Spring River Valley: The Winter Collection (Boxed Set) (32 page)
Read Spring River Valley: The Winter Collection (Boxed Set) Online
Authors: Clarice Wynter
“Your satisfaction guaranteed, just like the ad said.”
“But it’s barely one o’clock now.”
Jared scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. “So it’ll be a very long ride.”
* * * *
They never made it into the car, and by sunset, they were tangled up in Emerson’s sheets listening to soft music from her iPod and watching the shadows grow long around her bedroom. She let her fingers dance over Jared’s naked chest and kissed his jaw. “This still isn’t going to be easy, you know, working together.”
“I have it all worked out. We’ll take very long ‘working lunches,’ and we’ll meet in the supply closet every afternoon at three for a quickie.”
She smacked his shoulder. “Seriously. People are going to make remarks. Are you ready to deal with that?”
Jared shifted her in his arms and rose on one elbow to look down at her. “If you can deal with it, I can. The way I see it, what goes on here under the sheets is no one’s business but yours and mine. If someone has anything to say about it, then let’s make a rule that we’ll tell them to let it fly, say whatever they want. Our work will speak for itself.”
Emerson liked the idea, but what sounded good in theory might be a little more difficult in practice. She focused her sleepy gaze on his mouth, not quite ready to look into his eyes for her next question. “And what if they want to know if we’re a couple…officially?”
“Are we?”
She hadn’t expected him to turn the question back on her. “I don’t know. Are we?”
“My ad campaign was designed to do more than just get you into bed. In fact, that was a very pleasant, unanticipated side effect. Right about now we were supposed to be riding off into the sunset.”
Emmy pushed Jared off of her and sat up. “So what was your campaign designed to do?”
“It was supposed to sell you on the whole ‘you and me as a couple’ concept. You know, take a chance on me, fly me, I’m Jared.” He feigned indignation. “Didn’t you get that?”
She raised a brow. “I thought you were going for the ‘let me drive you around town all night’ angle. I really wasn’t—”
He fell on her and kissed her, growling low in his throat as he did so. “I can see we’re going to have a lot of creative differences on this project, and we’re going to have to work them out right now.”
She stretched beneath him, loving the feel of his body weighing hers down. “So I was supposed to buy into the couple thing because of the video?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…I think you should have gone more techno pop for that concept. Maybe a dance sequence and a much catchier jingle.”
He dove under the covers and demonstrated a few moves that might have been considered a dance sequence
that left her squealing in delight. “All right, all right.” She gasped the words out when he resurfaced. “I’ll invest in the couple thing. You and me, officially together. I can work with that.”
Jared wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “It’s a match made in heaven, don’t you think?”
Emmy settled against him and let her eyes drift closed. “I think it was more of a mix-up made in heaven, but it works for me.”
THE END
Considering herself the third of two voices, Clarice Wynter is the contemporary romance alter ego of a multi-published paranormal and science fiction romance author. She lives in the Tri-State area with her husband and her children and a trio of cats.
To learn more about Clarice and her books visit her website and blog:
Look for the entire Spring River Valley Series
Jilted in January
Fixed up in February
Mixed up in March
An Affair in April
Matched up in May
Jaded in June
Jealous in July
Awakened in August
Seduced in September
Outmatched in October
Naughty in November
Desired in December
And Coming in December 2014
A Wedding in December
I’d like to thank the following people for all their encouragement, support and hard work without any of which, this series would not have been possible:
Jean Cooper – my editor
Niina Cord – my cover artist
JB Lynn – my dear friend and head cheerleader
Thom – my husband, who doesn’t mind cooking dinner while I swear at my computer
