now call Daisy.”
17
They went straight from Montreux to Zurich for the book signing. Daisy was busy with Zio and his family so she was doing her own thing and Jared was excited to see a part of Renee’s world he knew nothing about. Book signings were completely foreign to him so it would be fun to join her since she mentioned them fairly often.
“Something bad is going to happen to Petra, isn’t it?” he asked her as they checked into their hotel.
She giggled. “You’re still reading it?”
“Well, yeah. Usually I read at night before bed but there’s this chick who keeps jumping my bones every night, so I haven’t had a chance.”
“You should tell her to leave you alone,” she quipped.
“Not a chance in hell,” he responded, patting her on the backside.
“So be prepared for bawdy, flirtatious, occasionally unfiltered women who will make a big deal out of the fact that I brought a…friend.”
“Friend?” He arched a brow. “Does that make this a friends-with-benefits thing?”
“It’s been like three weeks,” she laughed. “I don’t know what it is.”
“I won’t get freaked out if you call me your boyfriend,” he said, though he didn’t look at her. “We don’t have to have labels between the two of us, but in public, we can give it a name.”
“You trying to lay a claim on me?” she asked playfully, nudging him towards the bed.
“Maybe?” He laughed as he snaked out an arm to grab her, pulling her on top of him as they tumbled onto the bed.
“We’re meeting Theodora in the lobby in fifteen minutes,” she protested.
“That’s plenty of time for me to make you come.” He started unbuttoning her capris before she could protest.
They were five minutes late to meeting her friend, but she had a huge smile on her face and her eyes were still a little glassy from how hard she’d come. That was his favorite look on her and he grinned to himself as she introduced him.
“Thea, this is Jared. Jared, Theodora Bellamy.”
“Nice to meet you.” Jared extended his hand.
“Very pleased to meet you as well,” Thea responded, not even attempting to hide her appreciative glance as she checked him out. “We should all bring assistants that look like this to book signings.”
“Jared’s never been to an event like this,” Renee said. “So try to go easy on him.”
Thea laughed heartily. “You’re about to be baptized by fire, my friend.”
Jared grinned. “I’m ready. I think.”
They walked out to the street and headed for the bookstore, which was just two blocks away. He hung back a little, letting the women talk as he took in his surroundings. His vacation had taken a turn he hadn’t been expecting, but he’d enjoyed it more than almost any other. He’d had plenty of reservations about starting something that went beyond sex with Renee, but he had no regrets. If he was going to be in a relationship, she was exactly the kind of woman he was looking for. The more time they spent together, the more confident he was of that. She was a little skittish, but he was wearing down her emotional walls and the fact that she’d slept seven hours the first night and eight the second had done a lot to show her how good things were between them.
He stayed off to the side as Thea and Renee talked to the store manager about where Renee would be set up and how many books they had on hand. She was cool and reserved when she talked business, friendly but with an air of aloofness he hadn’t seen in her before. Ironically, it reminded him a lot of his own professional persona. He behaved the same way when he met the press and gave interviews, so he understood why she did it. You had to have a separation between the personal and the professional and she did it seamlessly.
“Ready to go?” she asked him, sliding her arm through his. “Thea’s going to stay a while, wait for another author to get here to finalize details, but we can go. We’ll meet a group of authors for dinner around eight. Is that okay?”
“Whatever you need, doll.” He kissed the side of her face as they walked back to the hotel. His phone rang and he rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.
“Your ex again?” she asked when he stuffed it back in his pocket. “Maybe you should answer?”
“What could she possibly want? We have absolutely nothing to talk about and if she wants more money, well, that’s not my problem.”
“Did she leave a message?”
“Not the last time, no. We’ll see if she does now.”
He didn’t want to talk to Elsa, but he wondered what she wanted. His phone never beeped so she obviously didn’t leave a message and he put it out of his mind. No good would ever come from a conversation with her and he didn’t want anything to ruin his last couple of days with Renee. She and Daisy were leaving on Sunday to go to Italy and Greece, and he was meeting Fab at the hockey camp for the next two weeks. He was planning to change his flight so he, Renee and Daisy could fly back to Las Vegas together, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about the dates yet.
“We’ll probably be busy for four or five hours tomorrow,” Renee told him when they got back to the room. “The signing is from eleven to three and then there will undoubtedly be a lot of chitchat among the authors and stuff. It probably won’t be very busy so you can wander off if you get bored.”
“Didn’t Thea say I was your assistant for the day?”
“Yes, I believe she did.” A smile played on her lips as she watched him.
“Well, I’m not going to shirk my responsibilities. If you’re working, I’m assisting.”
She smiled. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Jared didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but the line circling the block and women coming in with dozens of Renee’s books that they already owned wasn’t it. She was a veritable rock star when it came to romance novels and he had to work at keeping his jaw from falling open every time a woman burst into tears because she was getting to meet Renee or every woman’s hands were shaking as she asked if she could take a selfie. He also had to remember to call her Rena, since she wrote under the pen name Rena J. Black.
It was enlightening and a little awe-inspiring, seeing how successful she’d become while working two jobs and raising a little girl on her own. He’d had to overcome a lot of physical injuries but he’d had money and no one to worry about other than himself, which made him a little ashamed of how angry he’d been ten years ago.
“Is this the model of your next cover, Rena?” a young woman asked in English, giving Jared a telling once-over.
“Oh, I don’t—” Jared began.
“This is my boyfriend,” Renee interjected smoothly. “I keep trying to talk him into it, but he’s kind of shy. What do you think, ladies? Cover model material?”
The women who heard her began nodding and clapping.
It had been years since Jared had blushed but he was fairly certain his face was red now. Renee squeezed his knee under the table and winked as she moved on to the next reader.
By the time they were done, Jared was exhausted. It hadn’t been physically taxing, but it was like a four-hour post-game interview with the press. He understood a little better why Renee was self-conscious about her looks too. Everyone wanted a picture, a hug, a conversation. Though it was on a smaller scale, this was very much like his days as a hockey star because these
women seemed to revere her.
“You okay?” she asked him as they walked back to the hotel.
“Yeah, but you must be wiped.”
“A little.” She smiled. “This is part of the job and it helps me sell books. Plus, I enjoy meeting the fans. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal but the other two authors there today are well-known too, and once people saw me, it got a little crazy. You probably don’t want to be my assistant ever again.”
He chuckled, sliding his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. “Not at all. I thought it was great. I’ll do it any time I can get away.”
“I’m thinking you’re not going to have time for much of anything but hockey once we get home,” she said softly, looking up at him. “I wish you could come to Greece with us.”
“I wish I could too,” he admitted. “But I can’t let Fab down. It’s too late for him to find someone else to coach and the kids really look forward to it.”
“I know. I guess I’m dreading going back to reality and want to enjoy this little interlude as long as I can.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, too,” he replied. “It’s going to be rough once I get going in August, and when training camp starts in September, I’m probably going to be straight out.”
“Work is a priority,” she acknowledged. “I understand that. It is for me too, but it feels like we’ve gotten pretty attached these last few weeks.”
“I don’t have any intention of ending things,” he said. “Is that what you’re hinting at?”
“I’m not hinting, I’m just a realist. How are we going to see each other? I know the kinds of hours Brad keeps. And if we combine your schedule with mine, it’s going to be almost impossible.”
“Maybe I can get an apartment really close to your house,” he said thoughtfully. “We can at least do sleepovers.”
“What if…” She chewed her lip. “Well, what if you skipped getting an apartment for now and just moved in with me? Like, officially.”
18
Jared looked startled but not upset, knitting his brows thoughtfully as he looked at her. “You really want me around all the time?”
“Around? You’re going to be working ten-hour days getting ready for training camp and fourteen-hour days once it starts. When hockey season starts, you’ll be working long days and traveling. We’ll be lucky to be in the house at the same time more than one week a month.”
“You think we’re ready for all this?” he asked softly, reaching for her hand. “It’s really soon.”
“We’re both mature, financially independent adults. Neither of us is mooching off the other—you can pay utilities or something if it makes you feel better—and there is no reason we can’t end it amicably if it doesn’t work out. I understand it’s a huge step, but you don’t actually have a place to live and this will afford you some time to settle into the team and the city, plus look around for either an apartment or a house, really figure things out. It costs me nothing and we also get to have as many sleepovers as our schedules allow.”
He leaned in to kiss her, his lips soft against hers. “I really like this idea.”
“You do?” She was a little unsure of herself now that she’d said it, but he wasn’t giving her any weird vibes. In fact, he seemed excited about the idea of living together.
“I like you, Renee. This shouldn’t be a surprise.”
“It’s been just under a month since we met.”
“And it’s been one of the best months of my life.”
“We need to start getting ready for dinner.”
“There’s plenty of time before dinner. We need to start getting naked.”
She laughed. “Okay.”
By the time Jared met Fab at the hockey clinic, he’d only been away from Renee for twenty-four hours and already missed her. They’d spoken on the phone three times so far today and it almost made him laugh because he hadn’t even been that way with his ex-wife. Of course, this was still new, and with the amount of sex they’d been having, they were all over each other all the time. Going without for the next two weeks was going to suck.
“Jared!” Fab waved and Jared joined him in his makeshift office at the ice arena.
“You ready to do this?” Jared asked, looking around.
“Absolutely. You?”
“Of course.” He looked around. “Where’s Zio? I thought he was assistant coaching this year?”
Fab rolled his eyes. “Moping. He’s already distraught without Daisy.”
Jared grimaced. “Well, not all of us have been married for a hundred years, and falling in love is fun.”
“Is anyone other than Zio falling in love?”
Jared laughed, wagging a finger at him. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I am, however, deeply in lust.”
“She’s beautiful,” Fab agreed.
Jared’s phone rang and he frowned. “It’s my lawyer,” he sighed. “What the hell could this be about? He knows I’m out of the country.” He pressed the button to accept the call. “Hey, Connor, what’s going on?”
“Hey, Jared.” The man’s voice was unusually subdued.
“Why do you sound like I’m in big trouble?”
“I don’t know what you’re in,” Connor admitted. “All I know is I got an invitation, on your behalf, to the reading of your ex-wife’s will.”
“Her will?” Jared was shocked. “She just called me the other day, but I didn’t pick up. She didn’t leave a message so I figured it wasn’t that important.”
“Cancer, according to the letter I got. Apparently, your presence is necessary. I called, told them you were out of the country until the end of July and they said I could attend in your stead.”
“She’s never had a pot to piss in,” Jared said in confusion. “What the hell do you think this is about?”
“I don’t know, man, but I think maybe you should try to get here.”
“I’m coaching at a hockey clinic for underprivileged kids,” he said. “I really can’t. If they’re not telling us why, I’m not leaving Switzerland to find out she wants me to pay for the funeral or some shit.”
“So you want me to go?”
“I guess so. What choice do we have? Can you? Was she still in Georgia?”
“Yes, outside of Augusta.”
“I’ll reimburse your expenses; just see if you can make whatever this is go away.”
“I’m on it.”
“Thanks.” Jared hung up and told Fab what was going on.
“Awfully young to die,” was all he said. “But it’s definitely strange she wants you at the reading of the will.”
“Even if she came into some money, which I don’t believe, I’m a thousand percent positive she wouldn’t have left it to me. She has at least one kid and as far as I know, she’s still married to the father.”
“Definitely strange. Your lawyer handling it?”
“That’s what he says.”
“How do you feel otherwise? Like about her death?”
“It’s terrible. She treated me like shit, but I didn’t want her to die. I hope it was quick and painless. Cancer sucks.”
“Definitely.”
They were quiet for a few minutes.
“Well, I think it’s time to start getting ready for the kids to arrive tomorrow.”
“Absolutely.”
The next day, Jared called Renee and told her about Elsa’s death.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know you two ended badly, but she was young, wasn’t she?”
“Thirty-four.”
“And she had children?”
“One that I know of. I don’t know if they had another after the one five years ago.”
“Are you sad?”
“Kinda? I’m mostly feeling guilty about not being that sad. She was such a bitch and I really hate to speak ill of the dead but she broke my heart and screwed me out of half of everything I had, at a time when I didn’t know what was in my future.”
> “I know, but you can be the bigger person by just remembering the good times.”
He was silent for a few seconds.
“Jared?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking what a nice person you are, and how much of a cranky bastard I am.”
“Nah, you’re human. No one expects you to grieve for someone who treated you badly, but you must have cared about her at one time, so just remember those times.”
“Yeah, I’ll try. Well, I have to run. The boys are starting to arrive in the morning and I need to rest before I have to be in charge of a bunch of kids for the next two weeks.”
“It’s not sleepover camp, is it?”
“No, it’s two one-week immersive clinics, eight to five every day, for two sets of kids. The first group is younger, eight- to ten-year-olds. The second week is eleven- to thirteen-year-olds.”
“Better you than me,” she chortled. “That second group should be nice and hormonal for you.”
He laughed. “Thanks, babe.”
“You could be here in Greece with me… I’d be rubbing sunscreen on your back, sucking your dick every few hours, but hey, if you’d rather be in Switzerland...”
They both laughed. “Evil woman,” he teased.
“I may be incommunicado tomorrow. We’re taking a cruise to a bunch of islands that are close to Athens and I don’t know if there’s reliable Wi-Fi on the boat or the islands. I’ll call you when we get back to the hotel, though, probably around nine or ten.”
“No worries. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Night.”
“Night.”
He put the phone down and reached for Petra and Her Phantom.
He’d been searching for weeks but Petra was nowhere to be found. He’d thought she would go back to Florida, to her friends in Fort Lauderdale, but he hadn’t found any trace of her. With each passing day, he got more and more concerned. She had nothing. He’d stuffed a little money in her backpack without her knowing, but it had only been a few hundred dollars—all the cash he’d had at the time. It wouldn’t have lasted long and she’d probably used most of it to get to Florida. He fervently hoped she hadn’t hitchhiked. She was stubborn, though, so it was a distinct possibility.