Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Jo pressed the intercom on the phone just within reach.
“Shaundra, Cam Mitchell flies in tonight, right?”
“Yes, he flies in from New York, I believe. We’re meeting later this week to discuss his exhibit.”
Jo didn’t respond, too focused on the arrhythmic slam of her heart. She hadn’t seen Cam since that morning in New York, leaving the preliminary exhibit discussions to Shaundra. He hadn’t called Jo. She hadn’t called him. She’d finally gotten the message, and when she saw him, there would be none of the heart-fluttering, mouth-watering-then-drying-out, palm-moistening, breath-hitching behavior that usually accompanied an encounter with Cam.
Ruthless.
That’s what Jo had to be with her feelings. Like a weed in her garden that needed to be tugged and sprayed until its roots were pulled free of the ground and its body poisoned to nothing.
“Jo, did you hear me?” Shaundra stood at the open office door, her greenish-gray eyes narrowed in concern. “I said he’ll be here tonight.”
“I heard you.” Jo scanned her spotless desk for something to toss out or straighten.
“You didn’t answer.”
“I got distracted.”
Shaundra stepped farther into the room and settled into the sea-foam-green leather seat across from Jo’s desk. Calming colors for a passionate nature. That’s what Shaundra had said when she decorated the spare, elegant office where Jo got so much work done.
“Seems like you’ve been distracted all morning.” Shaundra toyed with the end of one golden brown dreadlock spilling over her shoulder.
“There’s a lot going on.” Jo pulled up an email on her iPad, her fingers zipping across the wireless keyboard. She knew it was rude, but she didn’t want to talk about why she seemed distracted.
“Shaundra, could you give me a few minutes to catch up before my next meeting?” Jo shifted her glance away from the iPad screen long enough to crinkle her eyes in an almost-smile but didn’t give her assistant time to respond. “Thanks.”
Shaundra unfolded her softly rounded figure from the seat and made her way to the door.
“Jo, if you need—”
“I will, Shaundra.” Jo trained her eyes on the cursor flashing its impatience, waiting for her to type the next line.
“You need coffee or…anything?”
Shaundra wasn’t a worrier, but there was one wrinkle on the whole of her creamy-coffee-colored face. And Jo knew that small line between her brows was for her. She pulled her hands away from the keyboard and let them fall to her lap, giving her assistant and friend her full attention for the few seconds she could afford.
“I’m fine, Shaun. Really.”
“It’s just that ever since you got back from New York that first time, you’ve been—”
“Busy,” Jo cut in, raising her brows to underscore that the conversation was coming to a close. “And I still am. Like I said, I need a little time to catch up.”
Jo felt Shaundra’s eyes on her for a few more seconds but resumed typing, putting on her I’m concentrating so hard right now face to deter any more probes.
When Shaundra headed back to the outer office, Jo flopped back in her ivory leather chair. The lean, clean lines were deceptive. The chair might look hard, unyielding, uncomfortable, but it was practically squishy and enveloped the often-tense muscles of Jo’s back like a marshmallow. Jo let her shoulders drop and pushed cool, calming air across her lips. She pulled her iPad off the docking station and laid it in her lap, pulling up a familiar album of photos.
Her heart squeezed around an emotion she didn’t even have a name for when she flipped to the photo she pulled up at least once a day. An epic spread of white teeth nearly overtook the small face the color of cocoa beans. A smile so big and bright everyone around the little girl seemed to fade away, at least to Jo. A wild, rough cloud of hair haloed the too-thin face. The child’s clothes were simple and clean but would soon be raggedy. Never enough food. Disease-infested water. No parents. No home.
What do you have to smile about, little girl?
And yet it was that defiant joy that watered Jo’s eyes and made her heart swell up in her chest like the freaking Grinch who stole Christmas.
“Everyone loves Tiki,” a deep voice said from just above her shoulder.
Jo jumped in her seat, nearly dropping the iPad. She navigated back to her home page and redocked the tablet on her desk. She looked up at the tall man who had entered her office without sound enough to pull her attention from the picture.
“Peter, you startled me.” Jo laid a hand over her heart, which pounded through the thin silk of her dress. “I was just looking at the first group of kids up for adoption.”
“Can you believe it’s finally happening?” Peter perched on the edge of her desk, his body broad but trim. His blue eyes swept over Jo’s face, feature by feature until her cheeks warmed up. When was the last time she had blushed? But under Peter’s affectionate focus, she did.