Page 152 of In the Air Tonight

“You’ve got looming deadlines.”

“It’ll get done. It always does. Don’t worry about it.”

“I need to find a job if I’m going to stay here.”

“I could use a manager.”

“I’d do that for free. I need to find something to help pay the bills.”

“How to say this…”

I shift so I can see him. “Say what?”

“So the work brings in quite a lot of money. Like enough that we’re set. You don’t need to worry about helping to pay the bills. You can do whatever you want to.”

“You said you built the cottages to help pay the taxes on the property.”

“I did, but it wasn’t as if I couldn’t have paid the taxes without the cottages.”

“Oh.”

“If I’m being honest, it was getting kind of lonely living here with just Fenway, even though she’s very good company. I thought it would be nice to have some people around. That’s the real reason I built the cottages.” He adds a sexy smile. “Look how it turned out.”

“With you lazing away an entire day in bed.”

“Best day I’ve ever had.”

“Me, too.”

“I still need to get some sort of job.”

“You’re crazy good at organizing things, right?”

“So I’m told.”

“I need that. Badly. I have like six hundred emails I’ve been ignoring for weeks. My agent has called three times, and I don’t want to talk to him because he makes my head hurt. There’s talk of a show of my work at RISD that I don’t want to deal with. I’ve been thinking about hiring someone to manage it all for a long time. The job is yours if you want it, and it would be a paid gig with full benefits.”

“What does your package include?”

The look on his face is priceless. “I’m being serious, and no matter what you might think, I’m not creating a job for you. I need you, in every possible way.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” I lean over him to check the clock on the bedside table. “I need to shower and get to Bristol.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“That’s ok. I won’t be gone long. Are you sure you don’t mind if I take your mother’s car?”

“I’m sure. I take it out at least once a month to keep it running, and it’s got plenty of gas.”

“I’ll take very good care of it.”

“I’m not worried.”

He walks me to the garage a half an hour later and hands me the keys. “Be careful.”

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