Billionaire Novelist's Fiery Debutante by Nic Saint Read Free Book Online Page A

make the perfect writing team, just you wait and see.”

CHAPTER 12

    Outside, the midday heat was starting to affect them, so they returned indoors, where the air conditioning hummed merrily, and temperatures were more inducive to the work of creating art.
    Josh had never actually collaborated with anyone before, always considering himself a lone ranger when it came to writing. But, frankly, he was at his wit’s end. If he didn’t come up with something—anything!—he’d go nuts.
    Chloe’s idea was pretty out there, but he was clutching at straws at this point, so he was willing to go along with her and see if it wouldn’t jolt his creativity back into gear.
    “What I would suggest is that I help you craft your story, and you help me craft mine. That way, we’re killing two birds with one stone.”
    “What’s your genre?” he asked.
    “Haven’t you guessed by now?” she returned, mock indignation in her voice.
    “Um… nope,” he had to admit. At home, he would have googled her within seconds of meeting, but out here on Eden, that particular possibility didn’t exist.
    “Romance, of course, dummy,” she supplied, punching him playfully on the shoulder.
    He chuckled. “Of course,” he echoed, wiggling his eyebrows.
    “What? Don’t you think I’m the epitome of the cool, sophisticated, romantic lady?” She craned her neck and lifted her chin, pretending to be European Royalty for a moment.
    “Um… no?” he ventured, which earned him another punch.
    “You’re right,” she admitted. “I was always more the tomboy. Mom even thought I was a boy when I was born, though the doctors managed to convince her otherwise.”
    “You don’t look like a boy to me,” was all he said, and held her gaze for a moment before looking away. She was really lovely, but he so wasn’t going to go there. Especially if they were going to be collaborators. They needed to establish ground rules, and work their way through a system of sorts. He had no idea if this would work, but somehow just sitting here with her, talking about it, he felt better than he’d felt in days. Suddenly, it was as if the dark clouds consistently looming overhead had parted, and the sun was hesitantly peeping through.
    As it turned out, Chloe was an extremely easy person to work with. He couldn’t even remember ever having felt so much at ease with a woman before. She even managed to make him open up about his failed marriage. Not that this had any bearing on their projects, but as she pointed out, it was imperative that they got to know each other a little better. Get acquainted.
    “I’ve only told this to one person before,” he confessed, “but you kinda wheedled it out of me by being so nice.”
    “Who was that other person?” she came back, quick as a flash.
    He grinned widely. “My mom. She’s very nice, too.”
    Things went uphill from there. They decided they’d spend the mornings working on Josh’s project and the afternoons on Chloe’s.
    “So what do you suggest we do in the evenings?” Josh asked, trying to keep a casual tone.
    “The evenings? Why, we fraternize, of course,” she replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
    The rest of the day, Josh couldn’t keep his mind from jumping to the topic of what it was exactly that these fraternization sessions would entail. He knew they shouldn’t go there, for it would jeopardize their newfound working relationship, but the more time he spent with Chloe, the more he felt attracted to her in ways that he hadn’t in a long time.
    He watched her as she carefully read through some of the outlines of his previous novels. She was sitting perched on his comfy chair, one leg tucked beneath her, the other dangling. From time to time, her mouth twitched into a smile, as if she just read something extremely amusing. He couldn’t imagine what. His novels weren’t exactly comedies. With the body count he kept up, they couldn’t be.
    He had to tear his eyes away