Page 32 of Earl
“I hate you.”
“I adore you.” Lifting her hand, he kissed it lavishly. “What do you say?”
“I don’t know,” she hedged. She was sympathetic to the needs around her and was always trying to see what she could do to help. She was actively involved in a couple of organizations that provided for the various children’s home around the country.
At Christmas, she helped out in soup kitchens in the downtown areas and was involved in the drive to source clothes for the children in the various group homes.
She had been through the system and knew firsthand what it meant to be passed over and have to wear hand me downs. It had been unpleasantly debasing, and she did her best to try and alleviate that sort of thing at all costs.
“You are still hoping that things will work out between you and that person.”
“His name is Earl,” she snapped. Pulling her hand away, she dragged it through her hair.
“And it might be that he is going through a difficult time.”
“That does not give him the right to be short with you.”
She cast him a look. “You are biased where I am concerned,” she reminded him dryly.
“Damn right I am,” he responded swiftly. “I have seen you go through a lot, and I am not going to stand by and see anyone trample on your heart.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I really like him Jus,…”
His expression softened as he reached for her hand. “Then perhaps it’s a good idea for you to take a step back.”
“He is due back the end of the week.”
“And it could be a good idea for you to show him that you are not desperate.”
Her eyes flashed. “I am not!”
“I know you aren’t darling. But as men, we like to think we are the ones doing the chasing.” He grinned at her baleful expression.
“What the hell do you know?”
“I will ignore that snide comment and chalk it down to your state of mind!” He twined his fingers though his expression turned sober. “I need you with me darling. Not only to be my companion and to put on an excellent show that is going to make an exorbitant amount of money, but also to keep me from falling into bed with random strangers.”
“Aren’t you getting too old for that to happen?”
“You are never too old to make mistakes and last night I was very lonely,” he told her archly.
“Did it help?”
“No,” he murmured. “It only made me feel like shit. I booted the guy out as soon as I finished talking to you and scrubbed myself free of his cloying cologne. So, there you are. You are needed in my life to stop me from self-destructing.”
Chapter 7
Justin watched her discreetly, intuitively realizing that she did not want to talk. All through the uneventful flight to Mexico, she had been uncharacteristically quiet, just content on staring out the window, a faraway expression on her face.
He felt helpless and angry as well as responsible for putting that look on her features. She had told him briefly that the conversation between her and that Earl guy had been terse.
“He has decided that it’s best if we wait to meet each other.”
“Did he say why?”
“No. He just said things are racing along too fast and we should slow things down.”
Now here in the villa assigned to them, she was sitting curled up on one of the love seats, her head resting on the cushions.