“True,” she said slowly, drawing the syllable out.
“Do you have interviews or appearances lined up?” he asked.
“No,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “This was supposed to be six days of rest and relaxation. I haven't taken that much time off in a long time. Now it’ll be six days of hiding out and trying to ignore phone calls, and the constant temptation to jump on the Internet to see what’s happening.”
“You should come to Connecticut with me.”What? Where did that come from?
“Connecticut?”
Hell. Why not?
“I keep a house there that no one knows about. I bought it a few years ago so I’d have a place to go where I’m not offered room service and turndown at night. No one knows about it except my friends. We can take my private jet. You can just fall off the grid for a few days, get some real rest.”
He could see her thinking about it, chewing on her bottom lip as she eyed him through lowered lashes. He didn’t want to pressure her, but man, he suddenly wanted to be the one to be able to take her away from this shit situation she was in. The one to give her the respite she needed while the whirlwind of her life settled down for a bit.
And, he wouldn’t lie to himself. He’d had a better time with her tonight than he had with any of the women he’d dated. Just talking to her, with nothing sexual between them other than the way his imagination ran away every time she moaned over a bite of food or laughed at one of his jokes, was better than a lot of the nights he’d spent wrapped in some naked woman’s arms and legs.
He’d been resisting the sexual attraction and wouldn’t act on it when she was so vulnerable, but at least he could be there for her. He could support her and help her through this without acting on the chemistry that shot between them whenever they were together.
“No strings attached, PJ. I promise. I’m headed there anyway to see some friends and go to a two-year-old’s birthday party. What could be better than balloons and cake? Just two friends, getting away for a while. That’s all it will be.”
It’s not all I want it to be, but I’ll take it.
PJ had never shown any inclination to hit on him—which made sense. The first time they’d met, she’d only been eighteen or nineteen and he’d been twenty-nine. With her current age of twenty-nine and him at thirty-nine, it would be considered acceptable if something did happen between them, but he had a feeling she still saw him the same way she always had. Old.
PJ looked as though she struggled to come to a decision. She finally nodded her head, slowly. “All right. If you’re going anyway, I’d love to tag along.”
Chapter 4
PJ knew she needed to face her team and call her parents before heading to Connecticut. Her phone was filled with missed calls and unanswered texts.
She didn’t blame them for being concerned, and she knew they’d need to hear from her before she left—to confirm she wasn’t drunk. It might have been thirteen years since her addiction had almost ruined her career, but she knew it was hard for her parents to forget their struggle to save her. To straighten her out.
And at a time like this, it would be easy for them to think she would turn back to drinking to numb the emotions clobbering her.
PJ made her way across the hotel to her suite in the opposite tower and shut the door behind her, relieved neither Lydia nor Ellis waited there for her.
She dialed her mother’s number and wasn’t surprised that she answered on only the second ring. She checked her watch. Her parents wouldn’t leave for their small bookstore outside Deep Creek Lake in Maryland for at least another hour.
They’d gone through so much with her early on in her career with the addiction and pregnancy. It always made her feel good to picture them in their bookstore doing what they loved—happy and relaxed again instead of on edge and worried for her. That would all change if her journal was released to the media. Her fault again.
“Hey, Mom.” PJ could hear her father in the background.
“Hi, sweetheart. Your father wants to know how you’re doing. Did you book extra interviews for this week to respond to Kurt’s comments?” her mother asked, drawing a wince from PJ.
It was hard to talk about Kurt’s review of her performance in bed with her parents.Ugh.
Her mother didn’t wait for her response before continuing. “You don’t have to respond to that…that….” PJ almost laughed as her mother sought the right word to describe Kurt. Her mother didn’t swear. Ever. But, it sounded like she was dying to right now.
“Ninny,” her mother finally finished. PJ laughed at her mother’s choice of words. Yup.Ninnywas about as nasty as her mom was going to get.
“Debra called earlier to fill us in,” her mother said. “She put out a short press release so you can leave it at that, PJ. Don’t feel like you have to engage him or the press over this. Personally, I think we should ignore it. We don’t need to give him any more attention than he’s already gotten.”
“Yeah, I’m going to ignore it and let the whole thing die down, Mom,” PJ finally answered when her mom took a breath during her diatribe.
PJ knew this wasn’t going to just die down on its own. She opened her mouth to tell her mom what was coming, but she didn’t know how to say the words.
She chickened out. “I’m going to take a few days off. I’ll meet the team in Denver for the next show, but I just need to take a break for a bit.”