Rockies Retreat: Destination: Desire, Book 5 by Crystal Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

but her expression was sinful enough to make his cock throb.
    A million ideas flowed through his mind about what she might consider a little rough. At this rate, he’d be taking a cold shower instead of writing.
    She made a shooing motion. “Go write, Graves. I’ll catch you later.”
    “I might not be that hard to catch.” Now why had he said that? Clearly, he was an idiot. There was no other rational explanation.
    A laugh spurted out of her. “I don’t mind an easy man either. I’ll take a rain check.”
    With a saucy wink, she strode off, a swing in her hips that made him stare at her ass far too long before he went inside to get his print outs.
    He made it back to his cabin and then stood in the middle of the living room, feeling as if the walls were closing in, staring at his laptop. He’d swear the damn thing was glaring at him, taunting him with the crush of deadlines that were threatening to strangle the life out of him. He knew this feeling, knew that writing today would be a struggle, that he’d fight for every single word. He’d made great strides last night and this morning, but he’d wanted more.
    “Fuck,” he groaned.
    After dropping the sheaf of papers on the coffee table, he went to the bedroom to change into a baggy pair of cargo shorts and grab a notepad and pen. He left a quick note for Vi in case she came back from swimming and wanted to know where he was, and then he pushed out the screen door to walk toward the big tree behind Laurel’s cabin. Yeah, he probably shouldn’t, but he didn’t feel like wrestling with his book today. But the novel wasn’t the only thing he had to work on. Maybe a change of project and a change of scenery would help.
    As promised, Laurel was beneath the leafy canopy, sprawled on her stomach on a blanket with a sketchpad. He kicked off his flip-flops and settled next to her, leaning back against the rough trunk.
    “Aren’t you supposed to be writing?” She didn’t even look up as she asked the question. Her fingers flew gracefully over the paper, the mountains in the distance taking shape in her drawing. Even though he’d never seen her paintings, what he could see now left no doubt of her talent.
    He fanned the pages of his notebook. “Outlining. I have to get a solid draft of my script done by the end of summer.”
    Her brow crinkled and she stopped drawing. Twisting on the blanket, she looked up at him. “If it’s based on your book, shouldn’t the outline be obvious?”
    “I have to decide what to cut and what to keep, what needs to be tweaked to work on-screen, what directions the actors need to get a scene right.” Clicking open his pen, he arched an eyebrow.
    She inclined her head, conceding the point. “More complicated than it sounds, then?”
    How to put this? “It’d be like me saying that you have a photo of a tree, so it should be obvious how to paint it.”
    “And that’s when I’d want to staple things to your forehead.”
    He dipped one shoulder in a shrug. “I’d deserve it.”
    “Sorry for the ignorant question.” There was no sarcasm in her tone—the apology was sincere.
    “You didn’t know.” He nudged her leg with his toe. “If you ask something like that again…”
    “Staple time?” Humor glinted in her dark chocolate gaze.
    He angled his jaw. “It’s better than a machete manicure.”
    “Ha, yes.” She rolled to her side, propping her head in her palm. “Topic change. Vi asked me to critique her book. I said yes, but realized maybe I should have asked you if you were okay with that.”
    “I’m okay with it.” He didn’t need to think about it. From the interactions he’d seen between her and his daughter, he knew she’d be a good person for Violet to get feedback from.
    “Good.” She nodded. “I was going to feel like an ass if I had to withdraw the offer.”
    “I don’t know if I should ask you to be gentle or honest. It’s her first time trying to write anything like this, so I don’t want