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Excerpt from Stars and Stripes 4th of JulyCHAPTER 1
Sydney, Australia “And so I’ve decided—we’ll make love every other time we, uh, see each other.” I cleared my throat. “Instead of every time.” Jack’s eyes smiled over the top of his coffee cup. Sitting with his back against the bed’s ornate headboard, wearing the hotel’s plush robe with the collar circling his chiseled jaw, he looked positively regal. His dark hair was slept into peaks and valleys and he needed a shave but a sly grin made him boyishly cute. “Okay.” He tilted his head, with an expression one would use when standing in front of a Jackson Pollack painting. I let go of the door handle and my purse slid off my shoulder and down my arm, weighing heavy on my wrist. I squared my shoulders and spouted my memorized speech. “Since I’ve been in Sydney we’ve hardly worked on the book. You know I’m grateful to be here—the Park Hyatt is gorgeous.” I waved toward the expansive window overlooking the glistening harbor. “But I’ve flown fourteen hours and we need to finish your biography, Jack. Not just shag in the suite.” “I’m not sure ‘shag’ is the word used here in Australia. You may be quoting Austin Powers.” Losing at that hand, Veronica flees Jack's suite. Desperate to heal her pride, she boards the first plane out of Australia and nabs a gig playing piano for the summer in the resort town, Hilton Head Island. She embraces the solitary life of musician by night, and by day works on her book and her tan. Not necessarily in that order. Immediately she's assigned the task of producing an American Idol type talent show to bring in a crowd on Independence Day. A month later she's borrowing thousands to pay a kidnapper's ransom. Misinterpreting a psychic's warning and playing love's fool, Veronica skips down a path as sinister as a gator's smile. |
