Page 82 of Valentine Nook
“No, sir. I checked the files this morning.”
“It should have been couriered. What happens if it’s lost?”
“If you still want to sign it, I’ll send you another one.”
Hearing a cheer from outside, I find Max has managed to get Dolly over the first jump, but Hamish has decided it’s far too energetic for him, and he’s taking a quick nap. When Dollygives up jumping to do the same, Max picks up a bucket, takes it over to the edge of the lawn, and crouches.
I justknowit’s going to be filled with snails. It’s rained every evening since the thunderstorm last week, and snails are everywhere.
“Lando—”
“Sorry. Leave it with me, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Fine. Speak soon.” He ends the call in the same brusque manner he started it.
I drop down into my desk chair and think.
There’s a framed photo of my dad and me when I was eleven years old. I’m sitting on a stable door, and my father’s old horse Zeus is poking his head out while my father looks on laughing. It’s one of my favorite photos of us, which is why the photo belongs on the corner of my desk.
I stare at it now.
“Come on, Dad. What would you do?” I mumble. “Mum has been such a pain since Caroline. She won’t leave me alone.”
As I speak the words aloud, I realize that’s not entirely accurate. My motherhasleft me alone recently. Aside from a couple of less-than-subtle allusions to Holiday, she hasn’t brought up my dating life in over a month.
It has to be some kind of record. Who am I kidding? Going one day without bringing it up would be a record.
Picking up the phone to call James, I put it back down. I could do with a stretch of the legs, so I’ll go and see him instead.
I take the shortcut past the swimming pool, which I’m shocked to find is empty. I assumed Clementine decamped here at the first hint of a sunny day, and truth be told, I’m a little disappointed because when Clementine is here, Holiday’s usually around too.
My groin tightens at the thought of Holiday out here in her bikini.
Even after the last two hours watching her on screen, I have a sudden craving to see her in the flesh, all blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles. I think about the way they disappear into her hairline every time she smiles, and how her nose wrinkles up right before she belts out a laugh.
When my mind drifts back to the waterfall, my need to see her becomes an incessant tugging in my chest. It’s been a long time since I wanted someone so badly that the sight of them literally made my body ache.
But that’s nothing on how I feel about that deep rumble from her throat when she came on my fingers. Raw, husky, and genuine, as my name fell off her lips like a plea.
And fuck me if that sound didn’t do something to me.
She might be one of the most famous actresses in the world, watched by millions of people, but under that waterfall, she was for my eyes only.Mine.
I don’t know how long I can go before we finish what we started in the glen because as desperate as I was to fuck her right there on the rock, I didn’t want to rush her. Orme.
But a couple of days have passed, and all it’s done is solidify how quickly Holiday has gotten under my skin and how needy I am to see her again. I’m ruminating on it when I walk across the yard and into James’s office.
Thoughts of Holiday dry up, and my face immediately drops into a deep frown.
James, my mother, Alex, Miles, and Hendricks all stop talking. It’s a scenario so bizarre I don’t even know where to begin, only that there’s no question they were talking about me seconds before I entered.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Miles replies, shifting closer to the window.
The fact he hasn’t cracked a joke but also won’t look at me means it’s absolutely notnothing.
“What is going on?” I repeat.
