Page 36 of So in Love
Crystal and Jamie lifted their glasses but they had to wait a moment for Mom to finish tossing.Then she grabbed her glass.“Sorry, thanks for waiting!”She clinked her glass to theirs, and everyone drank.
“You work for Alaina, is that right?”Mom asked as she turned to the fridge and pulled out a couple of different kinds of salad dressing.She looked to Jamie.“Will you put this on the table, please?”
Jamie took the dressing, and Dad hustled to deliver the salad.
“Yes, I’m her assistant,” Crystal said.“Can I help with anything?”
“Sure, if you’d like, you can take the rolls there and put them in the basket.”Mom had already prepped a basket with a cloth inside it.“What does being Alaina’s assistant entail?Besides rubbing elbows with famous people.”She laughed.
Crystal opened the rolls.“A lot of things.I manage her various projects and help her review scripts and contracts.I also keep her calendar organized and coordinate where she needs to be on what days.It’s a lot to juggle between her work, appearances, and personal life.”
“She spends a lot of time here now.Do you still work full-time?”
Crystal hesitated briefly before answering.“Uh, yes.Actually it’s kind of nice because I work less.I can say I work full-time now instead of insanely more than that.”She flashed a smile, but Jamie caught that she might’ve been slightly irritated by the question.He would’ve been too.But then Mom wasn’t always the most diplomatic interrogator.Her filter wasn’t much better than Jamie’s.Upon reflection, it was maybe worse.
“Have you always been Alaina’s assistant?”Mom handed the basket of rolls to Jamie, and he took them to the dining room, which was adjacent to the kitchen—really, it was all one big room, along with the living area.It was much better than the closed-off galley kitchen he remembered from his childhood, but then it was a 1970s split-level.
“Yes.We’ve been friends since elementary school.When she went to LA, I went with her.”
Mom’s eyes lit, and she smiled broadly.“How lucky for you that she made it big!Did you go to college then?”
Crystal’s gaze darted to Jamie’s.“Uh, no.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.But it’s never too late.I’m sure you know that Jamie has two master’s degrees.From the London School of Economics, no less.”
“Yeah, I’d heard that,” Crystal said somewhat distractedly as she took a long drink of wine.
It was past time for Jamie to rescue her.“So Mom, Crystal’s here to talk about the Stowe family.What can you tell her?”
“Oh yes, I’m so glad.I’d mentioned to Kelsey that my father’s family had been around almost as long as the Archers, but she was too fixated on whatever else she had going on.I’m happy that you’ve finally found the significance of the Stowes.”She pulled a pair of oven mitts from the drawer and opened the stove.“Sam, can you carve the chicken and then we’ll sit down.”
She took a dish of scalloped potatoes out and set them on a hot pad before removing the chicken next.Dad went around the island to help.
Jamie moved to Crystal and spoke softly.“Come on, we can go sit down.Sorry about my mom.Her filter’s worse than mine, I decided.”
“Is it bad if I agree?”she whispered.
He laughed.“Not at all.”They carried their wine to the table, and he held a chair for her.“I’ll just be across the table.Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”
“You know I’m taking that as a sexual innuendo,” she murmured near his ear as she sat down.
Because last night she’d been on her knees, and he’d waxed practically poetic about the incredible sexiness of her back.She was muscular and soft in all the right ways.And there went his cock again.
He leaned down and whispered, “Take it however you like.Later I’ll give it to you howIlike.”He felt her shiver, and it took everything he had not to lick the outer edge of her ear and take the lobe between his teeth.
He subtly tugged at his jeans before moving from behind her chair and taking the one across from her.
Dad finished carving the chicken and brought it to the table.“Do we have everything?”
Mom stood at one end and made a quick survey.“Yes.Thank you!”She sat down before Dad could get to her and help.He went to the other end and took his chair.
Jamie stared at Crystal across the table as she took a drink of wine.Part of him wished he was sitting next to her, but it was probably for the best since he’d likely get caught touching her in some way.He could barely keep himself in check.Damn, he didn’t remember the last time anyone had turned him on like this.
Mom dished some salad into her bowl, then passed it to Crystal.“What do you know of the Stowes so far?”
Again, Crystal hesitated.“Not a lot.We know that a couple of them were mayor of the town.”
“That’s exactly right.The first one who came to Ribbon Ridge—before the town was incorporated, I think—was from Tennessee.He became mayor at some point.”
