Read Online Calling All the Shots by Katherine Garbera - Free Book Online Page B

of Willow. Time
might not be on his side. An accident could end things at any moment and every
opportunity that he’d missed would turn to regret.
    * * *
    Willow tried not to think about her latest conversation
with Jack and did a pretty good job of ignoring it until she got home and
climbed into bed just before midnight. She knew it was her own fault for putting
that stupid frog prince on her nightstand. And then, because she knew no one
else would ever know, she’d kissed it.
    She’d closed her eyes and imagined the frog turning into
Jack—and she’d wanted that so much that she knew she’d crossed a line. It was
one thing to let this new thing with Jack “heal” the wounded part of her soul;
it was something else entirely to fall for him.
    That wasn’t part of the plan. Not now, not ever. Jack wasn’t
the man for her and she didn’t want him to be. She needed a guy who stayed at
home and worked a normal job so she could be the star in their relationship. But
she wasn’t looking for that with Jack. She was looking for revenge. Why, oh, why
couldn’t she remember that?
    She turned on her side and then realized she wasn’t going to be
able to sleep. Not right now. So she got up and went to her big iMac computer
and opened the file the editor from Sexy &
Single had sent her. Work had been the one thing that had saved her
from being lonely and scared. And there had been plenty of times when it would
have been too easy to be overwhelmed by those emotions.
    Even though Gail and Nichole had always lived nearby, the three
of them were all very busy with their careers. And Willow had kept a part of
herself locked away. She knew that Jack had wounded something inside of her all
those years ago but it was a part of herself that she didn’t like to admit she
had.
    Deidre and Peter made good television, Willow thought as she
watched the rough edit. Both were used to being in charge and both wanted
something from the other. And despite the fear that Deidre had admitted to
Willow when they were alone, she was flirty with Peter and kept him on his
toes.
    What Willow saw on the screen was the kind of honest emotion
that viewers latched onto. It was the kind of thing that Willow herself liked to
see because when she watched Deidre taking a risk with her heart, Willow could
live vicariously through her.
    Disgusted with herself and her thoughts she pushed away from
her desk and went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of Sleepytime Tea. Maybe
that would help her calm down enough to get some rest.
    But she doubted it. She could say it was work or whatever other
excuse she wanted to make but the truth was she wanted Jack to be back on the
East Coast so she could see him. She wanted to go to him and confront him about
the past so she’d know easily if she could trust him now.
    The teakettle whistled and she poured the water over her tea
letting the scent of it fill the air in her kitchen. She took her cup to the
couch and sat down in her favorite corner and turned on the TV. She pulled the
afghan her grandmother had knitted for her when she was born around her
shoulders and turned on Hollywood Today, instantly
noticing the flashing breaking news graphic.
    She turned up the volume and leaned forward. Accident on the beach set of Extreme Careers today. We only know that Jack Crown and PJ Montaine were
surfing and one of them didn’t make it back to shore. We are going to be
live from Cedars-Sinai with the latest.
    Willow stood up so quickly that she burned herself with the tea
as it sloshed over the edge of her cup. Cursing, she ran to her bedroom to grab
her phone from her beside table. She was cold with fear as she called Jack’s
number.
    Had he been hurt? Was he even now being rushed to the emergency
room? His phone rang and rang as she went back to the living room to watch as Hollywood Today cut to the outside of the
hospital.
    The call went to Jack’s voice mail and Willow didn’t know what
else to do. She was scared that