Ty frowns again, his perfectly manicured eyebrows pulling down. “I think Natalie is looking for you.”
Miles gives Ty a slap on the back that seems a little harder than necessary. “Thanks, buddy.”
He grabs my hand, and we head to the door.
What was all that about?
“Where are we going?”
I smile, dropping his hand as I throw on my coat. “You’ll see.”
I lead Miles out to the Land Rover and turn the key. “This Will Be Our Year” by the Zombies fills the car.
Miles surprises me again by turning it up and singing along. I join in and am about to pull out when, out of the corner of my eye, the door to the castle flies open. A woman with thick curly chestnut hair, luminous brown skin, and bare feet is running toward us, waving her thin arms in the air like she’s mad.
“What in the world?” I say.
Miles follows my gaze. He puts his hand on his face and mutters, “Shit.”
As the woman gets closer, I see it’s Natalie Rodriguez.TheNatalie Rodriguez. I’m not so much of a movie buff that I would recognize every director I came across. But Natalie is one of the hottest up-and-coming directors working right now. And by hottest, I mean that quite literally. She is absolutely gorgeous, with flawless light-brown skin, thick black hair, and dark eyes that take up most of her face. She looks like a Disney Princess if they drew them with more curves. The paparazziloveher. She directed one of my favorite movies—Me, Myself and I—and she was just featured inTime’sOne Hundred Most Influential People. Dad swears she and her mom came over all the time when I was little and we lived in LA, but I don’t remember.
As she approaches the car, I roll down the window.
Natalie’s cheeks are rosy from her jog. She takes a second to catch her breath. “Oh my god. Skye! You’re all grown up. Oh you might not remember me but I babysat you a few times. I’m Natalie.”
She holds out a hand with perfectly manicured black nails, with small jewels on the tips. I shake it, feeling her warm, soft skin.
She gives me a half-smile and turns her full attention to Miles. “We are all setting up in the dining room for the table read. Remember the table read?”
Miles smiles, and it is so wide and charming, it practically has a cartoon sparkle that goes along with it.
“Is that today? I thought it was tomorrow.”
She shakes her head, her gorgeous hair swishing with the motion. I wonder if I could get my hair to look like that. More soft and luxurious, less frizzy and untamed. “No. It’s now. My feet are freezing. I’ll see you inside in three minutes.”
I roll up the window and turn off the engine.
Miles shakes his head. “Sorry. Can I take a rain check?”
“Aye.”
“Tomorrow? After my run?” He reaches out his hand and puts it over mine. It’s like his skin is electrified. A jolt goes straight to my heart.
“Sounds like a plan.”
We walk inside together,close but not holding hands. Miles heads off to the dining room with his head down. I nearly run to my writing room, my skin still tingling from Miles’s touch. I need to get it all down on paper. When I reach to open the door, it’s already open, the fire burning in the hearth.
The woman I met earlier at the bottom of the stairs, Elsie, is lying on the couch by the fire, her laptop on her stomach, clacking away. She sits up when she hears me come into the room.
“I hope you don’t mind. I needed a quiet place to work, somewhere far away from the dining room and Callum said...”
It feels like I should mind, but for some reason, I really don’t. “It’s fine. But do you need to be alone?”
She scoots back so she is more upright but still leaning against the arm of the couch. “No, not at all.”
I always work at my desk, but Elsie looks so cozy by the fire, with her laptop perched on her knees, that I think, why not? I unplug my laptop and bring it over to the chair by the fire. I put the blanket over my lap and get situated, crossing my legs. Opening my novel, I divein. That’s what it feels like, too—like I’m so immersed in the words, they surround me like cool water on a sultry summer day.
After about twenty minutes of clacking away, I notice Elsie staring at me. The look on her face seems like she’s trying to figure me out. She was doing her fair share of typing, too, so I’m not sure what she’s trying to decipher. I close my laptop. “Would you like some tea or coffee?” Elise shakes her head, so I check the time. Four o’clock—that’s not too early. “Or I think I have some whiskey.”
