laughter resonating pleasantly in her ears, Jay sighed dreamily, “If the world stopped spinning right now, I’d die a very happy woman.”
Kate ducked inside the back of the limo as the driver held the door for her. Once inside and alone, she leaned back into the leather interior and closed her eyes, a goofy grin splitting her face. “Oh no, Fred isn’t getting to kiss you, Jay. You’re already taken and I will not suffer the competition lightly.”
68
The Price of Fame
CHAPTER SEVEN
ay leaned her back against the apartment door and stared unseeing J into her living room. She touched her fingertips to her lips, unable to process the wonder of what had just happened, and not willing to trust that it really had. Her head was spinning; in less than forty-eight hours her entire existence had been turned upside down. She had gone to Albany grudgingly because the governor could not see her at his New York City office. That one tiny scheduling snafu had brought the writer face to face with a vital piece of her past and, she dared to hope, of her future, as well.
From the day she had seen the beautiful stranger on the tennis court, the mystery woman had commanded her attention. And then when she had rescued Jay on the ski trail and again on campus, she had captured her imagination. For her two and a half remaining years in school, the writer had used Kate as her muse, creating fiction around her dark, confident persona. It had been Jay’s jealously guarded and somewhat guilty secret. She smiled ironically. Nothing she had conjured or written came close to matching the reality she had been party to in just the past twelve hours she had spent in Kate’s presence.
Jay’s thoughts strayed to Sarah. She and Sarah had become lovers early in their sophomore year. They had been friends as freshmen and had decided to room together beginning the next fall. It had seemed logical; they were compatible in terms of study habits and the hours they kept and they were best friends. Sarah had made the move to deepen the relationship. She was sweet and bookish, non-threatening and comfortable, and Jay had gotten caught up in the wonder of something new.
It hadn’t been until Jay’s encounter with the tall beauty on the ski slope that she had realized that what she shared with Sarah hadn’t filled that empty space inside of her. It was as if she had been waiting for something or someone all her life, and the moment Kate had put her arms around her to comfort and warm her, Jay knew she had found it. But she 69
Lynn Ames
was no fool; she understood that her rescuer had just been doing her job and hadn’t felt what she did.
So Jay had resigned herself to the fact that she was never going to have that once-in-a-lifetime fairytale ending where two souls unite and become as one. She had stayed with Sarah, who offered her companionship and friendship and a love deeper than she could give in return. She consoled herself with her fiction, where things could be as she dreamed.
Jay knew why Sarah had just popped into her head for the first time in a long time. The only fight they had ever had centered on the beautiful, mysterious stranger.
“What is this?” Sarah waved Jay’s journal in front of her face. When Jay didn’t answer immediately, she went on, her voice dripping with sarcasm and undisguised hurt. “Let me read it to you, in case you don’t recognize it: ‘The sexy dark-haired woman took me in her arms, warmth radiating from her very pores, as a searing heat spread from my aching center, starting a brushfire in my veins. Her blue eyes burned through me like glowing hot coals, leaving me wanting so much more.’
“Does that sound familiar, Jay? Does it?” Sarah was crying.
“What are you doing reading my journal?” Jay’s voice was cold, indignant. “That is a total invasion of my privacy. Now I can’t even trust you with my stuff? Do I have to start locking everything away?”
“You’re cheating on
Kate ducked inside the back of the limo as the driver held the door for her. Once inside and alone, she leaned back into the leather interior and closed her eyes, a goofy grin splitting her face. “Oh no, Fred isn’t getting to kiss you, Jay. You’re already taken and I will not suffer the competition lightly.”
68
The Price of Fame
CHAPTER SEVEN
ay leaned her back against the apartment door and stared unseeing J into her living room. She touched her fingertips to her lips, unable to process the wonder of what had just happened, and not willing to trust that it really had. Her head was spinning; in less than forty-eight hours her entire existence had been turned upside down. She had gone to Albany grudgingly because the governor could not see her at his New York City office. That one tiny scheduling snafu had brought the writer face to face with a vital piece of her past and, she dared to hope, of her future, as well.
From the day she had seen the beautiful stranger on the tennis court, the mystery woman had commanded her attention. And then when she had rescued Jay on the ski trail and again on campus, she had captured her imagination. For her two and a half remaining years in school, the writer had used Kate as her muse, creating fiction around her dark, confident persona. It had been Jay’s jealously guarded and somewhat guilty secret. She smiled ironically. Nothing she had conjured or written came close to matching the reality she had been party to in just the past twelve hours she had spent in Kate’s presence.
Jay’s thoughts strayed to Sarah. She and Sarah had become lovers early in their sophomore year. They had been friends as freshmen and had decided to room together beginning the next fall. It had seemed logical; they were compatible in terms of study habits and the hours they kept and they were best friends. Sarah had made the move to deepen the relationship. She was sweet and bookish, non-threatening and comfortable, and Jay had gotten caught up in the wonder of something new.
It hadn’t been until Jay’s encounter with the tall beauty on the ski slope that she had realized that what she shared with Sarah hadn’t filled that empty space inside of her. It was as if she had been waiting for something or someone all her life, and the moment Kate had put her arms around her to comfort and warm her, Jay knew she had found it. But she 69
Lynn Ames
was no fool; she understood that her rescuer had just been doing her job and hadn’t felt what she did.
So Jay had resigned herself to the fact that she was never going to have that once-in-a-lifetime fairytale ending where two souls unite and become as one. She had stayed with Sarah, who offered her companionship and friendship and a love deeper than she could give in return. She consoled herself with her fiction, where things could be as she dreamed.
Jay knew why Sarah had just popped into her head for the first time in a long time. The only fight they had ever had centered on the beautiful, mysterious stranger.
“What is this?” Sarah waved Jay’s journal in front of her face. When Jay didn’t answer immediately, she went on, her voice dripping with sarcasm and undisguised hurt. “Let me read it to you, in case you don’t recognize it: ‘The sexy dark-haired woman took me in her arms, warmth radiating from her very pores, as a searing heat spread from my aching center, starting a brushfire in my veins. Her blue eyes burned through me like glowing hot coals, leaving me wanting so much more.’
“Does that sound familiar, Jay? Does it?” Sarah was crying.
“What are you doing reading my journal?” Jay’s voice was cold, indignant. “That is a total invasion of my privacy. Now I can’t even trust you with my stuff? Do I have to start locking everything away?”
“You’re cheating on
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