Miss Adventure (28 page)

By this time, I’ve moved so far toward him that I’m standing alone in the center of the room where everyone can see me.

Jack looks right at me. “And I love that she loves me.”

He’s searing into me with those damn cobalt eyes, and I cannot move.

The room pulses with the silence.

“Nice,” I finally say in a scratchy voice. I swat away a tear. “You get full marks for the grand romantic gesture.”

He doesn’t move. He just keeps looking at me.

Nobody in the whole room breathes.

“But you swept me off my feet before,” I say. What am I saying?!?!?! Shut up shut up shut upshutupshutup!!! “Then you dropped me.”

Jack never stops looking right at me, like there’s no one else in the room. “You were right, Lisa. Physical courage and emotional courage are completely different. I can do one as easily as flicking a switch. But the other? I couldn’t handle it. I froze. I left you. I’m sorry.”

My mouth opens.

Jack waits to see if I’m going to say anything, and when I don’t, he says, “Lisa.” His voice is soft, but so strong, gliding across my skin like an ocean zephyr. “You suffered because I was a coward, and I am so sorry I hurt you. I can hardly believe that I did that to you. I don’t want to be that guy. Not ever again.”

I stand there, staring at him.

“Lisa, you lacked a certain kind of courage, or thought you did, so you worked on it. I’m working too, doing the things that terrify me most. Things I suck at. But I will not let you down ever again.”

He leans forward, right shoulder leading. “I’m asking you to have the guts to give me another chance.”

I’m speechless, like I’m watching a movie, waiting to see what happens next.

He pins me with a look so hot I gasp. “Lisa, can you fly this plane?”

My breath puffs out in a kind of laugh, breaking the spell of my glazed-over silence. In a rush, I realize everything is real. A
line from a freaking movie, but at last, the story is about me
.

“Yeah,” I say. “I can fly it. I’m the best there is.”

He smiles at me from the stage, a smile that’s anchored deep in those eyes of his. “Yeah,” he says. “You really are.”

Then he pushes back his chair and stands up. Without missing a beat, he steps onto and over the table. Flashes go wild all over the room.

Jack is coming for me, walking right up the aisle at me. He’s not stopping. Or slowing down.

He sweeps right into me and kisses me.

And I’m ready for it.

He’s here, and it’s real, and I can’t get enough.

Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack.

Jack breaks the kiss, leans into me and kisses me again, then rests his forehead against mine. “Lisa.”

I blink at him through the barrage of flashes. It tingles through me, this strange and amazing and wonderful sensation of standing here with Jack. For the first time since I’ve known him, I feel like I am really
with Jack
.

“Jack,” I whisper, leaning into him. “Jack.”

He smiles, the really good kind where his eyes crinkle. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispers back.

I take a deep breath, look around. Impossible, but I’m ready. “Okay.”

I see a hint of a smirk. “I’ve got a plan.”

And we take off. He leads me full speed back up the aisle toward the stage. We leap onto and over the table, through the curtains. Edna follows as Frank tries to hold off the reporters on the other side.

Edna hands Jack a set of keys. “5B.”

Jack flashes her a grin and tells her, “That way.” He points down the hotel corridor toward the kitchen doors. Then he leads me along the curtain, wrapping us both in its folds as the reporters break through.

Edna runs toward the kitchen and shrieks at her imaginary quarry. “Stop! Get back here, you filthy whore!”

The reporters chase her down.

Jack and I sneak out from our cover, head back through the curtain, and race right down the center aisle of the banquet room. We make it out of the hotel and dart down the mezzanine.

My feet pound across the speckled floor as we race along under the twinkling lights. An impromptu chase finally gets underway behind us, but we’re across the mall and in the elevator to the parking garage before any media people can catch us.

As the elevator doors close us in, Jack pushes the button for four, three, five, six, two and seven. Then he turns to me, grabs me by the face, and kisses me.

When the elevator stops at two, Jack hustles me off and calls the elevator right next to the one we were just on. Then he pushes the call button for the elevator that’s on its way down to get our pursuers.

In another second, we’re safely inside our new elevator. “Lisa,” he says. He kisses me again. “I love you.”

I smile. “I love you back.” I sink into his arms. “Did you really use all your money to buy the shares from the employees?”

He laughs. “I don’t have that kind of money! I used the trust fund I said I would never touch.” He stops laughing and pushes back to look at me with brilliant blue intensity.

“I’ve learned a thing or two from you about using corporate money to do good.” He strokes his thumb across my cheek. “And a few of the employees stayed or came back, keeping or re-buying their shares.”

“Peg?”

“Never even thought of leaving. Holding down the fort as we speak.”

The elevator stops and the doors open. Jack grabs my hand, and we’re off, across the floor of the parking garage and into one of its dark corners.

“This is Brenda and McGraw from Into the Wild,” Jack says, introducing me to two people waiting by two motorcycles. They both wear skin-tight body armor and nothing else.

“Hey,” I say in way of greeting.

“Thanks, guys,” Jack says to them, as he rips off his jacket and tie. “They’re close behind. Lisa, take off your clothes.”

In an instant I catch on and start to strip. Brenda and McGraw put on our clothes over their body armor. In less than a minute, they’re dressed. Then they each slap on a helmet with a darkened visor as Jack and I get into the clothes they had waiting for us. Jeans and a green T for him, sleek black leggings and a snug turquoise hooded sweatshirt for me. Brenda and McGraw hop on the motorcycles and speed off across the garage.

“Thanks,” I call softly to the retreating roar. They stop to rev their engines at the top of the exit ramp, waiting for their pursuers. Well,
our
pursuers, really. Mine and Jack’s.

Jack watches me zipping my turquoise hoodie and smiles. “Your eyes look fantastic.” He kisses me. “Come on.”

Before I can even think, he’s pulling me toward the edge of the garage. Toward the railing. As in, four stories above the zipping traffic of 9
^th
street.

But there’s a space in the railing. A staircase?

More of a fire escape, really. The narrow steps zigzag down the outside of the parking garage. We’re just climbing onto them as our pursuers burst off the elevator in time to spot Brenda and McGraw disappearing down the ramp. The reporters and security people scatter to chase them down.

Jack heads down the stairs first, clattering like a monkey along the bent ladder-thing. I gamely follow, my knees in my throat, looking at nothing but each step in front of me. When we reach the ground, Jack takes my hand and looks around. Nobody takes the slightest notice of us.

“It’s a great day,” I decide, smiling up at him.

“It is,” he agrees.

And just like that, we start walking, hand in hand, through downtown L.A. Up and across, over the glittering sidewalks, in the shadows of the tall buildings. And as we go, we talk. About everything.

He asks me about RPM, tells me how cool I am.

I ask him how Thanksgiving went with his family. His mother was astounded that he’d cooked.

But we don’t just talk as we walk. Jack touches me, too. He puts his hand on my neck, trails fingers down my back. Stuff like that. I think we’re on Third, maybe Fourth, when Jack stops walking and looks up. The tall glass towers of the Bonaventure Hotel rise up before us.

Jack looks at me. “I checked in this morning. Have the room key and everything.”

“Everything?” I ask softly.

“I’ve got you.”

Like I said, a really great day.

I hope you have found this reading adventure delightful. Please consider leaving a quick review on
Amazon
to help other readers decide whether they might like this book. Your precious much-appreciated time can make all the difference to an indie author.

If you enjoyed
Miss Adventure
, you might want to check out my romantic comedy novella
All Summer on a Date
.

I love to connect with readers, so please feel free to contact me at
geralyncorcillo.com
.

Thank you, and I hope you always find joy in reading!

Sincerely,

Geralyn Corcillo

Geralyn Corcillo taught high school in Watts and South Central Los Angeles. But deciding she needed an even tougher job, she chose to write. She won a few contests, hit the
New York Times
Bestseller List with her first short story, and got a screenplay produced.
Miss Adventure
is her first novel.

Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania and now lives in North Hollywood with her husband Ron, a guy who's even cooler than Kip Dynamite.

Thank you:

Leonard W. Kingsley, the greatest literary manager on the planet and in my heart;

Marlo Thomas, for giving me my first big break;

Matt Wheeler, for everything;

OCC, for making me believe I could do it;

Debra Holland and Kitty Bucholtz, for lighting my way;

All my friends and family, especially The Ruane Family of Chinchilla, Pennsylvania: Pat, Gloria, Marianne, Mike, Marice, Grady, and Pepsi.